He's known for his percussive playing style and hits like Dream Catch Me, Teardrop and I Need Something, but singer-songwriter Newton Faulkner was a relative latecomer to the world of music...

"I didn't really get into music until quite late. I was around 14 or 15 and I think it was because all my friends started a band. I had three friends, two of them playing guitar, one of them on drums and I was basically told that if I wanted friends I had to play the bass. So learn the bass I did. I got a bass from a friend and an amp as well. I played that for a bit, then I got a guitar and in a local guitar shop found a little steel string – and that was the real beginning.

I went to this open day [for music college] and there were guys that had been playing since they were six so I panicked and did nothing but play guitar for about six months. I didn’t get dressed, wore the same shorts and dressing gown every day. I had a guitar on a strap next to my bed and I just put it on every morning and that was my day. I’d do it while eating. I was constantly fiddling the whole time. I worked out ways of making tea while doing hammer-on exercises. I should probably do it again soon. Life gets in the way as you get older.

If I hadn’t had access to instruments and music lessons my life would probably be completely different.

I don’t know what I’d be doing. I mean I’m useless at everything else. I don’t think I could do office work. I'd have to be a fisherman or something. Just get me away from the public and out at sea and we'd be safe."

Instrument Amnesty