I also grew up in Hastings and went to the same school as Phil, Hastings Grammar School, although I was in the year above him. I didn't really cross paths with him until around 1971/2, when I became friends with Roger Carey, a remarkable young bass player, also in the year below me and close buddies with Phil. Phil and I took up electric guitar at around 13, but by the time I got the first band with Roger together in 1972, Phil (aged 16) was already noticeably ahead of me. Our ways parted around then in that he went off to college and could grow his hair and wear loon pants, while I had to stay on at school at my Dad's behest and still try and have longish hair, despite "Chick" the headmaster's iron regime. We'd bump into each other at weekends down at the Fiesta cafe, in the Old Town or on the Pier at gigs on the wooden floorboards overlooking the sea. Not only was there a known rock band on at the Pier Ballroom almost every week back then, Hastings was bristling with its own bands, so the windows in church halls and pub backrooms were also vibrating to the sound of bands rehearsing at Heathrow volume with the powerful amplifiers and huge speaker cabinets everyone had, playing the heavy progressive rock of the day. The band I had with Roger and Bernie Jeffery called Pueblo did get to play a support gig on the Pier  but came to a gradual end in summer 1974. Roger had to focus on his A levels and didn't want to continue, but we got a second drummer in, Paul Waite, and Phil came in for two gigs on second guitar. I wish I could remember more, but according to my band diary it worked well, and Phil and I shared lead guitar duties, possibly doing some Wishbone Ash-style twin guitar, who knows. I left town soon after that and moved to London, so sadly I lost touch with Phil. Who knows what would have happened if I'd stayed.

Fast forward to 2013 and I was delighted to get back in touch with Phil and many of my old friends from Hastings via Facebook, after around 40 years. After that I followed what he was up to in bands closely and we occasionally swapped anecdotes about schooldays and band days, or got lost going down guitar nerd rabbit holes. I also had a chance to catch him up on what I'd been up to, and it was always heartwarming to see he enjoyed one of my live recordings or video clips, or one of my home recordings. I'm so glad there is the Stallion album The Hard Life as a massive milestone in Phil's musical journey, with astonishingly accomplished bass playing, when he was still only 20. He went on to play in many other bands and played on a lot of sessions with some formidable musicians, that fire never went out.