About Us
Daz Gossage (Guitar and Vocals)
I first starting playing the guitar at around 13 years old - after I begged and begged my parents for one for an xmas present. By Boxing Day I had written my first ever song! At around this time I was singing in a band called "Stefron" at my school. Once I was good enough I started playing guitar in the band, along side my good friend Richard Pierce. Stefron went on for 3 years or so until Richard and I went to college to study music. We formed another band, "Room 2 Move" in September 1999. We gigged for some 6 years. When we split I started writing, recording, and producing my own compositions. After a good year, I had finished my first album, "Nothing Left To Lose" (you can hear snippets from the album on Myspace).
Within a year and a half of moving back to Wiltshire (back in 2006) and after a brief spell in Irish folk band "Mick O'Toole", I met Lee Epplestone and we started jamming along with Matt Nugent (from "Traitor Born"). Thus was The Porn Issue spawned. Sadly Matt could not commit to us 100% and left.
After 3 months "on hold" a diminuitive Italian fella called Leo got in contact, wanting to audition for bassist... we havent looked back since.
May the funky times roll - big up the porn!
Leo Pulvirenti (Bass and Backing Vocals)
I started getting into music around the age of 15, when I started college. In 2001 I formed my first band, "Burning Rose" as a guitarist, but I ended up picking up the Bass when the original Bass player left the band. We played a few gigs in the Bath / Chippenham area and then split in mid-2005 after guitarist Pete Callaghan left for University.
In October 2006 I formed "Bullet Train" with Chris English, Steve Woodecki and Alex Palfrey. With this band I gained loads of experience playing live, recording and organising gigs. We played for 2 and a half years, splitting up in January 2009 after Steve decided to call it a day.
After a period of inactivity, just doing the occasional jam with friends, I auditioned for The Porn Issue in April 2009 and passed with Funky colours! We've been spreading our own brand of love and music ever since...
Lee Epplestone (Drums)
So I've been drumming for 8 years or so now and it all started when I was 14 years old and still at school. Me and my good friend Martin Alcock used to knock about on his Dad's instruments in his garage most days after school and weekends, with a few months of doing this I came to the conclusion the drums were my thing and we started getting some incentive to write some songs and start covering tracks (the good old days where everything was Lenny Kravitz... you knows it). After getting direction and a lot of help from Martin's old man we started getting somewhere and thought that yeah... with Martin being a bassist and me being a drummer we need a guitarist and vocalist which is where Johnny Edwards and Tarot Beachus stepped in creating my first band SARS.
With a year playing and gigging together we all started to fray and band practises were becoming nonexistent! So with that we packed it in and went our own ways. I for one let myself down and didn't really get on the drums for sometime (Most likely due to Drink/Drugs/Girls/Games and general teen bone idleness) and in the end stupidly sold my Tama 60s swing star (GUTTED), Until about 3 years ago I was luckily enough to have an electric drum kit handed to me and thus I started practising hard and putting a lot of effort back in just so I can live the dream of doing what I love to do best... And that's play/create music for people to enjoy and get into.
My lifelong best friend Johnny Edwards still stuck around, jamming a lot of lounge core in my flat and just getting some awesome riffs and beats down, then one day he lets me know that his drummer of his band back then is quitting and offers me a place in Mick O'Toole and the Reprobates, which is also where Daz came into my life ;)
After literally a few practices and ONE GIG, the band found that I didn't have enough time to put in... which is true because I was never around! So I was asked to leave, but with that being said I think the band was fizzling out and they disbanded soon enough after, which is where Daz found me and asked if I'd like to try something out with him and Matt Nugent and we all know this led to THE PORN ISSUE being born.
The start was a bit flaky with having limited gigs and material being written but it wasn't long until we had our first gig at the Wheatsheaf in Calne which I must say was FANTASTIC, packed out venue and a great crowd. After some time of having a few local gigs and writing some great songs, we started coming across the fact that Matt Nugent was stuck in a balancing act between TPI and his other band Traitor Born (big up). Looking at the facts of both bands and with Traitor Born thick with tours and high on publicity and with us still in the sticks we’d thought it be best he went and put 100% effort into TB. So now a search for a bassist began. We didn’t have to wait too long for our chunk o hunk hero Leo (90% Fictitious there) to sprinkle us with his shine and thus making us COMPLETE!