David 'Braveheart' Watterston - 2nd Electric Lead & Comedy Guitar
A foreword from the editor:
I give up on this lot, I really do. You ask them for a few simple details of their life so far and what happens? They either scribble something unprintable on the back of a fag packet or they totally ignore the request. In some cases they send you enough boring information to fill three encyclopaedias and an index. Guess which road Braveheart went down? Read on, dear reader,
read on................
Early exposure to Elvis, Cliff, Beach Boys and Buddy Holly gave Dave the taste for music, especially R&B, skiffle and 'white' blues. Or is it 'blue' whites? No. that's washing powder. His elder siblings knew a guy who played in a band called Dean Ford & The Gaylords (oh dear). Sensibly, they changed their name to Marmalade and , less sensibly, murdered a Beatles' song called 'Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da'. 
In 1962, at the age of 9, Dave was taken to a gig at the Kelvin Hall, Glasgow. On the bill were Jerry Lee Lewis, The Animals, Manfred Mann, and Gene Vincent. This made a big impression on Dave, but it was nothing compared to what happened when he went backstage to meet the bands. Chas Chandler (the Animals' bassist) beat Dave to a bloody pulp. Honestly. Then he gave him his autograph. A few years later, it was Chandler who brought Jimi Hendrix to England. Hendrix subsequently died. Hmm, perhaps Chandler beat him to a bloody pulp as well. No, of course it isn't true.
After his parents split up, Dave moved around, staying for a while in Rothesay on the Isle Of Bute. It was here that he saw gigs by The Humblebums (Billy Connolly & Gerry Rafferty) and Ambrose Slade, who became simply Slade. No, not like Simply Red, I mean they just called themselves Slade.......oh, it doesn't matter.
There are two things Dave (almost) remembers about his time on Bute. One is looking through someone's front room window while drunk as a skunk and watching the Apollo moon landing. I don't think so - these people didn't have a TV, so God knows what he was seeing. The second is becoming a mod. The only mod on Bute. Who rode a motor bike. Yes, Dave really got to grips with this mod thing all right.
Keen to repeat his phenomenal success as a mod, Dave headed south from Bute and made his way to the Isle of Wight festival in 1970, but ended up watching the whole thing from Desolation Hill because he'd left the tickets in London. Yep, mod to hippy genius without batting an eyelid.
Moving to Worcester Park, he began gigging with some friends called Five By Five. Inspired by early success they told Dave to go out and buy something decent. When he came back with a pizza, they had to sit him down in a corner and explain that they actually meant a guitar. Although he had set his heart on a Telecaster, it cost £175 and in 1970 that was a lot of money for Dave to find. Actually, it's still a lot of money for Dave to find. Come to think of it £1.75 is a lot of money for Dave to find. But I digress............
A defining moment for Dave at this time was meeting Pauline, now his wife. It was at a pub called The Three Fishes in Kingston. There is no truth in the ugly rumour that Pauline thought the place was called The Three Wishes and Dave was the consolation prize.
By now, Dave's younger brother Andy was making his mark on the music scene; after a job with Orange Amplification, he went on to work for Cliff Richard (second time he's been mentioned, hmmmmmmm), John Miles, and Jethro Tull. Andy was also offered work by Phil Collins and Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson, who wanted him to run his mobile studio, Moulin Rouge.
Insanely jealous, Dave went off to Zambia to sulk for a couple of months. Back in the UK a plot was hatched to keep him out of the country, and Pauline was smuggled out to Africa in a flight case to take his mind off things. Over the next three years he got over his tantrum, married Pauline, came back to the UK and in true rock'n'roll style, set up a surveying business.
Since joining OBM, Dave has had the opportunity to play with guys from Mike & The Mechanics, Edgar Broughton Band, the young prodigy Andy Cortes and a bloke who knew someone whose sister looked after a dog belonging to the gardener for a lady who lived over the road from a couple whose daughter once nearly went out with Jeff Beck.
