There’s a wonderful irony about the title of John Verity’s recent autobiography - This Rock and Roll Won’t Last You Know.

For in his case, it has lasted more than 60 years since his first gig and shows no signs of slowing down.

John Verity (Picture: Simon Dunkerley)

On Saturday, John will be bringing his band to Barnoldswick Music and Arts Centre for an intimate gig showcasing some of his music as a solo artist.

“Playing live is still the thing I like more than anything else,” he said. “There really is nothing like it.”

Starting in the Sixties, John began playing guitar in bands in his native Bradford where his reputation as a guitarist grew. He was in the band Tunnel which supported the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin in the US in the early Seventies and formed his own John Verity Band. Then in 1973 he was invited to join Argent and spent three years touring the world and recording virtually non stop.

After three years Argent disbanded and John moved more into production working with artists as varied as Ringo Starr, BowWowWow and Motorhead.

John is very much a guitarist’s guitarist, much in-demand and with signature models, and has also a solo career which includes more than 20 albums.

Recently he finally got round to writing his autobiography.

“It’s something that people had been telling me for years I should do but I just kept saying no,” he said. “The thing is with me when I get nervous I’ll start rabbiting on trotting out all these stories about things that have happened to me over the years. People hear them and that’s when they say I should write a book.”

He was finally persuaded to do it by close friend Del Bromham of the band Stray.

“Del had just done his own book around lockdown and he just said I had to meet his publisher as I had so many good stories that people would love to hear,” said John. “Reluctantly I agreed and the book was the result.

“Actually I’m really glad I did it but I was determined that I wasn’t going to put too much waffle in it. I’ve read so many music autobiographies where there are whole sections you can just skip over and I didn’t want that.

“Some of the bits were upsetting to write; I’ve made some stupid decisions over the years and I didn’t want to ignore them. But I have also left some things out. It wasn’t my intention to hurt anyone.”

Having completed the autobiography John has reached a conclusion about musicians,

“You know what? We’re basically all the same,” he laughed. “I remember reading Don Felder’s book. He may have been growing up in Florida and went on to be in the Eagles but at the beginning he was just like me in Bradford - we had the same dreams, the same unplayable Spanish guitar to start with, we were cobbling together an amplifier out of nothing and we all fell for the same strokes setting out.

“When I first started I just wanted to see my name on a record. I didn’t think about deals or anything like that.

“I was chatting to Del Bromham the other day about when we used to play the Marquee early on. I honestly can’t remember if we ever got paid. We might have done but it wasn’t something you’d really think about.

“I know that for a period in the early 70s before I joined Argent I’m not really sure how I survived. I lived in this little cottage on my own just writing songs and doing the odd badly paid gig. I know that other musicians used to come and visit and they would leave plastic bags of food for me - it was like getting Red Cross parcels!”

With Argent, John sealed his reputation as both a guitarist and vocalist but his singing abilities had often previously been overlooked.

John Verity (Picture: Sam Ryley)

“When I was starting out I wanted to be a guitar player and that was it,” he said. “I was a pretty quiet kid so I just played. But as the band got work we’d back people and I’d do some harmony vocals and I realised I could sing.

“But because I sang quite high and the style was for more earthy singers the band wouldn’t let me sing!”

John has always had an interest in the technology surrounding the music business and today has his own studio at home.

“I started an apprenticeship as a TV and radio engineer when I left school,” he said. “But then I saw an advert in the local paper for musicians and that was it.”

But for all his production work, it is playing live which still gives him the most satisfaction.

“I have done so many gigs over the years I’ve become quite good at it,” he laughed. “But I much prefer the smaller, intimate gigs. I like to see people’s faces.

“I remember when we did our first big shows in America and you’re just looking out into the blackness.

“ I had a little trick to cope with that - I’d invent someone in the audience; someone in the first few rows who I couldn’t see but I’d play to them as though I could. I’d also have a second imaginary audience member a bit further back.

“But communication is so important.

“I remember one of the first thing’s my mum told me after she came to see me play early on. She gave me a right telling off for looking at my guitar all the time.

“Her dad had been in vaudeville so she had showbiz in the blood and she told me then that if you don’t communicate with the audience they won’t like what you’re doing and she was right. That has stuck with me ever since.”

John Verity plays Barnoldswick Music and Arts Centre, Saturday, October 5. Details from www.barnoldswickmusicandartscentre.com