It was one night in the Ben Leva pub, Drumnadrochit, somewhere in 1986. He was there with the rest of the band, all of them underage, listening to the group playing in the corner and getting exquisitely drunk. he had no idea life was about to change when the group took a half time break, blissfully unaware that one of his fellow underage band mates asked the musicians for a shot of their gear to play a few tunes.
"Right Deek, we’re on" was the first he heard about it. Next thing he’s standing in the corner with a bar of alcohol-fuelled adults staring at him. Flustered, unprepared, drunk and suddenly terrified, 15 year old Derek Urquhart picked up a guitar and commenced to play out of his living skin. 20 minutes later with the roar of applause and flush of adrenalin still raging through him he watched the other band pick up their instruments and try to repair the damage done to their egos by a drunken bunch of school boys.
This is when Derek got “the bug”.