A 69-year-old cancer survivor and would-be musician has built up a cult following - by busking on a drum kit made of bins. 

Henry Savage, known as the Tin Bin man, has been playing to tourists and shoppers in Glasgow city centre for the last two months. 

Granddad Henry built the drum kit from scratch himself after the throat cancer he was suffering from went into remission. 

Henry, from Calton, Glasgow, is a former guitarist with a pub band and used to dabble in some singing. But he has been unable to use his vocal chords after his cancer ordeal. 

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So he's now out playing drums to tunes such as the YMCA song, the theme from Rocky and a number of hits by US rockers ZZ Top - while wearing a builder's hard hat. 



Henry said: "Busking lifts my spirits. I was a bit down, a bit of a mess before. I couldn't eat, I couldn't speak and I went down to eight stone. 

"But when I'm out there looking at people smiling and taking pictures, it just makes me want to jump for joy." 

A former painter and decorator and bus driver, Henry sourced the different bins from all over the world. 

He said: "I bought them from America, Canada, Birmingham and Glasgow. They're all normal bins, but people think that they are drums. 

"There's not another one like it in Glasgow." 

He added: "We have to get the drums in a taxi because I had to sell my car when I had cancer. I wasn't allowed to drive because I was on morphine." 

Henry last played the drums 40 years ago when he was in a pub band. 

He said: "But then I got married and had kids and that was the end of the band." 

Henry, who plays at spots in Glasgow City Centre including outside the St Enoch Centre, has five sons and five grandchildren. 

His youngest son Ryan, 19, helps him out by playing backing music through an iPad. 

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Ryan said: "It is always better when it is sunny, but when it is really busy people just walk by. Other times it is a great big crowd. 

"It's great to see Dad enjoying himself after everything he's been through. He's a natural born performer." 

Asked why he wears a hard hat, Henry explained: "I'm supposed to be a bin man. It's also because I want to be totally and utterly different to the other buskers. I wanted to stand out. People call me 'Bob the Builder'. 

"The band I was in called Hot Ice but it was about 40 years ago. 

"I bought the bins on eBay from all over the world. I built it in my front room with some spanners and some drills. 

"It's taken weeks and weeks to build. It started off small but expanded and the reason it expanded is because I thought it was too easy to copy. 

"The cymbals were originally off a drum kit. I bought an old drum kit from someone lying out in their garden all rusty and you can see the rust, but because I'm outside it doesn't matter. I bought the old drum kit very cheap. 

"I've been married twice, but I'm divorced now. I've got two sons from my first marriage, two from my second and one son from another relationship. 

"All the boys had a right laugh when I told them I was going to do this. 

"My favourite song by ZZ Top is 'Sharp Dressed Man'. 

"But the song that gets everyone going is the 'YMCA'. Everybody recognises it. 

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"The other one that everybody recognises is the Rocky theme. I started off playing the Rolling Stones and The Beatles but people didn't really like it so I observe a lot and see what people like. You've got to try and please the crowd. 

"It doesn't matter if I don't make much money. I just want to make people happy."