Sue Ashcroft
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I was born in the small seaside town of Gourock on the west coast of Scotland. Having been brought up in a household filled with music, it was soon apparent that I would develop the family passion for singing, playing instruments and listening to whatever music was available. In my formative years, I played trombone, piano, bassoon and was a member of various choirs and operatic societies. I spent the first few summers of my teens staying with my sister in Inverkip - a tiny village with not many kids of my age, other than a group of boys who listened to something called rock music! So, I was introduced to Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple - and my obsession began. Having little or no money, the only way to get my fix was to borrow LP's from the local library. By listening to one, I then looked for either others by the same artist or others which similar musicians played on. A case in point being Santana. This was how I discovered Journey! From the very first album I thought they were interesting, innovative and I loved everything about them. In 1979, my art teacher had an idea to keep kids out of pubs (who were only really going to watch the bands), that he would open a cafe and put on all the acts who were at that time on the west coast club circuit. Gourock's own Henry Gorman Band were a regular fixture along with Red Ellis and many others. This was my first real involvement in the music scene as I had, with a group of friends, helped to get the cafe up and running. This was also the year in which I saw my first proper gig - March 22nd 1979, Glasgow Apollo, Journey supported by Pat Travers - the perfect gig. As you can imagine, having had the first 2 drum solo's I ever saw being by Tommy Aldridge and Steve Smith, this inspired me to be the drum freak I am today. It was at this time also that I met my first husband whose parents subsequently moved to Wigan, which we also did in 1985. Music had been such a huge part of my life and I was unsure of how I would continue to get my musical fix so far from home, but it's funny how things work out sometimes. I actually got my current day job as a brochure production administrator for Shearings Holidays through my Fireworks experience and I'm lucky enough to take some of the photos you can see in the brochures. |