After his first public performance at a school show at the age of 12 Andy Bucknall has become a familiar face on Birmingham's live music scene.
But the 43-year-old from Quinton now has ambitions to launch himself as a stand-up comedian.
"It seems that comedians that I've been on the bill with in the past are the ones that have gone on to great things," says Andy.
"In 1987, when I was in the house jazz band at The Swan in Yardley, Frank Skinner was the compere and Lee Evans was the guest comic.
"And every Sunday at The Waterworks in Edgbaston there was a comedy night called The Last Retort compered by a guy named Charlie Cheese. He's now known as McKenzie Crook, one of the stars of The Office."
Andy tested some of his comedy material at Warwick's Word Festival.
"I was doing some comic poems and stand-up and I loved the reaction I got," recalls Andy, who is now looking to perform his adult-orientated, Chubby Brown-style show around Birmingham.
"I've been writing comic poems for years and I've also got some stories about growing up in Quinton where my mum and dad still live."
Not that Andy will be abandoning his music - in fact, he seems to be busier than ever despite holding down a full time job as a literacy tutor at Handsworth College.
He regularly gigs as a solo acoustic artist performing original indie-punk material and he has teamed up with Mike Bethel for UnBeatled playing FabFour classics.
And then there's Andy Bucknall and the Yampy Werewolves, a band playing fast three minute, rifforientated songs inspired by Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age.
* Andy Bucknall will play a solo set at the Actress & Bishop on January 12 and with the Yampy Werewolves at Scruffy Murphy's, Dale End, on January 20.
