Chic was the founder member of the band and at that time he was also the most experienced having played professionally for over 5 years before forming La Paz. Playing in various other bands he'd toured with Thin Lizzy and The Frankie Miller Band plus played festivals alongside Wishbone Ash, Ian Gillan and Saxon.

He co-wrote almost all of the La Paz original material with Doogie White and it was this partnership that was the heart of the band.

When Doogie left he had a brief song-writing project going with Billy Rankin (SAHB, Nazareth) and then he stopped playing electric guitar; in fact he pretty much stopped playing guitar altogether for 20 years and concentrated on a successful career in IT, building several businesses in the UK and the USA.

"That's what mystifies me most. At the first three reunion gigs everyone said that my playing was so much better than it used to be twenty years ago. I can't work that out 'cos I simply didn't play or practise electric guitar in all that time. I played a little flamenco for about a year or so in the gap between La Paz playing live again but that was it. Twenty years ago I used to understand the musical theory behind everything I played and I practised all the time; this time around I'm totally winging it and yet folk think I'm a better player. When I think of all the time I wasted learning pentatonic scales...I could have been getting pissed like everyone else."

Chic made it his mission to ensure everyone in the band was always on time for church and banned them from drinking anything but Ovaltine before gigs. His battle-cry "Let's try that one more time but can we all play the same song" still draws snores of enthusiasm from the band even today.

He still plays his original guitar, a custom-built white Gordon-Smith, and it has a unique sound which when plugged into his Peavy Butcher stack underpins La Paz' on-stage presence.

Chic McSherry endorses Elixir Strings and Gordon-Smith Guitars

If you are a lover of Crime Fiction then you may want to check out Waging War To Shake The Cold - the new novel by Chic McSherry (published by Wild Wolf Publishing) on Amazon Kindle. All royalties will go to the veterans charity Help For Heroes. Thank you.