Drums & Percussion
Frank lives on the South Coast of England and is the youngest member of Noddy’s Puncture, just like Carl is with ELP. Frank didn’t hear any ELP until 1977 when ‘Fanfare for the Common Man’ came out. He was immediately impressed with the sound and soon afterwards he purchased the triple live ‘Welcome Back’ album and everything changed. Having just taken up the drums he was hugely influenced by the playing of Carl Palmer and in particular his speed, invention and dexterity. Carl’s drumming also led Frank to check out other drummers and music and he began listening to Barriemore Barlow (Jethro Tull), Neil Peart (Rush) and of course Buddy Rich plus many more. Over the years, the music of ELP had a massive impact on Frank and he was a co-writer of the first ever ELP Biography ‘The Show That Never Ends’ which was first released in 2000. Part of the research for that book was going on tour with ELP in 1996. More recently, he started a company with Carl Palmer called Drum Clinics UK which arranges all of Carl’s drumming activity such as Clinics, Master-classes and sessions with special needs children.
During the 1990’s, Frank played in an ELP Tribute Band called ‘Works 3’ and first met Tom at the ELP convention in 1995 and since then, always stayed in contact. He also plays in other Function bands however playing the music of ELP has always been his favourite! Needless to say he was delighted when Tom asked him to join ‘Noddy’s Puncture’ in 2016 and has enjoyed every minute of working with Tom, Ed and sound engineer Dave.
Franks uses:
- Yamaha Drums – 8, 10, 12, 14, 15 Toms
- 22 Bass Drum
- 6, 8, 10 Roto Toms
- Paiste Signature Cymbals
- Gong and Bell
- Roland SPD-20 pad
- Custom drum triggers for the Toccata solo
- Gibraltar, Yamaha & Mapex hardware/pedals
- Protection Racket cases
- Vater 5B nylon tipped sticks