ABOUT ROB PEARCE
I was born in
Leicester, but lived my formative years in the rural village of
Stock in Essex. A happier childhood you could not have wished for.
Myself and my brother, Ian were brought up in an environment of
curiousity, learning, art and music. Imagination and creativity
were greatly encouraged, our early love of music being initially
classical, as both our parents enjoyed opera, this probably
accounted for my appreciation of melody and drama, but on the
first encounter with rock music, we found something new and
exciting.
Further encouraged by our parents, we became musicians and formed
a band together, The Chains. This was an adventurous covers band,
playing songs of that period, everything from The Beach Boys to
The Who! As I heard more of the rock music of that time, I found
something I related to better.In common with a lot of musicians,
earlier, I was greatly influenced by Buddy Holly and The Crickets,
even now it still sounds as fresh as ever.Chuck Berry, Eddie
Cochrane, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, were among many of my
favourite artists of the time.
When The Beatles arrived on the scene, myself (I was playing and
writing by this time) and many other composers and musicians
realised that popular music could move away from traditional
structures and that they could afford to experiment. This
encouraged the birth of so called progressive rock bands such as
Pink Floyd, Genesis, The Nice etc. It was also at this time, that
keyboards became significant. Up until this period, guitar had
always been the main feature and, although common in jazz and
big-bands, few people had used a keyboard in the context of rock
music.
Although this 'classic-rock' style was my favourite, I did enjoy
other forms of music. Little Feat were a band I enjoyed immensely,
particularly when I was playing bass, and also the early Stevie
Wonder albums Inner Visions etc. More recently, I have also
enjoyed music from Clannad and Enya, but, and this may surprise
you, Prodigy who I know have the same influences as me!
Some years later, I moved to Southend on Sea. There was a
thriving music community in Southend, and I met more and more
musicians, all professional and many were session players. I also
found work in the music industry, first with amplifier
manufacturer 'Trace Elliot' and later as a manager of' 'Monkey
Business', a successful musical equipment retailer. By now I owned
a keyboard set up (Korg and Moog synthesisers) and found this
improved my composing considerably and only wished I had been able
to start out on keyboards instead of guitar. Formal piano training
in my younger days would have served me so much better, as my
fingers would have developed correctly. Organ and synthesiser
parts are fine, but my piano skills are certainly diminished by
the lack of training in the formative years This pretty much
concludes my music history, as the next period became the
formation of 'Chalice' .
I have two further hobbies, firstly I have always had an interest
in astronomy. Growing up in the country, where there were no
street lights for miles, allowed a wonderful view of the night
sky, all the constellations were known to me, and the milky way
was a glowing silver band across the sky during the summer months.
For those of you who have never seen this, I recommend a visit to
a rural location to experience this natural wonder. The
fascination, fed by watching the early Patrick Moore 'Sky at
Night' programmes, never went away, and eventually led to
purchasing a telescope and later building my own observatory.
Finally - Indian Cuisine! In common with most musicians, I love
it! This led to cooking my own dishes, chopping ingredients,
stir frying spices, accompanied by a cold beer on the work top -
total joy. If any of you feel so inclined, I recommend the
purchase of Pat Chapman's books. You won't go wrong. I might even
get round to posting some info on this site.
If you are interested in further
information please mail me:
|