Dave Goodchild started playing the guitar at age 17 and for his 18th Birthday got a Squire Telecaster and a Marshall practice amp. Needless to say he didn't look back.
Many amps and bands later Dave has expanded his guitar collection to include an early 60's German Jazz guitar, a Taylor electro-acoustic, an early eighties Fender Flame electric guitar (very rare and very tasty !), a 50's Portuguese mandolin and a Romanian Octave Mandola as well as the Squire Tele.
Dave was the singer and guitarist in Freeloader with Dave Clark where a Marshall JCM 900 became essential to be heard over Dave's drumming. Freeloader lasted for about five years as a four piece and then a three piece. They mostly played late 1960's and early 1970's rock and blues standards. Favourite bands included Jimi Hendrix, Free, Led Zep and Thin Lizzy. The bass player, Dave Hing (he makes his bass sing) moved away when his work took him westwards and the power trio became the sensitive folky duo of Blencathra. Dave G and C played various pubs and clubs playing mostly stripped down acoustic versions of songs by the Levellers, U2, Dougie Maclean and Nick Drake along with some original material. The cult album form that period - 'Songs for our cider and ballads for our beer' is now a much sought after classic with only six copies available. As fatherhood loomed he found the gentler pace of folk music to be the most civilized way to get out and play music. But now that the children are a little older and his old friend Dave C is in need of a guitar player the Marshall (albeit a slightly smaller one these days) rides again.