“Une Pause Dans Le Temps”
However, I do regret that we never had more wordy conversations as I have found out that we shared a lot of interests other than music. He loved old aircraft, he was a keen electronics engineer, we even shared a middle initial "K". He got the better deal, though - I'm a Kevin and he's a Keith. I also wish I could offer you some great insights into the man, there are many here who loved him who could probably shed more light on his loves and loathes. However, I can tell you one of his biggest hates. He didn't like playing Sweet Home Alabama. I never did work out why. In Memphis Plates, it got to the state where I almost had to ask his permission to play it. It usually had to be my birthday or something. But it was the measure of the man that, when he came and joined 40 Watt, he let me have my way with that song.
He always used to greet me in a very formal way. Like Stanley to Livingstone he would say "Ah! Mr Powell!" I would like to think that he did that out of respect for my musical abilities ... I suspect he was just taking the piss, though. I also saw that sense of humour the other day when I went to see him with Richard and Peter in Willen Hospice. Now you've got to understand that Richard, Dave and I have depped in hundreds of bands, playing everything you can imagine - it can be quite confusing sometimes, working out who is in whose band, no gig ever the same line-up. Anyway, while we were there at the hospice, Glen, our drummer, walked in like a ray of sunshine. Dave was very pleased to see him and said "What bloody band are we today, then?".
Dave came to my music in 1993 when he joined Memphis Plates after being introduced to me by Richard. He'd been playing with Richard on and off since their university days at Imperial College, London. In 1968 they met at the jazz club; Dave was also already playing in a blues band in which he'd played at the 100 Club in London. He even once supported Mary Whitehouse at one of her conventions ... probably while she was going through her punk phase or something.
Throughout his musical career he played in lots of bands with some great names, many with Richard: bands such as Blazer, French Lessons, Pumping Up the Spare, Boogie Brothers, Hickory Swing, Penda's Fen and my own meanderings, Memphis Plates, Spreadeagles and lately 40 Watt and, as I say, he depped in many more. Many of the guys he played with are here today - thank you for coming. I'm looking forward to playing music with you all later.
Dave was generous with his time and would spend it wisely, building things for his friends and helping with those jobs that you had been putting off for ages. He even took part in the local Milton Keynes community by volunteering as a sound-man for Togfest, a successful local musical festival. To this day, he remains the only deaf sound-man that Togfest has ever used. Continued >