My name is Vinny Baker. I am a musician, singer, and songwriter. I teach guitar and run my own multitrack digital recording studio, VeeBee Sound Studio (located in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, Ireland). I am also a session guitarist, working mostly on country tracks for other artists.
My Influences
I am primarily a guitarist with influences ranging from players from the 60s like Hank B Marvin of the Shadows, George Harrison, Alvin Lee of Ten Years After, great country players like Albert Lee and the unbelievable all rounder, Chet Atkins; to Jazz players like Django Rheinhardt, and George Benson; to Rockers and instrumental players like Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Eddie Van Halen, and Yngwie Malmsteen; to Blues greats like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Robben Ford, and Eric Clapton. I could really go on for ages about the players who have inspired me to try and improve down through the years. But to sum it up, really any guitarist that I have ever heard has inspired me in some little or big way. I just adore the guitar. Even after playing now for over 35 years I still love the instrument as much as I did when I first fell in love with it when I was a 14 year old kid. Back then there weren't a lot of players around to help you to improve or steal licks from and tablature wasn't even invented then so it was much more difficult to learn the guitar. Kids learning today have such tremendous players to emulate and learn from.
The Showband Era
I spent most of my younger years playing the showband circuit, and started with a local ceili band called the Uisneach Stars Ceili Band. The band was named after a local famous hill called Uisneach which was supposed to be the site of an ancient burial ground, so it seemed like a good name at the time.
I progressed from there to a band from the Castlepollard area in Co. Westmeath called the Firehouse Showband who were at that time a pop outfit. This was my first real look at what it might be like to be with a more professional outfit and we played all over Ireland and Great Britain. Around this time, the big country boom was hitting in Ireland and it was decided within the band that we should get us a country singer to have a crack at the country market. We auditioned a singer called Jim Tobin who sang exactly like Jim Reeves. Jim was hired straight away and within a very short time, Jim Tobin and The Firehouse Showband were at the No.1 spot in the Irish charts with a song called 'This is it.' Soon after , due to internal wrangling and probably a degree of greed from some of the band members, the manager was sacked because it was felt that we could do better without him. BIG MISTAKE... The bands popularity nose-dived and we could not get plays on radio for love nor money.
Soon after, I left the Firehouse to join Bluegrass fiddler and excellent musician George Kaye with his new band, 'Real Country.' I stayed with Real Country for over a year and then left to rejoin Jim Tobin and the Firehouse again on the promise of a wage increase. The wage increase lasted for 1 month after I returned, then was cut back to what I was getting before I left! Such was the way the band was being run. So, I packed up and left at the first opportunity, which came in the guise of then Country and Irish giants in Ireland, Dermot Hegarty and The Plainsmen. This experience lasted for 3 years at which time Dermot Hegarty was replaced by country singer from Derry, Brian Harkin.
The Plainsmen had its own problems - internal strife plus management troubles, making me realise that the Showband business was not the glitzy, happy-go-lucky business it seemed to be from the outside. After nearly 5 years on the road with the Plainsmen, I called it a day and took a job with Mullingar based band, The Times. Some of its members were ex Joe Dolan and the Drifters and had just split from their lead singers, The Swarbriggs. At first I found it very difficult to fit into this loud, rocking band as I had been more used to more laid back country. After a time, I got used to it and found, at last , a band which I could truely say I was very happy with. The friendships I made in this band have lasted to this day.
The Times split up in 1982 during the rapid decline in the Showband scene, brought about mainly by the onslaught of the Disco craze and the complete inability of Ballroom owners to adapt to the changes which dance goers now demanded. Gone were the days when people were content to socialise in cold, damp, drab dance halls. And the disco bars and halls were mainly being ran in the comfort of hotel ballrooms, which in general, were not much better than the dance halls around the country, but had plenty dim lighting and flashing lights to disguise the dirt and drabness in them, so they completely obliterated the dance halls and in the space of two years, the halls and ballrooms were closed and remain closed to this day.
Skipping a few Beats
At this stage I quit the business. I had a young family to support and my choices at the time were to take a job I had been offered with Country female singer Gloria, who had a major hit with "One Day at A Time", or take an ordinary job. I took a job in a factory, and lord did I hate that job. But I stayed and to a degree I liked the complete organisation of working regular hours, holidays, off at Christmas and forgetting about the job as soon as you walked out of the place. BUT... I unfortunately stopped playing guitar as well and didn't touch one again for about 4 years. It wasn't until my eldest son, Gary who wanted to learn how to play, pestered me about showing him how to play bits of solo's in songs by Queen and other rock bands of that time, that I took up the guitar again. Through teaching Gary, I got the bug again to play and began practicing. In no time I was as keen as I was when I was learning as a kid. I have never lost that edge since and am still a very keen guitarist, always looking for ways to improve and still have a great passion for the instrument.
Back on "Track" - Doing what I Love
I got into recording from trying to find a way to have my own songs demo'd. I started with a small 4 track recorder and from that I got the recording bug. Since then my partner Josie and I have built a new recording studio with a live recording room that doubles as a classroom to do guitar lessons in. I released my first solo album, 'So', in 2003. 'So' contained a mix of my influences, all my own compositions, a mix of Country, Blues, Jazz and Rock which just about sums up my tastes with a leaning more towards Country and Blues.
I intend to continue to develop the studio with the ongoing and never-ending help and encouragement of Josie, and intend recording my next album in 2005 although I haven't yet decided on the format .
So...
I hope you enjoy your visit to my website and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the many friends who have helped me along the way and in every way:
- Thanks to Josie for your never ending help, both physical and encouragement. l love you to bits Jo.
- To my family - Gary, Caroline, Lorna, Bob and PJ - Thanks guys, for all your help and love. I love you all.
- To Danny Slevin who gave so much help with the electrics in the studio - thanks Dan I could never have done it without you.
- To all my musician friends - Davy Hynes, Ollie Kennedy, Danny Slevin, Joe Meehan, James and Martin Quinn from JAM studios in Kells Co.Meath, my son Gaz, editor of Sound on Sound recording magazine, Paul White, Gary and Oliver Burns and, last but by no means least, Danny Murray who is mainly responsible for the construction of this site. Thank you Danny so very much and I count myself very fortunate to have you as a friend as I do with all the people I have mentioned.
Vinny Baker (2005)
