ALFIE NOAKES

At the time of writing, I'm a 58-year-old man who, amongst other things, has been playing the bass guitar in cover bands for most of my life. This spectacular career, well, successful-ish career......okay, long career has given me a great deal of pleasure and an awful lot of laughs and funny moments which I've been threatening to commit to paper for many a year, mainly to share these moments with anyone that cares to read this book, and to put a smile on their face. It certainly hasn't been for the money, that's for sure. I also wanted to record these events for posterity before senility kicks in properly, and I'm likely to be far more focussed on not dribbling too much by then.

I've also amassed a reasonable amount of knowledge on the subjects of bass guitars, equipment, bands, gigs, musicians and all that goes with this peculiar but rewarding hobby, that I'd like to share. Some of it may be of use to the reader, but hopefully it will mainly be entertaining. Anecdotes? Oh yes, there's plenty of them. Some names may have been changed to protect the culprits (and my hide), but it is only right and proper that they get an airing to a greater audience than those who were there at the time.

So here goes with book 1. Should I rack up another forty years of bass playing before I pop my clogs, I may well endeavour to run to book 2 in the Recovers series. If you happen to like my style of writing, please let me know. I'm also quite tempted to give the world of work the same treatment that my musical career has just had with Recovers i.e. an insight into the many and varied jobs I've had, in a variety of trades, but still with a massive focus on the funny bits, pranks, scrapes and japes that kept me sane, and just about kept me employed, although not always!