One of Riffs' reviews
from a bygone age - but wouldn't you have thought
the writer would have mentioned the date?!! No idea
when this was written (although around 2008 is a
rough guess) . . .
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 "Growing
up in the 60s I’d always leaned towards the rockier
side of music, preferring the Stones, Kinks
and the Who
to the Beatles
and the Tremeloes
etc. I’d seen local bands but
the first major band I had the chance to go and see
was The Who,
in the Rink at Sunderland - for the princely sum of
50p. At the time I was an apprentice at college full
time with a weekly wage of about £5.30 so by the
time I’d paid my mam her share, this probably
constituted 25% of my weekly pocket money without
taking into consideration my bus fare there. (Some
of my mates walked there and back to Houghton to
save money for a couple more beers).
Queuing up to get in, Roger Daltrey
pulled up and drove down the side to the load in
area in his Jensen Interceptor, no chauffeur, just
the man himself behind the wheel. Apparently, Keith Moon
arrived in a mauve Bentley, but I missed that.
It was the first time I’d been in the
Rink and I was mesmerised; dimly lit, UV lights
around the room, loud music playing over the PA
and loads of long haired yoof, just like me.
Excellent. I’m racking my brains to remember, but
I think the support band were called Cochise and as I
recall they were pretty good, though I can’t
remember anything they played. (This was 50 years
ago!).
This gig was just 2 weeks prior to the
release of the iconic “Live at Leeds” album so the
set by the Who
featured most of the tracks on that great album,
the excerpts from Tommy were immediately
recognisable along with stuff from their already
extensive back-catalogue. Woodstock was less than
12 months previous and we’d all seen the movie
released in March 1970 so the fringed jacketed,
mike swinging Daltrey
was bang on form and just what we had come to see
along with the windmill-armed Townshend. Moony was his
usual thrashing self, throwing his stick in the
air and catching them on the way down apart from
one time when one stayed up in the low ceiling
above the stage. The band also played “won’t get
fooled again” from the “Who’s Next” album that
wouldn’t be released for another year, Townshend
had this huge reel to reel tape recorder on stage
playing the synth intro. That track sticks in my
mind, but I have a vague recollection there were
other tracks from the forthcoming album played
that nobody had heard before.
The volume was like nothing I’d ever
experienced, I’d never known the flat feeling in
your ears after a loud gig, I thought I’d been
deafened for life but still thought it was worth
it. That gig was definitely a turning point in my
life and so different from what I’d imagined it
would be like, it was visceral, exciting and the
first time I’d shared the crowd power that an
event like that brings out in you. Many more were
to follow."
The
Piebald Lizard
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LET'S
HEAR FROM YOU LOT
The
Seaham Silverback came up with an idea for those
of you who, like a lot of us, reminisce the good
times of Rock. That one gig that sticks in your
mind (or for those of us who spent most of our
young life at a Rock or Metal gig, try and narrow
it down to a special one!). Put fingers to
keyboard and let Riffs know your most memorable
gig - we won't publish your name if you don't want
us to [you could always use a pseudonym].
Personally, there has been a gazillion as every
gig is memorable in one way or another. But just
yesterday I was downloading the discography of The Heavy Metal Kids and
it jogged my memory of seeing them at the City
Hall in Newcastle in the 70s on a double bill with
Nutz. It was £1 door
but just 50p if you showed the voucher from
Sounds. I can still remember Gary Holton strutting
around the stage sporting a jockstrap with a
massive penis extension. Aye, good
times............. Then the night I arrived at
Middlesbrough Rock Garden, knocking on a locked
door and hearing bolts pulled aside, and a guy
leaning out, looking left and right and then
pulling me in . . . that was the Spots gig (Sex Pistols). Oh, and a Nazareth gig where the
sound was distorted all night...... so plenty to
go
on.........
riffsonline@gmail.com
------------------------------------------------------
That's it then!
----------------------------------------------
The
Garden Farm in
Chester-le-Street has had their fair share of
party cancellations and as such their function
room is free most nights for any band wishing to
practice - free of charge. If you would like to
use it then contact the pub on 0191 3882064 and
ask for Natalie or Grant. Alternatively
get in touch via email, thegardenfarmhotel@gmail.com,
or Facebook.
-------------------------------------------------------------
A
big 'thank you' to bands and venues for keeping
Riffs updated during this hectic time of
cancellations and replacements.................. I
can usually get the amends done within minutes;
and keeping the punters informed is the most
important thing we can do . . .
More
bad news I'm afraid: Platform 1 in East Bedlington
has now shut and no bands will be performing there
for the forseeable future. All their gigs on the
Listings page have been marked as cancelled but,
just in case I have missed one, no gigs will be
held there from today. We will, of course, let you
know when they re-open.
--------------------------------------------------------
***NOTIFICATION
TO BANDS***
Riffs has just learned
courtesy of On The Case Music that The Black
Rose Pub Group are cancelling all Live
entertainment for the next few weeks due to the
present circumstances.
On The Case clients
affected are The Crown in Whickham and The Greens
Sunderland.
If you are booked to
play at any of these pubs in the near future the
gigs are now cancelled (hopefully to be rescheduled
once things get back to normal).
BLACK
ROSE PUBS include :
The Ox Inn
Durham, DH9 7LR
The Elephant
Ashington, NE63 0SZ
The Guide Post
Gateshead, NE9 7RR
The Cross Keys
Washington Village, NE38 7AB
The Townhouse
Whitley Bay, NE26 2TG
The Millstone Hotel
Newcastle, NE3 1QL
The Black Bull
East Boldon, NE36 0SG
The Victoria
Whitley Bay, NE26 2TE
The Black Bull
Morpeth, NE61 1PE
The Greens
Sunderland, SR1 3PY
The Lambton Arms
Durham, DH3 3BJ
Ship & Royal
South Shields, NE33 2HT
The Crown
Gateshead, NE16 4DT
The Prior
Moorside, Sunderland, SR3 2SW
Britannia Inn
Houghton Le Spring, DH4 4AL
----------------------------------------------------
 We should
call it the Battle of the Queens, but hey, thriving
live gigs can not be frowned upon - just celebrated.
Which is exactly what the Qween
Live lads are doing
right now as they wind down from another prestigious
sell-out gig at The Exchange Theatre in North Shields.
Rob told Riffs: "Absolutely amazing night - it was
really nice to meet and greet a lot of our fans
after the gig - we are playing in Norwich this
Saturday as the headline guest Queen tribute band -
everyone is so excited!" And if you missed them
locally then you have one last chance this month:
catch them at The Westovian Theatre South Shields on
Sat 28th.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
On
this day (Monday) in 2007 this happened . . .
Brad Delp
lead singer of Rock band Boston committed
suicide by carbon monoxide
poisoning at his home in the New
Hampshire town of Atkinson. He
died from the smoke of two
charcoal grills he’d lit inside
his sealed master bathroom. He
was found by police lying on a
pillow on his bathroom floor
with a note paper-clipped to his
shirt which read: "Mr. Brad
Delp. I am a lonely soul."
-----------------------------------------------------------
We Are Champion
update
Monday 2nd - ALL tickets have now been sold for
Bedlingtonshire Golf Club gig. ...
-----------------------------------------------------------
And talking of Queen . . . what's
better than a Queen tribute band? Two Queen tribute
bands!
Rob from Qween tells Riffs that their recent gig at
Billingham Sythonia Suite was also a sell-out (two
pics from that night showing), and that
their next gig at The
Exchange Theatre North Shields this
coming Saturday 7th March has only a few tickets left
on sale. Queen fans must think all their Christmas and
birthdays have come at once.
---------------------------------------------------------
SEASIDE
RENDEZVOUS
We love good
news here at Riffs so we're really chuffed to bring
you some - but it's tinged with bad news too, so we'll
mention that first!
 If
you were looking foward to seeing
We Are Champion in the
next few weeks then, unless you snapped up tickets
toot suite, you are going to be mightily disappointed
as their next three gigs (Gateshead, Doncaster [well,
ya might have], and Stockton) have all sold out. Soz,
but y'know what they say
'He who hesitates is lost'.
Paul from the band told me: 'We do feel sorry for
fans who have been unable to get tickets. It's been a bit of a
whirlwind really, we have had some amazing gigs;
selling out the majority of them. And getting to
play some huge venues inc Leeds and Newcastle O2
Academies.'
 The
first bit of good news for disappointed fans is We Are Champion have just added three new dates in April -
Hartlepool, South Shields and Ashington. And I suspect
the lads are going to be on full
rockin' form as they will no doubt be still buzzing
from having secured a really prestigious gig - no less
than being asked to appear at the
Official Queen Fan Club Convention down
in Mablethorpe. Paul continued: 'We are thrilled -
not to mention deeply honoured - to have been asked
to perform at probably the pinacle of Queen tribute band gigs. We would never have believed when we
started this band just over a year ago that we would
be so heartily accepted by the Queenie community.'
Paul went on to say: 'This is the biggest event of
the Queen Fans calendar where fans from all over the globe come
to party to all things Queen. We have our sights on
loads
of big festivals over this summer so can't wait to
grow this thing even bigger.'
The event takes place at Haven Golden Sands Holiday
Park in Mablethorpe first weekend in October.
-------------------------------------------------------
“These
guys do the nasty blues like the devil hisself
was hurting"
Tommy Hartlepool
does it again. That guy is the forefront of Bluesy
Rock in the North-East with his hand-picked quality
bands. I'm in the middle of designing some boxed ads
for his up and coming gigs and, obviously, try and
get a feel for the band before doing the ad - and
it's so difficult to stay detached when the bands he
books - some from other continents! - are so damn
good. Personally, my DNA is Metal, Rock and Punk,
but quality music is quality music. [Reminds me of
long ago when Val and I used to go out to see bands
for a live review and pics, and if we were on the
way to a Blues gig she would often say "is it
Rocky Blues or Blues you slit your wrists to?"].
Thankfully the 'Blues you slit your wrists to' gigs
were few and far between and I know her fave venue
now would be Tommy's Hartlepool Supporters Club
where the Blues is 'grimy, lean, mean and
soulful' which brings me neatly to the
description of . . . wait for it . . . Crow Black Chicken.
I've snatched this from their website, but give it a
read and then tell me you're not tempted. All I've
got to say is their two main influences are Skynyrd and Zeppelin: [enough
for me]
This power trio combine elements of folk and hard
rock with the blues rock of bands such as Gov’t
mule, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Led Zeppelin. The band
was formed in 2009 in Cork city when lead singer
Christy O’Hanlon met the former rhythm section of
Clonmel Punk Rock outfit Aural Ammunition, Stephen
McGrath ( Bass ) and Gev Barrett ( Drums ). The
band immediately jelled and went on to perform on
the BBC Introducing stage at Glastonbury 2011. The
band released their first raw blues rock and roll
album in 2012 which was produced by Producer
Philip Magee ( Kodaline, Aslan, The Blizzards ).
The bands second album Rumble Shake was released
in 2014 and debuted at number 12 in the Irish
album charts. Recorded in Westland Studios Dublin,
this album was a more roots and blues affair than
the first record, heavily influenced by the bands
work with Texan Americana singer Ray Wylie Hubbard
and legendary Austin Producer the late George
Reiff. In 2015 the band went on to release their
first live album entitled Deep South which was
voted top 5 live albums of 2015 by Classic Rock
Blues. In 2016 Crow Black Chicken opened for ZZ
Top at the Marquee in Cork which brought them face
to face with the Texan compatriots whom they often
drew so many comparisons to. Always determined to
create a sound all of their own the band continues
to tour all over Europe and have since released a
4th studio album Pariah Brothers in 2017.
“These guys do
the nasty blues like the devil hisself was
hurting and rock like they’ll skate come
judgement day” Ray
Wylie Hubbard
They're on at
Hartlepool's Smallcrafts
Association on April 10. Tickets £12/14. 07535
979658 or ents24 website.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Not
sure what has happened to Ronnington publicity
machine but it's only thanks to Patrick from UK/DC
and Obsession
that we were forwarded the poster for this year's
Ronnington Charity Fundraiser 2020 . . .
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRIBUTE TO RUSH THIS FRIDAY
News
just in . . . [sound of tele typesetting machines
clattering away in background] The Force’s
gig this Friday (21) at The Voyager, South
Shields, we have just been reliably
informed, will be slightly different from the
usual Force setlist.
As
a tribute to Neil
Peart and Rush, the first half will
be all Rush numbers – the second half Classic
Rock. An absolute mega-treat for all Rush fans.
Expect class, expect perfection, expect a
phenomenal gig.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------
Shepherds
Rest Alnwick are
looking for a
band that can
play 22nd Feb
... it's for
Border Crew
MCC birthday
party... we
have been
dropped in it
last minute...
looking for
rock... punk
etc. Contact
Dave
Smith..07736116156
Or email
stevecolly@hotmail.co.uk
NOW SORTED
-------------------------------------------------------------------
 Magnesia
Bank's mega-weekend, Stevestock,
was a great success thanks to all who worked
tirelessly behind the scenes and the magnificent
North Shields peeps who packed out the venue
upstairs and down.
A very healthy £2,600 was made and this all goes
to help McMillan Cancer.
A heartfelt thanks to absolutely everyone
involved.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Another review from
way back, we have the date but not the year. Probs
around 2008 methinks.
------------------------------------------------------------------
 A sell out gig last
Friday evening at Boldon Community Association was
appreciated by a capacity audience who were really
into the "Mercury &
May" experience. Their next gig is
at Primrose Community Association on Saturday 15th
Feb - ticket sales are flying! (£5 from venue NE32
5QY / 01914249977).
-----------------------------------------------------------------
 Riffs is very sad to hear of
the passing of a much-loved and respected
North-East musician - Ron Owens.
Val has fond memories of him and band when she
booked them to play at a pub she was running in
West Auckland many moons ago.
"He was such a lovely guy - well they all were
- no airs and graces for someone with so much
musical talent. Humble and kind. The thought of
him gone brings tears to my eyes."
--------------------------------------------------------
DARLO'S LITTLE SECRET
Just
found an absolute gem of a book/vinyl
record/dc comic/dvd/cd/cassette call-it-what-you-want
shop. A real little secret, just on the outskirts
of Darlington town centre in an old terrace. If I
said it had a million books you'd think I was
exaggerating. I went in looking for the writings
of Shel Silverstein (him of Dr. Hook
fame - he wrote Sylvia's Mother, Freakin' at the
Freakers Ball, Cover of the Rolling Stone etc, and
A Boy Named Sue) and I was staring at a room
absolutely jam-packed full of books and thinking
how many he had and the guy (who has been
collecting his whole life) told me this was just
the horror and sci-fi section; other genres were
in other rooms! Thousands upon thousands in every
room - and there were many rooms. And that is just
upstairs. Down in the basement (down a rickety and
well passed its use by date staircase) is another
treasure trove of books, magazines, cassette
tapes, cds, dvds, Marvel and DC comics, vinyl
records (he's got some rare punk singles too) -
and God knows what else. It's on Victoria Road,
200yds down from the train station, and 20 yards
from the Royal Mail Sorting Office. DL1 5JQ. I'm
actually surprised he has a phone but try 07946
505 886, but you need to get in there and have a
good old rummage - but take a flask of coffee and
some sandwiches!! Oh, and the sad thing is,
because he isn't getting enough money to cover
rent and rates he may soon be moving - probs to
Leeds. And if you plan to visit (Thu Fri Sat only)
- and I really urge you to; for free 2 hour
parking, then go past the book shop (with it on
your left) take the first right and then first
left.
---------------------------------------------------------------
CROOKFEST
2020 ON SATURDAY 9th MAY
 Crookfest
2020 will be the
festival's 10th birthday and to celebrate we have a
cracking something for everyone line-up across 3
stages: the Rock Bands playing this year are... Queen -We Are Champion, Guns or
Roses, Bon Jovi Forever, Deep Purple in Rock,
Little Devil, Fossil, Punk Pop Disaster, Nixon UK
and a collective of local Crook rock musicians headed
by Circa69 singer/guitarist Kieran
Johnson. We also have
Indie-Pop-Punk-Ska covered including UK's number one
Kasabian tribute - Kazabian
plus from Dumfries and Galloway, a band well known on
the Scottish festival circuit
The Dangleberries - a 10 piece bagpipes
'n all band playing pop/rock classics! Last year's Big
Tent headline band Revolver
return to headline the Scooter Tent playing top Indie
classics, plus on the same Stage we have punk band The Suspect Device
plus 80s classics from The
Breakfast Club, Beyond Madness and Beyond Blonde. Also in
the mix we also have Oasis/Jam
and The Heretics.
It's a full day of live music, bars and food outlets
from noon till 11pm, all for only £15 a ticket / £25
on the day at the gate if not sold out. PLEASE NOTE
the festival as a rule has always been on the 1st May
Bank Holiday Sunday; however, the Government has moved
this year's bank holiday Monday to the following
Friday for VE day, so we have moved the fest to
Saturday 9th May. All the festival and ticket info can
be found at www.crookfest.co.uk
--------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
GIROSCOPE ROCK 4 EMILY
  After a
blistering review on Riffs from our resident
reviewer - The Seaham Silverback - of
astounding new band Giroscope (right), ["I'd
walk barefoot over broken glass to see them again"
was one of his quotes] we are pleased to announce
that the lads not only turn out some brilliant toons
but have hearts the size of Rainbow's
band members' list. Along with Michael Lavery from Groovetrain, they
are giving of their time and talents totally and
completely FREE to play at a fundraising event at
Gateshead Rugby Club on Friday April 3. At only £4
to see a sensational band, a great compere and
acoustic support, and to help a brave young lady
with Cerebral Palsy and epilepsy, you'd need a heart
of stone to not support this event. But enough from
me, this is an extract from an email from her father
Ian with some background to the event:
 "My daughter Emily is a disabled
athlete who competes nationally for Gateshead
Harriers and hopes to compete for Team GB at a
future Paralympic Games. Emily has Cerebral Palsy
and epilepsy.
We are holding a fundraising evening to raise funds
for travel and accommodation costs as well as entry
fees to national competitions for the forthcoming
outdoor and indoor season for 2019/20.
In 2018 Emily competed at the CPISRA WORLD GAMES in
Barcelona coming home as a 5 time world champion.
Later that year Emily was invited to become part of
the British Athletics Paralympic development squad
with the intention of producing Para athletes for
Paris 2024.
We have the fantastic GIROSCOPE playing as our band
for the evening. Tickets are available from the
Rugby Club bar or directly from me Ian on
07711415820. This event is a ticket event but any
unsold tickets will be sold on the door. .Please
take a look at Emily’s website www.emilystewart-t38.com"
----------------------------------------------------------------------
STEVESTOCK WEEKEND 2020
in aid of Macmillan Cancer
Support
FRIDAY 31st
Ground Floor and FREE:
7 SINS 10.15 / ELENBAK 8.40 / MONKS IN AN EGGCUP
7.15 / BRANDON PROCTOR 6.30
First Floor £5 door (strictly limited
capacity):
THE BREAKFAST CLUB 11.00 / RIGID DIGITS 9.25 /
THIS MACHINE 7.55
SATURDAY 1st
Ground Floor and FREE:
FM 10.15 / TINY AFRO 8.40 / LOU ROSS BAND 7.15
First
Floor £5 door (strictly limited capacity):
LITTLE DEVIL midnight / DIAMOND DOGS 11.00 / DEEP
PURPLE IN ROCK 9.25 / TIN SOLDIERS 7.55
SUNDAY 2nd
Ground
Floor and FREE:
NUTOPIANS
7.15 / THE WHODLUMS 5.30 / DEJA VU 3.45
First
Floor £5 door (strictly limited capacity):
THE FORCE
8.00 / BIG TED 6.30 / VINTAGE EDITION 4.30
Please note that ALL
tickets have now been sold, but £5 door is
available - first come first served.
------------------------------------------------------------------
GOODBYE TO BB's MARGE
 The
highly-respected landlady of the Bell and
Bucket in North Shields bids a farwell to
bands and punters alike this weekend (17, 18, 19)
when she goes out with a bang - well, hopefully
not literally - as three excellent bands intend to
raise the roof in honour of this much talked about
lady. Riffs has had no personal contact with Marge but, by all
accounts, she is much admired and treats the bands
with the respect they deserve. A
rare flower indeed. Norman
Force
says about her "a lovely landlady who will be
a big miss").
Her three last gigs are ROCK
SOLID on the 17th, FM on the 18th,
and STICKY
FINGERS on the 19th.
Please go along and make Marge's last three gigs
ones she will never forget. Pictures welcome . . .
Also, we have just heard (cheers Norm) that no
less than Tony Liddle
is to be the new vocalist for FM.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
MERCURY
AND MAY - THE ULTIMATE QUEEN TRIBUTE
Queen fans
must feel like all their Christmas and birthdays have
come at once at the moment. Not only two excellent
Queen tributes gracing our venues, but now an act that
highlights the incredible vocal talents of Freddie Mercury and
the outstanding guitar playing of Brian May.
The gig, Mercury & May live at
Boldon Community Association, New Road, Boldon
Colliery NE35 9DS is on Friday January 31st and the
performance commences at 8.30pm. Tickets are just £5
and the venue contact is 0191 5368085.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
DIABLO - Happy
New Year Everyone!
2019 saw some great gigs
for Diablo with
fab crowds culminating with a cracking headlining slot
at Tynedale’s annual Music and Beer Festival in
Corbridge. The big success of the year, without
doubt, was the new album “Screaming Out” (still
available) which eclipsed sales and triumphs of all
previous Diablo recordings – so nearly achieving a hit
record! Rave reviews kept pouring in such as Andy
Jennings at GigItNorthEast; Harvey Smith of The
Bastards of Eclectic Music Taste; Crack magazine
Newcastle among many, and the track “I’m Unknown”
became BBC2 Music North East Introducing Show’s Record
of The Week in January. Tracks “Screaming Out” and
“Crawl” have been played on local Nova Radio and “I’m
Unknown” played at Gateshead FC International
Stadium’s PA! Diablo’s original songs have been played
on social media and YouTube over 77,000 times and
those are just the plays we’ve managed to track! And
with streaming the new album there have been literally
thousands of plays and downloads. Thank you EVERYONE
for supporting the album and us, for so long – we
love you all. And Davy has just announced that the
next album has already been written and is slated for
2021 release. Onwards & Upwards through 2020 –
Diablo’s 16th year of continued success!
Dave Drums Diablo xxx
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Blackhall Community Centre is to
host an AC/DC
show featuring Livewire, with
support from local lads Sticky Fingers. It's
on Saturday February 22nd and tickets are £15,
from ents24, seetickets or from the venue itself.
Doors 6.30 and you'll be fully Rocked out by 11.30. By
all accounts Livewire
put on a fantastic show; but with the outrageous
guitar of Phil Martin, I think if there is a band that
can give Livewire
a run for their money then it's the Stickies. Be prepared
for a battle of the guitars!!!!!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FILTHY RICH AND STARZ
I think it was only this year (still in 2019 - oh
yeah) that Starz took the North-East music
scene by storm [well, okay that might be a slight
exaggeration, but certainly a breath of fresh
Rockin' air at the very least] and  no
other three guys looked more as though they belonged
together than guitarist
Kenny, drummer Mark
and singer/guitarist Kiko.
So, to hear that they had pulled in a dedicated
singer and formed a second band did crease my brow a
tad (although that
could be just age).
But as Kenny explained: "American Girl is now
finished and we wanted to replace that band - when
we heard singer Rich
Myers (hence Filthy
Rich, yeah?) audition we just went
'WOW' as he is such a powerful vocalist."
Kenny told Riffs exclusively: "Filthy Rich will
be doing one set of the American
Girl songs that Rich wants
to do and one set of all new Rock
cover songs that we think people will love and
will be different to the usual covers."
I can recommend Starz
unreservedly as all three members have their own
charisma, style and musical skills; and if you're
gonna add a dedicated frontman to the mix and gig
as Filthy Rich
then 'scuse me while I kiss the sky! Kenny
continued: "We start gigging as Filthy Rich in
February and have gigs booked for the whole of
2020 but not as many as we'd like because Starz has
taken off and is soooooo busy."
A website for the band is under construction and
we will announce it as soon as it is up and
running.
---------------------------------------------------------------
FM at The Turf in Consett
today (Boxing Day) 4pm. Unless my memory serves me
incorrectly, you're in for a heavy dose of AC/DC and Zeppelin. And
personally, I can't think of many things that
would do it for me at this time of year. Get along
and RAWK.
-----------------------------------------------------------
PB
update: Firefox is being a bit of an arse with
connecting. However, Google Chrome connects
without a problem. Weird, but that's how it is.
I download all my albums from PB without a
problem; I've paid for them in vinyl, then paid
again on DAT, then again on CD, I'm buggered if
I'm gonna pay again for mp3 files!
--------------------------------------------------------
Just heard from Dirty Dogz Phil
with some bad news - the trial run gig a the Cluny
this Sunday 22nd is now OFF due to flu. Needless to
say, Phil is gutted, but hopes to re-arrange the gig
for February. Any news concerning the gig and we
guarantee to be the first to let you
know............
------------------------------------------------------------
Apologies
to the few peeps who have emailed to say the
current PB address is not working. More and more
ISPs are blocking it, but the address that is
currently showing (top right, under page links) is
fully working as of Wednesday 18th. I will try and
keep it up to date. Appreciate you letting me
know.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The Three Tuns in
Gateshead is now booking for January and February
2020. Anyone interested text me (Paul)
07940715824. ALL
SORTED NOW...............
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The below article we
originally put together a few weeks ago and things
have come together nicely and Phil has now not only
a got a date for the gig, but also has sold over
fifty tickets for this Rockin' event. Phil is
understandably cagey concerning the event and
explains: "Me
and the boys have booked a trial run at The Cluny
on Sunday 22nd December, but this is to get a
taster for next year." The gig is £10 a ticket
(in excess of fifty sold to date) and kicks off at
6pm and runs till 9. Expect a night of
surprises.....................
DIRTY
DOGZ PHIL PROPOSES A NIGHT OF
'PANACHE, POWER,
PRECISION AND PASSION'
 And talking of 'no-nonsense', Riffs
is excited at an email from
Phil from Dirty
Dogz fame who, after the demise of
aforesaid band, has been pining for some quality,
down-to-earth Rock done by mature, experienced
musicians - or in his own words 'A tasty selection of highly regarded and
seasoned pros' (I'm hearing
people standing and clapping at the back . . .) and
with the adage 'if you want something doing properly
do it yourself' resounding around his thinking
organ, Phil has decided to do just that.
Putting
his money where his mouth is, Phil is arranging a
'little' soiree where he expects to showcase some
incredible Rock talent. He
told me: 'There’s still some
cracking nights to be had out there I’m sure
but, as most bands are finding, it's often hard
chuffin work playing to 2 men, a whippet and a
crazy couple in the corner who are adamant they
want a bit of Britney! However, the frustration
and disappointment seems to have wained a tad
over the noted period of inactivity and I am
dipping my arthritic toes (some may say
foolishly) into the local, unpredictable
rock'n'roll waters again.'
Still in its early stages,
Phil is wanting to gauge support before he goes full
tilt. He continued: 'Looking for definite feedback
from real fans of live music who like nothing more
than to immerse themselves in a night of quality
sounds delivered with panache, power, precision and
passion'. Expectations are high and Phil hopes
the setlist to include
'interpretations/improvisations of classic rock,
blues and psychedelia from Hendrix, Zeppelin, Cream,
Stones, Beatles, Free, Neil Young, Peter Green, Bob
Dylan...plus the odd original and a few surprises.'
Phil has emphasised that this will happen only
with enough prior interest. He welcomes texts on 07803 640235. I have promised Phil,
Riffs' full involvement and when anything happens -
we wanna know!
LET'S MAKE THIS HAPPEN.
-----------------------------------------------
The Schooner in Gateshead is
looking for bands for Boxing Day and New Year's Day.
Call Paul 07940 715824
-----------------------------------------------
The Schooner in
Gateshead is looking for a band or artist to play
This Saturday 7th December.
0191 477 7404. NOW SORTED NOW
SORTED NOW SORTED
------------------------------------------------------------------------
A
heads up............
Hearing little birdies talking
about The Black Horse in Monkseaton stopping bands
as the manager is close to leaving.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
BUFFALO
FOUR SECRET NO LONGER
It seems only a brief five minutes ago that
I popped along to Bishop Auckland's Bay Horse to catch
the excellent Four
Letter Word (review way, way down this very page). I
also remember drummer Andy
- not only for his steady and rhythmic playing - but
also for the fact that I never got a picture of him!
And I can well understand his disappointment when
everyone in the band gets a photo - but not him. Even
more so, considering he was doing the band a favour,
standing in for their regular drummer. Andy plays in Buffalo
Four who go down
extremely well in the
Blacksmiths in Gosforth but, he
explained: "we have played there quite a few times
and had some great nights with many compliments but
apart from that venue we are unknown around
Newcastle." It seems that Four
Letter Word did quite well from Riffs mensh and Andy
goes on to say: "they got a rave review and plenty
of interest and some gigs from your article so
thought we [Buffalo Four] are maybe due some
attention. We have been going for 6 years and play
to some pretty appreciative audiences but we are
almost a secret in some places." Whoops, think I
may have blown your secret Andy. Buffalo Four are at
the Blacksmiths
this Friday (6th).
Pic linked
to the band playing 'I Won't Back Down'.
Metallica? AC/DC?
C'mon lads, practice what you wear!!
------------------------------------------------------------
Air4ce
at Cluny 2, Newcastle, 21st January 2020
Celebrating the life and
music of Ginger Baker,
featuring some of the north east's finest musicians
- PLUS SPECIAL GUESTS...music from Ginger's work
with Cream, Blind Faith,
Graham Bond, Airforce, Billy Preston,
and more.
Tickets (£8adv): click on poster.
And more information as it is announced here -https://www.facebook.com/Air4ce2020/
Apparently the first words that St. Peter
said to Ginger, upon his arrival, were "look, I
don't want any trouble".
--------------------------------------------------------------
Those Queen tribute
guys did it again - this time at Darlington's
Hopetown & Whessoe Club on Saturday 23rd
of this month when they wowed a packed house
with Queen
and Freddie's
record-breaking and memorable songs covering
over forty years. Qween's next gig is
this Friday (29th) at Newcastle's Heaton Buffs
but unfortunately there will be a lot of
dissatisfied punters as the gig is strictly a
private function so, unless you hold that
special ticket, no entry. But keep your eye on
Riffs Listings page as the lads will be
playing in 2020.
If you just can't wait that long then We Are Champion,
who do a superb tribute to Queen, have
several gigs running up to Christmas. Also, on
Sunday December 1 with a start time of 6pm at
the Isabella in Blyth you can catch a Freddie Mercury
tribute. Spoilt for choice!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SHOT
DOWN IN FLAMES
"Interesting
idea, the tips for the band idea…..but here’s where
my cynicism kicks in;
We have to be careful of the law of unintended
consequence, it’s only a kick in the arse from there
to playing for tips only, or used as an excuse not
to pay a band or reduce their fee. Who would do such
a thing I hear you say? Well there are plenty of
reasons why a struggling venue may take that
approach even before you factor in any exploitative
reasons.
Yes it would sort some wheat from the chaff,
but overall the standard would diminish because who
would layout all that cash on gear without a fair
chance of paid gigs?
But that dismisses the nous of even the most
cynical of band bookers, theres not many that book
bad bands, safe bands perhaps, and safe isn’t what
brings in the punters, it may well entertain the
ones already there however?"
Alan Fizzyfish
------------------------------------------------------------------
Just heard from Patrick
from the excellent Obsession
and UK/DC
that the Market Tavern in
Chester-le-Street has ceased all bands
for the forseeable future.
------------------------------------------------------------------
 What marvellous
peeps there are out at Usworth and Washington.
Some of those fine punters piled into The
Gardeners Club recently for Help for Heroes
night when FOXX
and Jay J Stevens
waived their fee to make the night one to
remember. Altogether the Club managed to make
a very healthy £1400.
Michelle from the club told Riffs: "I
had a lot of support ftom those who
attended, also a big thankyou for
those local businesses who donated
prizes for our raffle in aid of Help
For Heroes." The generosity of all those
involved will make such a difference for our
brave men and women.
And thanks to Michelle from Usworth and
Washington Gardeners Club for letting
Riffs know.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
HAD A
GOOD NIGHT? - THEN FILL MY BOX
 Well,
our articles on dwindling punters for live
gigs have been read by many, many people. The
majority of whom do seem to agree that it is
something that is happening now, and that it
is affecting venues and bands alike. The only
thing that is thin on the ground is solutions.
I have heard one (from soneone who wishes
anonymity), and as I have heard nothing better
I will mention it here: A DONATION BOX ON THE
BAR.
If you have had a great night at your local,
seen a brilliant band playing stuff you like
and recognise and the band have totally given
their all, what do you do at the end of the
night? Well, you just go home. And what if you
haven't had that good a night, the band have
been mediocre, stared at their feet all night
and left you wanting? Well, you just go home.
Now that seems rather unfair, the landlord
doesn't know if you have had a good night or a
bad one; that poor barmaid who has been
smiling all night and serving all and sundry
doesn't know, and the band who have lost at
least a stone amongst them and played their
collective kahunas off just see you leaving at
the end of the night and have no idea if you
loved them or hated them. SO - pop a few quid
in the box on the bar. To be shared out
equally between the band and the venue. One of
the best night's ever? Bung a fiver/tenner in
the pot and shout to the landlord "they were
crackin' - I'll see that band again any time!"
Now, to me, that seems feasible, but I am
neither in a band, nor run a venue, so what do
YOU think? Will it work - is it an A side, or
just a terrible demo that won't make it onto
the album?
riffsonline@gmail.com
----------------------------------------------------------------
An
online station are taking music from signed/unsigned
bands to be played for free.
No
pop, just rock etc. no adverts.
http://www.marlab.dk
Thanks to Tony (former drummer with Cue) for
this info.
----------------------------------------------------------------
A late booking for these outrageous funsters.
Friday night (22nd) at The Isabella in Blyth.
Totally free entry and a wild night is guaranteed.
Get along and let your Fez down!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
We have a straggler. By his own admission, the
writer of the following article does not read the
News page much, which does explain a lot. I know
the Gig Listings is the most viewed page
on Riffs but a lot of stuff on this page does tie
in to the gigs so perhaps a glance now and then
may prove beneficial. Any road up, here is
Richie's thoughts on our main topic . . .
"I
humped gear for a club band in the 70s then a pub
band for 12 years after that, booked bands for 8
years for 3 pubs until quite recently
but never for financial gain, still help out now and
then when asked, so know a little bit about the
music scene and how it works...
I have been watching bands since the 70s
when clubs in my area that put bands on - solos and
comedians, albeit on dedicated nights for each -
used to be packed out but, one by one, they ended up
dying a slow death, partly i think due to the loss
of heavy industry. Pits, ship building and the like
was to blame for some of it as shift workers could
go out on a Thursday night and a Sunday night with
Friday and Saturday nights taking care of them
selves, if that makes sense, these people worked
hard and went to clubs for nights out religiously
and were not frightened to spend their money,
and not forgetting the earlier closing times where
people on permanent days could go out, go home, bite
to eat and be up for work no problem; we were all a
lot younger then, yes there is Nissan and all of the
knock on factories in my area but I am talking about
a different age group here.
While talking about age I see some of the same
people from that era at pubs now watching bands and,
like myself, they are in there 60s with some older,
one club is still going, but not as busy as it used
to be with another two going down the sports club
route and using private functions to survive. In a
way what happened to clubs is the same as what is
happening to pubs now, there got to be too many,
also while for a long time they were a cheap night
out, it got to be no longer the case with cover
charges going up and all the add ons; bingo,
raffles, various draws, it got where every other
week there seemed to be something else. All of a
sudden some pubs discovered a niche to host live
music and were the better option cost-wise, you even
ended up seeing some of the same musicians as many
were happy to leave the club scene to gig the pubs.
The pubs saw an opportunity for making money by
putting bands on after the club scene had died off,
and while a lot were not designed to host live
bands, they had to go with what they had got,
most got really good turnouts and were well
supported, but over the years more and more pubs
jumped on the bandwagon (no pun intended) and it
watered the attendances down; where you once had a
couple of venues you ended up with 5 or 6 and all
within a small catchment area, people would go to
where they thought they would have the better night.
I think a similar thing happened in South Shields,
for landlords they need decent turnouts on every gig
night or it is no longer viable and becomes a
struggle, also pub owners need to listen to the
regulars as to what music they like, as all too
often a pub will get taken over and book the wrong
type of band, punk and acoustic is not going to go
down well if people want rock music while, like
myself, a lot of people still use Riffs and other
music guides to find out what is on at venues, I
think an up-to-date website is a must in this day
and age. It is no good to anyone if a pub has a page
and they do not keep it up to date as advertising
plays an important part in letting people know who
is playing and when; I think a few pubs are guilty
of poor advertising,
I could mention a couple I know of where i never
could find out who was playing, no good at all, they
need to put it out there. I think with out doubt
monthly pay plays a big part in sometimes having a
lower turn out, the amount of times I hear people
mention their funds are low the week before being
paid, whereas back in the day when people were paid
weekly they always seemed to manage money better and
were able to go out, even the holiday period takes a
toll on attendances, as does the run up to Christmas
when money gets tighter. Quite often I have heard or
read that the smoking ban has made a big difference,
I myself think it has been very minimal; I think
people have just accepted they have to go out side
to smoke. I do not personally know anyone that has
stopped going to gigs because of the ban.
Back to age and this has been mentioned various
times on a music forum, there just does not seem to
be many younger people attending gigs these days,
certainly not the venues I go to, with the bulk of
the audience being made up of 40s, 50s and 60s,
unlike in my day where we were in our late teens. I
have no idea the reason why. I might add that I go
to watch predominately rock bands, maybe the old
classics just do not appeal to the younger
generation any more.
I must say that the northeast circuit is blessed
with so many great bands and quality musicians; most
of the time you are spoilt for choice. Referring to
the 5 or 6 pubs in a small catchment area I have
already mentioned, the pub with the more fancied
band will get the better turnout with the others
getting just enough people to break even if they are
lucky. Every venue will have their group of regulars
but these days they are looking at getting people to
travel which we often do to Sunderland, Chester,
Shields, ect, 3 or 4 sharing a taxi works out
cheaper than the bus fare.
There seems to be a never ending supply of pubs that
venture in to putting live music on only to find out
that it is a hard slog with many giving up within a
short period of time and not realising they need to
be prepared to lose money early on until word gets
out about their venue. I think the reality is that
we will be left with the most well known of venues
and those that are prepared to stick it out through
this rough period."
Richie, Washington
-------------------------------------------------------------------
AS YE SOW,
SO SHALL YE REAP
Well, you gotta laugh, haven't you! This just
dropped into Riffs inbox and I just thought it was
so relevant. Then again, I bet nearly all bands
and venues have similar stories (I've thought it
prudent to edit) . . .
"The
guy who books bands in the ----------- has 26 gigs
to fill so he books 12 or 13 bands to fill them
giving each one 2 gigs a year regardless as to
whether they died on their collective arses on the
1st show or not. We have reached the point where
we’re getting the second time round for the dregs
and I’m not going to go and watch a band that were
shite 6 months ago in the vain hope they’ve
improved. The fact that neither the band nor the
club have bothered to contact your good self, or
even to put it on their FB page illustrates their
commitment to their craft. The next scheduled band
in the --------- is the ---------- and I know it’ll
be packed. At that time I'll be in Belfast. During
previous visits I/we have tried to find a venue in
that city playing Rock and it appears there either
ain’t any or they don’t advertise on the web.
Imagine a place like Belfast and no live Rock on a
regular basis? And we complain about the dearth of
decent music!!!!".
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Well, it was fantastic to
have such a brilliant response - and so many
views from bands and venues across the
North-East on what they thought was the reasons
for reduction in audience numbers. It was
eye-opening to see so many different and
interesting viewpoints. And Alan from
Fizzyfish, after reading every
single one with interest, now gives his views on
just who has hit the nail on the head. But are
we any closer to rectifying the problem?
"Since I wrote
that last piece I have had some conversations,
and some of the points raised by the other
writers make you think as well.
Our most recent gig
is a little case study, when I first started
regular gigging, relatively recently in 2003,
this place was one of the better venues on the
scene, I knew the pub from my youth and
actually went to see another band play there
as I was auditioning for them a week later.
When I
joined Fizzyfish
it was somewhere they
hadn’t played so I negotiated a gig there and
we became favourites - and the venue was one
of our favourites, building a relationship
with the audience and staff.
After
Fizzyfish split in 2010 we returned in a
different guise a few months later, but we
lost so much momentum that even with the boost
of changing our name back to Fizzyfish
we found so many venues
had changed, the stability had gone from the
scene. The venue I was talking about now had a
“manager” in but seemed more invested in food
than bands; his attitude was hostile and his
partner was one of those who knew the price of
everything and the value of nothing. They
destroyed the pub and within months it had
closed, had another false start then closed
again and after a lengthy period has opened
again.
The new owner is doing everything right,
it’s a nicer environment, he’s keen and
supportive, but crucially, that little
community had moved on, they had to find
different things to do. The last few years
have seen the venue go from weekly gigs, to
fortnightly gigs and 2020 will see one gig on
the last Saturday of each month, and I fully
support his approach.
Putting bands on was costing him too
much, the crowds came back initially, but for
all the reasons mentioned before and a few
more, the audience is a shadow of its former
self! Lost momentum in this game is a killer,
it’s taken us best part of a decade to get
back to the level of gigs and breadth of
geographical coverage we once had, were a
better band, but that only counts for so much
these days despite our fee being the same as
it was 15 years ago!
I don’t
think any of us have all the answers, Mike
from After Midnight
raises a valid point and
one we try to avoid, the too high a volume
mistake, it means significant investment in
quality gear, yet we still get the occasional
can you turn it down/up requests (usually to
turn it up!).
It’s been the same with our lights, we
have had to cut them down as people were
complaining about being blinded and most
venues don’t allow smoke machines anymore so
you have to get creative whilst still putting
on a show.
I don’t
blame the tribute acts moving up the tree and
Paul from We are Champion (genius) just highlighted my
point, a tribute to a good band with true
mainstream appeal. But I know lads in less
mainstream tributes who play less often and
sometimes they are going nationwide, some even
into Europe to sustain the interest.
Smoulty
and I generally agree on
stuff still, and I also agree with Dave from FM,
his points about over
saturation. We have
three venues who have us back 3 times a year,
we make sure each return is as different as we
can manage within what the punters will
accept, but there are so many places that will
not even answer any communication with us at
all! Closed shops or closed minds.
We generally want one venue in each town,
unless two venues will support us doing our
different sets, the Rollercoaster, which
is our crowd pleaser all over the place set
and the Seabass’tard which is our harder
uglier rock set, it’s a lot of work. But some
venues distrust that we can make that approach
work, they seem to be risk averse, they want
defined bands doing what they say on the tin,
safety.
We are open to do more clubs in the
future. The ones that have
turned their backs on the agencies and
excessive Bingo are now opening up a new
avenue, we found it logistically difficult to
be able to arrive at a club at the times they
prescribed in the past, but now some are more
flexible and we are as well, let’s see how
that pans out!"
Alan, Fizzyfish
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Just become aware of a venue in Sunderland - Angels Place
- and as was my wont did a quick google search
just to get a 'feel', and was rather impressed; a
biker's gaff with a great Rock atmosphere and on
their Facebook page recently hosted Deep Purple In Rock.
That video alone was enough to whet my appetite.
Took me back to the good 'ol Seventies at Middlesbrough Rock Garden.
If only someone would invent a time machine, that
would be the time I'd zip back to........
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Here we go, last one. It's
been a lot of hard work for me, but I hope it's
made a difference. And if it hasn't, at least
I've tried. If we all do one, may even be very
small, thing, then at least we've done more than
the next guy who has done sod all.........I have
extreme respect and admiration not only for the
bands who bust a gut getting organised and
traipsing to the venue, setting up, belting out
quality Rock (or whatever, but it should be
Rock, really) and then at the end, stripping
down their gear, and going home, but also to the
venues who sometimes take a punt on a band and
ending up crossing their fingers that the gig
isn't marred by, well, any number of things that
can go wrong. I have no musical talent
whatsoever, and would worry myself into an early
grave if I was to host bands on a weekly basis -
so I do what I can from this computer. Humungous
respect goes out to you all. Really.
Only one more 'Disappearing Audiences' article to
go, which I am working on right now. So if you
have something to say then now is the time - and
by 'now' I don't mean sometime next week, or even
in the next day or two or 'yeah, okay I'll
probably type something out this weekend' -
NO. I mean, like, today, in the next hour or two!
It doesn't take that long to type something out so
let people know your views. Anonymous is fine, as
long as you are honest. And it's no good saying
'Well, there's no point cos I agree with a lot
of what's been said'. How does anyone know
that unless you say so?!!!! Like I say, last one
today. That's it. Finito. Fin. Koniec. Tapitra.
Galas. Ende.
I
always, but always have on some belting Rock when
I'm working on Riffs, and as I am now (11am
Friday) half way through what will probably be the
penultimate article on Disappearing Audiences,
this track came on. I just remember being so
disappointed when mega bands 'throw away' a
classic track when at a live gig. Like 'this is
xxxxx xxxxxx' and then it's done and over in
a few minutes. UFO Doctor Doctor and Nazareth
Bad Bad Boy come to mind. Waste of a good
opportunity.
Now,
THIS is an intro...
(Oh, and it really
should go without saying - but PLAY IT
LOUD!!!!!!!!)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Your Point of View is No More Or
Less Valid Than Anyone Else's
Well,
I've got to say I've been knocked out by the
eye-opening response concerning the demise of
punters coming out to enjoy live music. From
agents, bands, venues - you name them - they have
been concise, honest, eloquent. And it just goes
to prove that people DO care. Okay, there was some
that haven't bothered; but that happens in every
walk of life. If nothing else - and I sincerely
hope there has been considerably more - it has
given everyone involved the opportunity to see
'the other side' of life in the live music world.
I have been enlightened; and I'm sure I'm not the
only one. It highlights the fact that your point
of view is no more or less valid than anyone
else's.
Probably just one more article to go, hopefully
get that done today..........
------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------
With all this talk of the
problems of punter numbers, band prices, low turnouts
etc, I was brought slap bang back to earth when I was
made aware of the problems of a member of local lads Ghostband. It
turns out the reason that they have been off the road
for quite a while was the necessity for Brian
Vasey to undergo a quadruple heart bypass,
with other complications that necessitated quite a
long layoff ("It was a rough time
for him and he says the recovery was far worse than
the op as they had to take a vein from his leg to
use in his heart and it was his leg that hurt the
most"). The good news is that he is on
the long, slow, gradual road to recovery and is
itching to get back on the road. But as guitarist Baz
pointed out: "since April Chris (drums) and myself
have either been depping in other bands, separately
or together, and ones we had dep guitarsts for we
never knew if they were going ahead, so other than a
last minute Facebook ad, we thought it better not to
advertise our gigs only to have to pull them. But
since his op Brian has now bounced back and I now
feel safer in advertising our gigs once more."
The three gigs booked for December are: Sat 7 Old
Ship, Newbiggin; Sat 14 Acklam Steels Club,
Middlesbrough; Fri 27 Lambton Arms, Chester Le
Street. I'm sure we all wish Brian well and for him to
be fully recovered and fighting for the Old Ship on
the 7th.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just this minute heard
of a late gig by
The Alcatraz House Band for this Friday
(November 1st) at Steels Club in Sunderland.
Haven't heard of AHB gigging for a very long time so
they may just be testing the water so to speak.
Let's hope this gig is the first of many as they
were a very proficient band. Anyway, quick look
in Riffs achives and here is Val's review of the
band from way way back if anyone is interested .
. .
Oh
- and a slap around the chops for both Jenn and
Steels Club as it was neither of them that we heard
it from - and here we are discussing disappearing
audiences!!
----------------------------------------------------------
TREAT THE BAND WELL OR PAY THE PRICE
Time for a bit ramble - well, it has been a while
- and I am part way through article number four
and it always takes longer than I imagine. Feeling
my brain going porridgey I need a break so, with
reference to the mention of some venues totally
ignoring the band for the evening and not giving
the band a welcome or whatever, I feel I must
mention the time Riffs'
Val ran a pub in West Auckland. It
wasn't for very long (less than a year I think),
but circumstances dictated that that was the way
things would be for a short time. She had her
licence, name above the door and whatever. She had
a live gig night once a week and would have loved
to have heavy Rock bands but her punters preferred
more laid back music; Whitesnake,
Bon Jovi (aaarggh), poppy type
stuff - with maybe a little Rock thrown in. Anyway
she would always make a point of welcoming the
band, each one, by name. Telling them that they
were an integral part of the evening and anything
at all they wanted, or had any problems, they were
to contact her, and only her, and she would sort
it.Don't bother anywone else, come straight to
her. She never charged the band for drinks, but
heaven help any of the band's hangers on trying to
get a freebie! (She could be quite formidable when
she wanted to be - and sometimes when she
didn't!). They were not charged for crisps, bar
snacks etc. She had in her mind what she needed to
break even, and a figure which would be great to
achieve for a modest profit from the evening. On
some occasions this figure was exceeded and she
gave half to the band as a big thank you. She told
me that the look on the guys' faces was pure
astonishment that someone would actually give them
MORE than they asked for. Needless to say she
didn't need to do much searching for bands as the
word spread how well (and fairly) the bands were
treated. Course a Riffs review usually
followed for every band that appeared there. I
remember more than one band said they would come
and play (Val
did do her homeword by the way - she wouldn't book
crap) and just take whatever Val decided to pay
them!! I bet that doesn't happen that often. And
yes, she made sure they got a fair price. Many
bands also played longer (well past finish time)
to a vibrant and appreciative crowd and she would
always make sure they got extra. When she took
over the pub it was, how should I put it, slightly
below what you would expect. Within just a few
weeks the clientele improved and it became a
decent pub. I remember one time a couple of Hell's
Angel types (over 6ft tall, about 3ft across the
shoulders, sleeveless denim jacket, tattoos, bald
- you get the image) started squaring up to one
another. Val was straight over to them, pulled her
top down and said: "I could knock both of you
out with these (Val was about a 38FF by
the way), so stop your messing and
enjoy the night. Or I'll kick you both out!".
They stood there nonplussed and I think they
forgot they were fighting and just went
shellshocked back to the bar. And yes, I have seen
her throw many a drunk guy clean out of the pub,
not one of them lifted a finger to her. But
anyway, back to how to treat bands. The way Val treated the
bands, to me, should be the norm, and I was really
surprised to hear that some bands are treated so
badly. It doesn't make sense to diss a band - they
have mates in other bands and if they are
impressed, the venue will benefit by getting a
good reputation. It was not that long ago that a
new band was struggling to get gigs and asked me
here at Riffs how they would go about getting
noticed in the region - they wanted me to do them
a boxed ad. I said that would be a waste of money.
No one is going to book a band just cos they took
out an advert. I told them what I would do if I
was a competent musician and wanted to get
noticed: I would ring up
Paul Tuns and tell him I had a
great band, and what I played, then say I will
play for expenses just to get a gig - even a
support slot. I would then email Nige at Riffs
(which is me by the way, in case you're losing the
will to live) and say come along for some quality
Rock, and also send in a blurb about the band
accompanied by some wild and quirky pics. I would
then ring around local landlords asking them to
come along. Blitz social media with some pics of
my band looking wild, happy and raucous (who wants
to see a 'boring' band). And just hope that Paul Tuns loves us
and mentions us to his mates (and of course gives
us a return booking at a reasonable price). yeah,
well I said most of this and never heard from them
again. Anyway, back to article number four, or is
it five........and why is my coffee stone cold?
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Really pleased to hear from Paul Tuns regarding
Disappearing Audiences, and his contribution will
be in the top spot in the next article to be
uploaded today (Wednesday).
--------------------------------------------------------------------
And here's the third - probably one more to go if
no more emails come in . . .
Just
uploaded the second of 'Disappearing Audiences'
articles (probably couple more to come as Riffs
readers have been marvellous at giving their
opinions and views on disappearing audiences [not
in a supernatural way you understand]). Brilliant
stuff and an absolute banquet for thought.
--------------------------------------------------------
I
just gotta say I've had some brilliant replies to
my request for insights into the dwindling crowds
at live gigs. Well, here we are, Saturday (it is
Saturday isn't it?!) and I still don't have
anything ready regarding the upcoming article (now
articles) on aforesaid subject. It's not that I'm
lazy (although that may go some way) but I have
had some frighteningly incisive, not to say
interesting and long-winded (but totally relevant)
replies. So much so that one article just will not
encompass them all. My original idea was to edit
them down to bite-size chunks (bullet points if
you will) but . . . well, I found that a bit like
trying to edit Stairway to Heaven or Rock Bottom
down to three minutes. You could - but you'd need
to hide away in a dark place for a long time so
no-one would know who you are. So, yes, I'm
working on it, so bear with me......
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Riffs
is gathering info on your views as to what may be
the cause of dwindling crowds for live music gigs
around the North-East - and what, if anything, can
be done about it. We have some great venues,
caring landlords/owners and a plethora (that means
lots) of top quality
(I mean like fuckin' awesome)
bands - so why so few punters? If you wish to have
your say then just email me here:
riffsonline@gmail.com. You can even
remain anonymous if you wish (but make it clear in
your email).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
APATHY
RULES! - WHATEVER
Just
this very minute (well, coupla days now) heard
from an extremely well-known and well-respected
North-East pub landlord who has put his heart and
soul into live music for many years, that he is
close to calling it a day with live bands. Over
the past few years his gig crowds have steadly
dwindled to a point now that it is hardly feasible
to host live music. Considering the quality of
musicianship and wide range of excellent bands on
offer in our area, this is a total disgrace.
Regular readers will have noticed that Riffs (and
bands and venues) have mentioned the lack of live
music support on many occasions of late but it is
now becoming a frightening reality that venues
will have to react to. The annoying thing is, the
answer is unbelievably simple - fuck
the box and get out and watch a band!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ADRENALINE-FUELLED HEAVY ROCK
 I think that any band who openly
welcomes a review must be reasonably sure they are
musically and visually capable.
Riffs never expects perfection, indeed, so glad we
haven't found it 'cos life would then be filled with
anti-climaxes. So it was nice to hear from Graham
from Adrenaline
who boast a night of 'Heavy Rock and Classic Rock' -
my musical taste buds are a-rockin' already.
The gig is on November 9th, Saturday, at
Darlington's Quakerhouse.
Now all I need to do is try and remember where I
have heard the name Graham Forrester from.... An
enlightening email will surely be heading my
way.......
Oh, and in case you
need a taster of what Adrenaline
offer. Look no further than HERE.
------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
There's
many amongst us who just can't get enough AC/DC
from the good ol' early days of Bon Scott.
Well, your lust for Rock and Metal at its best
can be well-satiated tonight (Friday 11th) at
Gateshead's Three Tuns when UK/DC
take to the stage for a blistering Rock set
that I can assure you is dynamite. You have been duly notified.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Whoops. Thought I had mentioned this but
apparently not. The Times Inn, Dalton le
Dale, has shut its doors. On its Facebook
page, it says 'for good', but I don't think the
staff and punters would see much good in it! I
think they may mean 'permanently' or
'indefinitely'.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
VICTIM OF
CHANGES
 Without
question, Rob
Halford is one
of Heavy Metal’s all-time great vocalists – as heard
through his highly influential and groundbreaking work
with Judas Priest. But age must do strange things to people,
as he is about to release an all-new album entitled
‘Celestial’ - full of 'Christmas' songs.
‘Celestial’ sees Halford joined by a supporting cast
of those very close to him – his brother (Nigel) on
drums, his nephew on bass (Alex, son of Priest bassist
Ian Hill), has sister (Sue) on bells, and twin guitar
tandem of Robert Jones and Jon Blakey.
'Donner and Blitzen,' and 'Protected by the Light,' as
well as reworkings of such holiday standards as 'God
Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,' 'Joy to the World,' and
'Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,' sit alongside other
offerings. 'Donner and Blitzen’ gets the snowball
rolling for Celestial – a song full of
excitement, love and hope,” says Rob. “You
can hear and feel the power of Christmas time –
energy roarin’ with rockin’ reindeers haulin’!”
Of course you can Mr Halford. Now where's my copy
of Sad Wings of Destiny . . .
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Gonna
give a shout to Heart
Shaped Stone who, up until today,
I thought was a band but, apparently - well not
apparently - because she has told me she isn't a
band, she is solo, and she ought to know.
I'm giving a shout for two reasons. 1) she's
taken out an advert in Riffs, which helps me pay
the exorbitant prices for web hosting and domain
name; and 2) she was the lead singer in
two Rock bands - '99
Clicks', and 'Fallen Angel'.
[I could squeeze in a 3) by saying she
was very polite - you'd be surprised how many
people aren't!].
As she told Riffs quite candidly: "Everything
I play is totally live, no tracks or gizmos, I
strive to play well known cover songs that
people like to hear on a night out and very
often finish up with the audience singing
along as the night goes on, mainly great
singalong songs from the 80s and 90s from
bands such as 3 Non
Blondes, Oasis, Allanis Morrisette,
Beautiful South, Fleetwood Mac, KT
Tunstall, Blondie, Cranberries,
plus some older, earlier and more modern songs
too to please a wider range of audience."
She has a great following in her home town of
North Shields but travels all over the
North-East for gigs. She is no stranger to the
weird and wonderful venues we have here in the
North-East and has hosted buskers nights and
mulitplayer live music gigs since 2017, now
pushing her solo career.
I'll admit, unless she dives into the odd Priest or Motorhead track
("that really isn't going to happen, Nige")
she may leave me a bit by the wayside but, as my
niece told me "There's more to life than
Heavy Rock". Errrmmmm, sorry Hazel, nope,
you've lost me.
But I appreciate there is room for everyone in
our thriving music arena and Heart Shaped Stone
certainly have the background and
professionalism to say "I'm here now, just
leave everything to me". And that, surely,
is what a lot of landlords are dying to hear.
(second only to "there's hundreds of people
queued outside for tonight's gig!")
There is a Facebook page showreel:
https://www.facebook.com/heartshapedmusic/videos/3191461814229734/
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Ginger Baker, one
of the co-founders of Cream,
has died at the age of 80.
Baker
is best known for co-founding Cream with Eric
Claption and Jack Bruce in 1966. He
suffered various health problems in the later years
of his life, telling Rolling Stone in 2013 that
performing “exhausted” him. The
candid interview also saw Baker reveal that he
suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
(COPD) from smoking. In February 2016, he
was forced to cancel a tour with Air Force after
being diagnosed with “serious heart problems”. He is
thought to have undergone open heart surgery in June
of that year.
-------------------------------------------------------------
INTERNATIONAL DATELINE
OCTOBER 7 . . . INTERNATIONAL DATELINE OCTOBER 7
. . . INTE
 Direct
from Riffs International Overseas Reporter (you
better believe it!) comes some AC/DC news; recently
opened in Prahran, Melbourne (that's way over in
Australia, by the way) is 'Angus
and Bon' Steakhouse. Which,
co-incidentally or not, is just around the corner
from the Station Hotel where the band played one of
their first Melbourne gigs back in 1975. Our
intrepid Ozzie reported dutifully snapped this pic
of the Angus and Bon plaque and I have requested
that she wears her 'AC/DC founded 1974' t-shirt in
front of the aforementioned establishment while
taking a photo of herself (I think the hip amongst
us call it a 'selfie') - but of course this all
depends on the weather as I was unable to afford the
very fastest pigeon. But a big thanks to Franki who, by her
own admisssion ended up in Melbourne after missing
the Hollywood plane. Don't worry, I told her, relax.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Another
thousand words, this time from Qween,
also with a sellout concert on a recent Friday at
Hedworth Hall:
Checkout their radio interview here.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS
The
Bay Horse in Bishop Auckland (on a recent Friday).
. .
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 Heard
from Maddog - Chairman of the Tyne Wolves - that the Duke of
Cumberland in Gateshead reopened
fairly recently and is planning live gigs. The
management intends to have regular band nights but
The Tyne Wolves have got in quick with two gigs
there already planned: Red Revival on 28th of
this month, and Three
Odd Shoes on Oct 4. Start time is 8pm
and there will be a charity bucket for welcome
contributions.
Val and myself have
many happy memories of the Duke, with Thompa
vying with Paul Tuns for the most gracious
host
in the North East. He
set the bar extremely high, let's just hope the
present management are even half as good.
---------------------------------------------------------------
The
gig arranged for Darlington's Forum for 24th of
this month has been put back to next year and this
new gig featuring The Tom Atkinson
Band and the legendary Russ Tippins Band
now takes its place:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Heard from Dave from
the Graham
Henderson Experience that their gig
tonight (Friday) at the Ox and Plough in Washington
is off. The venue is closed and boarded so I guess
that means no live gigs there for a
while............but we'll let you know if anything
changes.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Better
late than never - tonight's
gig (Fri) at the now iconic Three Tuns in
Gateshead is Heavy Metal USURPER. Tried my best
to get a pic of the band but no luck. But there
are some vids on Youtube taken at Trillans. I
mention tonight's gig as it is now getting so damn
difficult to get to see some Metal bands - and
even more so if they play their own compositions;
so good on Usurper. Check out their vids and if
you are in the Gateshead area then why not pop
along and give these guys some support? master of
the wreck baptism of
fire
And good on Paul Tuns for giving these
lads an airing.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRIBUTE
BAND BREAKS PUB ATTENDANCE RECORD
 By all accounts Darlo Blues day on
Sunday was a rip-roaring success and, although we
would have liked to hear from several bands
concerning their gig on the day, at least we've
been contacted by The
Paul Rodgers Story who, apparently,
broke an attendance record at a Darlington pub! We
hear that there was, wait for it, 110 (that's one
hundred and ten) people watching just the band's
sound check at Hoskins Bar in the town
centre. And when the band kicked off, there had
been an unbelievable 553 people in the venue. The
previous record was 350. The band, needless to
say, fed off the crowd and went down an absolute
storm. The Paul Rodgers Story have a new website
up and running www.paulrodgersstory.com
(I've told them about the Riffs reviews links not
working) and also I can link to a video taken on
the night of the band playing 'Fire and Water'.
Just click here.
(above
pic was taken at Darlington Forum earlier this
year)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 Has anyone a cure for
Fizzyfish? Those adaptable funsters
are at it again - raising money for charity. I can't
put it much better than singer Alan so I'll quote
directly from his email:
"This one's been
drawn together really quickly, Sunday 29th
Sept at the old B&M store on Harbour Walk,
Hartlepool, TS24 0YA. We're helping out the
Personal Trainers at The Gym Group in Hartlepool
in an event to raise funds for Andy’s Man Club,
set up to help people with mental health issues in
remembrance of Adam Rutherford, a young lad who
sadly took his own life. The event is free, but
obviously we would welcome any donations on the
day to the cause, there's 3 live music acts; Red Sky,
the acoustic duo span off the band Skyran, the
wonderful Jades
a 4-part
glamourous harmony group, and to end the afternoon
there’s the ugly buggers that are us, Fizzyfish,
with a power hour to end the day with a bang. The
event runs from noon until around 4pm, there’s
plenty of other stuff going on for those who like
to physically exert themselves - and those who
like to watch them try. Everyones doing their bit
for nowt, from the organisers, Hart
tool hire, PA company Soundwaves, Van Hire
company and Hartlepool Council;
they have all been a great help, all funds raised
go straight to the cause."
There's nothing more I can add to enhance the event,
except a plea for local people to go along, have a
crackin' day out and try and pop a few pennies in
the collecting buckets. Anyone who's organised an
event knows just how much hard work - not to mention
sweat and sleepless nights - goes into it, so to tot
it all up at the end of the day to realise a
financial reward for Andy's Man Club would
put smiles on so many faces . . .
And well done Fizzyfish
- Riffs will always have room for you.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
DIRTY
DOGZ PHIL PROPOSES A NIGHT OF
'PANACHE, POWER,
PRECISION AND PASSION'
And talking of 'no-nonsense', Riffs is
excited at an email from Phil
from Dirty Dogz
fame who, after the demise of aforesaid band, has been
pining for some quality, down-to-earth Rock done by
mature, experienced musicians - or in his own words 'A tasty selection of highly regarded and
seasoned pros' (I'm hearing
people standing and clapping at the back . . .) and
with the adage 'if you want something doing properly
do it yourself' resounding around his thinking organ,
Phil has decided to do just that.
Putting
his money where his mouth is, Phil is arranging a
'little' soiree where he expects to showcase some
incredible Rock talent. He told me: 'There’s
still some cracking nights to be had out there I’m
sure but, as most bands are finding, it's often
hard chuffin work playing to 2 men, a whippet and
a crazy couple in the corner who are adamant they
want a bit of Britney! However, the frustration
and disappointment seems to have wained a tad over
the noted period of inactivity and I am dipping my
arthritic toes (some may say foolishly) into the
local, unpredictable rock'n'roll waters again.'
At the moment he
has got his main band together: Joe
Hope-Bass/Vox (“The Boy”), Ray Johns-Hammond
(“The Man”), Sid White-Drums
(“The Business”), Phil
Caisley-Gtr/Vox (“The Dreamer”) but
Phil promises some 'special guests' not to mention
support band(s).
Still in its early stages,
Phil is wanting to gauge support before he goes full
tilt. He continued: 'Looking for definite feedback
from real fans of live music who like nothing more
than to immerse themselves in a night of quality
sounds delivered with panache, power, precision and
passion'. Expectations are high and Phil hopes
the setlist to include
'interpretations/improvisations of classic rock,
blues and psychedelia from Hendrix, Zeppelin, Cream,
Stones, Beatles, Free, Neil Young, Peter Green, Bob
Dylan...plus the odd original and a few surprises.'
Phil has emphasised that this will happen only
with enough prior interest. He welcomes texts on 07803 640235. I have promised Phil,
Riffs' full involvement and when anything happens -
we wanna know!
LET'S MAKE THIS HAPPEN.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
HEADS
DOWN NO-NONSENSE BOOGIE
Nipped out to catch Ma Kelly's Boys
last Sunday (15th Sep) at Crook Hotel,
co-incidentally about the same time as John Coghlan's Quo
were playing in Darlington as part of the annual
Blues Festival. Again, Ma Kelly's Boys are
seasoned musicians who have done their homework
and noticeably love playing Quo's early stuff.
Lots on offer, including 'Railroad', 'Roll Over
Lay Down', 'Mystery Song' and many of the expected
Quo classics - the sound was ballsy, meaty and
perfectly balanced. Lead guitarist's feigned move
to turn down the volume elicited angry shouts from
the crowd. Think so too. Quo fans will not feel
short-changed here.
  
-------------------------------------------
My faith in
humanity has been partially restored - well, I say
humanity; I mean the Rock-going public of the
North-East. How? Well, I have just received (and
now put together) a review of UK/DC at Glendale Club from
last Friday (13th), and it was packed. Chocka.
Heaving. And don't take my word for it, The Seaham
Silverback was there, sent in his review with
pictures of said crowd. Magnifico.
------------------------------------------------------
 Received
a link to the new offering from our local lads Millennium.
Coming in at around an ear-battering six minutes
this Heavy Rock onslaught - A
New World - is a taster for
the full album coming out this month. Seems
there's fewer and fewer Rock and Metal heads left,
but for the Metal minority this little ditty
should satisfy. Paul from the band told me: 'It's
tough for all bands but especially those that
peddle their own stuff. Hopefully we'll travel a
wider road soon.' We wait with baited
breath. Give it a listen, crank your speakers to
11, sit back, and enjoy . . .A NEW WORLD
----------------------------------------------------
Just been
sent a link to a great video by the NE STREET BAND. Check it out here
--------------------------------------------
Three Tuns in Gateshead need
band for this Sat (14th). Contact Paul asap
07940715824 (and let me know if you get the gig
and I'll post it on the Listings page). NOW
SORTED,. FREDDIE PURVIS GOT THE GIG.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
After typing
the below para something came to me that Colin
Smoult said to me many, many moons ago when he was
in Shovelmouth. He told me how much it
means when, after a gig, if just one person comes
over and says to the band how much they had
enjoyed the gig. That, he said, made all the hard
work so worthwhile.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Can you
hear us at the back?"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
While
writing the review for Obsession yesterday (Sat) I
twigged that the brilliant lead guitarist John Footitt was
in a band called Riot, way back. So, after a
search through Riffs' archives I found a review
for Riot done
at (you might guess) The Three Tuns, by
Val. Again, not sure what year - but I know
someone will help out. Here is the review. Plus a
couple of pics of John belting out some toons
including some Bon J . . .aaah, where's the sick
bucket?!!!
..............................................................................
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Less than a week to
go until the Ruf Blues
Caravan 2019
take to the stage at Hartlepool Supporters
Club on Saturday 14th.
A lot of people may panic
thinking they now do not have
time to arrange tickets for the
gig - but panic not, as Tommy is
allowing pay on door to this
event if all tickerts are not
sold.
If you want to check
availability just give him a quick email on
thomas.wormald2@ntlworld.com.
And he may even hold them on
the door for you, I know
not, but if you ask very
nicely he just may.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just heard from Blistered Molly that their charity Ball at Hexham
Mart has been cancelled. It was listed for later
this month but it is now not to be. Mike from
the band told Riffs "I'm not suprised really,
at £50 a ticket!" And I bet he was looking
forward to that drum solo too. Such is life.
Mike is slightly miffed as the band turned down
a couple of bookings for that night so is now
trying to fill that slot; it's Saturday
September 28; contact
Mike on 07711 006943.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
GOOD OLD-FASHIONED LOVER BOY
 And
I thought Sunday was a day of rest!!
No sooner had I finished putting together last night's
review of The Codgers by the Seaham Silverback,
than in pops an email from Rob of
Qween who had another successful gig
on Friday (30th Aug) at The Grand in Newcastle.
And he very kindly sent me in a couple of pics taken
at that fine establishment.
I also hear that the band even did a meet and greet
after the show for their many fans demanding a chat.
Nice one guys.
Their next gig is at Hedworth Hall South Shields on
Friday 27th Sep and tickets are just £6 from the venue
or Qween's Facebook page.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I
notice that The Codgers
are playing Houghton Sports and Social Club
tonight (Sat) and there's just a chance that the
Seaham Silverback may be out and about too. Now I'd
hate for anyone to put two and two together . .
. but I've sorted through Riffs archives and
dusted off some old pics I took of the young lads
when they were Old Codger in 2007. So,
without further ado:
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I can agree wholeheartedly with The
Seaham Silverback's review of Starz
a few weeks ago. I caught them last
night (Thursday 29th Aug) at
Osbournes in Yarm to get pics of
them on stage and was mega-impressed
by this versatile power trio. An
object lesson in how to - seemingly
effortlessly - entertain a crowd
with an ultra-tight sound by
seasoned and talented musicians and
still have a laugh with the punters.
To be able to play a bikers gig one
night and a wine bar the next will
give Starz an enviable edge.
Tony from St. Peter's Club
in Newcastle told me: "These lads
are great. I have had them twice
this year and intend to book them
again for 2020."
I
kidnapped
guitarist Kenny
between sets:
"There is no
other place
like the
North-East,"
he pointed out,
"every weekend
there are
numerous local
bands on offer
to go and see
- not many
people realise
this is
special to the
area."
Although he
still wouldn't
be drawn on
whether hardened
rockers Black
Rose would
be publicising
their upcoming
album with some
local gigs.
I have updated
the Silverback's
review with some
pics but have
not changed any
of his text.
Starz are
still mid
mini-tour and I
unashamedly urge
you to go see.
Kiko, Mark and
Kenny's
repertoire is
all-encompassing
and I truly
can't see anyone
being
disappointed. http:www.starzrock.co.uk
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FIZZYFISH
HAVE DARLINGTON IN THEIR SIGHTS
  By
jove they're at it again!
Fizzy by name and fizzy by nature.
Only this time, the band who put the E in
Entertainment plan to bring a bit of life to
Darlington. They are playing for nopence, not a
penny, not a threepenny bit, not a tanner, not a
florin so as to help Family Help in Darlington,
which specialises in domestic abuse support for
women and women with children fleeing domestic
abuse. They provide safe temporary accommodation for
those that need it, in a purpose built refuge with 8
units.
Alan told Riffs: "We are honoured to be
supporting the refuge and will be offering a night
of entertainment for the princely sum of £6 a
ticket. We will be going full on Rollercoaster set
for this one, so nothing esoteric, just a great
night of great tunes!"
It's on Friday, October 18. Tickets are available
direct from the venue, The Forum Music Centre,
Borough Road, Darlington, 01325 363135. All profits
will go direct to the refuge.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well,
some balls are held for charity and some for fancy
dress, but the ball that's held in aid of
Tynedale Hospice is the ball that
Blistered Molly likes
best. Yep, the band has been asked to play at the
Hats and Glad Rags Ball in
the Function Suite at Hexham Mart. Drummer Mike
from the band tells me they are all looking
forward to introducing the crowd to some Classic
Rock and I note that within their repertoire they
include some Free, Zep,
AC/DC, Lizzy and . . . Sabbath. Hmmm,
best keep clear of War Pigs methinks and probs go
for Paranoid. Even Zep
may be a push. "Well," said Mike
confidently, "we'll suss out the crowd and see
what we can get away with. The name  of the game,
though, is to entertain. And we have no worries
on that score." With such a positive
attitude the band may just make some converts.
Singer Ashleigh is a big
Zep fan so hopes are high for some
blistering Rock. The event has been put together
by Patricia Barnes of Hats and Glad Rags in Hexham
and Gofton Wagyu and takes place on Saturday
September 28th. It all kicks off at 7pm and you'll
get chucked out around midnight.
Not a cheap night mind, coming in at £50. But hey,
it is for charity and hospices up and down the
country rely on public donations to survive. And
if you had a loved one spending time in a hospice
you would wish the best for them wouldn't you? If
you do wish to treat yourself and partner then
call 01434 606 444 or e-mail
fundraising@tynedalehospice.com. Mike did say Blistered Molly
intend to make it a night to remember. I think
when
Mike announces: "Hey everybody, this
is our twenty-minute version of Moby Dick."
That should do the trick.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Had a
little jaunt last night (Fri 23rd) to Bishop Auckland
to see Four Letter
Word do their
stuff at the Bay Horse. Review and pics sorted
for your delectation. The
Seaham Silverback has just submitted to
Riffs his review of The Whole
Hog at The
Glendale and this is now finished and both
reviews are here to view.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
WELL - THEY
HAVEN'T KILLED KENNY
Well, would you credit it? Riffs was opining the
lack of music news today and into our lap popped
this little gem concerning not only a great Metal
band, but also we spy the ruggedly Rock looks of
guitarist Kenny Nicholson who is no stranger to
Riffs News pages. [And as this info didn't come from
Kenny we officially slap him around the face with a
wet lettuce].
He is now part of Millennium,
a Billingham-based Heavy Metal band who are due to
release their fourth full-length studio album A
New World on October 25th, 2019 through Pure
Steel Records.
Vocalist Mark Duffy commented: “We try to keep
some of our New Wave Of British Heavy Metal roots,
but we also try a bit of variation with songs like
‘Obsolete’ and ‘Assassin’ that have a more
straight ahead heavy metal feel to them." The
band who played on the album consisted of:
Mark Duffy (vocals, Toranaga)
Will Philpot (guitar, Serpents Kiss)
Louis Astbury (guitar)
Paul Simpson (bass)
Darren Moore (drums)
We say 'consisted' as Louis Astbury has been
replaced by Kenny, and drummer Darren Moore by Nigel
Waterfall-Brown.
I, for one, will be keeping my eye open for a
possible local gig - well, there's bound to be one
pub that has the balls to unleash some Heavy Metal
thunder. Isn't there?
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Further to the mensh for the
upcoming Red Revival gig at Leam Lane, thought some
readers may be interested in their take
on Whole Lotta Rosie. The lead singer's
voice is quite powerful - you could say
she's got it aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall. Check
out the video here,
taken on the 18th of this month at the Smile
Festival.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Bearing in mind I have been a lilfe-long UFO fan, I was
looking forward to the Pete
Way Band at Trillians on Monday just
gone. But decided to give it a miss.
I'll say nothing more, just point you to this
Youtube video recorded recently - here. Too
bad, too sad.
----------------------------------------------------------
TYNE WOLVES INITIATE RED REVIVAL
Now,
this one's a month away but I'm rather intrigued
with this. Maddog
and the Tyne Wolves
not only show their worth by putting on some
regular Rock/Grunge/Metal offerings at the
Deuchars Arms up there in Leam Lane but has Riffs
mucho respect as he makes sure proceeds go to a
cause close to his heart - the Kayaks charity.
News enough you may agree but I've just heard from
him of his gig on Sep 15 for: Red
Revival. Now I know if I said they have a
female singer a lot of you will immediately
discount the band or subconciously think less off
them - I hold my hands up there. But then think of
Warlock, think
of Benatar. Roxette
even? And what about Harry?
No - not Dirty, Debbie!
Check out this song (click on image) and
see what you think. Massive potential to be a
rockin' combo there. And let's face it; if Maddog
says to them 'I want you Rockin' tonight'.
Would you argue?
.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just one day to
go and we get info on tomorrow's (SAT 17th) Burning
Rock Festival at
Stanley. I've added the info to the Listings page but
here's a rundown of who's on:
2pm no ordinary Angel; 3pm me mes; 4pm dog in a
box; 5pm rigid digits; 6pm ballbreakers; 7pm riverrain; 8pm lock n load.
Only a fiver and pay at gate. That's it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Gotta
give a big shout to Four Letter Word who are
braving Darlington's apathetic Rock scene to be
part of the Britannia's Britfest event in aid of
St. Theresa's Hospice this Saturday (17th).
Much kudos to Michael and the lads for giving of
their time for such a worthwhile cause, who are
hoping to take to the stage around 5. It's from 2
to 9pm and other bands on the menu are East Coast Mainline; The
Mechanical Capybara and String Edition.
I gotta say, know nothing much about the Britannia
except it's seemed to have always been there,
overseeing many changes to Darlo including the
demise of Handcrafts from directly over the road,
the building of the A68/St. Cuthbert's Way
roundabout directly outside the pub, not to
mention the massive ugly DWP building that it
faces.
And they do their bit for the wild birds by always
maintaining a fresh supply of num nums via their
Britannia tree (not much escapes Riffs' eagle
eye!!). So with that attention to detail it's
probs a pub worth visiting.
As with Maddog's afternoon gig up there in Leam
Lane, we wish for good weather to enhance the
event.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Having a look at Riffs
Listings it's nice to see that Paul Tuns' panic at
getting his August's gigs sorted is now history
and he can look forward to some crackin' bands -
culminating in the astounding coup of securing Skinny Molly; featuring Lynryd Skynyrd's Mike Estes (as
this is the ONLY north-east gig [apart from
Stormin' biker rally the night before] you get to
this gig or you've missed the band for well over a
year). Zooming forward to this Friday (16th) he
has the ever-popular FM. Have dug out
a couple of pics which - according to the photo
info. - I took in 2013. AC/DC,
Hendrix and many others get an
outing with this quality band and - from what I
can remember - a stunning lead guitarist.
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Must give a shout out to David from High Howdon Social Club which
was host to an Abba
tribute last weekend. Between you and me he would be
happy for them to sneak in 'Thunderstruck'. Well, you
never know - the last song the
Pistols played at their gig at
Midddlesbrough Rock Garden in the Seventies was
'Teenage Kicks' - and who'da thought that? So fingers
crossed for ya mate. On the off chance they do, be
sure to let Riffs know!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Isn't
it nice - or do I mean 'rare' - when people keep their
word? And so it is that Rob from Qween Sold Out (Soz -
I mean Qween) sent in some pics - or should I say 'pic'
- of his gig last night Saturday 9th at Newcastle
Village Hotel.
Although I was expecting more than one, at least it's
nice to have an image of the evening. I must apologise
for the size though (unfortunately not the first time
I've had to say that) but this is exactly as supplied.
Beggars can't be choosers, so I thank Rob and fingers
crossed his full houses continue.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
THIS MACHINE
CREATES WHEELS OF STEEL
Nice to hear from This Machine who, I
have been reliably informed (cos they told me), have
been having some rather pleasing responses regarding
their cover versions. Saxon
commented
'very cool' when talkin' 'bout Wheels of
Steel - praise indeed. Also,
their version of the Dead Daisies Long
Way To Go  got a 'like' on
the Daisies' Facebook page. Not bad going for Norman, Tony, Sequel, Paul
and The Hamster of Doom (aka
Gazza) who I know have been on the circuit long enough
to hone their musicianship to deserve such eminent
acolades. I just hope this mensh doesn't embarrass the
lads - no? Well, if that doesn't, then the following
photos just may; taken ten years ago when myself and
Val interviewed the band at The Three Tuns in
Gateshead.
We were all much older then - we're younger
than that now...
 
This Machine playing
Wheels of Steel at The Frigate, Marske- here
This Machine
playing Long Way To Go at The Penny Gill - here
---------------------------------------------------------------....................................
New
Plough Dipton Music festival confirmed
for Sunday 25th August
from 1.15pm through to 10.15pm
Music all day with 6
live acts from solos to full bands as below:
Scott
Kiers solo
North Road duo
Mitch Laddie band
Jen Stevens Little Moth duo
Ash Humble solo
Sofi-stication band
And no reason not to pop along as it's completely,
totally FREE.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
HSC BACK ON THE CIRCUIT
 
Just a heads up for any sharp eyed readers -
especially around the Hartlepool area - who have
noticed that Hartlepool Supporters Club has
been missing from our Gig Listings the last few
months. Well, just heard from Tommy there and they
have had a break from bands but are now back to
firing on all six. Their gigs are, of course, now on
our Listings and you would do well to check out that
fine establishment, which has hosted some really
rare out-of-town bands. Highlight for this month just
has to be The Feelgood Band. I think you will be a
tad impressed. Check 'em out here
--------------------------------------------------------------
QWEEN SOLD OUT
Just heard that the Qween gig (that's a Queen
tribute for those of you have just got up or are or
well hungover) this Friday 9th at Newcastle is now
completely SOLD OUT. That's three gigs in a row for Qween that have
sold out. Wonder if they'll be tempted to rename the
band 'Qween Sold Out'
. . .!!
Rob
from the band has promised to send in some pics
so I'll pop the best on the this page as soon as
I get them.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Hey Molly,
how you so skinny?"
 Bands come and go, venues come and
go, but Gateshead's Three Tuns has been
one of the most reputable and long-established
venues for North-East live gigs for as long as I
can remember [many of you will be thinking 'well,
that's about a fortnight then'] - indeed, just
look at our old reviews and quite a few feature
the Tuns, so it's quite fitting that Paul from
that Rockin' gaff has the honour to be the ONLY
North-East pub to host Lynyrd
Skynyrd's Mike
Estes and his band Skinny Molly. The
band rate the Tuns gig so highly [it states on the
 Skinny Molly website
that The Three Tuns is one of their favourite
places to play] that not only did they plead with
Paul to have a gig there [I totally imagine] but I
understand they are having a warm-up the night
before when they headline Stormin' The Castle
Bikers Rally at Bishop Auckland. Those bikers
appreciate a bit of the ol' Southern hospitality
and will no doubt get the Mollies all fired up for
a night of propa Rockin' boogie for the Tuns
crowd. Just a shame they don't play Freebird
anymore as they reckon it's just not called for at
any of their gigs..............yeah,
right!! - they wouldn't dare not play
Freebird!!!! Skinny Molly
also play the best of Lynyrd
Skynyrd, Molly Hatchet, Blackfoot
and The Outlaws. The Tuns gig is Saturday 31st August
and tickets are a tenner. And, although we all
know the Tuns is like a massive football arena
once you get inside . . . Paul must make it known
that when the tickets are gone - they're gone. No
door entry wiithout a ticket. No squeezing in the
odd punter. And apparently there's quite a few
odd punters in Gateshead.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paul at the Tuns in now all
sorted. All dates filled and up on the Listings
page... he's appreciative of all bands who
enquired and is full for August - unless someone
pulls out!!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, just dug
out another Riffs
review from way back, by dear ol' Val - and again, no
idea when this was penned. Val mentioned it was the
week after the 26th. Ah, right, so that's cleared that
up........
-------------------------------------------------
C'mon
bands - Riffs is updated many times daily and when we
say Paul needs bands for The Three Tuns in Gateshead
for this month then we are talking now;
we will let you know when the slots have been filled -
but they haven't been yet. He still has three dates to
fill
This Saturday 10th August
Next Friday 16th August
Next Saturday 17th August. So give him a call
07940
715824. WHEN?
NOW!!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
AC/DC
GB AT THE PENNY GILL
 Hello
everybody peeps. Well, just  got back from The
Penny Gill in Spennymoor where I
nipped along to try out a new camera -
always felt a bit of a wally lugging my
large DSLR about, so invested in new
technology. Was really pleased with the
results; will need some tweaking but I
thought I'd post a few pics from its very
first use. I'm contemplating undertaking
band reviews - just like the old days
(but, unfortunately without Val) if there
is a demand; and of course a review is no
good without pics to illustrate. Anyway,
this is from last night's gig (Sun Aug
4th) at The Penny Gill of
AC/DC GB . . .
I recorded them playing 'High Voltage' and that
is now on Youtube - https://youtu.be/V-0BzWOjMDk.
---------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
I've started experimenting
with linking bands names in the Listing page to
Youtube videos of themselves - to help readers get
an idea of what to expect at a gig. At the moment
I've picked a few at random but, if any band wants
a link to a particular video then please let me
know and I will initiate that. I'm not sure what
will happen though when that gig comes and goes; I
guess you will need to re-send the link for me to
keep it up to date............ I'll see how it
goes........
---------------------------------------------------------------------
COME
ON AND TOUCH ME
The keen-eyed amongst you may have noticed how
many Starz
gigs there are now in August and
September. Well, it just happens their popularity
seems to know no bounds. I remember guitarist
Kenny telling me earlier this year that they went
out of their way to pick a set list that was
recognisable but yet well away from the
'done-to-death' covers. Well, that has paid off in
spades [what's the builders' motto - measure twice
and cut once]. Kenny explained to Riffs: 'Starz has gone down
really well everywhere; one landlord told us that
we were the first band he'd listened to for months
cos normally he switches off when he's serving
behind the bar because he's sick of hearing the
same old songs, he couldnt wait to get us back!' Not
only that but Kenny is in The
Paul Rodgers Story who had no choice
but to reform after constant requests and, by all
accounts, played a blinder recently at Darlington's
Forum (and yes a re-booking ensued). And, if all
that isn't impressive enough, his other band, the
heavy Black
Rose is on the verge of
releasing a new album. Kenny went on: 'Black Rose are almost finished
recording a new album which is a lot heavier than
anything we have done in the past, it should
surprise a few people!'
Couldn't be too heavy for me Kenny - or too
loud! Click pic to hear
'Cure For Your Disease' by Black Rose.
I wouldn't be surprised if Kenny makes himself
available on a regular basis, surrounded by
railings, for bands who want to just get close and
touch him . . . or just stare in awe . . .
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Three Tuns all sorted for
weekend - they have Romeo's Pistol
for this Friday and Prism
for Saturday. Two bands quick off the mark - mind
you, neither have been in touch with Riffs. We got the
confirmation from Paul Tuns. Y'know, ya try to
give bands publicity . . .
Paul is still short for some dates late August
so give him a call 07940 715824.
THREE TUNS NEEDS BAND FOR FRIDAY now sorted
Paul Tuns is well on his way to filing his listing
for gigs in August but finds himself with a space
for THIS FRIDAY 2ND (Three Tuns in Gateshead)- so
get in there quick: call or text
07940 715824. And when you have
secured your gig, email me here at Riffs and I will
add it to the Listings page - and if you are very
polite I will give your band a mensh here on the
News page!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 If
I'm anything, I'm a man of my word; September's
listings is now live and the first entry is for Friday 13th at The Glendale,
Hall Lane, Houghton le Spring DH5 8DA for a gig
by UK/DC
playing tracks by the legendary Bon Scott.
Angus from that band played with AC/DC GB
recently and went down a storm at Steels
Club in Sunderland, so a lot is riding on
the Glendale gig.
Will they - can they - surpass the Steels Club
gig?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Can I make a clarification concerning the AC/DC GB review
below. The Angus on the night of the gig review
was from UK/DC, and he was standing in on that
night at Steels
Club and it is his band - UK/DC who is
appearing at Glendale Club on Friday
September 13th. UK/DC
play the Bon Scott
era songs, so that's the first five AC/DC albums; and
some would argue undoubtedly the best. But let's
not get into that. I should be getting September's
list up soon on the Listings page and I will make
sure that that will be the first gig entered into
it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
BANDS SOUGHT
FOR GATESHEAD GIGS
Looks like landlord Paul Tuns
is having a reet rough August suffering numerous
cancellations! He has put an urgent shout out for
bands for the following dates for his two pubs in
Gateshead - no specific style has been mentioned
so just give him a ring . . . call or text 07940 715824
SCHOONER
Sat 17th, Fri 23rd
THREE TUNS
Fri 2, Sat 3, Sat 10, Fri 16, Sat 17, Sat 24, Fri
30.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The band's website: https://www.acdcgb.co.uk/
For a taste of the band: https://youtu.be/QRCIfpYXSC8
---------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------
WE'LL
HAVE NONE OF YER DEVIL MUSIC
AROUND THESE 'ERE PARTS
Well, ya just gotta
feel sorry for those Junkyard Dogz, all set for
their debut gig at Ye Old Cross in Ryton
Village recently - but just days away from
their much-anticipated gig and they are told it's
off. Who says they can't go ahead? Environmental
Health, that's who. Apparently the pub wants to
start up live music nights but have been shot down
in flames before they've even got going. Paul from
the band told me: 'I wouldn't mind but they
haven't even heard us!'
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorting
through Riffs archives (well, when you wake at 5am
you need something to fill in the time!) I noticed
another little gem that warrants an airing, so
without further ado here's Rough Justice
from July 2008 at the Princess Alice in
Middlesbrough . . .penned by yours truly.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
ONE
VISION
By all accounts Queen tribute
Qween knocked
'em dead at Birtley Buffs Club recently. Every single
ticket had been sold and the place was, as you can
well imagine, rammed to the rafters. Rob from the band
told Riffs: 'It was a great responsive
audience who really appreciated our live show
experience - Billy West, our lead singer, does
"Freddie" proud at every gig and sings all Queen
songs in copy key!' No doubt all the musos
reading this will know exactly what 'copy key' is.
Moving on: Rob has been elated at the response his
band has been getting since its inception and playing
to capacity crowds looks like the norm for this
quality ensemble. Their next gig is at Hebburn
Iona Social Club on Friday 12th July tickets
from the club (£6)-.
Did anyone video the
band at the gig that Riffs could link to?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Twister at the
Academy: https://youtu.be/sh3AEUpWyFQ
Rock Solid: https://youtu.be/U8eBOJAF8_0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOW THESE TOWNS
THEY ALL KNOW OUR NAME
Riffs
is forever hearing of venues closing and bands
splitting so how heartened are we to tell of a band
actually reforming?!! Yes, it's true. A big welcome
back to . . .
THE PAUL RODGERS STORY. It seems only five minutes ago that the
lads (well, I say 'lads' but the pedigree of these
mature guys is there for all to see/hear) were not
only belting out the most memorable tracks from Free, Bad Co., Queen
etc but they included Paul
Rodgers' foray into solo work too.
Not to mention Hendrix.
Gaining an envious reputation for reliablility and
quality musicianship throughout the North-East, it
was a blow to many when the band called it a day.
Guitarist Kenny told me: 'Since the band split up
we've had people asking us on a regular basis
what happend to the band and the enjoyment they
got from our gigs. A chance meeting between a
couple of us led to our reform, so by
popular demand we are back.'
Kenny continued: 'Because all the members are busy with
other bands we can only fit in a very few
gigs.'
Very few indeed, you'll be lucky to catch the band
once a month - but a trek worth taking.
Needless to say Riffs shows The Paul Rodgers Story
gigs on our Listings page but this is the current
list up to Christmas (Oh heavens - it's still June
and we've mentioned Christmas!!!!).
Thurs 4th July - The
Forum, Darlington cc
Sat 3rd Aug - Richmond
Live Festival (on stage at 4pm)
cc
Sun 15th Sept -
Rhythm & Blues Festival, Darlington (Hoskins
Bar at 6pm)
Thurs 28th Nov -
Trillians, Newcastle
Fri 20th Dec - Cleveland
Bay, Eaglescliffe
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
HARTLEPOOL
CELEBRATES 50 YEARS OF
WISHBONE ASH
 Another
short notice gig just come to
Riffs attention is this Sunday (23rd)
at Hartlepool Supporters Club [5pm £4.00];
The venue is celebrating the 50-year anniversay of
the great Wishbone Ash.
Performed by The Flying Vs, Jeff
from the band told Riffs: 'It's one of a
series of gigs we will perform this year. We will be
joined by Dave Barnes from The
Test Pilots as our Ted Turner. Having
opened up for Wishbone Ash
and their fans in 2014 at Chesterfield Winding
Wheel, 2016 at The Grand Clitheroe and 2018 at The Y
Theatre Leicester, we're looking forward to playing
tracks from the early years Wishbone
Ash, Pilgrimage, Argus, Wishbone IV, New
England, and Strange Affair.'
---------------------------------------------------------------
Just found out about this all-dayer today - two
days before the event! Looks like their publicity
dept. is away on holiday . . . Anyway, thanks to American Girl
for keeping Riffs in the loop. Noticed there are
no band times on the poster but one time we do
know is that American Girl are due at 4.45pm. (and
they've missed an 'S' from Assassin!)
------------------------------------------------------------
Following on from
the unbelievable response I got from the last
two recent 'who is this band' pics. And I say
'unbelievable' because no-one - yes no-one -
emailed me! But am I saddened? [Well, yeah, just
a tad] but am I disheartened? [Well . . .] but
not to be deterred here is two more 'who the
fuck is this?' pics.................. any
ideas anyone? Anyone . . .?
 
---------------------------------------------------------------------
https://youtu.be/jhUhw_J5ItE
------------------------------------------------------------------
True
to my word I've dug out these two pics of a young
band pictured at The Grand in Bishop Auckland
(possibly) way back when - so if anyone
knows who the band is, or when I took them (or why
I never labelled them properly) we can then put a
name to the band...
----------------------------------------------------------------
https://youtu.be/DkWRCv5HDjk
------------------------------------------------------------------
YES,
WE TAKE OUR OWN PHOTOS - ALWAYS HAVE
In
reply to a recent email we received: ALL photos
that accompany Riffs reviews (and indeed reviews
by The Seaham Silverback) are taken at the actual
gig - without exception. The reviews by myself and
Val all contained photographs that I took of the
band on that particular night. We do not snaffle
pics from other websites, Facebook or whatever to
enhance the review. If I ever use a photo in this
column (not the column on the right) for
illustrative purposes I always mensh that I nicked
it from somewhere else (other than if it was sent
directly to Riffs by the band/venue themselves).
Myself and Val always prided ourselves on
reviewing, photographing and writing the whole gig
ourselves. In fact, typing this has just reminded
me that I have scores (maybe hundreds) of
photographs that are unnamed and I may post some
on this column soon. Shame to have them gathering
dust.... I am trying to persuade Mr Silverback to
get armed with a camera so as to illustrate his
reviews with some exciting pics... I am working on
his review of
The 3 Colonels from last night
right now and should have it uploaded within a
couple of hours....
---------------------------------------------------------
Mucho gracias to Alan W from The Grand
in Bishop Auckland who recognised the single as 'Watcha Doin' To Me' by The Reds. Just
one more to go . . . this catchy little punk ditty
from the Seventies has bewildered me . . . does
anyone know who it is?
--------------------------------------------------------
HELP - I NEED SOMEBODY
Can anyone help me identify this
single . . . ?
------------------------------------------------------------
Well, it's that
time again - a look though Riffs' archives and see
what gems we have hidden away. How about a review of
Freeway from August 2008? You got it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Just a brief mensh for an upcoming gig at the Cluny 2
in Newcastle for 26th June when the Tom
Atkinson Band will be performing
there. Over a year since the lads performed at the
Cluny but they are all fired up for this upcoming gig.
Tom Atkinson - Guitar/Vocs; Paul Gowland -
Sax/Keys (Strictly Smokin’
Big Band); Stu Dawson - Bass (RJ Thompson, Preach Alaska);
Jeff Armstrong - Drums (Flakes,
Russ Tippins Band) include some
original music in their set along with covers of Zappa, Mahavishnu Orchestra,
King Crimson etc. Tickets are a fiver
and available from http://www.thecluny.com
I
did try to get a pic from Tom but, even though it
would paint a thousand words, words are all I have ('to
take your heart away').
..............................................................
BACK IN BUFFS
It's always
nice when something works out and
goes to plan - cos in life it most
often bastard well doesn't (what, me -
bitter?). So it was great to get an email from Robert from Heaton
Buffs concerning the BOSS gig from last
week. Not only was it a
virtual sell-out - just five
tickets left unsold [how's
that for honesty? He could
have quite easily told me it
was a sell-out] - but the lads
went down the proverbial
storm. I remember searching
Youtube for a video of the
band to highlight the gig
but found zilch (punk
band from the 70s I think)
but we can make up for it
now because kind ol'
Robert has sent me a link
to the very opening of the
band's set filmed live as
it happenerd
at the Buffs!
So
without further ado here is
BOSS just
seventeen years since
their last visit
at the Buffs - c'mon
lads let someone
else get a look in .
. .
------------------------------------------------------------
Bit of sadness for me last week -
lost a friend, a good supporter of
Rock. Introduced me to Rammstein
and Airbourne.
He was a great lover of German
lesser-known bands and I used to meet up
with him at Newcastle Arena,
or the Academy. A regular at
live pub gigs in
Redcar and was
a regular
at Dr. Browns in
Middlesbrough. Great
guy. He was given
the all clear for cancer
a few years ago and then
it
came back suddenly
just weeks ago with a
vengeance. Anyway Gaz,
here's Rammstein
for you.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 Listening to Rock on
internet radio today (which supports
the
age-old
question 'Why djs?')
and
on came Suzie Smiled
by Tygers of
Pan Tang and something
stirred deep inside
me, some distant memory of
reviewing that band many
moons ago.
A quick search of
Riffs archives and -
bingo! found it.
So, for your delectation
. . . (and yet again, I
mentioned the date [February
2], but not
the year, so if anyone
can help
out?....)
Wanna hear
what you missed? Suzie
Smiled
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Due to my throat
virus causing voice loss, my band Steeler can’t
play gig at Redcar Rugby Club tonight Sat 25-May -
Classic Rock covers band or similar is needed.
Contact Pete 07775922523.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Riffs has
just been informed that the gig at Heaton Buffs
this weekend - which we have down as
Boss (and I thought
was a Springsteen tribute) - is in fact a
rather special reunion of a band from the 90s.
As Robert from the club told Riffs: 'They were a
big deal on the club scene back in the 90s &
early 00s. They are doing a few one-off
shows with the original band line up; and of course
they are 100% live! We
have already sold 200 tickets, with only 50 left.'
Apparently, back in 2002, Boss did an outstanding
sell-out gig there and Robert is keen to duplicate
that success.
Check them out - and if
you fancy the gig - you've missed it!!
-----------------------------------------------------------------
With
regards to the Riffs review of Phil Caisley's Dirty Dogs
featured below, Dave from the band has
been in touch to shed some light on exactly
when the gig took place and some info on what
has become of the band . . .
'The date of the review was the 12th February
2010. The Dirty Dogz
were in existence from 2009 until 2013 doing the north
east pub scene and the last gig was at Doctor Browns
in Middlesbrough on the 2nd November of that
year. Phil, in my opinion, is a great rock
singer and it was a good band although we were
certainly very punchy and could test the old ear drums
for volume. Keith John Dean on bass was replaced
by Ian Raine (played with DeeeXpus,
infinity, and lately, The Rising and
many others). The other guys are either not in
bands or between bands whereas I am working with my
brother in the ‘Graham
Henderson experience’.
To remind yourself of what we were like – here is a
link to a Youtube clip of us at the rock 4 All.
https://youtu.be/1LD2ouDwIKU
with keith on bass.
And here is a clip of my current band - (with
Ian Raine on Bass, now replaced by Duncan Sams).
https://youtu.be/u5ghYHhQvI4
Dave'
---------------------------------------------------------------
Another Riffs rave from the grave is featured below.
I know
it's from Feb 12th but Val never mentioned
which year! Possibly 2008. If
anyone has any better suggestions please
let me know . . .
---------------------------------------------------------------------
If you want it, here it is, come
and get it
Here at Riffs I
love to give publicity to live Rock bands - even more so if it
happens to be their first gig. Can imagine
it's quite a traumatic event and a lot
rides on that debut gig. But I am
saddened, I must say, that although publicity at Riffs is entirely
free and I really don't expect anything back,
that this
offer is not taken up more readily.
On a couple of
recent occasions upon
hearing of an approaching
first gig I have asked for
more info - a little blurb
about the band and hopefully
a pic or two - and I hear
nothing. Zilch. Zero. Nought.
Nil. Zippo. I'm
not losing out, but I
suspect that the band
and indeed the venue
would benefit from a tad
of extra publicity . . .
just saying.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
I'M ONLY HERE FOR THE BEER
 Saturday
11th May was Houghton annual beer festival, a
charity event organised by the round table running
for several decades now. I’ve been going along for
the last 5 years or so; nice venue in Houghton
Colliery Welfare club and a decent afternoon out
with mates. However, every year there’s what is
loosely described as “live music” and without
exception it is awful. Last year we offered to pay
the organisers whatever they’d paid the “singer” to
get him off (they declined). There’s usually about a
dozen of us, all guys I know from various venues
where we go to see bands who have varied tastes from
blues to thrash metal to country, we all agreed this
year’s offering was, once again, abysmal. The band
was advertised as “an experienced function band”
doing stuff from Adele, Ed
Sheeran, Kings of Leon, Elvis, Buddy Holly Michael
Buble and Pharrell
Williams; half the stuff wasn’t
recognisable until half way through the song, the
instruments were out of tune and the singer couldn’t
carry a tune in a bucket. If the organisers read
this, get artists who can sing and/or play; Russ Tippins or Tempest would bring
people in, you’re close to driving people away.
Now, it
was a charity event and the band may have agreed
to play for free in which case they were worth the
money. Do I name and shame them? Houghton
Beer Festival 2019 afternoon session, will bring
up an answer, but the hope is that the organisers
will read this and either not bother with live
music on afternoons OR book someone who will
attract punters, not alienate them.
The
Seaham Silverback
--------------------------------------------------
The NE Street Band,
playing iconic songs from Bruce
Springsteen and The E Street Band
debuted at The Old Fox in Felling just
recently and we have added a link to some footage
here (only phone footage).
The band's website: https://www.nestreetband.co.uk
They are at the Amphitheatre in South Shields on
Thursday 6th June, 7pm-9pm for an evening of Bruce
Springsteen sounds, as part of the Summer Festival.
---------------------------------------------------------------
THE
PRIESTS OF THE TEMPLE OF ROCK
Bank holiday Monday gigs are a
gamble for venues, if it’s been a nice day and the
punters have been in the garden all day having a few
drinks, they tend to stay there, it’s also a school
night so folk tend to think better of going out.
However, The Force are one of those bands I’d walk barefoot
over broken glass to go and see regardless, they set a
standard that other bands in the North East aspire to
reach and Monday 6th May was no exception. An early
start gave an opportunity for those at work the
following day to get their 8 hours kip and it meant
the gear was pretty much in and checked by the time
the audience started coming in. There was a decent
turn out, but I was expecting the place to be rammed –
punters eh?
The
band opened with a couple of their own tracks before
setting off in a set that featured Rush quite
extensively with songs from Rainbow,
AC/DC, UFO, Montrose, Metallica, Scorpions and Thin Lizzy. It
would be wrong to try and pick out tracks that were
better than the others, because I didn’t hear a bum
note all evening and the sound was absolutely spot
on from the word go. The twin lead guitars in Thin
Lizzy’s “Emerald” were flawless, the guy I was sat
next to turned to look at me at the end of the track
and we were both thinking the same thing. Phil sat
down for “Bad Motor Scooter” with his Strat over his
knee and a bottleneck, first time I’ve seen him do
this, and it was excellent.
I’m
always staggered by the sheer professionalism of The
Force, I doubt there can be a Rock fan between the
Tees and the Tweed who hasn’t heard these guys, but
if you fall into that small number, get out and see
them, you’ll thank me.
The Seaham Silverback.
----------------------------------------------------
 SWEETS FOR MY SWEET . . .
The Sugar Bs
18-year reunion gig on march 30 at the Park Inn,
Hartlepool raised £700, split equally between Alice
House Hospice in Hartlepool and The Great North Air
Ambulance Service.
Details
can be found on Facebook here.
--------------------------------------------------------
The
Big Jug in Durham have ceased all live bands as of
now.
..........................................................................
New Plough Dipton have their annual
music festival on Sunday May 5 starting from 1.30pm
with finish 10pm; latest line up is as follows.
Details here
..........................................................................
LIGHTS, SMOKE, AND ROCK 'N' ROLL
I’ve been following Rock
Solid for over ten years now and
always look forward to every show, the gig in Houghton
Glendale was a welcome spot; right on the
doorstep. I saw them about January and since then
they’ve invested in a completely new LED lighting rig
with fancy rotating spots etc. On a night when the
condensation was running down the walls, the lack of a
few KW of heat from PAR cans was welcome for all
concerned. The Solids have used smoke machines for
years but they must have put new batteries in the
current model - the stage was like a war zone all
night. Our musical tastes are as varied as we are but
the Solid’s set-list dovetails in with my
predilections perfectly, kicking off with a couple of
Priest tracks then
running through AC/DC, Saxon,
Maiden, Purple, Rainbow, Ozzy and Rush - what’s not to
like?
One
of the reasons Rock Solid are so well received
has got to be their interaction with their audiences,
the guys always have time for a few words both on and
off the stage. Last night’s gig was their first in the
Glendale for 8 years (apparently) and there’s another
one in the pipeline for December this year, the room
was full and the club was selling beer like it was
going out of fashion. The crowd loved them and the
band gave every impression they were having a good
time. Events like this keep the Rock scene in the
North East vibrant, everyone’s coming away from the
night happy. Long live Rock`n` Roll!
The Seaham Silverback
On a personal
note, myself (Nige) and Val have always rated Rock
Solid as one of the best rock acts in the North-East
music scene but, alas, have not had the pleasure in
quite a few years, so it really pleased me to read the
Silverback's review to know not only that the lads are
still going strong after so many moons, but also that
they actually seem to be improving. But as Val has
said on numerous occasions: 'When
you've got it, you've got it'.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You can't beat quality pie
 The Three Tuns
Gateshead hosts its 14th
International Pie Festival between
2nd May and 6th May.
Over 2000 pies, 100 varieties
including Veggie and Vegan options all served with
creamy mash, mushy peas and special house gravy £3.50.
Live music from Prism Pink
Floyd, The Grumpies, Wham Bam Thank You Mam,
The Russ Tippins Trio and The Beetles.
--------------------------------------------
'Probably
one of the most entertaining
nights I’d had this year'
It was grab-a-granny night down
in Houghton
Sports & Social on 20th
April with a 60s tribute band called FAB gracing the stage (No,
I’d never heard of them either). It had been a
scorching day so the wife and I headed down there
early to re-hydrate ourselves and the car park was
filling rapidly. Walking through the doors at 7.30 we
got one of the last tables available, clearly some
people knew something we didn’t. Bearing in mind we’re
both over 60, our presence lowered the average age of
the crowd which rather put me off, but I was thirsty
and I’d paid my entrance money, so sod it – we stayed.
The band gave a nod to the appearance of the bands of
the 60s era with suits, and even ties in the first
set, the Hofner violin bass a salute to Paul McCartney and the
numerous Beatles
tracks scattered through the set. Now the band weren’t
the best musicians or singers I’ve heard (but I’ve
heard a LOT worse) but they grabbed the crowd by the
scruff of the neck and shook them all night long. Any
empty space was filled with folk on their feet and
dancing almost from the off, tracks from The Beatles, Roy Orbison, The
Searchers, Swinging Blue Jeans, The Hollies and
Gerry and the Pacemakers
with the obligatory Ferry across the Mersey. It was
probably one of the most entertaining nights I’d had
this year.
If you’re looking for a band to span a big age group
or just for a fun party, I can’t recommend these guys
highly enough. [PS, my photos turned out crap. I
nicked this shot from the band’s Facebook page, I
can’t credit the photographer by name, so please
excuse the liberty].
The Seaham Silverback
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
CROOKFEST
2019 - MAY 5
 Crookfest is a annual may bank holiday rock music
festival held in the County Durham market town of
Crook with a variety rock styles performed by
cover/tribute bands across 3 stages inside large
marquees. The event takes place on Sunday 5th May 2019 in
the Millfield ground home of Crook Town AFC from noon
untill 11pm along with food and beer stalls a-plenty.
www.crookfest.co.uk
Rock Bands... Coda a Tribute to Led
Zeppelin, AC/DC-GB, Mane
Attraction, Circa69, Tubesnake, Edenthorn.
Punk Reggae
Ska... The Marley
Experience, The Sex Pistols Experience, Skapones,
Panic Report, The Me Mes, The Anarchists.
Indie Mod
80-90s... Revolver, ZEN, The
Baggy Mondays, Deeper Season, The Thieves,
Collaborators.
--------------------------------------------
Tempest in
Houghton
I must confess I’ve never been a big fan of artists
who use backing tracks - with the exception of
Russ Tippins -
they all seemed to lack the spontaneity of a full
line up. So when some friends recommended I go see a
duet called Tempest
featuring a guy on guitar with backing tracks and a
lass on vocals I was hesitant to say the least. I
couldn’t have been more wrong; Kaz & Ritchie are
2 of the nicest people you could want to meet and
deliver a widely varied set that has never failed to
impress.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Just
heard, courtesy of Alan Fizzyfish, that the Ship
Inn, Richmond has closed - whether temp or
permanent is unknown - so any bands with a
gig there will need to look elsewhere.
---------------------------------------------------------------
The Glendale
Rock nights are going down really well, the place
was packed and there was a good friendly atmosphere
in the place. I’d guess there was 80-ish in, punters
were coming in late and leaving as there were no
more seats, so the solution is going to be get there
early if you intend to go to a gig there. I’ve been
following Lock n Load
for a couple of years, I first saw them at beer
festival since when the line-up has gone through a
couple of changes. Dave, the current singer was
originally on drums and they had a girl on vocals
with legs up to her armpits, I’ve got to say she was
easier on the eye than Dave, but Dave’s vocals suit
the current set list down to a tee.
 Kicking
off with “Tie your mother down” they ran through
tracks from Whitesnake,
AC/DC, Bryan Adams, ZZ Top and Zeppelin in the
first set alone. Journey’s
“Separate ways” was always going to stretch the old
vocal chords and we’ve all heard it murdered on
numerous occasions but the band pulled it off like
it was another day in the office.
Now I’m regularly accused of being proper OCD
about the sound, balance and levels but I couldn’t
find fault with any of that from the word go, I was
much impressed with the guitar sound in particular
that captured Brian May’s tone for the opening Queen number, to Billy Gibbons choppy
fuzz, Bryan Adams
jangly intro on “Run to you” and Gary Moore’s
mournful sustain on “Still got the blues”. All from
1 guitar. Respect.
The band are a mix of ages, so some of the set
was written before they were born; now as an aging
rocker I applaud this tribute to the music I love,
but feel slightly sad that little of any musical
value seems to have risen to the top for young bands
to play. The second set picked up where the first
had finished with a bit of
Bon Jovi then the band threw in
“Nellie the elephant” to a rapturous greeting before
some more Whitesnake, AC/DC, Billy Idol and G&R
before finishing the night with “The Hunter” –
always gonna go down well in Houghton. A cracking
night all round, the band were happy, everybody I
spoke to had a great time and the club sold lots of
beer. Next up “The Force” on 29th of this month.
The Seaham SIlverback
----------------------------------------------------------------
 Steve Hutchinson
from South Shields has recently re-joined CLASSIC CLAPTON on
keyboards & backing vocals.
He was a member of Animals
2 for 6 years during the 1990s
alongside original members Hilton Valentine &
John Steel.
Currently he performs with heritage band Animals 3 and
also UK Legends.
He previously played with Classic Clapton from
2003 - 2005.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Looks like there is yet
another change of management and booking agent at
The Maggie Bank and all bands booked
by the previous team are once again cancelled. If
bands think they are playing there they should get
in touch with the pub to clarify the situation.
---------------------------------------------------------------
I
AIN'T AFRAID OF NO GHOSTS
That
little birdie that told Riffs what a crackin'
gig awaited anyone partaking of ghostly
goings-on at the Glendale last Friday has, we
are cock-a-hoop to say, put his money where his
mouth is [or should we say 'beak']. He not only
popped in to said establishment with some mates
but was good enough to write a quick appraisal
of the gig and sent it in to Riffs. So, without
further ado . . .
'Last
Friday we went to see The Ghost Band at Houghton Glendale WMC.
For me this was a much anticipated gig, I’d
seen them at Philadelphia beer festival last
year playing a brief set and I was much
impressed by their choice of Blues/Rock and
the level of musicianship. Last night built on
that first impression as the band ran through
tracks from
Hendrix, Gary Moore, Jeff Healey, Tom
Petty, John Mayall and Free among
others. The guys I’d brought with me hadn’t
seen the band before and were captivated by
the whole show. In fact the entire evening
should have been videoed and distributed to
all bands in the region; 3 guys who aren’t
exactly in the first flush of youth had all
their gear brought in, connected and checked
in 20 minutes.
The sound check took literally 5 – 10
minutes and was spot on throughout the night. A
far cry from other bands I’ve seen recently who
spent 75 minutes on a sound check and the sound
was shite when they’d done, it took the “sound
engineer” all the first set to get it somewhere
near, even walking around with an iPad. What’s
the point of all those hours of practice if you
sound like you’re playing inside a spin dryer?
I’m sure we’ve all sat through 45 minutes of
fretboard masturbation turned up to 11. Watch
the Ghost Band and see how it’s done.
Climbing
off my high horse, I can recommend the Ghost
Band to anyone who appreciates good music played
well with the minimum distraction and gobshitery
between numbers.'
The
Seaham Silverback.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Just heard from Stormy
Phil that the Ship Inn at Benton is
now closed.
-------------------------------------------------------------
NURSES TO
WALK THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA
 As
someone who has seen first-hand the absolutely
wonderful and caring work our beloved Nurses
do (and the amount of piss that Hunt Jeremy
takes) I have no hesitation in giving a big
shout out to the Valentines Night gig at
The Alexandra in
Grangetown,
Sunderland.
The palliative care nurses working in St
Benedicts Hospice in Sunderland are
walking the Great Wall of China - yes, they
are going to walk along the Great Wall of
China!!) to raise funds for St Benedicts
Hospice Charity.
Tickets are £6 available from The Alex, the
Hospice or just turn up on
the night and splash cash on the door. Please pop along and help
these wonderful people - oh, nearly forgot -
there's a jam-packed evening of live music
too!!!
The Wolcott Band
Exit Left
Joanne Wallace
Steve Ayther
----------------------------------------------------------------
GHOSTS
AT THE GLENDALE
A little birdie tells Riffs what a cracking little venue Glendale
Social Club in Houghton le Spring is, and
what a great night it should be this Friday when
The Ghost Band take to the stage. Birdie Dave goes
on to say: 'The
club have bands on every 2nd & 4th Friday
of the month. Normally no cover charge, cheap
beer and a nice clean club with loads of free
parking. It’s on the bus route too for those
who use public transport although I’m not sure
what time the local buses stop running. I’m just an interested punter
and have nothing to do with the club, but I
like to encourage and support anyone who is
prepared to get stuck in.'
----------------------------------------------------------------
CONSPIRACY
TO ROCK
 If you like your rock of the
hard and heavy variety check out Conspiracy Theory; a
new band making inroads into the north east
rock and metal scene. If you’re a bit
tired of seeing too many rock bands playing
the same old stuff, CT’s intention is to
do the songs that no-one else does. And that
doesn’t mean obscure material you’ve
never heard of, if you’re into rock and metal
you’ll know everything they do. From Rainbow to Dio, Whitesnake
to Purple, Maiden
to Priest, Uriah Heep
to Rush
or the guitar greats such as Schenker or Moore, you
won’t forget them in a hurry. With stellar
musicianship from highly experienced players
having cut their teeth in bands such as PowerAge, Ministry of
Rock, Black Rose and On The Rocks
you’re bound to have a night to remember. You
can catch them at Trillians, Newcastle
on Friday 22nd February, The Penny
Gill, Spennymoor Sunday 3rd March,
Acklam Steelies Club, Middlesbrough
Saturday 9th March or the Big Jug,
Durham on Friday 15th March.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOYS IN ACTION . . .
 One of the most enjoyable
things I like to do is to announce the birth
of a new band, and if they are a Rock band
with pedigree then space on Riffs is a must.
So without further ado let me announce . . .
STARZ,
who are a new rock covers band and include three of
the north east's top musicians who have decided to
play some songs that were a little different from
'the usual stuff'. The band features members from
bands such as Pistoleros,
Bryan Adams Experience, Black Rose (not
the TL one), The
Paul Rodgers Story, Stoneheart, American Girl
to name a few and are all well known throughout the
north east for putting on a great show. The set list
includes classic and modern punk rock (Sex Pistols/Green Day
etc), glam rock (T Rex /
Bowie etc), heavy rock (Motley Crue / Marilyn Manson
etc) soft rock (Van Halen /
The Cult etc) pop (Dead or Alive / Kinks
etc) plus plenty of great songs for those that want
to dance and some surprises including rock versions
of songs by Gary Numan
and the Bee Gees.
The band start gigging this month and you can
check them out here -
Sunday 13th - Vigilant Inn, South
Shields (7pm)
Saturday 19th - Holey Molies,
Skelton, Teesside
Sunday 20th - Times Inn, Seaham
Thursday 31st - Osbournes, Yarm
The full list of all Starz
gigs are on Riffs Gig Listings page, but for more
info about the band go to http:www.starzrock.co.uk
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Riding On The Crest Of
The New Wave fitted no-one better than Lene Lovich
who this year is celebrating the 40th
anniversary of ‘Stateless’, her debut album,
featuring cult hit 'Lucky
Number' by touring the UK in March 2019 and
is set to appear at Newcastle Riverside on the 8th
of March. The song was originally a 'b' side to 'I
Think We're Alone Now' but was reissued as an 'a'
side by Stiff in '79. Before joining Stiff Records (The
Damned, Devo, Ian Dury, etc), her early work
included performing in cabaret clubs as a London
go-go dancer, voice-over work recording screams
for Hammer Film Productions, and being the
lyricist for French disco artist Marc Cerrone
(including penning the sci-fi dance hit
‘Supernature’). Riffs has no further details
regarding the gig as yet.....
Now let's see if I can still fit into my old
'If It Ain't Stiff . . .' t-shirt....
|
CELEBRATING ROCK AND METAL:
Factoid: Stevie
Ray Vaughan was the guitarist on David Bowie’s “Let’s
Dance” album.
This week in .
. .
1965 - Unit Four Plus Two
were at No.1 on the singles chart with
'Concrete And Clay', the group's only No.1
hit.
1973 - During his Ziggy Stardust world tour,
David Bowie
played the first of three sold out nights at
Shinjuku Koseinenkin, Kaikan, Tokyo.
1977 - CBS released the self- titled first
album by The Clash.
The album is widely celebrated as one of the
greatest punk albums of all time. CBS in the
US refused to release it until 1979 and
Americans bought over 100,000 imported
copies of the record making it one of the
biggest- selling import records of all time.
1977 - The Damned
played at the home of the New York punk
scene CBGBS, the first UK Punk group to play
live dates in the USA.
1978 - Brian
and Michael
(Kevin Parrott and
Michael Coleman),
were at No.1 on the
singles chart with a
song inspired by
painter LS Lowery
'Matchstalk Men And
Matchstalk Cats And
Dogs.' The backing
vocals are by the St
Winifred's School
Choir, who had a
No.1 in 1980.
1994 - The Recording
Industry Association
of America announced
that Pink
Floyd's
1973 album The Dark
Side Of The Moon had
become the fourth
biggest-selling
album in US history
and had passed the
13 million mark in
sales. The album has
sold more than 25
million copies
worldwide.
1994 - Electrician
Gary Smith who was
working at
Kurt Cobain's
house in Seattle
discovered Cobain's
body lying on the
floor in the
greenhouse. Local
radio station KXRX
broke the news at
9.40am that the
Nirvana singer and
guitarist was dead.
A shotgun was found
next to Cobain's
body. A suicide note
was found that said,
'I haven't felt
the excitement of
listening to as
well as creating
music, along with
really writing . .
. for too many
years now'. A
high concentration
of heroin and traces
of Valium were also
found in Cobain's
body.
1998 - Rolling
Stones
guitarist Ronnie
Wood
was rescued, along
with 11 other
passengers, in the
nick of time, from a
boat when an engine
caught fire. The
boat was exploring
the islands near
Angra Dos Reis,
south of Rio De
Janeiro, Brazil,
when one of the
boat's engines
caught fire.
Passengers were
rescued by nearby
journalists, just
before the boat
exploded.
2002 - Marilyn
Manson
denied claims that
he was responsible
for the death of a
woman after a party
at his mansion in
2001. Jennifer Syme,
a former girlfriend
of actor Keanu
Reeves, died when
her Jeep Cherokee
hit three parked
cars. Her mother,
Maria St John, was
suing the singer for
wrongful death,
claiming Manson was
negligent in
"instructing the
woman to operate a
motor vehicle in her
incapacitated
condition".
2010 - Malcolm
McLaren
former manager of
the Sex
Pistols,
the
New York Dolls
and Bow
Wow Wow
died from cancer
aged 64. As a solo
artist he scored the
1983 No.3 single
'Double Dutch'. He
set up the fashion
store Let It Rock in
the late 60s with
Vivienne Westwood
selling rubber and
fetish gear.
2012 - It was
reported that
organizers for the
2012 London Olympics
ceremony had
recently asked the
manager of The
Who
if legendary drummer
Keith Moon
would be able to
perform at the
forthcoming London
Olympics Games. Who
manager Bill
Curbishley told The
Times how he
responded to the
request. 'I
emailed back
saying Keith now
resides in Golders
Green crematorium,
having lived up to
The Who's anthemic
line 'I hope I die
before I get old,'
he said. 'If they
have a round
table, some
glasses and
candles, we might
contact him.'
1975 -
Minnie Riperton
went to No.2 on the
singles chart with the
Stevie Wonder
produced song 'Loving
You'. It was the
singers only US chart
hit. Riperton died of
cancer on 12th July
1979.
1981 -
Canned Heat singer
Bob
"The Bear" Hite
died of a heart attack
aged 36. (1970 UK No.2
single 'Let's Work
Together'). Played at
both the 1967 Monterey
Pop Festival and the
1969 Woodstock
Festival.
1983 - Danny
Rapp,
leader of 50s group Danny
and the Juniors
committed suicide in a
hotel in Arizona by
shooting himself. With
Danny and the Juniors
he had the 1958 No.3
single 'At The Hop'.
1994 - Kurt
Cobain
committed suicide by
shooting himself in
the head at his home
in Seattle. Cobain's
body wasn't discovered
until April 8, by an
electrician who had
arrived to install a
security system, who
initially believed
that Cobain was
asleep, until he saw
the shotgun pointing
at his chin. A suicide
note was found that
said, "I haven't
felt the excitement
of listening to as
well as creating
music, along with
really writing . . .
for too many years
now". A high
concentration of
heroin and traces of
Valium were found in
Cobain's body. His
death was officially
ruled as suicide by a
self-inflicted shotgun
wound to the head.
1995 - Monika
Dannerman,
the one time
girlfriend of Jimi
Hendrix
committed suicide, two
days after losing a
court battle with
another of the
guitarist's ex-lovers.
2002 - American singer
Layne
Staley
of Alice
in Chains
was found dead from a
mixture of heroin and
cocaine in his home.
It was reported that
the 6-foot Staley
weighed only 86 pounds
when his body was
discovered. His body
was partially
decomposed when he was
found. Medical
examiners had to
identify it by dental
records.
2006 - Gene
Pitney
was found dead aged 65
in his bed in a
Cardiff hotel. The
American singer was on
a UK tour and had
shown no signs of
illness. Pitney helped
The
Rolling Stones
break the American
market with his
endorsement of the
band. Jagger and
Richards wrote his hit
'That Girl Belongs to
Yesterday' which
became the Stones
duo's first
composition to reach
the American charts.
He scored the 1962 US
No.4 single 'Only Love
Can Break A Heart'.
and 1967 solo UK No.5
& 1989 UK No.1
single with Marc
Almond
'Something's Gotten
Hold Of My Heart',
plus over 15 other US
& UK Top 40 hits.
2007 - Former
Kiss
guitarist
Mark St. John
died from an apparent
brain haemorrhage at
the age of 51. St.
John was Kiss' third
official guitarist,
having replaced Vinnie
Vincent
in 1984 and appeared
on the album
'Animalize'.
Week
Commencing March 31
1961 - The
Marcels
started a run at No.1 on
the chart with the
Rodgers and Heart song
'Blue Moon'.
1971 -
The Temptations
scored their second US
No.1 with 'Just My
Imagination (Running
Away With Me)'. The
track is considered one
of the Temptations'
signature songs, and is
notable for recalling
the sound of the group's
1960s recordings. It is
also the final
Temptations single to
feature founding members
Eddie Kendricks and Paul
Williams.
1975 -
Steve Miller
was charged with setting
fire to the clothes of a
friend, Benita Diorio.
When police arrived at
Miller's house, Diorio
was putting out the
flames, Miller then got
into a fight with some
of the policemen and was
charged with resisting
arrest.
1976 - A then-unknown Sex
Pistols
opened for The
101'ers
at The Nashville Rooms
in London. The 101ers
were a pub rock band,
notable as being the
band that Joe
Strummer
left to join The
Clash.
1979 - Kate
Bush
kicked off the 28-date
'Tour Of Life' trek
making her concert debut
at Liverpool's Empire
Theatre. Bush never set
out on another tour
until she played a run
of 22 shows at London's
Hammersmith Apollo in
2014.
1993 - 10 years after
its first release, The
Bluebells
had a No.1 single with
'Young At Heart' after
the track was featured
on a Volkswagen TV
commercial. The song was
co-written by
Bananarama
member Siobhan Fahey
(and recorded by
Bananarama). In 2002
session musician Bobby
Valentino,
who performed the violin
solo on The Bluebells
version of the song won
the right to be
recognised as co-author
after taking legal
action.
2006 - Founder member
and original drummer for
The
Wonder Stuff, Martin
Gilks
died aged 41, after
losing control of his
motorbike in London.
Gilks was voted the best
drummer on the planet in
an NME poll in 1989.
2015 - Drummer
Bob Burns,
who was in the original
line-up of the Southern
rock band Lynyrd
Skynyrd
died in a car crash in
Georgia when his car
struck a mailbox and a
tree with the front of
the vehicle. Burns was
the only occupant of the
car and was not wearing
a seat belt at the time
of the crash. He
appeared on the band's
'Sweet Home Alabama,'
'Gimme Three Steps' and
'Free Bird.'
1964 - The
Beatles had
their fourth No.1 single
with 'Can't Buy Me Love.'
With advanced sales of
over 2.1 million, it holds
the record for the
greatest advanced orders
for a single in the UK.
1967 - 154 Austrian Rolling
Stones fans
were arrested when a riot
broke out at a
14,000-seated Town Hall
gig; a smoke bomb was
thrown on the stage.
1977 -
Fleetwood Mac
went to No.1 on the US
album chart with Rumours.
The album is Fleetwood
Mac's most successful
release; along with
winning the Grammy Award
for Album of the Year in
1978, the record has sold
over 45 million copies
worldwide.
1981 - CBS records
launched the 'Nice Price'
series of back catalogue
albums. The first batch
priced at £2.99 included
early albums by Bob
Dylan, Santana, Billy
Joel, ABBA, Janis
Joplin and
Simon And Garfunkel.
1998 - Rob
Pilatus,
one half of pop duo Milli
Vanilli was
found dead in a Frankfurt
Hotel room after taking a
lethal combination of
drugs and alcohol. Milli
Vanilli won the 1989 best
new artist Grammy after
hits like 'Blame it on the
Rain' and 'Girl, You Know
It's True,' selling 30
million singles and 14
million albums. But in
late 1990, the performers
were stripped of the award
after it was revealed that
neither actually sang on
the Milli Vanilli album.
2006 - A John
Lennon
schoolbook containing the
12-year-old's drawing of
Lewis Carroll's poem The
Walrus and the Carpenter
was sold at auction for
£126,500. The poem
inspired Lennon to write The
Beatles'
1967 song ‘I Am The
Walrus’. Also sold for
£12,000 was a ship's log
book written by Lennon
during a stormy trip to
Bermuda in 1980, and a
letter from Paul McCartney
to his bandmates Lennon,
George Harrison and Ringo
Starr failed to reach its
£50,000, reserve price.
2014 - Recordings by U2
(The Joshua Tree), the
Everly Brothers
('Cathy's Clown'), Jeff
Buckley
('Hallelujah'), Linda
Ronstadt
(Heart Like a Wheel) and Creedence
Clearwater Revival's
'Fortunate Son' were among
those newly selected for
induction into the Library
of Congress National
Recording Registry.
1961 - The
Beatles began
a three-month residency at
The Top Ten Club, Hamburg,
playing 92 straight nights.
The group played for seven
hours a night on weekdays
and eight hours at weekends
with a fifteen-minute break
every hour. It was during
this visit that Astrid
Kirchherr cut Stuart
Sutcliffe's hair into the
style destined to become
known as the "Beatle
haircut" which The Beatles
later adopted themselves.
1965 -
The Who
recorded an appearance for
Top Of The Pops at the
Manchester television
studio. The band then played
a gig supporting Donovan
at The Town Hall, Wembley,
with Rod
Stewart and the Soul
Agents
appearing at the bottom of
the bill.
1966 - Pye Records released David
Bowie's first
solo single, 'Do Anything
You Say'. Despite featuring
Bowie’s backing band at the
time, The
Buzz, the
single was to be the first
simply credited to David
Bowie (which failed to
chart). Bowie had previously
recorded as David
Jones and The Lower
Third.
1966 -
John Lennon
bought a copy of
Timothy Leary's
The Psychedelic Experience
and The Tibetan Book Of The
Dead, where he read near the
beginning of the book's
introduction; "When in
doubt, relax, turn off
your mind, float
downstream," which
captured Lennon's
imagination and became the
first line of 'Tomorrow
Never Knows' (which he
recorded 5 days later).
1969 - The
Beach Boys
announced they were suing
their record label Capitol
for $2m in unpaid royalties.
1970 - Earls Court in London
received over one million
postal ticket applications
for The
Rolling Stones
forthcoming six concerts as
part of the group's European
tour.
1976 - Making their live
debut in the UK, AC/DC
played at The Red Cow in
Hammersmith, London.
1984 - Marvin
Gaye was shot
dead by his father at his
parent's home in Los
Angeles, California. The
argument started after his
parents squabbled over
misplaced business
documents, Gaye attempted to
intervene, and was killed by
his father using a gun he
had given him four months
before. Marvin Sr. was
sentenced to six years of
probation after pleading
guilty to manslaughter.
Charges of first-degree
murder were dropped after
doctors discovered Marvin
Sr. had a brain tumour.
1985 - David
Lee Roth quit
Van
Halen shortly
after releasing his version
of The
Beach Boys
'California Girls' (which
featured Carl
Wilson on
background vocals). He was
replaced by Sammy
Hagar later
in the year.
2004 - Paul
Atkinson
guitarist with The
Zombies died
aged 58 due to liver and
kidney disease. They scored
the 1964 No.12 single 'She's
Not There'. He later became
an artists and repertoire
executive, working for
Columbia and RCA discovering
and signing such bands as ABBA,
Bruce Hornsby, Mr.
Mister, Judas Priest
and Michael
Penn.
2015 - Cynthia
Lennon, first
wife of The
Beatles' John Lennon,
died at her home in Spain
following a short battle
with cancer. At the height
of The Beatles' early
success she was, at the
insistence of the band's
management, kept in the
background so their legions
of female fans were not
aware of her existence. The
couple divorced in 1968
after Cynthia discovered her
husband's affair with Yoko
Ono.
1949 - RCA Victor introduced
the
45rpm single record,
which had been in development
since 1940. The 7-inch disc
was designed to compete with
the Long Playing record
introduced by Columbia a year
earlier. Both formats offered
better fidelity and longer
playing time than the 78rpm
record that was currently in
use. Advertisements for new
record players boasted that
with 45rpm records, the
listener could hear up to ten
records with speedy, silent,
hardly noticeable changes.
1958 - Chuck
Berry's rock
'n' roll classic 'Johnny B.
Goode' single was released. It
entered the US charts six
weeks later and peaked at No.8
on the chart. The song's
original lyrics referred to
Johnny as a 'colored boy', but
Berry later acknowledged that
he changed it to 'country boy'
to ensure radio play.
1960 - Lonnie
Donegan was at
No.1 on the singles chart with
'My Old Man's A Dustman', his
third No.1. Donegan became the
first British artist to enter
the chart at No.1, the only
other artist to achieve this
feat at this time was Elvis
Presley. The
song which was recorded live
at the Bristol Hippodrome was
a music hall novelty song.
1967 - Jimi
Hendrix set
fire to his guitar live on
stage for the first time when
he was appearing at The
Astoria in London. It was the
first night of a 24-date tour
with
The Walker Brothers, Cat
Stevens and
Engelbert Humperdink.
The Fender Stratocaster burned
on stage by Hendrix sold for
£280,000 at a 2008 London
auction of rock memorabilia.
1972 - The
Beatles
Official Fan Club closed. The
Beatles Monthly magazine had
ceased three years previously.
1976 - Led
Zeppelin
released Presence, their
seventh studio album, on their
own Swan Song Records.
Presence has now been
certified 3 times Platinum by
the Recording Industry
Association of America (RIAA)
for US sales in excess of 3
million copies.
1995 -
Jimmy Page
escaped being knifed when a
fan rushed the stage at a Page and
Plant gig at
Auburn Hills, Michigan. The
fan was stopped by two
security guards who he knifes
instead. After his arrest he
told police that he wanted to
kill Jimmy Page because of the
Satanic music he was playing.
1963 - The
Chiffons started
a four week run at No.1 on the
US singles chart with ‘He’s So
Fine’, which was a No.16 UK hit.
In 1971 George
Harrison was
taken to court accused of
copying the song on his 1970 ‘My
Sweet Lord’ and ordered to pay
$587,000 (£345,000) to the
writers.
1967 - During an appearance by Jimi
Hendrix on Top Of
The Pops a technician put on the
backing track of Alan Price's
'Simon Smith and His Amazing
Dancing Bear', to which Hendrix
responded 'I don't know the
words to this one man.'
1976 - The
Sex Pistols
played their first show at The
100 club, London, they begin a
weekly residency at the club in
June.
1996 -
The Prodigy
started a three-week run at No.1
on the singles chart with
'Firestarter', the first single
from the album The Fat of the
Land. The wah-wah guitar riff in
'Firestarter' was sampled from The
Breeders' track
'S.O.S.'
2000 - Rolling
Stone Mick Jagger
made a nostalgic visit to his
old school. He opened the new
arts centre that had been named
after him at Dartford Grammar.
The singer said he had spent the
worst years of his life at the
school.
2000 - Mungo
Jerry singer Ray Dorset
was ordered to pay a former
employee £620 in back wages
after a tribunal heard he had
harassed her after she left his
company. Dorset told the court
he had paid her double pay by
mistake for ten months.
Week Commencing
March 24
1967 - Working on sessions for the
new Beatles
album Sgt. Pepper at Abbey Road
studios in London, John Lennon
recorded his lead vocal for ‘Good
Morning Good Morning’, and Paul
McCartney added a lead guitar solo
to the track. Lennon had decided
he wanted to end the song with
animal sound effects, and asked
that they be sequenced in such a
way that each successive animal
was capable of scaring or eating
the preceding one.
1968 - Pink
Floyd recorded a
performance for BBC 2 Omnibus -
The Sound of Change show from
Barnes Common, London. The
special, which was produced by
Tony Palmer, also featured
performances by The Who,
Cream and The Jimi
Hendrix Experience.
The show was broadcast in
September of this year.
1973 - Led
Zeppelin released
their fifth studio album, Houses
Of The Holy. The album title was a
dedication by the band to their
fans who appeared at venues they
dubbed 'Houses of the Holy'. The
cover is a collage of several
photographs which were taken at
the Giant's Causeway, Northern
Ireland, by Aubrey Powell of
Hipgnosis. The two children who
modelled for the cover were
siblings Stefan and Samantha
Gates.
1982 - David
Crosby was arrested
after crashing his car on the San
Diego Highway. Police also found
cocaine and a pistol in the Crosby Stills
& Nash star's
car. When the police asked Crosby
why he carried the gun, his reply
was, 'John Lennon'.
1992 - Over a $100,000 (£58,800)
worth of damage was caused at The
Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre,
California, when Ozzy Osbourne
invited the first two rows of the
audience on stage. Several others
took up the offer and the band was
forced to exit the stage.
2000 -
Jimmy Page accepted
substantial undisclosed libel
damages from a magazine which
claimed he had caused or
contributed to the death of his Led Zeppelin
bandmate John
Bonham. Page's
solicitor, Norman Chapman, told
High Court Judge Mr Justice
Morland that the feature in
Ministry magazine printed in 1999
claimed Page was more concerned
with keeping vomit off his bed
than saving his friend's life, and
that he stood over him wearing
Satanist robes and performing a
useless spell.
2014 - Tickets for Kate Bush
first live shows in 35 years sold
out in less than 15 minutes. The Before
the Dawn concerts, which
were booked to take place this
August and September, marked the
singer's first return to the stage
since The Tour Of Life in
1979. Demand was so high that the
singer's own website, as well as
some ticket-selling sites, crashed
as people tried to log on.
1965 - The
Supremes scored their
fourth US No.1 single with 'Stop! In
The Name Of Love.' The song was
included on the Supremes' sixth
album, More Hits by The Supremes,
and was nominated for the 1966
Grammy Award for Best Contemporary
Rock & Roll Group Vocal
Performance, losing to 'Flowers on
the Wall' by the Statler
Brothers. The song
was also honored by inclusion in the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's
permanent collection of the 500
Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
1966 - During a UK tour, Roy Orbison
fell off a motorbike while
scrambling at Hawkstone Park,
Birmingham fracturing his foot. He
played the remaining dates sat on a
stool and walking on crutches.
1971 - Bruce
Springsteen & Friendly
Enemies opened for The Allman
Brothers Band at the
Sunshine In, Asbury Park in New
Jersey, tickets cost $4.00.
Springsteen had just disbanded his
group Steel
Mill and within a few
weeks would form Dr Zoom &
The Sonic Boom with
Steve Van
Zandt.
1979 - Eric
Clapton married Patti Harrison
(the ex wife of George) at Temple
Bethel, Tucson, Arizona. Patti
applied for a divorce in 1988.
2000 - Singer, songwriter, poet and
actor, Ian
Dury died aged 57
after a long battle with cancer.
Dury had been disabled by polio as a
child, formed Kilburn
and the High Roads
during the 70s. His first album New
Boots And Panties became a punk
classic spending 90 weeks on the
chart.
2008 - An inquest in Leeds heard the
husband of singer Corinne Bailey
Rae died from a
suspected overdose. The body of
saxophonist
Jason Rae, 31, was
found in a flat in the Hyde Park
area of Leeds. A 32-year-old man
arrested on suspicion of supplying
controlled drugs was bailed pending
further inquiries.
2012 -
David Bowie's
landmark album Ziggy Stardust was
celebrated with a blue plaque in
central London. Spandau Ballet star
Gary Kemp unveiled a plaque at the
spot where the cover of the 1972
release was shot. The location in
Heddon Street, just off Regent
Street, is now a pedestrianised area
brimming with bars and restaurants.
2019 - Both members of Liverpool
band Her's
were killed after being involved in
a car accident. Both Stephen
Fitzpatrick and Audun Laading were
killed in the crash along with their
tour manager Trevor Englebrektson on
their way to a gig in Santa Ana,
California. The duo released their
debut album, Invitation to Her's, in
2018.
1965 - Mick
Jagger, Brian Jones and Bill Wyman
all received electric shocks from a
faulty microphone on stage during a Rolling Stones
show in Denmark. Bill Wyman was
knocked unconscious for several
minutes.
1969 - Marvin
Gaye was at No.1 on the
singles chart, with 'I Heard It
Through The Grapevine'. The song was
first recorded by The Miracles
and had also been a million seller in
1967 for Gladys
Knight and the Pips.
1976 - British blues singer and
musician Duster
Bennett was killed in a
car crash. After performing with Memphis Slim
Bennett, Duster was
driving home in a Ford Transit van in
Warwickshire when he apparently fell
asleep at the wheel. The van collided
with a truck. His first album Smiling
Like I'm Happy saw him playing as a
one-man band, playing a bass drum with
his foot and blowing a harmonica on a
rack while playing a 1952 Les Paul
Goldtop guitar given to him in 1968 by
Peter Green from
Fleetwood Mac.
1985 - Radio stations in South Africa
banned all of Stevie
Wonder's records after
he dedicated the Oscar he had won the
night before at The Academy Awards to
Nelson Mandela.
2002 - Randy
Castillo drummer with
the Ozzy
Osbourne band died of
cancer aged 51. Worked with Osbourne
during the 1980s and early 1990s. Also
worked with
Lita Ford and Motley Crue.
2005 - Australian drummer Paul Hester
died aged 46, after he attempted
suicide and died from strangulation
after being found hanged in a park in
Melbourne. He had been a member of Crowded House,
Split Enz and Largest Living
Things. After leaving
Crowded House in 1994 Hester appeared
on many TV and radio shows in
Australia.
2006 - Readers of Total Guitar
magazine voted the guitar solo by Jimmy Page
in Led
Zeppelin's 'Stairway To
Heaven' as the greatest guitar solo of
all time. The 1971 track was voted
ahead of tracks by Van Halen, Queen,
Jimi Hendrix and the Eagles.
On the 20th anniversary of the
original release of the song, it was
announced that the song had logged up
an estimated 2,874,000 radio plays -
back to back, that would run for 44
years solid.
2019 - British musician Ranking Roger
died age 56. In January 2019 it was
announced that Roger had undergone
surgery for two brain tumours, and was
undergoing treatment for lung cancer.
He was a vocalist in the 1980s
two-tone band the
Beat and later General Public.
1965 - Bobby
Vee, Dusty Springfield, The
Searchers, Heinz and The Zombies
all appeared at The Odeon Cinema,
Stockton-on-Tees.
1966 - At a photo session at Bob
Whitaker's studio in London, The Beatles
posed in white coats using sides of meat
with mutilated and butchered dolls for
the cover of their next American album,
Yesterday and Today. After advance
copies were sent to disc jockeys and
record reviewers, negative reaction to
the cover photo was so strong Capitol
recalled 750,000 copies from
distributors to replace the cover. The
total cost to Capitol to replace the
cover and promotional materials was
$250,000, wiping out their initial
profit.
1967 - Pink
Floyd played three gigs
in 24 hours. The appeared at the Ricky
Tick Club in Windsor, then the New
Yorker Discotheque in Swindon and then
played at the Shoreline Club in Bognor
Regis (in the early hours 26 March).
1972 - America
started a three week run at No.3 with
their debut hit 'Horse With No Name'.
The group scored eight other US top 40
hits during the 70s.
1978 - Bill
Kenny, lead singer of The Ink Spots
died. Had the No.10 single 'Melody Of
Love.' 'The Gypsy' was their biggest
chart success, staying at the No.1
position on the US chart for 13 weeks.
1995 - Pearl
Jam singer Eddie Vedder
was rescued after a riptide carried him
250 feet offshore in New Zealand.
2002 - The seven-year mystery of missing
Manic Street
Preachers guitarist Richey Edwards
took a grisly twist when human feet were
found near where he vanished in 1995.
2019 - Scott
Walker singer with The Walker Brothers
died age 76. The US star found fame as a
teen idol in the band, scoring hits with
'The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore' and
'Make It Easy On Yourself'. He lived in
the UK from 1965 and became a British
citizen in 1970. Walker began a solo
career with 1967's Scott, moving toward
an increasingly challenging baroque pop
style on late '60s albums such as Scott
3 (1969) and Scott 4 (1969). As a record
producer or guest performer, he worked
with a number of artists including Pulp, Ute Lemper
and Bat for
Lashes.
1973 - During a Lou
Reed show in Buffalo, New
York, a fan jumped on stage and bit Lou on
the bottom. The man was thrown out of the
theatre and Reed completed the show.
1976 - Transvestite singer Wayne County
appeared in court charged with assault
after an incident at New York club CBGBs.
County had attacked Dictators
singer Handsome Dick Manitoba with a mike
stand fracturing his collarbone.
1992 - A Chicago court settled the Milli Vanilli
class action suit by approving cash
rebates of up to £1.76 to anyone proving
they bought the group’s music before
November 27 1990, the date the lip
synching scandal broke. Milli Vanilli won
the 1989 best new artist Grammy after hits
like 'Blame it on the Rain' and 'Girl, You
Know It's True,' selling 30 million
singles and 14 million albums. But in late
1990, the performers were stripped of the
award after it was revealed that neither
actually sang on the Milli Vanilli album.
2001 - A stretch of road on Highway 19 in
Macon, Georgia, was named Duane Allman
Boulevard, near where
The Allman Brothers Band
guitarist died aged 24 in a motorcycle
crash on October 29, 1971.
2009 - The prosecutor in the Phil Spector
murder retrial told the jury he was a
'demonic maniac' when he drinks and 'a
very dangerous man' around women. Deputy
District Attorney Truc Do urged jurors to
find the music producer guilty of
murdering Hollywood actress Lana Clarkson
in 2003. During her closing argument, she
also accused Mr Spector of demonstrating a
'conscious disregard for human life'.
1964 - John Lennon's
book of verse and rhyme 'In His Own Write'
was published. Some of the content was first
published in Lennon's 'Beachcomber' column
in the Liverpool weekly paper Mersey Beat.
1967 - At a ceremony held at the Playhouse
Theatre in London, The
Beatles were awarded three
Ivor Novello awards for 1966: Best-selling
British single ‘Yellow Submarine’,
most-performed song ‘Michelle’, and
next-most-performed song 'Yesterday'. None
of the Beatles attended and the winning
songs were played by Joe Loss and his
Orchestra. The lead vocal for ‘Michelle’ was
sung by Ross MacManus, whose son would go on
to become Elvis
Costello.
1985 - Former
Creedence Clearwater Revival
frontman John
Fogerty went to No.1 on the
US album chart with his third solo studio
album Centerfield. This was Fogerty's first
album in nine years after he decided to take
a long break from the music business because
of legal battles with his record company.
1995 - Singer Alan
Barton of died aged 41 from
injuries incurred when
Smokie's tour bus crashed
during a hailstorm in Cologne, Germany. With
Black Lace
he had the 1984 No.2 single 'Agadoo.' Black Lace
represented the UK in the Eurovision Song
Contest 1979 in which they finished in
seventh position. ‘Agadoo’ earned them the
dubious accolade of being voted as the worst
song of all time by a panel of music writers
for Q Magazine. Barton replaced Chris Norman
in Smokie
in 1986, recording six albums with them.
2011 - The Who's
Pete Townshend told Uncut
magazine that he regretted ever forming the
band. 'What would I have done
differently? I would never have joined a
band. Even though I am quite a good gang
member and a good trooper on the road, I
am bad at creative collaboration.'
 2014 - Canadian musician Dave Brockie
died. He is best known as the lead
vocalist of the heavy metal band Gwar.
Brockie was found dead by a band member, his body
sitting upright in a chair in
his home. The cause of death
was determined to be a heroin
overdose.
2015 - British artist Lil' Chris
was found dead in Suffolk at the
age of 24. Chris Hardman first
rose to fame on the UK reality
show Rock School in 2006 when he
was just 15 years old. He later
released a hit single, 'Checkin'
It Out,' which reached No.3 on
the singles chart.
Week Commencing
March 17
1974 - The
Eagles released
their third studio album On the
Border the first Eagles album to
feature guitarist Don Felder.
Three singles were released from
the album: 'Already Gone', 'James
Dean' and 'Best of My Love'. A
hidden message carved into the run
out groove of some vinyl LPs
reads: "He who hesitates is
lunch".
1975 - Led
Zeppelin were
enjoying a six-week run at No.1 on
the album chart with Physical
Graffiti the group's fourth No.1
album. On its first day of release
in the US, the album shipped a
million copies – no other album in
the history of Atlantic records
had generated so many sales.
Physical Graffiti has now been
certified 16 times Platinum by the
Recording Industry Association of
America (RIAA) for US sales in
excess of 16 million copies.
1980 -
Pink Floyd's
'Another Brick In The Wall (Part
2)' started a run at No.1 on the
singles chart. The track, which
was the group’s only US chart
topper, was also a No.1 in
Germany, Australia, Italy and in
many other countries around the
world. Pink Floyd received a
Grammy nomination for Best
Performance by a Rock Duo or Group
for the song, but lost to Bob Seger's
'Against The Wind.'
1980 - The
Jam had their first
No.1 with their tenth release,
'Going Underground / Dreams Of
Children' the first single of the
80s to debut at No.1.
1984 - Queen
filmed the video for ‘I Want To
Break Free’ at Limehouse Studio in
London. Directed by David Mallet,
it was a parody of Coronation
Street with the band members
dressed in drag. Guitarist Brian
May later said the video ruined
the band in America, and was
initially banned by MTV.
1986 - American singer Mark Dinning
died from a heart attack aged 52.
He scored the 1959 US No.1 hit
'Teen Angel'. The song, which is
about a girl and her boyfriend
whose car stalled on a railroad
track in the path of an oncoming
train, was initially banned by
many radio stations that
considered it too sad.
1994 - Musician, singer,
songwriter and record producer Dan Hartman
died aged 43 of a brain tumor in
Westport, Connecticut. He was a
member of the Edgar Winter
Group and wrote the
band's hit ‘Free Ride.’ As a solo
artists he had the 1978 No.1 dance
hit ‘Instant Replay,’ and wrote
‘Relight My Fire’ a No.1 for Take That
and Lulu
and also co-wrote The James
Brown song 'Living
in America.’ Hartman collaborated
with Tina
Turner, Dusty Springfield, Joe
Cocker, Bonnie Tyler, Paul
Young, Living In A Box, Holly
Johnson and Steve Winwood.
2016 - Dave
Grohl leapt to the
defence of a teenage heavy metal
band from Cornwall, after their
local council said they were too
loud. The
Black Leaves of Envy
were told they would have to stop
practising in a family garage
after noise complaints from
neighbours. Foo
Fighters frontman
Grohl penned an open letter to the
authority after the band contacted
him asking Cornwall Council to
'reconsider the restrictions'.
1971 - Led
Zeppelin appeared at
the Boat Club, Nottingham, on their
'Back To The Clubs' tour. This was
the first tour which saw Zeppelin
performing 'Stairway To Heaven',
'Black Dog' and 'Going To
California'. Zeppelin opened the set
with 'Immigrant Song' and
'Heartbreaker'. This small club on
the banks of the River Trent had
also seen performances by Elton John,
Black Sabbath, Sex Pistols
and Rod
Stewart.
1973 - The BBC banned all
teenybopper acts appearing on Top Of
The Pops after a riot following a David Cassidy
performance.
1976 - After a David Bowie
concert at the Community War
Memorial arena in Rochester, New
York, Iggy
Pop and Bowie were
involved in a drug bust at their
hotel room where the police found
182 grams (a little over 6.4 ounces)
of marijuana. The pair spent the
rest of the night in the Monroe
County Jail and were released at
about 7 a.m. on $2,000 bond each.
1980 - Hugh
Cornwell of The Stranglers
was sent to Pentonville Prison after
losing his appeal against a drugs
conviction.
2004 - Ozzy
Osbourne was named
the nation's favourite ambassador to
welcome aliens to planet earth. The
55-year-old singer came top of a
poll as the face people want to
represent them to alien life. The
poll of internet users was carried
out following the discovery of signs
of water on Mars. Ozzy won 26 per
cent of the vote. A spokesman for
Yahoo! News said: 'As the world
waits desperately for signs of
alien life, we decided to ask our
users who they thought was best
suited for this most auspicious of
roles. Ozzy is a great choice but
I'm not sure what the Martians
would make of his individual
approach to the English language.'
2008 - A five-year legal row over
the use of The
Beach Boys name was
settled by two former members of the
group. Mike Love had argued he was
the only person allowed to perform
under the name of the band and sued
Al Jardine, whom he claimed was
appearing as an unlicensed Beach
Boys act. Mr Jardine's lawyer said
"a friendly settlement" had been
reached that allowed them to focus
on the talent and future of this
American iconic band.’
2016 - A rare Beatles
record found in the loft of Les
Maguire - the keyboardist in fellow
Liverpool act, Gerry and the
Pacemakers, sold for
£77,500 at auction. The 10-inch
acetate of 'Till There Was You' and
'Hello Little Girl' from 1962 was
described as 'a Holy Grail item'. It
was the first Beatles disc to be cut
before the band broke into the
national charts.
1968 - Dave
Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich were
at No.1 on the singles chart with 'The
Legend Of Xanadu', the group's only
No.1.
1969 - John
Lennon married Yoko Ono
in Gibraltar. They spent their
honeymoon in Amsterdam campaigning for
an international 'Bed-In' for peace.
They planned another 'Bed-in' in the
United States, but were denied entry.
The couple then went to Montreal, and
during a 'Bed-in' at the Queen
Elizabeth Hotel recorded ‘Give Peace a
Chance’. Lennon also detailed this
period in The Beatles ‘The Ballad of
John and Yoko’, recorded by Lennon and
McCartney on April 14,
1969.
1970 - David
Bowie and Angela
Bowie
were married at Beckenham Registry
Office, London. The couple had one
child, film director Duncan Jones.
They divorced in 1980.
1971 - At their own expense The Rolling
Stones placed full page
advertisements in all the music papers
disclaiming any connection with the
release of the Decca album Stone Age,
saying 'in our opinion the content
is below the standard we try to
keep.'
1971 - Janis
Joplin started a two
week run at No.1 on the US singles
chart with her version of the Kris
Kristofferson and Fred Foster
song 'Me And Bobby McGee.' Joplin, who
was a lover and a friend of
Kristofferson's from the beginning of
her career to her death, changed the
sex and a few of the lyrics in her
cover. Kristofferson states he did not
write this song for her, but the song
is associated with her - especially,
he has said, in the line 'Somewhere
near Salinas, Lord, I let her slip
away.' Joplin died of a drug
overdose the year before on 4th
October, aged 27.
1973 - Slade
were at No.1 on the
singles chart with 'Cum On Feel The
Noize', the group's fourth No.1.
1977 - Lou
Reed was banned from
appearing The London Palladium because
of his punk image.
1977 - T Rex
played their final ever gig when they
appeared at The Locarno in Portsmouth.
1991 - Eric
Clapton's four year old
son, Conor, fell to his death from the
53rd story of a New York City
apartment after a housekeeper who was
cleaning the room left a window open.
The boy was in the custody of his
mother, Italian actress Lori Del Santo
and the pair were visiting a friend's
apartment. Clapton was staying in a
nearby hotel after taking his son to
the circus the previous evening. The
tragedy inspired his song ‘Tears in
Heaven’.
1962 - Bob
Dylan's debut album Bob
Dylan was released in the Untied States.
Initially poor sales led the record to
be known around Columbia Records as
‘Hammond's Folly’ (John Hammond was
producer of Dylan’s early recordings and
the man responsible for signing Dylan).
The album was praised by the New York
City weekly newspaper Village Voice as
an ‘explosive country blues debut’, but
featured only two Dylan original
compositions, 'Talkin' New York' and
'Song To Woody', the rest being old folk
standards.
1971 - T Rex
were at No.1 on the singles chart with
'Hot Love.' The group's first of four
No.1s spent six weeks at the top of the
charts.
1982 - Ozzy
Osbourne guitarist and
former Quiet
Riot member Randy Rhoads
was killed when the plane he was riding
in crashed. After driving much of the
night, the band had stopped near a small
airstrip. The tour bus driver, Andrew
Aycock, talked the band's keyboardist,
Don Airey, into taking a test flight in
a '55 Beechcraft Bonanza, the joyride
ended and the plane landed safely. Then
Aycock took Rhoads and Rachel Youngblood
on another flight and attempts were made
to 'buzz' the tour bus. The left wing
clipped the bus which sent the plane
spiralling into a nearby house and
bursting into flames. All three bodies
were burned beyond recognition, and were
identified by dental records.
1996 - The second Beatles
Anthology series was released. The album
featured 'Real Love', a track the
remaining members of the Beatles
recorded using an old demo track of John Lennon's.
The song was first recorded by Lennon in
1977 with a handheld tape recorder on
his piano at home. It originated as part
of an unfinished stage play that Lennon
was working on at the time entitled 'The
Ballad of John and Yoko.'
1965 - The
Rolling Stones were each
fined £5 for urinating in a public place,
following an incident that had taken place
at a petrol station after a gig at the ABC
Theatre in Romford, Essex. This was after
the last show on their fifth UK package
tour with The
Hollies, The Konrads, all
girl-group Goldie
and the
Gingerbreads and Dave Berry and the
Cruisers.
1965 - The groundbreaking Motortown Revue
landed at the Finsbury Park Astoria, on
the first night of a package tour that
took them around the UK visiting 21
theatres for two shows a night, plus a
live TV special. Topping the bill was Smokey Robinson and
the Miracles, Supremes, Martha &
The Vandellas, and 14
year-old Little
Stevie Wonder all backed by
the legendary Funk
Brothers.
1967 - The New Musical Express announced
that former
Spencer Davis Group member Steve Winwood
was planning to form a new group with Jim Capaldi, Chris
Wood and Dave Mason.
The ensemble would choose the name Traffic.
1972 - T Rex
played the first of two sold out nights at
Wembley's Empire Pool; Ringo Starr
filmed the shows for the 'Born To Boogie'
Apple documentary.
1977 - The Clash
released their debut single 'White Riot.'
The song is in the typical punk style of
three chords played very fast. Mick Jones
counts off '1-2-3-4' at the start of the
album version while the single version
begins with the sound of a police siren
instead.
2002 - The
Ramones were inducted into
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Eddie
Vedder, lead singer of Pearl Jam
and close friend of the Ramones. The
ceremony took place at the Waldorf Astoria
Hotel in New York City.
2017
- Chuck Berry
died aged 90. The American guitarist,
singer and songwriter was one of the
pioneers of rock and roll music. With
songs such as 'Maybellene' (1955), 'Roll
Over Beethoven' (1956), 'Rock and Roll
Music' (1957) and 'Johnny B. Goode'
(1958), Berry refined and developed rhythm
and blues into the major elements that
made rock and roll distinctive.
1965 - The Rolling
Stones were at No.1 on the
singles chart with 'The Last Time', the
bands third No.1 and first No.1 for
songwriters Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
1970 - Motown singer Tammi
Terrell died of a brain
tumour at the age of 24. She had collapsed
onstage on October 14, 1967 into Marvin Gaye's
arms during a concert in Hampton, Virginia.
Initially Terrell recorded solo, but from
1967 onwards she recorded a series of duets
with Marvin Gaye, including the 1967 US No.5
'Your Precious Love' and the 1968, ‘Ain't
Nothing Like the Real Thing’. Marvin Gaye
reacted to her death by taking a four year
hiatus from concert performance and went
into self-isolation.
1977 -
Paper Lace were at
No.1 on the singles chart with the anti-war pop song
'Billy Don't Be A Hero,' the group's only No.1.
1992 - During a Metallica
gig at Orlando Arena in America, fans dangled an usher
by his ankles from the balcony as trouble broke out at
the concert. The band were charged $38,000 (£22,353) for
repairs and cleaning after the audience trashed the
building.
1996 - Charles Pope
singer with the American vocal group The Tams died of heart
failure. They had the 1971 No.1 single 'Hey Girl Don't
Bother Me'. The group took their name from the Tam
O'Shanter hats they wore on stage.
2010 - A rare Led Zeppelin
recording from the group's 1971 gig at St Matthew's
Baths Hall in Ipswich, was unearthed at a car boot sale.
The bootleg copy of the audio from the group's gig on
November 16th 1971 was picked up for just 'two or three
pounds' by music fan Vic Kemp who said 'I was going
through a stand of CDs at the car boot at Portman Road
and the guy who was selling them said, 'You might be
interested in this. It must have been recorded by
someone standing at the front with a microphone. You
can hear Robert Plant talking to the audience quite
clearly.'
2015 - Andy Fraser,
songwriter and bass guitarist with
Free, died aged 62 in California of a heart
attack caused by
Atherosclerosis. The
London-born musician became
a founding member of the
group when he was just 15
and went on to write most of
the material with lead
singer Paul
Rodgers,
including Free's 1970 hit
'All Right Now', 'My Brother
Jake' and 'The Stealer'.
Fraser also penned 'Every
Kinda People', a hit for Robert
Palmer as
well as songs for Joe
Cocker, Chaka Khan, Rod
Stewart and Paul
Young.
2019 -
American rock guitarist Dick
Dale
died of heart failure at the
age of 81. He was known as
The 'King of the Surf
Guitar'. He pioneered and
created what many call the
surf music style. Dale
worked closely with Fender
to produce custom made
amplifiers, including the
first-ever 100-watt guitar
amplifier. His song
'Misirlou' featured over the
opening credits to Quentin
Tarantino's Pulp Fiction.
Week
Commencing March 8
1964 - For the first time in
British recording history, all
Top Ten singles in the UK were
by British acts. No.1 was
'Anyone Who Had A Heart' by Cilla
Black, No.2 -
'Bits and Pieces' by The Dave
Clark Five,
No.3 - 'Little Children' by Billy J
Kramer, No.4 -
'Diane' by The
Bachelors, No.5
- 'Not Fade Away' by The
Rolling Stones,
No.6 - 'Just One Look' by The
Hollies, No.7 -
'Needles and Pins' by The
Searchers, No.8
- 'I Think Of You' by The
Merseybeats,
No.9 - 'Boys Cry' by Eden
Kane, and No.
10 - 'Let Me Go Lover' by Kathy
Kirby.
1972 - Soul singer Linda
Jones died aged
26 in New York after
collapsing into a diabetic
coma following a performance
at Harlem's Apollo Theatre in
New York. Jones scored the
1967 US No.21 single
'Hypnotized'.
1978 -
Blondie were at
No.2 on the chart with their
version of the Randy & the
Rainbows song 'Denis', kept
off the No.1 position by Kate Bush's
'Wuthering Heights'.
1982 - Metallica
made their live debut when
they appeared at Radio City in
Anaheim, California. Metallica
formed in Los Angeles in late
1981 when Danish-born drummer
Lars Ulrich placed an
advertisement in a Los Angeles
newspaper, The Recycler, which
read, "Drummer looking for
other metal musicians to jam
with Tygers of Pan Tang,
Diamond Head and Iron
Maiden." Guitarists
James Hetfield and Hugh Tanner
of Leather
Charm answered
the advertisement.
1985 - Dead
Or Alive were
kicked off The Tube after
admitting they were incapable
of playing 'live.' The group
scored the 1985 No.1 single
'You Spin Me Round, Like A
Record'.
1991 - Songwriter and Blues
singer Doc
Pomus died from
lung cancer aged 65. He is
best known as the lyricist of
many rock and roll hits
written with Mort Shuman
including, ‘A Teenager in
Love’, ‘Save The Last Dance
For Me’, ‘Sweets For My
Sweet’, ‘Can't Get Used to
Losing You’, ‘Little Sister’,
‘Suspicion’, ‘Surrender’ and
‘Viva Las Vegas.’
2001 - Peter
Blake, who
designed
The Beatles
classic Sgt. Pepper album
cover sued the group's record
company for more money. Blake
was paid £200 for the famous
figures in 1967, but was now
'cheesed off' that EMI had
never offered to pay more
money. Blake also made sleeves
for the Band
Aid single, ‘Do
They Know It's Christmas?’
(1984), Paul
Weller's
Stanley Road (1995) and the Ian Dury
tribute album Brand New Boots
and Panties (2001).
2014 - American musician Gary
Burger died of
pancreatic cancer on at the
age of 71. He is best known as
the guitarist and vocalist for
the Garage rock band the
Monks who
formed in Gelnhausen, West
Germany in 1964, by five
American GIs stationed in the
country. With their blend of
shrill vocals, feedback, and
guitarist David Day's
six-string banjo (which
baffled audiences), music
historians have since
identified the Monks as a
pioneering force in
avant-garde music. [check out
the pic link and also the
'celebrating rock and metal'
link - these guys were
decades ahead of their time]
1965 - Eric
Clapton quit The
Yardbirds due to
musical differences with the
other band members. Clapton
wanted to continue in a blues
type vein, while the rest of the
band preferred the more
commercial style of their first
hit, 'For Your Love'.
1965 -
The Beatles
started a two week run at No.1
on the US singles chart with
'Eight Days A Week', the group's
7th US No.1. Paul McCartney
would later say the name of the
song came from a chauffeur who
drove him one day. 'I said,
'How've you been?' 'Oh working
hard,' he said, 'Working
eight days a week.'
1966 - Pink
Floyd appeared
for the first time at The The
Marquee Club in Wardour Street,
London. The Marquee became the
most important venue for the
emerging British scene and
witnessed the rise of some of
the most important artists in
the 1960s and 1970s, such as Jimi
Hendrix, Cream, Manfred
Mann, The Who, Yes, Led
Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, King
Crimson and Genesis.
1977 - Iggy
Pop kicked off a
the North American leg of The
Idiot World Tour at Le Plateau
Theatre, Montreal, Canada (with
David
Bowie in the band
playing keyboards and backing
vocals). Blondie
were the opening act on this leg
of the tour.
1993 - Eric
Clapton started
a run on the album chart with
Unplugged. It remains the most
successful and best-selling live
album ever, winning two Grammy
awards at the 35th Annual Grammy
Awards in 1993. It is also
Clapton's best-selling album
ever, having sold 26 million
copies worldwide.
1995 - Radiohead
released their second studio
album The Bends. The album,
which features the tracks 'High
and Dry' and 'Fake Plastic
Trees' reached No.4 and stayed
on the chart for 160 weeks. In
2006, British Hit Singles &
Albums and NME organised a poll
in which 40,000 people worldwide
voted for the 100 best albums
ever. The Bends was placed at
No.10.
2006 - The
Sex Pistols
refused to attend their own
induction into the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.
Blondie,
Herb Alpert and Black
Sabbath were all
inducted but the Pistols posted
a handwritten note on their
website, calling the institution
'urine in wine', adding
'We're not your monkeys, we're
not coming. You're not paying
attention'.
2006 - The
Kinks came out
the top earners for music used
in TV adverts in the US, earning
them £6m a year. The sixties
group were enjoying a resurgence
with their music being used to
sell washing powder, computers
and medicines. Led
Zeppelin came in
second place with £4m and The
Rolling Stones
third with £2.3m.
2013 -
Jimi Hendrix
scored his highest chart debut
since 1969 when his new studio
album, People, Hell &
Angels, consisting of unreleased
tracks recorded with a variety
of musicians between 1968 and
1970, sold 72,000 copies in the
US on the week of release and
made its debut at No.2 on the
charts.
1955 - American jazz saxophonist
and composer
Charlie Parker died
of a heart attack in New York City
while watching Tommy
Dorsey's Orchestra
on television. He was 34. The
coroner who performed his autopsy
mistakenly estimated Parker's
34-year-old body to be between 50
and 60 years of age due to years
of drug and alcohol abuse.
1969 - Paul
McCartney married
Linda Eastman at Marylebone
Register Office. They then held a
reception lunch at The Ritz Hotel,
Paul then went to Abbey Road
studios in the evening to work. George
Harrison and his
wife Patti were arrested on the
same day and charged with
possession of 120 joints of
marijuana.
1971 - The
Allman Brothers Band
played the first of two nights at
the Fillmore East, New York. Both
shows were recorded and released
as The Allman Brothers live double
album, which became the groups
breakthrough album.
1977 - The
Sex Pistols were
involved in a fight at London's
Speakeasy Club with Bob Harris,
presenter of The Old Grey Whistle
Test, resulting in one of the
shows engineers needing 14
stitches in his head. Two days
later Harris's solicitors contact
Derek Green at A&M, the band's
record label. Harris's management
also managed Peter
Frampton, one of
the label's top acts at A&M.
Green discussed the matter with
the company's two founders, Jerry
Moss and Herb Alpert and the
decision is made to cancel the
Pistols contract and halt
production of the bands first
single, 'God Save The Queen'.
2004 - Rosalind Morganfield, the
34 year old daughter of Blues
artist Muddy
Waters, surrendered
to police after a warrant was
issued accusing her of being
involved in the 1996 murder of 19
year old Timothy Jason Harrington
during a drug deal.
2006 - Former Pink Floyd
guitarist David
Gilmour went to
No.1 on the album chart with his
third solo album On An Island. In
2009 Planet Rock held a poll
asking listeners to name the
'Greatest Solo Album Written By A
Former Band Member'. David Gilmour
was voted into first place with On
An Island.
2013 - Clive
Burr, drummer with
Iron
Maiden died in his
sleep in London, four days after
his 56th birthday, due to
complications related to MS.
Maiden had the 1982 No.1 album The
Number Of The Beast, and the 1991
No.1 single 'Bring Your Daughter
To The Slaughter'. Burr was a
member of up-and-coming band Samson
before joining Maiden in 1979.
2013 -
Bob Dylan was voted
into the American Academy of Arts
and Letters, marking the first
time a rock musician had been
chosen for the elite honor
society. Officials in the Academy
– which recognises music,
literature and visual art – were
unable to decide if Dylan belonged
for his words or his music and
instead inducted him as an
honorary member like previous
honorees Meryl Streep, Woody Allen
and Martin Scorsese.
2016 -
Iron Maiden's
personal Boeing 747 was badly
damaged after colliding with a tow
truck while grounded at Santiago,
Chile. The band's crew and their
twenty tons of equipment were not
onboard at the time of the crash,
but two ground crew workers were
injured.
1956 - The
Dream Weavers were at
No.1 on the singles chart with 'It's
Almost Tomorrow'. The Miami based
studio band's only chart hit in the
UK, thus condemning The Dream
Weavers to the One Hit Wonder tag.
1965 - Tom
Jones was at No.1 on
the singles chart with 'It's Not
Unusual.' The Welsh singer's first
of 16 Top 40 hits during the 60s.
Written by Les Reed and Gordon
Mills, the song was first offered to
Sandie Shaw.
Jones recorded a demo for Shaw, and
when she heard it she was so
impressed with Jones's delivery that
she declined the song and
recommended that Jones release it
himself.
1970 - Deja Vu, the first album by Crosby, Stills,
Nash & Young (and
the second by the trio configuration
of Crosby,
Stills and Nash) was
released. It topped the pop album
chart for one week and spawned three
US Top 40 singles: 'Teach Your
Children', 'Our House', and
'Woodstock'.
1971 - Jim
Morrison of The Doors
arrived in Paris booking into The
Hotel George's. The following week
he moved into an apartment at 17 Rue
Beautreillis in Paris. Morrison
lived in Paris until his death on
July 3rd 1971 (two years to the day
after the death of the Rolling Stones
guitarist
Brian Jones, and
approximately nine months after the
deaths of Jimi
Hendrix and Janis Joplin).
1975 - The Original Soundtrack, the
third album by 10cc
was released. It featured the world
wide, multi million selling single
'I'm Not in Love' notable for its
innovative and distinctive backing
track, composed mostly of the band's
multitracked vocals. The song was
the band's breakthrough hit
worldwide, reaching No.1 in Ireland
and Canada and No.2 in the US, as
well as reaching the top ten in
Australia, New Zealand and several
European countries.
1978 - The debut single from Kate Bush,
'Wuthering Heights' a song inspired
by the Emily Bronte novel, started a
four-week run at No.1 on the singles
chart. EMI had originally chosen
another track, 'James and the Cold
Gun' as the lead single, but Bush
insisted on 'Wuthering Heights'.
2011 - The former singer with Iron Maiden
was jailed for nine months for
fraudulently claiming benefits. Paul
Andrews fronted the band between
1978 and 1981 under the stage name Paul Di'Anno.
Andrews, 52, was jailed at the
city's crown court after earlier
admitting falsely claiming more than
£45,000. Fraud investigators had
viewed online videos and read about
gigs on the performer's website.
2015 - Jimmy
Greenspoon,
keyboardist with Three Dog
Night died
after a long battle with cancer at
the age of 67. During the course of
their career, Three Dog Knight had
21 top 40 hits, including three No.1
singles.
2016 - Musician
Keith Emerson died in
Santa Monica, California, of a
self-inflicted gunshot wound to the
head after he had become 'depressed,
nervous and anxious' because nerve
damage in his hands had hampered his
playing. Emerson found his first
commercial success with the Nice, in
the late 1960s and was a founding
member of Emerson,
Lake & Palmer (ELP),
one of the early progressive rock
supergroups.
1960 - UK trade paper Record Retailer
published the UK's first ever EP
(extended player) chart and LP chart.
No. 1 EP was 'Expresso Bongo' by Cliff Richard
& The
Shadows and No.1 LP
'The Explosive Freddy Cannon.'
1977 - At 7am in the morning on a
trestle table set up out-side
Buckingham Palace, the Sex Pistols
signed to A&M Records (the real
signing had taken place the day
before). An after party was held at
the offices of A&M records
following the signing where the group
set about reeking unforeseen havoc on
the posh building, with Sid Vicious
smashing a toilet and cutting his
foot, trailing blood everywhere he
went, while Rotten cursed and
threatened every upscale executive in
sight and guitarist Steve Jones
getting it on with an unnamed fan in
the restrooms.The contract lasted for
six days.
1995 - Former Stone
Roses manager Gareth Evans'
£10 million lawsuit with the band was
settled out of court over alleged
wrongful dismissal for an undisclosed
sum.
2010 - Pink
Floyd won a court
battle with EMI that prevented the
record company from selling single
downloads and ringtones on the
Internet from the group's albums. Pink
Floyd's back catalogue was second only
in sales to The
Beatles.
1964 - Capitol Records released a song
called 'Letter To The Beatles' by The Four Preps.
The lyrics describe a boy lamenting to
The Fab Four, the fact that he's lost
his girlfriend. On its first day the
record shot to No.85 on the charts and
it looked like The Preps were going to
have another hit on their hands.
Unfortunately they had included a few
bars from 'I Want To Hold Your Hand'
without permission and Capitol was
forced to withdraw the single to avoid a
lawsuit.
1967 - Pink
Floyd and The Thoughts
appeared at The Marquee Club, London.
The Marquee club has often been defined
as 'the most important venue in the
history of pop music', not only for
having been the scene of the development
of modern music culture in London, but
also for having been an essential
meeting point for some of the most
important artists in rock music.
1968 - Bob
Dylan started a ten week
run at No.1 on the chart with John
Wesley Harding. The album marked Dylan's
return to acoustic music after three
albums of electric rock music and was
exceptionally well received by critics,
also reaching No.2 on the US charts. The
commercial performance was considered
remarkable, considering that Dylan had
made Columbia Records release the album
without much publicity.
1971 - Led
Zeppelin appeared at
Leeds University, during their 'Back To
The Clubs' tour. This was the first tour
which saw Zeppelin performing 'Stairway
To Heaven', 'Black Dog' and 'Going To
California.'
1991 - 'Should I Stay Or Should I Go'
gave The Clash
their only No.1 single after the track
was used for a Levi's TV advertisement.
The track was first released in 1982
from their album Combat Rock. The
Spanish backing vocals were sung by Joe
Strummer and Joe Ely.
2005 - 53-year-old Danny Joe Brown,
the original lead singer of Molly Hatchet,
died from renal failure due to
complications from diabetes. Brown was
the front man for the band's self-titled
album in 1978, which went Platinum.
2007 - Brad
Delp lead singer of Rock
band Boston committed
suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning at
his home in the New Hampshire town of
Atkinson. He died from the smoke of two
charcoal grills he’d lit inside his
sealed master bathroom. He was found by
police lying on a pillow on his bathroom
floor with a note paper-clipped to his
shirt which read: "Mr. Brad Delp. I
am a lonely soul."
1962 - The
Beatles made their radio
debut on the BBC's 'Teenagers Turn' (Here
We Go), singing Roy
Orbison's 'Dream Baby'. It
was reportedly the first time The Beatles
wore suits onstage.
1965 - Bob Dylan's
single Subterranean Homesick Blues was
released in the US. The lead track from
his Bringing It All Back Home album, gave
Dylan his first top 40 hit. Subterranean
Homesick Blues is also noted for its
innovative film clip, in what became one
of the first 'modern' promotional film
clips. The clip was shot in an alley
behind the Savoy Hotel in London, the cue
cards which Dylan holds were written by Donovan, Allen
Ginsberg, and Dylan
himself.
1965 - David
Bowie made his TV debut
with The Manish
Boys on a program called
'Gadzooks! It's All Happening' when they
performed their current single 'I Pity The
Fool.'
1969 - Small
Faces split up after singer
Steve Marriott
announced he was leaving the band to form
Humble Pie.
Small Faces scored the hit songs 'Itchycoo
Park', 'Lazy Sunday', 'All or Nothing',
and 'Tin Soldier', as well as their
concept album Ogdens Nut Gone Flake.
Members Ronnie
Lane, Ian McLagan and Kenny Jones
linked up with Ronnie
Wood and Rod Stewart
to form the
Faces.
1973 - American singer and musician Ron McKernan
died aged 27 from liver failure brought on
by alcohol poisoning. He was a founding
member and keyboard player with the Grateful Dead
and played in the group from 1965 to 1972.
Unlike the other members of the Grateful
Dead, McKernan avoided psychedelic drugs,
preferring to drink alcohol (namely
whiskey and flavored fortified wine). By
1971, his health had been affected by
alcoholism and liver damage and doctors
advised him to stop touring.
2003 - Former Dire
Straits frontman Mark Knopfler
was injured when the Honda motorbike he
was riding was involved in a collision
with a Fiat Punto car. The 53-year-old
singer and guitarist suffered a broken
collar bone and six broken ribs in the
accident which happened in London's smart
Belgravia district in mid-morning traffic.
2009 - A blue plaque in honour of The Who
drummer Keith
Moon was unveiled on the
site of The Marquee Club in Soho, where in
1964 the band played the first of 29 gigs
there. Fans on scooters turned up to pay
tribute to Moon, who was 32 when he died
of an accidental overdose in 1978. The
blue plaque, which means the site is of
historic importance, was awarded by the
Heritage Foundation.
2016 - AC/DC
postponed the rest of their current US
tour after singer
Brian Johnson was warned he
was going deaf. The band posted a
statement on their website saying doctors
had advised Johnson to stop touring
immediately or risk total hearing loss.
2016 - English record producer, arranger,
composer, conductor, audio engineer and
musician, Sir
George Martin died aged 90.
He worked as EMI records in-house record
producer and became known as the so-called
fifth Beatle. Martin produced all but one
of The Beatles
albums giving him 30 No.1 hit singles in
the UK and 23 No.1 hits in the US. He also
produced many other acts including: Matt Monro, Cilla
Black, Gerry & The Pacemakers,
Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas, The
Fourmost, Jeff Beck, Ultravox, Kenny
Rogers, UFO, Cheap Trick, Elton John
and Celine Dion.
Martin received a Knighthood in 1996.
Week Commencing March 1
1966 - The Rolling
Stones started recording
sessions for their tenth UK single 'Paint
It, Black' at RCA studios in Hollywood. It
was originally titled 'Paint It Black'
without a comma. Keith Richards has stated
that the comma was added by the record
label, Decca.
1970 - Charles
Manson released an album
called Lie to help raise money for his
defence in the Tate-LeBianca murder trial.
The album jacket was made to look like a
cover of Life magazine with the letter f
removed from the word Life. In the mid
sixties, Manson had been a wanna-be musician
who befriended The
Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson,
eventually talking the group into recording
one of his songs, 'Cease To Exist'. The
title was changed to 'Never Learn Not To
Love' and was released as the B side of the
single 'Bluebirds Over The Mountain', which
eventually climbed to number 61 in the US in
early 1969.
1971 - Mungo Jerry
were at No.1 on the singles chat with 'Baby
Jump', the group's second and final No.1.
1998 - Oasis
singer Liam
Gallagher appeared handcuffed
in a Brisbane court on charges of head
butting a fan during a gig in Australia.
Gallagher was released on bail.
2010 - Mark
Linkous, frontman with US
band Sparklehorse
committed suicide by shooting himself in the
heart outside a friend's house in Knoxville,
Tennessee. In 1996 Linkous "died" for two
minutes after ingesting a mix of Valium and
antidepressants while supporting Radiohead
on tour in the UK. He recovered, but the
incident left him paralysed, after lying
unconscious for 14 hours, with circulation
to his legs cut off. He had
surgery seven times
to save his legs,
but suffered a heart
attack when doctors
tried to straighten
his limbs.
2013 - English
guitarist, singer,
Alvin Lee
died age 68. Lee's
performance at the
Woodstock Festival
in 1969 was captured
on film in the
documentary of the
event, and his
'lightning-fast'
playing helped
catapult him to
stardom. Ten
Years After
were known for
tracks such as 'I'm
Going Home', 'Hear
Me Calling', 'I'd
Love to Change the
World' and 'Love
Like a Man'.
2016 - Lana Rae
Meisner, the wife of
former Eagles'
bassist
Randy Meisner,
died after she
accidentally shot
herself while
looking for
something in a
closet. Although the
couple had a history
of domestic
incidents, police
cleared Randy of any
wrongdoing.
1963 - The
Beach Boys
released 'Surfin' USA'
a song with lyrics by
Brian Wilson
set to the music of
'Sweet Little
Sixteen', written by Chuck
Berry.
Billboard ranked
'Surfin' USA' the No.
1 song of 1963.
1979 - Randy
Jackson
of The
Jackson Five
was seriously injured
in a car crash
breaking both legs and
almost died in the
emergency room when a
nurse inadvertently
injects him with
methadone.
1986 - After just
completing a two set
show with The
Band in
Winter Park, Florida,
41 year old Richard
Manuel
of The Band hanged
himself from a shower
curtain rod in a hotel
room in Florida. His
band mate, Robbie
Robertson honoured his
friend with the song,
'Fallen Angel' in
1987.
1994 - Kurt
Cobain
was rushed to hospital
after overdosing on
alcohol and drugs in a
Rome hotel during a
Nirvana
European tour. Cobain
had taken 50-60 pills
of Rohypnol mixed with
champagne; rumours on
the internet claimed
that Kurt was dead.
2001 -
Village People
singer Glenn
Hughes
died of lung cancer
aged 50 in his
Manhattan apartment in
New York. He was the
original "Biker"
character in the disco
group who scored the
1978 No.1 single
Y.M.C.A.
2015 -
Daryl Hall and
John Oates
were suing cereal
maker Early Bird Foods
& Co. over the
company's use of the
name Haulin' Oates for
their maple syrup
granola bars. The two
musicians accused the
Brooklyn-based firm of
infringing on their
trademark with the
packet of cereal
deliberately creating
a phonetic play on the
band's well-known
name.
2019 - Keith
Flint,
singer and dancer with
The Prodigy
was found dead at his
home in Essex, age 49.
The Prodigy scored the
1996 No.1 No. 30
single 'Firestarter'
and the 1997 No.1
album 'The Fat Of The
Land'. He owned a
motorcycle race team,
Team Traction Control,
which won three Isle
of Man TT races in
2015 and competed in
the British Supersport
Championship running
Yamaha YZF-R6
motorcycles.
1966 - Neil
Young, Stephen
Stills
and Richie
Furay
formed Buffalo
Springfield
in Los Angeles. Among
the first wave of
American bands to become
popular in the wake of
the British invasion,
the group combined rock,
folk, and country music
into a sound all its
own. Its million-selling
song 'For What It's
Worth' became a
political anthem for the
turbulent late 1960s.
1969 - Led
Zeppelin
recorded their first BBC
Radio 1 'Top Gear'
session during the
afternoon at the
Playhouse Theatre in
London. Songs recorded
were 'Dazed And
Confused',
'Communication
Breakdown', 'You Shook
Me' and 'I Can't Quit
You Baby'.
Free, The Moody
Blues and
Deep Purple
were also in session on
the show.
1972 - Elton
John
released 'Rocket Man' as
a single (officially
titled 'Rocket Man (I
Think It's Going to Be a
Long, Long Time)'. The
song was inspired by the
short story "The Rocket
Man" in The Illustrated
Man by Ray Bradbury, and
echoes the theme of David
Bowie's
1969 song 'Space
Oddity'. Kate
Bush
released a cover of
'Rocket Man' in 1991 as
part of the Elton John,
Bernie Taupin tribute
album Two Rooms.
1977 - The first night
of a UK tour with Johnny
Thunders and the
Heartbreakers, Cherry
Vanilla
and The
Police
kicked off at the Roxy
Club, London.
John Otway and Wild
Willie Barratt
played at The Speakeasy,
London, and Iggy
Pop
supported by The
Vibrators
appeared at Huddersfield
Poly.
1994 - The
Smashing Pumpkins
were banned from
appearing on Top Of The
Pops due to the content
of the song's lyrics.
The bands single
'Disarm' was this week's
highest new entry.
2003 - Ray
Jackson -
who found fame with
Lindisfarne -
took out legal action
against Rod
Stewart over
his 1970s hit song
‘Maggie May.’ Jackson
claimed he came up with
the worldwide hit's
classic mandolin melody
and claimed he may have
lost at least £1m
because he was not
credited for the track's
distinctive "hook."
Jackson was paid just
£15 for the recording
session by Stewart in
1971.
2012 - American rock
guitarist Ronnie
Montrose
died from a
self-inflicted gunshot
wound aged 64. The
guitarist, who led the
bands Montrose
and Gamma,
had been ill suffering
from prostate cancer.
Montrose had also worked
with Edgar
Winter, Van
Morrison, Dan
Hartman, Sammy Hagar
and many other artists.
2017 - American
guitarist Jim
Fuller
from The
Surfaris
died aged 69. The
Surfaris had the 1963
No.3 single 'Wipe Out'
and Fuller was known as
the "Godfather" of surf
music, a Californian
instrumental music. With
his Fender guitar he
contributed to the
popularity of Leo
Fender's instruments.
1961 - The
Everly Brothers had
their third No.1 single
with 'Walk Right Back' a
song written by Sonny
Curtis of The
Crickets.
1967 - Engelbert
Humperdinck
was at No.1 on the singles
chart with 'Release Me.'
The singers first of two
number 1s, the song spent
six weeks at the top of
the chart and a record
fifty six weeks on the
chart.
1974 - Terry
Jacks
started a run at No.1 on
the singles chart with
'Seasons In The Sun'. The
song (written in French by
Belgian, Jacques Brel),
had English lyrics by poet
Rod
McKuen.
1977 - The
Jam played
the first of a five-week
Wednesday night run at The
Red Cow, Hammersmith. The
group had just signed a
four-year recording
contract with Polydor
records.
1991 - French singer Serge
Gainsbourg
died of a heart attack.
Famous for his 1969 No.1
duet with Jane Birkin on
'Je t'aime... Moi non
plus.' During his career,
he wrote the soundtracks
for more than 40 films.
2003 - Singer, songwriter
Hank
Ballard died
from throat cancer. Wrote
and recorded 'The Twist'
but it was only released
on the B-side of a record.
One year later, Chubby
Checker debuted
his own version of 'The
Twist' on Dick Clark's
Philadelphia television
show. It topped the charts
and launched a dance craze
that prompted the creation
of other Twist songs,
including 'Twist and
Shout' by the
Isley Brothers
and 'Twistin' the Night
Away' by Sam
Cooke.
2007 - Jimi
Hendrix was
crowned the 'wildest
guitar hero' of all-time
in a poll of music fans
for Classic Rock magazine.
Hendrix beat Keith
Richards
into second place, with Stevie
Ray Vaughan
in third. Led
Zeppelin's Jimmy Page
made it to number four,
followed by Dimebag
Darrell,
who played for several
heavy metal bands
including Pantera
and Damageplan.
2008 - Canadian guitarist,
singer, Jeff
Healey,
died of cancer. Healey
lost his sight to
retinoblastoma, a rare
cancer of the eyes when he
was 8 months old,
resulting in his eyes
being surgically removed.
After living cancer-free
for 38 years, he developed
sarcoma in his legs.
Despite surgery for this,
the sarcoma spread to his
lungs and ultimately was
the cause of his death.
Healey released over 12
albums, presented a long
running radio show and
worked with many artists
incuding;
Stevie Ray Vaughan,
Buddy Guy, B.B. King,
ZZ Top
& Eric
Clapton.
Week
Commencing February 24
1968 - Elton
John's first
single 'I've Been Loving
You' was released on the
Phillips label, with lyrics
credited to Bernie Taupin
(although John later
admitted that he wrote the
song by himself, giving
Taupin credit as an effort
to earn Taupin his first
publishing royalties). The
song didn't chart.
1973 - Pink
Floyd
released their eighth studio
album The Dark Side of The
Moon. It remained in the US
charts for 741 discontinuous
weeks from 1973 to 1988,
longer than any other album
in history. After moving to
the Billboard Top Pop
Catalog Chart, the album
notched up a further 759
weeks, and had reached a
total of over 1,500 weeks on
the combined charts by May
2006. With an estimated 45
million copies sold, it is
Pink Floyd's most
commercially successful
album and one of the
best-selling albums
worldwide.
1979 - Joy
Division
appeared at The Hope &
Anchor, Islington, London.
Admission was 75p.
1995 - During a gig at the
Patinoire Auditorium in
Lausanne, Switzerland, REM
drummer Bill
Berry
collapsed on stage from a
ruptured brain aneurysm. He
recovered and later
re-joined the band.
1995 -
Bruce Springsteen's
'Streets of Philadelphia'
won three Grammys for Song
of the Year, Best Male Vocal
Performance and Best Rock
Song. The track was featured
in the film Philadelphia
(1993), an early mainstream
film dealing with HIV/AIDS
which stars Tom Hanks and
Denzel Washington.
1997 - A Motley
Crue fan who
claimed his hearing had been
irreparably damaged after a
show in New Jersey had his
lawsuit thrown out of court.
The judge told Clifford
Goldberg who had sat near
the front of the stage, he
knew the risk he was taking.
2016 - 76-year-old Ginger
Baker posted
on his blog that he had
cancelled all of his
scheduled shows for the year
and was going into immediate
retirement. The former
drummer for Cream
and Blind
Faith
revealed that his doctor had
just diagnosed him with
serious heart problems,
causing him to announce all
forthcoming shows.
2019 - English blues and
rock singer and musician Paul
Williams died
age 78. He joined Zoot
Money's Big Roll Band
on bass and vocals,
alongside the guitarist Andy
Summers. He
then replaced John
McVie in John
Mayall & the
Bluesbreakers.
He later worked with the
progressive rock group Tempest.
1970 - Billed as David
Bowie's New Electric Band
(so new they haven't got a
name yet), played at the
Basildon Arts Lab experimental
music club at the Basildon
Arts Centre in Essex. Also on
the bill were High
Tide, Overson
and Iron
Butterfly.
1970 - In an interview with
the New Musical Express, Fleetwood
Mac's Peter Green
talked about his plans to give
all his money away. The
following year Green
confronted his accountant with
a gun after he sent him an
unwanted royalty check. The
guitarist went to jail briefly
before being transferred to an
asylum and was committed to a
mental hospital in 1973. He
re-launched his career in the
90s.
1970 - Led
Zeppelin played
a gig in Copenhagen as The Nobs
after Eva Von Zeppelin a
relative of the airship
designer threatened to sue if
the family name was used in
Denmark.
1985 - David
Byron, singer
with Uriah
Heep died from
an epileptic fit and liver
disease aged 38. Byron was the
original singer of the band
between 1969 and 1976 and
gained a reputation with his
operatic vocals and harmonies
as one of the world's best
rock vocalists and frontmen.
2005 - Chris
Curtis, drummer
with The
Searchers died
aged 63 after a long illness.
The searchers scored the 1964
No.1 single 'Needles And
Pins'.
2008 - Drummer Buddy
Miles, who
played with Jimi
Hendrix in his
last regular group, Band of
Gypsys, died
aged 60 at his home in Austin,
Texas after struggling with a
long-term illness. Born George
Allen Miles in Omaha,
Nebraska, Buddy's nickname was
a tribute to his idol, jazz
drummer
Buddy Rich.
Rich also played with The
Delfonics, The Ink Spots,
Wilson Pickett, Electric
Flag, Stevie Wonder, David
Bowie, Muddy Waters
and Barry
White. In the
1980s, he achieved a certain
amount of notoriety in the US
as the vocalist on the
celebrated claymation
California Raisins
commercials.
1967 - Pink
Floyd continued
working on their debut album The
Piper At The Gates Of Dawn at
Abbey Road Studios, London. With
the exception of two
group-composed instrumentals and
one Roger Waters song, the album
was written entirely by Syd Barrett.
1968 - 25 year old Frankie
Lymon, lead
singer of
The Teenagers,
died of a heroin overdose in his
grandmother's New York home.
Lymon was on leave from a
Georgia Army post at the time
and was scheduled to record for
Roulette Records the next day.
He first hit the national charts
in 1956 when he was just 13 with
'Why Do Fools Fall in Love'.
1971 - Five months after her
death, Janis
Joplin started a
nine-week run at No.1 on the US
album chart with her second and
final solo studio album Pearl.
Joplin sang on all tracks except
'Buried Alive in the Blues',
which remained a Full Tilt
Boogie instrumental because she
died before adding her vocals.
1972 - Led
Zeppelin appeared
at Sydney Showgrounds, Sydney in
Australia, over 25,000 fans
attending the show. Jimmy Page
appeared clean shaven having
shaved off the beard he had
grown since the summer of 1970.
2019 - English drummer Doug
Sandom died one
day after his 89th birthday. He
was the original drummer for The Who.
No recordings with Sandom
playing with the band were ever
released.
1965 -
Jimmy Page released
a solo single called 'She Just
Satisfies' in the UK. Page played
all the instruments on it except
for the drums, and produced the
track, as well as singing lead
vocals.
1969 - Peter
Sarstedt started a
four week run at No.1 on the
singles chart with 'Where Do You
Go To My Lovely?' Some say the
song was written about the Italian
star Sophia Loren, but Peter
Sarstedt has stated he wrote the
song about a girl he fell madly in
love with in Vienna in 1965, who
later died in a hotel fire.
1979 - During a court case between
the Sex
Pistols and their
manager Malcolm
McLaren it was
revealed that only £30,000 was
left of the £800,000 the band had
earned.
1997 - American songwriter Ben Raleigh
died in a fire in his kitchen
after setting fire to his bathrobe
while cooking. He co-wrote 'Scooby
Doo Where Are You' and 'Tell Laura
I Love Her.'
2014 - Tim
Lambesis, the
singer for US metal band As I Lay
Dying, pleaded
guilty to attempting to hire an
undercover agent to murder his
estranged wife. He was arrested in
May 2013 after prosecutors said he
met a sheriff's deputy posing as a
hit man, called Red, and handed
over $1,000 (£600) along with his
wife's address and front door
security code.
2019 - English drummer Andy
Anderson died of
cancer aged 68. He is best known
for his work with The Cure
playing on the singles ‘Love Cats’
and ‘The Caterpillar’. He also
worked with many other artists
including Steve
Hillage, Edwyn Collins, Mike
Oldfield, The Gun Club
and Peter
Gabriel.
1957 -
Buddy Holly recorded
a new version of 'That'll Be The
Day', at Norman Petty Recording
Studio in Clovis, New Mexico. The
title being taken from a phrase used
by John Wayne in the film 'The
Searchers.'
1972 - Led
Zeppelin appeared in
front of over 25,000 fans at the
Western Springs Stadium, Auckland,
New Zealand, the group's first ever
gig in New Zealand (and the largest
crowd ever to attend a concert on
the island). A special train was
chartered from Wellington to bring
fans to the concert. News reviews
the next day reported the band could
be heard over five miles from the
Stadium.
1977 - The
Jam signed to Polydor
Records UK for £6,000. They went on
to have 18 consecutive Top 40
singles, from their debut in 1977 to
their break-up in December 1982,
including four No.1 hits. As of
2007, 'That's Entertainment' and
'Just Who Is the 5 O'Clock Hero?'
remained the best-selling import
singles of all time in the UK.
1989 - Simple
Minds were at No.1 on
the singles chart with 'Belfast
Child.' At 6 minutes 39 seconds it
became the second-longest running
No.1 after The
Beatles ‘Hey Jude’.
2011 -
Susan 'Suze' Rotolo
died from lung cancer. She was the
one time girlfriend of Bob Dylan,
and the inspiration of some of his
early songs. Susan appeared in one
of the decade's signature images,
walking with Dylan arm-in-arm for
the cover photo of his breakthrough
album Freewheelin Bob Dylan.
2019 - British publicist and talent
manager Kenneth
Pitt died age 96. He
managed the career of musicians
including David
Bowie in the late
1960s (Pitt managed Bowie at the
time of his first hit, ‘Space
Oddity’ in 1969), and was
responsible for publicising American
musicians and bands touring the UK,
including Frank
Sinatra, Duke Ellington
and Jerry
Lee Lewis.
1963 - The
Rolling Stones started
a Sunday night residency at The
Station Hotel, Richmond, Surrey. The
Stones were paid £24 for the gig and
played on the first night to a total
of 66 people. £24 from 1963 would be
worth £392, adjusted for inflation.
1975 - Led
Zeppelin released their
sixth album Physical Graffiti.
Recording sessions had been disrupted
when bassist and keyboard player John
Paul Jones had proposed quitting the
band. The group decided on a double
album so they could feature songs left
over from their previous albums Led
Zeppelin III, Led Zeppelin IV and
Houses Of The Holy.
1982 - The
Police won best British
group at the first annual Brit Awards
held in London, Adam
And The Ants won best
album for 'Kings Of The Wild
Frontier', Cliff
Richard won British
Male Solo Artist, Randy Crawford
won British Female Solo Artist,
British Breakthrough Act went to The Human League,
British Producer was Martin Rushent
and Outstanding Contribution went to John Lennon.
Week Commencing
February 17
1940 - Woody
Guthrie wrote the lyrics
to 'This Land Is Your Land' in his room
at the Hanover House Hotel in New York
City. The song was brought back to life
in the 1960s, when several artists of
the new folk movement, including Bob Dylan, The
Kingston Trio, Trini Lopez, Jay and
the Americans, and The New Christy
Minstrels all recorded
versions, inspired by its political
message.
1972 - After nearly five years of
marriage, Priscilla
Presley moved out of Elvis Presley's
California home and into a two bedroom
apartment near the Pacific Ocean. Their
divorce would be finalized on October 9,
1973, with Priscilla being awarded an
outright cash payment of $725,000 as
well as spousal support, child support,
5% of Elvis' new publishing companies
and half the income from the sale of
their Beverly Hills home.
1974 - 'Rebel Rebel' by David Bowie
entered the chart, the single reached
No.5 the following month. Originally
written for an aborted Ziggy Stardust
musical in late 1973, 'Rebel Rebel' was
Bowie's last single in the glam rock
style that had been his trademark. It
was also his first hit since 1969 not to
feature lead guitarist Mick Ronson;
Bowie himself played guitar on this
track.
1974 - Suzi
Quatro was at No.1 on the
singles chart with 'Devil Gate Drive',
the singers second No.1 and fourth No.1
for the songs writers Chinn &
Chapman.
1980 - U2
appeared at The Moonlight Club, at The
Railway Hotel in London, tickets cost
£2.
2003 - Norah
Jones cleaned up at the
45th Grammy Awards, held at Madison
Square Garden, New York. The singer,
songwriter won, Album of the year and
Record of the year, with 'Don't Know
Why.' Song of the year, Best new artist
and Best female pop vocal for 'Don't
Know Why'. Other winners included Best
male pop vocal, John
Mayer, 'Our Body Is A
Wonderland'. Best male rock vocal, Bruce Springsteen,
'The Rising', Best female rock vocal, Sheryl Crow,
'Steve McQueen', Best rock performance
by group, Coldplay
'In My Place', Best rap album, Eminem,
'The Eminem Show'.
1970 - Appearing at The Roundhouse Spring
Festival in Camden, David
Bowie and the Hype (their
first live performance of the new band),
along with Bachdenkel,
Groundhog and Caravan.
1975 - Scottish group The Average White
Band went to No.1 on the US
singles chart with 'Pick Up The Pieces',
the bands album AWB also went to No.1 on
the US chart.
1975 - Steve
Harley and Cockney Rebel
had their only No.1 single with 'Make Me
Smile (Come Up And See Me)'. Singer Steve
Harley said the lyrics were vindictively
directed at the former band members, whom
he felt had abandoned him.
1978 - The
Police appeared in a
Wrigley's Chewing Gum commercial for US
TV, the band dyed their hair blonde for
the appearance.
1981 - One Hit Wonder Joe Dolce
was at No.1 on the singles chart with
'Shaddap You Face,' famously keeping the
legendary
Ultravox song, Vienna, off
the No.1 slot. 'Shaddap You Face' was
Number 1 in 11 countries with over 35
different foreign language cover versions,
selling over 4 million copies.
1987 - Andy
Warhol, pop artist and
producer died after a gall bladder
operation. The founder of the Pop Art
movement, produced and managed the Velvet Underground,
designed the 1967 Velvet Underground And
Nico 'peeled banana' album cover and The Rolling Stones
Sticky Fingers album cover.
1989 - A category for Heavy Metal was
included at the Grammy Awards for the
first time. Metallica
performed on stage, but the award went to
Jethro Tull.
Many audience members booed. Meanwhile, Bobby McFerrin
won Record Of The Year and Song Of The
Year for 'Don't Worry, Be Happy', Tracy Chapman
is named Best New Artist and Tina Turner
won Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for
'Tina Live in Europe'.
1992 - The NME printed their writers all
time best debut albums; at No.1, Patti Smith,
'Horses', No.2, Joy
Division, 'Unknown
Pleasures', No.3, MC5,
'Kick Out The Jams, No.4, The Jesus and Mary
Chain, 'Psychocandy' and
No.5, Television,
'Marquee Moon'.
2004 - The Sex
Pistols 'Anarchy in the UK'
was named the most influential record of
the 1970s in a poll compiled by Q
magazine. Queen's
'Bohemian Rhapsody' was voted into second
place and Donna
Summer's 'I Feel Love' was
third, T Rex
'Get It On' was fourth and Special AKA
'Gangsters' came fifth.
2012 - American singer, songwriter,
guitarist Billy
Strange died aged 81. As a
session musician with the famed Wrecking
Crew, he appeared on hit songs for Elvis Presley,
including 'A Little Less Conversation', Nancy and Frank
Sinatra's 'Somethin'
Stupid', played guitar on numerous Beach Boys
hits, including 'Sloop John B' and the Pet
Sounds album and worked with The Ventures, Willie
Nelson, The Everly Brothers, Wanda
Jackson, Randy Newman, and
Nat King Cole,
among others.
1961 - The Beatles
played three gigs in one day. The first was
a lunchtime show at The Cavern Club, then at
night they appeared at the Casanova Club,
Liverpool and then at Litherland Town Hall,
Liverpool.
1964 - New York band The
Echoes recruited a new young
unknown piano player named Billy Joel.
1964 - Three classic British singles were
released today (Friday), The Rolling Stones
'Not Fade Away' (reached No.3), The Hollies
'Just One Look' (No.2), and Billy J Kramer's
'Little Children' (No.1).
1967 - Pink Floyd
started their first sessions at the EMI
Studios, St. John's Wood, London on their
debut album The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn,
working on the song 'Matilda Mother'. While
Pink Floyd were recording their album with
former Beatles
engineer Norman Smith, The Beatles
themselves were working in the studio next
door, recording 'Fixing A Hole' for their
Sgt. Pepper album. Micky
Dolenz from The Monkees
attended the mixing session during the day.
1972 - Led
Zeppelin released 'Rock And
Roll / Four Sticks' as a 7 inch single in
the US, peaking at No.47 on the chart. The
song was written as a spontaneous jam
session whilst the band were trying to
finish 'Four Sticks'. Drummer John Bonham
played the introduction to Little Richard's
'You Keep A-Knockin' and Page added a guitar
riff; with the tapes rolling the basic song
was finished fifteen minutes later.
1976 - Florence
Ballard of The Supremes
died of cardiac arrest, aged 32. Ballard had
left The Supremes in 1967, lost an $8
million (£4.7 million) lawsuit against
Motown Records and was living on welfare
when she died.
1986 - Metallica
released their third album, the highly
influential album, Master of Puppets,
considered by many in the metal community to
be the best metal album of all time. This
was the last Metallica album with bassist Cliff Burton
who was killed when the group's tour bus
over-turned in southern Sweden while touring
to promote the album.
2004 - Mud
singer Les Gray
died aged 57 of a heart attack whilst
fighting throat cancer (1974 No.1 single
'Tiger Feet' plus 14 other UK Top 40
singles').
2008 - A US music aficionado sold his
collection of more than three million vinyl
albums, singles and compact discs to an eBay
buyer from Ireland for just over $3 million.
An eBay spokeswoman said the sale was one of
the highest ever for the online auction
site.
2012 - Five members of the Russian feminist
punk rock group Pussy
Riot staged a performance on
the soleas of Moscow's Cathedral of Christ
the Savior where their actions were stopped
by church security officials. By that
evening they had turned the performance into
a music video entitled "Punk Prayer - Mother
of God, Chase Putin Away!" The women said
their protest was directed at the Orthodox
Church leader's support for Putin during his
election campaign. The following month three
of the group members were arrested and
charged with hooliganism and were held in
custody until their trial began in late July
when the three members were convicted of
"hooliganism motivated by religious hatred",
and each was sentenced to two years
imprisonment.
2014 - A statue of a weeping Kurt Cobain
was unveiled in Aberdeen, Washington - the
hometown of the late Nirvana
frontman. The statue, which
sees Cobain crying a single tear, is
situated in the Aberdeen Museum of History.
Kurt Cobain Day would now be celebrated
annually in the city of Aberdeen. On the
day, Mayor Bill Simpson recently read a
proclamation which stated: "Aberdeen
residents may justifiably take pride in
the role our community played in the life
of Kurt Cobain and the international
recognition our community has gained from
its connections with Kurt Cobain and his
artistic achievements."
2014 - A crew member working on a biopic
about Gregg Allman
died after being hit by a train during
filming. Police in south Georgia said the
woman was struck after the crew for Midnight
Rider placed a bed on the railway tracks in
Doctortown. Wayne County Sheriff John Carter
said several other people had been injured,
two of them seriously.
2019 -
American musician
Peter Tork
died age 77. He was
diagnosed with a rare
form of tongue cancer
in 2009. The
Monkees
were brought together
for an American sitcom
TV series in 1966.
Best known as the
keyboardist and bass
guitarist, they had
the 1967 No.1 single
'I'm A Believer' plus
other hits including
'Last Train to
Clarksville',
'Pleasant Valley
Sunday', and 'Daydream
Believer'.
1959 - 16 year old Jimi
Hendrix
made his stage debut
when he played a show at
the Temple De Hirsch
Sinai synagogue in
Seattle.
1980 -
AC/DC
singer Bon
Scott was
pronounced dead on
arrival at a London
hospital after a heavy
night's drinking. Scott
was found in the
passenger seat of a
friend's parked car. The
official coroner's
report stated that he
had "drunk himself to
death", after
suffocating on his own
vomit.
2003 - 100 people died
after pyrotechnics
ignited a club during a
gig by Great
White in
West Warwick, Rhode
Island. Great White
guitarist Ty
Longley
was also killed in the
accident. Two brothers
who owned the club were
charged, along with the
former tour manager with
involuntary
manslaughter. Foam
soundproofing material
at the edge of the stage
set alight and the blaze
spread quickly in the
one-storey wooden
building as fans all
tried to escape through
the same exit. Great
White began
a tour in July 2003 to
raise money for the
survivors and families
of victims.
2008 - A 1976 Rolling
Stones album
bought for £2 at a car
boot sale sold for
£4,000 at an auction.
The 'Black and Blue' LP
was signed by John
Lennon, Yoko Ono,
Paul and Linda
McCartney
and George
Harrison
as well as members of
the Rolling Stones. The
seller obtained the
album after haggling the
cost down from £3.
1964 - A British company
shipped ½ ton of
Beatle wigs
to the US. An American
reporter later asked John
Lennon, "How do you
feel about teenagers
imitating you with
Beatle wigs?" John
replied "They're not
imitating us because we
don't wear Beatle wigs."
1972 - Led
Zeppelin
appeared at the Memorial
Drive, Adelaide in
Australia. A local paper
who reviewed the show
printed: Singer Robin
Plant (sic) overcame
an 'Australian bug' in
his throat and broke
into his own in 'Black
Dog' and 'Stairway To
The Stars' (sic).
1977 - Manfred
Mann's Earth Band
scored a No.1 single in
the US with their version
of the Bruce
Springsteen
song 'Blinded By The
Light.' The track was the
first single from
Springsteen's 1973 debut
album Greetings from
Asbury Park N.J. The Earth
Band's version features
several changed lyrics.
The most prominent change
is in the chorus, where
Springsteen's "cut loose
like a deuce" is replaced
with "revved up like a
deuce."
1982 - Ozzy
Osbourne
was arrested in San
Antonio, Texas for
urinating on the cenotaph
at the Alamo, which honors
the Alamo defenders.
Osbourne was wearing a
dress at the time of his
arrest (due to his wife
Sharon hiding all his
clothes so he couldn't go
outside). Osbourne was
banned from ever playing
in San Antonio, Texas
again (a ban which was
lifted in 1992).
1995 - Motley
Crue drummer
Tommy
Lee married
Baywatch actress Pamela
Anderson on
a Cancun beach, Mexico,
the bride wore a white
bikini. Anderson and Lee
who married only four days
after meeting had
videotaped their sexual
activities while on
vacation which was later
stolen and released on the
Internet. After suing the
video company who released
the tape, the Lees entered
into a confidential
settlement agreement. The
couple divorced in 1998.
2004 - Johnny
Cash's
family blocked an attempt
by advertisers to use his
hit song 'Ring of Fire' to
promote haemorrhoid-relief
products. The idea is said
to have been backed by
Merle Kilgore, who
co-wrote the song with
Cash's wife, June Carter
Cash. Cash's daughter
Rosanne said the family
"would never allow the
song to be demeaned like
that."
2015 - Iron
Maiden
frontman Bruce
Dickinson
was being treated for
cancer after a small
cancerous tumour was found
at the back of his tongue.
1965 -
The Kinks
were at No.1 on the singles
chart with 'Tired Of Waiting
For You', the group's second
No.1. According to Ray
Davies, the music for 'Tired
of Waiting for You' was
written on the train to the
recording studio and the
words were written at a
coffee shop during a break
in the session.
1969 - Three thousand
uninvited guests showed up
to see Lulu
and The
Bee Gees Maurice
Gibb get
married at St. James'
Church, Gerrard's Cross.
Brother Barry was the best
man.
1972 - On their first
Australian tour, Led
Zeppelin
rescheduled to the following
night their concert at the
Memorial Drive, Adelaide,
after heavy rain left the
stage and equipment unsafe.
Zeppelin had brought to
Adelaide the largest PA
system seen in Australia to
produce what was expected to
be the loudest rock show
ever heard.
1990 - Freddie
Mercury made
his final public appearance
on stage when he joined the
rest of Queen
to collect the Brit Award
for Outstanding Contribution
to Music, held at the
Dominion Theatre, London.
2000 - An American court
ordered the release of FBI
files relating to John
Lennon's
interests and activities
including his support for
the Irish Republican cause
and the Workers
Revolutionary Party. The
British Government told the
US that it wanted the files
to remain secret. MI5 also
had files on Lennon, which
they had passed on the FBI
during the 70s.
1966 - Nancy
Sinatra was at
No.1 on the singles chart with
'The |
HOME
PAGE 
