Biography
My name is Chris Wright; I'm a free-lance guitarist/musician. I've been a professional musician since 1999. I've been a part of many different Sessions, Bands and various other musical projects.
Since hearing The Beatles Abbey Road album at age 13 I knew what I wanted to do, play guitar and make music! Coming from a very musical family I was lucky to have all the advice and support I needed to develop my abilities on the guitar, as well as having a whole host of other instruments at hand including a Piano, a Banjo, and a Bouzouki to make some noise with!
After a brief time learning classical and acoustic finger style I moved onto the electric guitar. I discovered artists such as Albert Lee, Roy Buchanan, The Eagles, Stevie Wonder, Joe Pass, Paco De Lucia, Billy Joel, Django Reinhardt and many more. I was always interested in all styles of music, from rock to blues, and country to jazz. I loved every bit of it, and tried to take a little piece of it all.
When leaving secondary school I became part of a duo 'Feedback' and became busy playing around various local venues over a 2 year period. We managed to get an audition for a BBC television programme 'Just Up Your Street' and secured ourselves a slot on the show playing Gary Moore's 'Still Got The Blues' with the live 'house' band. Following the TV show, we appeared on BBC Radio Wales' live afternoon show along side Steve Williams the drummer from welsh rockers Budgie. We were interviewed and played a number of cover tracks live on air.
Over the next 2 years I played in a few other local bands and duos, as well as being guitarist in a show band. I played guitar in a selection of musicals including 'Little Shop of Horrors', 'Bugsey Malone', 'Smike', an 'Abba Tribute' show, and 'Josephs Technicolor Dream coat'. In the meantime I had just completed 'A' level Music, and Music Technology at Neath Port Talbot College.
In 2000 I attended the Academy of Contemporary Music, Guildford. I auditioned and won a position on the Higher Diploma Guitar course. It was basically like doing a 3 year degree in 1 year! Whilst at the ACM I was fortunate to be under the wings of such players as Guthrie Govan, Dave Kilminster, Eric Roche, Pete Callard and Andy Jones. I graduated in June 2001 with Distinction. After receiving my certificate at the graduation ceremony I was asked to go back stage. I was joined shortly after by a guy by the name of Newton Faulkner, who was attending the college himself. Newton's name was called out to front stage for an award. Shortly after, my name was called and to my excitement received the 'Most Outstanding Guitarist' of the year award. As a prize we each got given an Ernie Ball Music Man Axis Sport guitar!
Then shortly after I had a phone call from a friend telling me a Kent based Pink Floyd Tribute band 'Just Floyd' were looking for a Dave Gilmour on guitar. So, I made my way to Kent for the audition and hit it off with the band straight away. I won a place in the band and we started gigging all over the UK. Everywhere from Essex, to Hull, to Birmingham, to Hastings! It was a great experience for me as I learned a lot of discipline from playing Gilmour's parts.
On returning to Wales to live, I continued to play in various bands and duos. I also started writing with a Latin/pop influenced singer Gabrielle De Guia which lead to performances in 'The Pop Factory' and played guitar on some of her recordings. At this time I was teaching guitar at a Music Store, and built up an arsenal of students of all ages ranging from 6 to 60! I continue to teach guitar to this day in between music projects.
During 2004 I met up with Singer/Song Writer David Dale. We wrote a number of songs together and recorded some rough acoustic Demo's. We became 'Alpine Butterfly'. In 2006, after great response to our first recording together we decided to form a band. In 2007 we entered the 'Emergenza' unsigned international battle of the bands, winning the first two rounds, and getting us a place in the UK finals. This lead to playing 'The Point' in Cardiff, 'The Fiddlers' in Bristol, and 'The London Astoria'. It was a fantastic experience!
