Gary Binks
Acoustic / Folk / Rock

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Last Updated: 27 Jun 2008
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The Band


About us


Born in Salford but raised in Clitheroe, Lancashire, the first significant musical influence that I had in my life as a youngster of 9 or 10 was that of my somewhat older brother playing his acoustic guitar and singing those beguiling songs of the singer-songwriter period of the 60’s and early 70’s. Even as a child there was definitely something of a halcyon feel to that period and it was this that was transmitted to me by this man, this ‘Keats with a guitar’.

The earliest records I remember really connecting with were from my brother’s collection. Roy Harper’s Sophisticated Beggar, Fairport Convention’s Liege and Lief and Simon and Garfunkel’s stupefying first records.

In my young mind there was nothing for me to do but to emulate my older sibling to some extent. The only way I could do this as a by now 13-year-old kid, was get my mum to buy an acoustic guitar from the catalogue. Thus the journey began.

By the time I had started to learn how to play the guitar the Punk and New Wave era was firmly entrenched in my blossoming mind. For me this period continues to be the richest, most energetic and refreshing period that I have ever experienced in music.

A brief dalliance with Heavy Rock in the 80's and then thankfully, I grew up.

It was during the 80’s and 90’s that I rediscovered Richard Thompson and newly discovered Nick Drake, so it wasn’t all that bad. Richard Thompson was the first artist to really get me fired-up on what great songwriting was all about. Stories, lyrical wordplay, song construction, stunning melody and great guitar playing were all part of the package that Thompson was and still continues to present.

In 1996 I met him and played the same stage as part of a Songwriting Workshop in Burnley, Lancashire organised by Folkworks. The workshop had taken shape over several weeks chaired by the inimitable Pete Coe, the culmination of which was an evening concert supported by Steve Tilston and of course, Mr Thompson.

At a similar time I became singularly impressed with Nick Drake, who of course is all the rage now and eminently ‘cool’. He was still relatively unknown when I started emulating his guitar style. I was never too enamoured with Drake’s lyrics but his guitar playing was bewitching, his right hand technique being wonderfully complex.

The resultant work is hard to define even by my standards, moving through a variety of musical influences and styles. It is probably the type of record that will be appreciated most by ‘muso’s’ and those that know their music.

Comments from Local Press.

“His songs are stories, filled with vivid characters, barbed comments, strong thoughts and heart- on- the-sleeve emotions which many listeners will identify with”.
“A breath of fresh air in the all too polluted world of commercial pop”.
“Quirky, catchy and full of life”.
“Gary Binks is impossible to define. He is his own man”.
“Impossible to pigeon hole”.
“Distinctive work”.





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