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Apart from playing in several smaller bands in the 60's, the first well known band I was lucky enough to join in the late 60's was the “Initials” after Tony Eagleton left and where the band had a residency at the Caltex Lounge in Taranaki Street. There I had a good grounding playing guitar with an accomplished band and finished with a diploma in beer drinking. This band also toured with the Simple Image through the North Island and backed John Rowles on several occasions.

Like many other baby boomer guitarists, I played a lot of Cliff and the Shadows and got one of the first Fender Strats in Wellington – a 1962 Dakota Red work of art, actually I realised later that Hank used a Fiesta Red one, however, it was a lovely instrument.

Circa 1971, I joined “Staircase” who were runners up in the 1971 Battle of the Bands. In the following years I played with several other covers bands and in a few residencies. Another band was the successful country-rock group “Wells Fargo” with brother Paul, which had a residency at the Burma Lodge. In the mid 80's, I did a 2 week lower North Island tour in Patsy Rigger's backing band.

The early 2000's saw me playing in Itchycoo Park for a period, then I left to pursue other projects, but have now come the full circle and was asked to re-join in April 2009. Since then I've been having a ball playing the Itchycoo brand of British R & B, pop and rock, and they even play a few numbers by Cream, one of my favourite bands.

Please Note: Mel is still a master in Beer Drinking and he will easily sniff out a welcome happy hour !!!