Do you come from a musical background?

Dave Swift: Kind of. My mother had, and still does have a very nice singing voice, my dad liked music very much, opera in particular, (I never did find out why). We always had a piano in the house, although no one actually seemed to play it, I think my dad thought it was a nice bit of furniture! My two elder brothers both played acoustic guitar, mostly blues finger-picking style, but it really was just a hobby for them.

Did you try to play their guitars?

DS Yes, but very badly I’m afraid. The strings were like cheese wire that cut into my fingers, and there were too many of them. I found it almost impossible to contort my fingers to fit those peculiar chord shapes. I thought it was pretty cool having guitars in the house, and brothers that could play them, but I decided to leave well alone!

What music was being played in your home that you can remember when you were young?

DS Dad was definitely listening to Mario Lanza records, I also heard Peggy Lee, The Monkees, The Sound of Music soundtrack, always a winner, and the first film I remember seeing at the cinema with my mom and my auntie, what heady times!I also heard The New Seekers, The Carpenters, Simon & Garfunkle, and Glenn Miller. My brother’s had albums by Joni Mitchell, Cream and Jimi Hendrix, but I wasn’t quite ready for them at that point.

Apart from attempting to play your brother’s guitars, what were your other early musical experiences?

DS As a young kid, I had a good singing voice and I always got picked to sing in the school choir. When I was ten I joined the local church choir and stayed there for about eight years.