Jon

Position: Bass

Gear Used: Mexican Fender precision bass with a white body and black scratch plate.
Laney 160W bass head with 4 x 10" Laney cab.

Influences: Mostly Punk/New wave.Particularily Stiff Little Fingers, Sex Pistols & Clash.
I am also influenced by Ska bands like The Specials & The Beat.
Generally I listen to a wide range of music but mainly I prefer Punk & Ska.

Musical background: I bought my first Bass when I was about 14 years old from one of my sister’s friends for Ł15...bargain!
It was a three quarter size, unbranded, sunburst, three stringed piece of cr*p but to me it was the beez kneez. I played around with various punk tunes from The Dead Kennedys California Uber Alles to The Sex Pistols God Save The Queen.
Back then I couldn't afford an amplifier but I discovered that if I plugged it into the microphone socket of my Dad's radio cassette player and hit the record button, I could get some sound out of the speaker. Turning it up to any reasonable level just made it sound like a wet f*rt, so most of the time I would just play with it quietly in my bedroom!
The first band I was in never progressed further than Kev's garage. I eventually left them in 1994 to join the Five O'clock Heroes and we did quite a few gigs in and around Portsmouth. By the end of 1998 the Heroes (who had undergone several line-ups and were now called SuperCat) eventually called it a day. That's when I decided to get the old band back together and formed what is now Shotgun Smile.

Position:	Bass

Gear Used:	Mexican Fender precision bass with a white body and black scratch plate. Laney 160W bass head with 4 x 10" Laney cab.

Influences:	Mostly Punk/New wave.Particularily Stiff Little Fingers, Sex Pistols & Clash. I am also influenced by Ska bands like The Specials & The Beat. Generally I listen to a wide range of music but mainly I prefer Punk & Ska.

Musical background:	I bought my first Bass when I was about 14 years old from one of my sister’s friends for Ł15...bargain! It was a three quarter size, unbranded, sunburst, three stringed piece of crp but to me it was the beez kneez. I played around with various punk tunes from The Dead Kennedys California Uber Alles to The Sex Pistols God Save The Queen. Back then I couldn't afford an amplifier but I discovered that if I plugged it into the microphone socket of my Dad's radio cassette player and hit the record button, I could get some sound out of the speaker. Turning it up to any reasonable level just made it sound like a wet frt, so most of the time I would just play with it quietly in my bedroom! The first band I was in never progressed further than Kev's garage. I eventually left them in 1994 to join the Five O'clock Heroes and we did quite a few gigs in and around Portsmouth. By the end of 1998 the Heroes (who had undergone several line-ups and were now called SuperCat) eventually called it a day. That's when I decided to get the old band back together and formed what is now Shotgun Smile.