John Cubbin a genuine rockstar - with his roots in blues/rock guitar. Watch those fingers fly - we think he’s got an extra one tucked in his fist somewhere!

John also shares some of the vocal responsibilities with Jamie.

You can hear him on  I Hadn’t Forgot, Tore it Up, Rock Churches and Night Train 

Responsible for writing the bulk of the band’s songs, He also runs his own recording studio, AudioXL in Shrewsbury.

JC’s influences are Gary Moore, Jeff Beck, Ritchie Blackmore, Paul Kossoff and Skip James… to name but a few!

 John started playing guitar whilst still at school. His schoolboy bands included one called Black Sabbath - really! 

“I took the name from a horror film - someone else used the name later - can’t remember who!” 

His first ‘gigging’ band was called “Dyed Abner” - “we rehearsed for almost a year before doing a gig, mainly because we were too scared to play in public”. 

A very young JC did eventually gig and he has never stopped since! 

“I suppose if you count a rough average of all the gigs I have played I must have done around 4,000!” 

John’s bands during that period have included the afore mentioned Dyed Abner,The Street, Picture, Civilian, British Steel, Slender Thread, The Quinels, Channel Three, Youth in Asia , Harp Attack and most recently The Timedivers. 

He has played most of the big venues around the country including The (original) Cavern Club in Liverpool - “my name is somewhere on the dressing room wall (now in a Beatles museum) along with the fab four’s names”, The (original) Marquee Club in Soho, The Rainbow Theatre and most of the country’s major universities and night clubs. 

Throughout his playing career John has been writing songs and wrote the majority of the material for Civilian, Youth in Asia and The Timedivers. 

He sang lead vocals in the original Civilian but has concentrated on his guitar playing since then with only the occasional vocal outing. 

“It was only when I started getting praise for my playing (from among others, Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt) that I realised maybe I was getting better and might be good one day!” 

He did indeed ‘get better’ and is now regarded as one of the best guitarists around.

John’s Guitars and amps:

On stage John uses mainly a Fender Floyd Rose Stratocaster, a Gibson Les Paul and a Parker Fly, although on certain songs brings out the trusty Fender Telecaster and Martin acoustic.

He plays through an old Mesa Boogie valve combo and a Trace Elliot acoustic amp (for the Parker and Martin).

For effects he uses Boss pedals, a Cry Baby wah and a Digitech Brian May pedal.

In the studio he plays through a Line 6 POD pro “if it’s good enough for Jeff Beck it’s good enough for me”!

That’s it. Come and see the man in action sometime. You won’t be disappointed!