Gaz Bolan

Dedicated to his craft and striving for virtuosity, fuelled with a passion and hunger unseen by most, Gaz first picked up a guitar at the tender age of thirteen. His competitive streak set fire when he walked in on his younger sister playing, and before he knew it mere sibling rivalry turned into a fully fledged obsession. Within weeks he started playing his first set of gigs with ‘Baby Strange’, a T-rex tribute, from which the stage name ‘Bolan’ derived amid a mass of feather bowers and flamboyant clothing. ‘Baby Strange’ was his first taste of the live scene, a flavour that was he was to savor ever since. The band took him across the UK at such a young age, playing at Club Xtreme and Anfield Football Stadium in Liverpool at various well known Marc Bolan conventions, aswell as Skegness’ Fantasy Island, all before the age of sixteen.

After signing upto college and passing his first year of a National Diploma in Music Practise with Distinction, his second year finished abruptly as a signing to London management company TK1 meant a relocation to London. Whilst working on a project with TK1 made up of himself, Zoe Devlin (of Alabama5), Ben Smyth (Rooster, Raygun) and Jasper Sommer (has sessioned for the likes of Celine Dion), Gaz also got involved in various session work which at the time led him to work with the likes of Leann Rhymes, whilst also demoing guitars for Line 6 during their ‘Variac’ campaign, as well as meeting and assisting the industries finest at one of the most prestigious music shops in the capital, Turnkey/The Soho Soundhouse. During this time, his sisters were also tasting success with their outfit ‘Lovebites’ who were signed to Universal and reached number 13 in the charts with their debut single ‘You Broke My Heart’. Throughout the hype of the band, Gaz was also heavily involved in song writing, musical direction, session work, guitar teching and sound engineering for the girls as well as working on his own projects.

Still only at the youthful age of eighteen, Gaz then embarked on another new project as he joined ‘Attica’ through an advert in the NME. With ‘Attica’ he achieved further succes with extensive touring and press coverage, and also being a significant song writer in the band for both of their EPs ‘Painting Pictures With Words’ and ‘Jinxed’ and also their self titled album recorded with reputable producer John Rivers (Ghost Town – The Specials), of which they sold more than 4,000 without any form of digital distribution, just word of mouth and the copies they sold at their live shows. ‘Attica’ landed a deal with ‘Alist Records’, and as a band they played the prestigious Guilfest supporting the likes of Paul Weller, Blondie and Thunder, as well as receiving a BBC New Music Award presented by Pete Waterman, and also a song written by Gaz called ‘S.E.X.’ was even chosen as the theme tune for the Sky Sports British Rally Season which has still been used to this day.

At the age of twenty Gaz took on another project with his sister formerly of ‘Lovebites’, and within ‘Aimee Strange’ they played out to a sold out crowd at the Liverpool Academy supporting State Warning (Matt Johnson – Popstars The Rivals), as well as music videos and numerous dates throughout the UK including taking part of an Anti-bullying campaign in Scotland. After things died down, Gaz wanted to take on more of an active role, and set about to do things differently. Rather than just the musical side of things, he wanted to be more heavily involved and have a project that was truly his own. Off his own back he gathered a set of musicians and set up ‘Carpe Diem’. In the midlands the band had a great hype surrounding them, and Gaz took great pride in a managerial and organisational role as well as being involved in the music and writing. With all of his hard work, the band recorded a music video, a strong and powerful EP and toured the country in a self organised tour, in which he got ‘Linchpin’ involved to headline, who had also played Download Festival in the same year and had an extensive history of success behind them, as well as playing a the NIA National Rock and Pop Festival.

In 2010 Gaz wanted to push his session work a lot more, and after scouring advertisements an opportunity arose with rock band New Device, signed to Powerage Records. After just releasing their album ‘Taking Over’ the band had lost their guitarists and were looking for someone to play and get involved in the album promotion. After merely watching some videos of Gaz’s guitar work on youtube and hearing about his passion, the band fell in love with his work and invited him to go down to London for an audition which led to him being offered the job. Within his time in New Device he has embarked upon two full UK tours, the first of which was supporting Papa Roach’s good friends Dear Superstar, followed by a headlining tour, but more predominantly during the summer he also played at Classic Rock’s High Voltage Festival in London opening up for the likes of Black Label Society, and meeting some of his idols such as Gary Moore. The biggest achievement of all though came when the ultimate gig cropped up, and he got the chance to support none other than the worlds biggest rock band Bon Jovi at their stint at Londons massive O2 Arena, performing and showcasing himself in front of 23,000 people. This undoubtedly led to a great amount of press coverage with reviews and features being covered in the likes of Big Cheese magazine and Kerrang.

With the start of 2011, Gaz is looking to really push his session work further and further, and with a recent endorsement from Blackstar Amplification and Audio Technica allowing him to have gear of the highest quality, his passion, dedication and determination couldn’t be stronger, alongside wanting to delve deeper into the realms of recording, production and writing. Still only at the age of twenty four, and with a huge string of successes and experiences under his belt, he still has an awful lot to give out and I can assure you, the best is yet to come.