Dave Tighe

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His older brother Carl came home from school in 1962 and ask Dave if he had heard of that new group "The Beatles". Dave hadn't heard of them but wouldn't admit it to his older brother. When he did hear them days later on the old valve radio it changed his outlook on music. The Beatles turned out to be the single deciding factor in his decision to want to play the guitar more than anything else.

The second guitar Dave owned was a classical guitar bought at Woolworths for £12.19s.6d. It was when Jose Feliciano and 'Light my Fire' was in the charts. It was bought when his older brother Carl borrowed Dave's bike and it was stolen while he was taking library books back. The books obviously stood Carl in good stead as he is now a professor of English. Unfortunately Dave loaned the guitar to a friend of his called Neil Staunton who took it out with it strapped to his back with a piece of string riding pillion on another friends motorbike. You guessed it, the string broke and it bounced all over the road being struck by the traffic following them. Moral of the story never lend your guitar to anyone who has friends with motorbikes. Thing was, Neil had a fantastic red Fender Strat which his mom co-signed for at Ringway music, Birmingham and he had to wait about 6 months for it to arrive. I wished I'd have borrowed that for a while.

Dave and Neil formed a group at school (Archbishop Mastersons Boys School in Birmingham) with Vince on lead vocals and Pete Hands and Stephen Halloran on keyboards. Dave had to borrow Pete's brothers guitar as his was destroyed and he got a roasting from his older brother. We did the first gig the school had ever staged and played Whiter Shade of Pale and House of the Rising Sun. The first and most memorable gig ever in 1968. What a way to leave secondary school.

Daves first two guitars came to rather sticky ends but he was not to be deterred.

Daves third guitar was an electric solid body Guyatone which he bought off Neils older brother Greg it was like a Strat but also nothing like a Strat and it cost 11shillings. That's about 55p in todays money. It was  great little guitar really, but suffered from bad wiring, so didn't get much use.

Dave's fourth guitar was an Eros Jumbo bought in 1969 which was so heavy and solid you could play cricket with it as well, so a good investment for a cricket playing guitarist on a limited budget. It would take a lot longer to burn and it would stand up to being dropped from the back of a motorbike too, but unfortunately it didn't sound very good. This was duly traded in for a guitar he had admired in George Clay's window every time he passed it on his was to work. It was an Antoria Gibson J200 copy. A great big beautiful blonde and one he treasured for many years. Graham at George Clays (now owner of City Music) knocked off a few pounds and threw in a beautiful fitted case too. This was to be Dave's workhorse for the next few years and Dave started practising and playing in earnest and did his first gig at the Sunday lunchtime folk club in Birmingham called The Nelson. James Taylor, Cat Stevens, Carly Simon, Don Maclean and Jackson Browne being his inspiration. Later that year in 1971 he visited the Boggery folk club in Solihull where Jasper Carrot was the resident folkie and maker of everything merry. Playing alongside the likes of Jasper, Billy Connolly, Max Boyce, Mike Harding, Stephan Grappelli, John Golding, Malcolm Stent and Jake Thakeray. Dave was a regular visitor and floor spot at the Boggery and still says it was the best folk club ever in the whole world. Dave was asked by Les Ward (Jaspers manager) if he was interested in doing a few support spots for Jasper and a few of very interesting gigs ensued one at the Civic hall in Solihull.

After playing at a variety of folk clubs which had sprouted up around the Midlands he had a change of direction. Some friends from the local music shop asked him if he fancied playing electric guitar in a country-rock band doing some Eagles type material. Dave bought a gold top Gibson Les Paul and a 100 watt Marshall stack (almost obligatory back then) They got a regular gig at Elizabethan Days in Stirchley and practiced at The Arts Centre at Canon Hill Park (Now the MAC, Midlands Art Centre) they built up quite a following and even had roadies to move the gear around. After a couple of years Dave left 'Crossfire' because of musical differences that couldn't be resolved,

Dave went back to playing acoustic guitar which is what he really loved to do. Dave then sold the Gibson and the Marshall stack and went down to London to buy a Gibson J45 which was on offer at £185.00 (brand new) but without a case. After the train fare and the stay at a local hotel Dave had only got £165.00. The guy in the shop showed him a series of guitars made by a company called Tama. They were absolutely stunning and when compared to the Gibson it really showed the Gibson up to be rather inferior in tone and finish. So the deal was done and Dave went home with a Tama 3560s which he still has today. Many solo gigs were played on the trusty Tama and many  other guitarists were impressed by the stunning looks and volume. He even had a guy offer him a Martin D35 for it, but he declined and is really glad he did. The Tama is one of the family now and looked after carefully.

Dave then took up a job at Yardleys music shop in the guitar department selling some really lovely instruments. Later that same year 1978 he went to work for Mike Woodroffe at Woodroffes Musical Instruments in Dale End, Birmingham. Meeting many famous pop personalities like Mark Knopfler, UB40, Duran Duran, The Beat, Dexies Midnight Runners, Hank and The Shadows, Shirley Bassey, Robert Plant, Roy Wood, Bev Bevan, Tony Iommi, Ric Sanders, Steve Gibbons and John Thomas (George Hatcher Band), Steel Pulse, and the late Robert Palmer.

The guys at Woodroffes had a real laugh whilst at work and many a practical jokes were played on both staff and customers. Eventually a band was put together including Dave on acoustic guitar and vocals supporting Pete Oliver on lead guitar, Bob Doyle on Bass, John Thomas on guitar and Mickey Barker (ex Magnum ) on Drums. It never got off the ground due to the other commitments of the band members but it was great to be involved.

Dave was asked to host the Martin Guitar stand at the NEC that year and was sending a young guy called Chris for coffees all morning till someone told him that Chris was in fact Christian Martin IV and that Dave should be fetching the coffees for Chris. OOEEERRR

Dave did a variety of pickup gigs in the early 80's from Country to club bands and ended up playing full time on a Fender telecaster in a Country band called 'Marshall Peavey' apologies to both Marshall and Peavey. From there Dave joined a band which had just had a success at the Country Music Awards in Wembley called 'Berretta'. They toured all around the Midlands doing very close 5 part harmony country music. Doing a breathtaking version of the Eagles classic with just one acoustic and 5 vocals called 'Seven Bridges Road' One of those songs that still sends a chill up your spine. The band split in 1986 and Dave found himself playing solo acoustic yet again.

Whilst Dave was working at Woodroffes both him and Pete Oliver were rehearsing with another band called Atlantic Crossing with a guitarist guy called (Art) Arthur Radbourne in Tamworth. The bass player and by far the best bass player Dave played alongside Spike (Jeremy Miller) was the power behind the band along with  Wally on drums, a superb rock drummer, but not a man to argue with, he had arms as big as Daves Legs. Nothing came of it though as Art moved to Australia for a while and the band got sidelined.

Mean Bizzness was Dave's next rock band venture playing with some local Tamworth musicians and just having fun doing covers from Def Leppard to Bon Jovi and Bryan Adams. Great little band and great fun. Dave had Model 6 Charvel (pointy headstock job) and another Marshall set-up plus a whole raft of techno wizardry to play in this band.

Some years after Dave moved to Tamworth, he bumped into Arthur again and they decided to give it another go, this time making more of a success of it as 'No turning Back'. They did a variety of rock venues around the midlands but couldn't break out of the pub rock circuit. Spike (Jeremy Miller) left to move down South and it all split up until Keith Lawson joined on bass and began to move the band to a different circuit yet again. Dave wasn't keen on the new club type of gig and decided to leave.

In 1994 he was approached by a pedal steel player called Tracey Neale who was looking for an acoustic guitarist/vocalist to form a new band doing New Country Music. Dave took to the role with relish even writing some songs just for the band. They called themselves 'The Hat Band' and toured the whole breadth of England from down South to a short spell in Shetland at their purpose made country venue, and even playing the Birmingham Town Hall. Dave was playing a lovely Lowden acoustic but due to the volume that band played at he invested in a Gibson electro/acoustic with a solid body to reduce feedback and  Fender Telecaster for the twang. Amongst the first to use a headset microphone and get amongst the crowd, Dave took it all the way.

Again due to differences in the band it all went sideways and Dave again decided that the acoustic solo act was the way to go and started to put together a new acoustic set, resurrecting his lovely Tama guitar. He sold off all of the techno stuff and went 'back to basics'.

Spotted by a local agent he was asked to play a solo spot a the Unplugged Acoustic Cafe session which he duly did. This is where Dave was asked if he was interested in replacing another local musician Barry Hunt who was leaving a local band called 'The Raconteurs'. After agreeing to give it a go and rehearsing with them for a short while Dave decided it wasn't for him, but in doing so met up with Nigel Bullock who was also in 'The Raconteurs'  The rest is History, as they say.

So travelling a complete and very full circle Dave has finally found his acoustic guitar was his first love and still remains so to this day, despite his own dads very cruel and heartless attempt at stopping something that was meant to be from happening.

Dave plays a variety of acoustic instruments nowadays, from a Martin 00015s and 00021 to a Dobro squareneck, Fylde Bouzouki, Mandolin, plus percussion in the shape of a Djembe, Darabouka, Udu, Cajon, Bodhran and also makes and plays didgeridoos.