JohnPFraser Header Logo image
About
Image of John aged 9

I was born way back in February 1980, while "Coward of the County" by Kenny Rogers was No.1 in the UK charts.

I grew up in a small Welsh mining town called Maesteg, (although "grew" may prove to be slightly misleading), and as a child, my main activities involved digging, and imagining climbing the mountain behind my parents house.

I became interested in Music while I was in Primary School, attempting to play the piano, violin, cornet and various different sized recorders, mainly to try (unsuccessfully) to impress the female members of the school.

For some reason I was never allowed to play the "tulip blocks"…

I wrote my first composition while studying GCSE Music in Comprehensive School, shortly before my Music Teacher introduced me to the music of Bartok, Pederecki, Webern and Stockhausen. A seed had been planted...

In 2002, I began working at Danny Chang Music Studios, discovering not only the world of Recording Technology, but also the delights of the Electric Guitar.

I currently live in Cardiff and play the Guitar, Piano, Bass, Vibraphone, Drums and Percussion. (I'd secretly like to play the Theremin but I get the suspicious feeling that the neighbours wouldn't share my enthusiasm…)

Some of my favourite Composers, Musicians and hopefully influences include:

Lily Allen
Dorothy Ashby
Louis Armstrong
Ananda Shankar
Alban Berg
Bela Bartok
Brigette Bardot
The Beach Boys
John Barry
Brian Wilson
Luciano Berio
The Beatles
Boney M
Pierre Boulez
The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
The Byrds
John Cage
The Coasters
Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band
Mal 'Catman' Clint
Chuck Berry
Earl Lewis and The Channels
John Coltrane
Leonard Cohen
Danny Chang
Eric Dolphy
Bo Diddley
Bob Dylan
Don and Dewey
Miles Davis
Rogério Duprat
The Doors
Duke Ellington
Don Ellis
Ennio Morricone

Brian Eno
Bill Evans
Mississippi Fred McDowell
Serge Gainsbourg
Stan Getz
Guitar Slim
Grateful Dead
Simon & Garfunkel
Gilberto Gil
Terry Gibbs
Philip Glass
Howlin' Wolf
The Heartbeats
Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass
Noel Harrison
Herbie Hancock
Bobby Hutcherson
Buddy Holly
Herbie Mann
Dr. Samuel Hoffman
Jo Hisaishi
Charles Ives
Elmore James
Quincy Jones
Jimmy Smith
Jimmy McGriff
Jeremy Richardson
Joao Gilberto
Scott Joplin
John Jenner
Kaleidoscope
Mauricio Kagel
Kinks
Kenny Burrell
Kraftwerk
Rahsaan Roland Kirk
Little Richard

Lightnin' Slim
L. Shankar
Love
Les Paul
Helmut Lachenmann
György Sándor Ligeti
The Libertines
Charles Mingus
Mantovani
Olivier Messiaen
Henry Mancini
Big Mama Thornton
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Meatloaf
The Modern Jazz Quartet
Oliver Nelson
The Nutmegs
The New Vaudeville Band
Conlon Nancarrow
Os Mutantes
The Orchids
Odetta
The Pearls
The Penguins
Krzysztof Penderecki
Percy Faith and His Orchestra
Perez Prado
Pink Floyd
Serge Prokofieff
Quarteto Novo
Demis Roussos
Rammstein
Maurice Ravel
The Rutles
Ravi Shankar
Richard Berry and The Pharaohs

Gioachino Rossini
Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Igor Stravinsky
Sheb Wooley
Sea Shanties
Shiina Ringo
Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66
Karlheinz Stockhausen
The Shaggs
Spike Jones
Silver Apples
Strawberry Alarm Clock
Steve Reich
Tiny Tim
Tropicalia
Edgard Varèse
The Velours
The Velvet Underground
Caetano Veloso
Guiseppe Verdi
Vashti Bunyan
Vangelis
Anton Webern
Muddy Waters
Johnny "Guitar" Watson
Scott Walker
Kai Winding
Walter Wanderley
Richard Wagner
Klaus Wunderlich
Iannis Xenakis
Xavier Cugat
Yma Sumac
Yusef Lateef
Los Zafiros
Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention