Stan Webb and Chicken Shack
Boom Boom- Sutton Friday 20th March 2009
This was a bit of a bonus gig. I'm not over fond of trekking to Sutton but Teresa was out for the night and Pete fancied it. We got down there about 8 and after a sophisticated meal of fish and chips while we walked back to the club where we were assaulted by the support band.
Sometimes you can dislike something more or less instantaneously and that was the case with the support act. With as couple of pints of Bombardier as sustenance we settled against a wall to decide why we disliked the band. It wasn’t balanced to start with. There was the main man on electric guitar and vocals, a second guitarist playing an acoustic, the bass player played an electric upright bass, the drummer also sang and there was an absurd harp player.
He looked like Hugh Griffith, was wearing a silly big floppy hat and had a bandolier style harp holder for all the harps in different keys. At first they sounded like a jug band. They did all covers and even songs that I knew I couldn't recognise. The bass player had to stare at his instrument to make sure his fingers were going in the right place and the 2nd guitarist had such a hard time keeping up with the volume that at one point he put his foot on the PA to try and get some more purchase on the strumming.
In case you haven't got the message I didn’t like them. They actually gloried in the name of Obviously 5 Believers (http://www.o5b.co.uk/ tells you how great they were at the Boom Boom). When we got in there were some of the sparse crowd at the front at the tables and all the rest were at the back near the bar. This gave it an odd feel as there was nothing in the middle. The band mercifully finished and while the band were packing up we just strolled to the front and sat at one of the tables in front so we had a grandstand view. Stan's bass and guitar player acted as roadies to get the stage ready and with Pete Feenstra absent for the evening there was no intro and the band just strolled onto the stage and started the usual Chicken Shack opening number.
What made this gig different was that a sax player had been added to the line-up. Jim Rudge on Bass and Gary Davies on rhythm guitar were standard but Mick Jones had been replaced on drums and there was the sax player. He was middle aged, a bit chunky and quite florid. He as obviously not totally au fait with the band as he didn't really know where to stand. He was very good though and went at it from the word go. He had a good line in a shaky right leg thumping out the tempo when he had a solo and quite quickly settled into his role.
Gary Davies was a metronomic as ever and Jim Rudge played with his usual competence. As usual halfway through the intro number Stan strolled on stage to good applause and quickly got into his work. It was nice being so close (about 6 feet away) to see his great Les Paul showing just a bit of wear and tear but we were on the right and got a good earful of the rhythm guitar.
Stan was in a very unchatty mood for a change. We normally get a fairly constant stream of comments on the world and some bad taste jokes in between songs but he said very little apart from naming the songs. But he does sort of make his own entertainment as he goes along. At one point he reached over his head and his hand hit the lowered ceiling (it's not a high place and the 2 foot high stage makes it a bit dangerous for tall players. He then realised that the ceiling tiles lifted up if you pushed them and he had some fun playing to the crowd by lifting them up occasionally.
We didn't get anything radically new from his set but he was as grateful as ever for the audience turning out for him. The sax did give another dimension and he got his fair share of the action but I'm not really sure why he has been added to the band. Stan told us he couldn't be bothered with all the end of the set, go off, come back with the applause malarkey so he just went into the encore of I'd Rather Go Blind. He did his usual trick of handing the Les Paul to the roadie, take the mike of its stand and go for walkabout in an attempt to embarrass as many women in the audience as possible. In this he succeeded.
Then came the biggest laugh of the night. When he put the mike back in its holder it loosened it and the mike kept drooping. He tried bending down to sing into it and Jim on bass nipped over and tightened it up. It didn't work which was a bit of a surprise as I actually saw the bass player set it up and he did tighten it up well. Having tried once or twice Jim Rudge gave up and left it. Then a teenage girl came up and had a go. Unfortunately she was very girly and kept loosening it before working out which way to tighten it. Even when she seemed to have it sorted it slowly drooped.
Stan played along with it as he seems to quite like something going wrong to give him an excuse to ham it up. It didn't really affect the music but it did give the band a really good laugh and it's always good see the good humour between band members. Stan was sufficiently moved to boogie over to Gary Davies on rhythm s few times and synchronise movements with him. That isn't really very difficult as Gary hardly moves a muscle during the set.
Sitting where we were we got a full blast all night and it was great to be so close and see the workings of a band at work. The merchandising for Stan was hopeless and they seemed to be just pushing his last double CD. It was all very good though and the only thing missing was a load of nonsense from Pete Feenstra. He really does add to the occasion with his silliness. At 11 at night the drive back was nice and easy but seeing the young women of Sutton on their way out in the cold with incredibly short skirts reminded me of up North.
Thursday 30 April 2009
Oli Brown _ Beaverwood 19 March 2009
The Oli Brown Band
Chislehurst
Thursday March 19th 2009
We would have preferred just to pootle down the road to the Half Moon at Herney Hill to see Oli but we are away in April when they play there. Chislehurst was not a bad alternative though and far easier to get to than the Boom Boom at Sutton. Pete Feenstra’s website said that doors opened at a rather unfriendly 7.30 so we went down to get there about a quarter to eight.
Once in and with stamps on the backs of our hands we grabbed a couple of chairs to sit just behind the two or three round tables at the front. With no regimented rows it wouldn’t be a problem to see round anyone sitting in front of you. The set up was not the silly stage in the centre position that Feenstra often favours but up the end in front of the back bar that had a back cloth to hide it.
With an early opening we rather assumed a support band and dreaded the worst. Having said that the first time we saw Oli Brown he was playing support. It turned out that there was only Oli’s mon on display so we had a bit of a wait before there was any action. Luckily Pete Feenstra was on pretty good form with odd (very odd) announcements from the stage.
As usual he thanked us for coming out and then told us that the PA had blown up. But we were not to worry as by Herculean efforts they had got another one. It was obviously a bit last minute as there was still some testing going on and that included some quite painful sonic booms. Feenstra explained that the lack of PA meant that the grand intro for the band couldn’t happen (we had no idea what this was supposed to be) but soon enough the band would be on.
It was a touch ramshackle as the band actually walked through the crowd to get onto the stage. The lack of PA turned to the band’s advantage as there were a lot of jokes flying around and it helped relax the atmosphere. They started up and were the same pretty hard driving blues band (with a hint of jazz all the time) that we had seen before. Oli was looking thinner than usual but was still in his trademark pinstripe suit. The drummer, Simon Jones looked the same but Fred Hollis the bass player looked different.
Teresa agreed and he looked like a young brother of the old one. As time went on his obvious prowess (and he is good) made us think that he might be the same bloke but he didn’t look the same. Maybe he had lost weight and done something different with his hair but something was amiss. I clobbered Feenstra on the way to the toilet and he agreed that there was something strange and said he’d check up at half time. As I would see him the next night I thought I’d wait till then to find out.
The band certainly doesn’t lack confidence and Oli continues with his master plan of conquering the blues world. He really is very good and his ‘Vanquish Oli Brown "Signature": Solid’ guitar performed admirably. His amp though was a different matter. Along with the blown PA it was giving problems but once again his chatty, up front & amiable personality did him proud and he got all the audience on his side about it. The amp did make a few odd noises but luckily no great thumps or squeals. He did explain that it had been playing up but they hadn’t had time to fix it.
He does a good mix of old & new with some B B King, Freddie King (Big Legged Woman – Oli said he was a fan of them but he looked too frail to handle one) and some ones he had written himself. He had his little fan club in the front seats. There were 2 guys who were Dumb and Dumber and 2 women who Teresa ungraciously dubbed Godzilla and the Swamp Monster. One of then had a delightful mole or wart behind her ear and had her hair tied back to give it a good airing.
As intimated earlier there was an interval cum gear repair break and a second half of more hard driving blues. He is such a confident (some would say cocky) young man that he actually moved to the centre of the stage to sin away from the mike. One song – Psycho – was about a woman who followed him from a gig and he woke up to find her staring at him through the window while he was in bed. It was a very good show and at the end we had an encore and Black Benny Bam A Lam thrown in at the end for good measure.
The audience loved it and so they should as it was very entertaining. Well done The Oli Brown Band. The next night we have the other end of the blues age spectrum with Stan Webb so that should be an interesting contrast.
http://www.oliselectricblues.co.uk/index.html
Chislehurst
Thursday March 19th 2009
We would have preferred just to pootle down the road to the Half Moon at Herney Hill to see Oli but we are away in April when they play there. Chislehurst was not a bad alternative though and far easier to get to than the Boom Boom at Sutton. Pete Feenstra’s website said that doors opened at a rather unfriendly 7.30 so we went down to get there about a quarter to eight.
Once in and with stamps on the backs of our hands we grabbed a couple of chairs to sit just behind the two or three round tables at the front. With no regimented rows it wouldn’t be a problem to see round anyone sitting in front of you. The set up was not the silly stage in the centre position that Feenstra often favours but up the end in front of the back bar that had a back cloth to hide it.
With an early opening we rather assumed a support band and dreaded the worst. Having said that the first time we saw Oli Brown he was playing support. It turned out that there was only Oli’s mon on display so we had a bit of a wait before there was any action. Luckily Pete Feenstra was on pretty good form with odd (very odd) announcements from the stage.
As usual he thanked us for coming out and then told us that the PA had blown up. But we were not to worry as by Herculean efforts they had got another one. It was obviously a bit last minute as there was still some testing going on and that included some quite painful sonic booms. Feenstra explained that the lack of PA meant that the grand intro for the band couldn’t happen (we had no idea what this was supposed to be) but soon enough the band would be on.
It was a touch ramshackle as the band actually walked through the crowd to get onto the stage. The lack of PA turned to the band’s advantage as there were a lot of jokes flying around and it helped relax the atmosphere. They started up and were the same pretty hard driving blues band (with a hint of jazz all the time) that we had seen before. Oli was looking thinner than usual but was still in his trademark pinstripe suit. The drummer, Simon Jones looked the same but Fred Hollis the bass player looked different.
Teresa agreed and he looked like a young brother of the old one. As time went on his obvious prowess (and he is good) made us think that he might be the same bloke but he didn’t look the same. Maybe he had lost weight and done something different with his hair but something was amiss. I clobbered Feenstra on the way to the toilet and he agreed that there was something strange and said he’d check up at half time. As I would see him the next night I thought I’d wait till then to find out.
The band certainly doesn’t lack confidence and Oli continues with his master plan of conquering the blues world. He really is very good and his ‘Vanquish Oli Brown "Signature": Solid’ guitar performed admirably. His amp though was a different matter. Along with the blown PA it was giving problems but once again his chatty, up front & amiable personality did him proud and he got all the audience on his side about it. The amp did make a few odd noises but luckily no great thumps or squeals. He did explain that it had been playing up but they hadn’t had time to fix it.
He does a good mix of old & new with some B B King, Freddie King (Big Legged Woman – Oli said he was a fan of them but he looked too frail to handle one) and some ones he had written himself. He had his little fan club in the front seats. There were 2 guys who were Dumb and Dumber and 2 women who Teresa ungraciously dubbed Godzilla and the Swamp Monster. One of then had a delightful mole or wart behind her ear and had her hair tied back to give it a good airing.
As intimated earlier there was an interval cum gear repair break and a second half of more hard driving blues. He is such a confident (some would say cocky) young man that he actually moved to the centre of the stage to sin away from the mike. One song – Psycho – was about a woman who followed him from a gig and he woke up to find her staring at him through the window while he was in bed. It was a very good show and at the end we had an encore and Black Benny Bam A Lam thrown in at the end for good measure.
The audience loved it and so they should as it was very entertaining. Well done The Oli Brown Band. The next night we have the other end of the blues age spectrum with Stan Webb so that should be an interesting contrast.
http://www.oliselectricblues.co.uk/index.html
Gerry & The Pacemakers MJC 26th April 2009
Gerry & the Pacemakers
Mick Jagger Centre 26th April 2009
The first ever pop concert I went to was to see Gerry & the Pacemakers at the Vaudeville Theatre in the West End in about 1963 or 4 I think. It seemed a bit of a hoot to see him 45 years or so later so off we trotted to the Mick Jagger on a nice traffic free Sunday evening. As opposed to Friday’s rush to get there in the nick of time we made it in time to get a drink in the foyer with a much more sedate crowd that the blues fans of two nights previously.
I wasn’t too sure what to expect as it was billed as Gerry Across The Mersey so I wouldn’t have been surprised if there was a support band and Gerry Marsden came on strumming an acoustic later on. Fortunately there was a new incarnation of The Pacemakers and on they came all nicely dressed in matching black shirts. They started off with the old Cliff Bennett hit (one of 2!) Got To Get You Into My life which was a bit weird as Cliff Bennett & The Rebel Rousers were on the bill in 1963 or 4. As a real nerd point in the Rebel Rousers at the time were Chas Hodges and Dave Peacock who became Chas’n’Dave. Gercha!
It was clear from the outset that they were a very good tight band. They operate in their own right as Soul Journey and are a 5-piece. There is a guitarist (nice two tone Strat white going into black), a bass player, a drummer and somewhat oddly two keyboard players. One keyboard player plays all the brass and organ parts on two identical Roland XP30s and the other electric piano on a Yamaha. There’s a load of blurb on them further down.
Then Gerry Marsden came on to good applause and for a 67 year old he still had a very good voice and didn’t stint on anything. His 2 tone wine red Strat looked really good and he was no slouch on it either. He explained that the first half would be all the songs that influenced him and after a break it would be the hits. That seemed a very sensible way of doing things and he launched into Lonnie Donegan’s Puttin’ on the Style. The audience were encouraged to join in and we had the panto stop the song and complain that we aren’t singing loud enough routine on a few occasions.
What followed was a very good show full of enthusiasm that years of the working men’s clubs and the cabaret circuit had honed. I don’t mean that it was particularly slick or insincere but that he knew what he was doing in and did it well. The rest of the first half was one good old song after another. I will risk boring you by listing the songs. The Wonder of You, All Shook Up, Sweet Dream Baby (inc the story of Roy Orbison’s dark glasses), Blueberry Hill, I Saw Her Standing There (The Pacemakers only as Gerry went off, maybe he has a problem down below is he did the same in the second half), Lucille, Bette Midler’s The Rose, Great Balls of Fire and Conway Twitty’s It’s Only Make Believe.
That was a pretty good selection and to show what a sedate, aging audience we were in when we went out at the break there was no rush for the bar at all (for Snowy White on Friday it was a scrum) and the barmaid remembered what we had been drinking for the same again. We had a look at the rather weak merchandising stall that was being run by one of the MJC staff and I got a t-shirt as an annoying gift for someone and a very cheaply produced CD. I also got a poster of the band to find out who they were & when I put it in the car I saw the most awful Fiat Panda in the car park. It was orange & white. I took a pic of it (available on request!) to show work that there were worse cars than mine out there.
Back for the second half the band were now in new shirts, different colours this time and they sort of looked symmetrical on stage. They started off with Barefootin’ on their own again for Gerry to come back halfway through with new clobber on as well. He obviously likes an entrance. Gerry did like a bit of interaction with the audience and we found out that a woman had come over from Florida especially for the show. Also he singled out a young woman in a wheelchair who he seemed to be familiar with. It turned out she was paralysed from a botched operation and he told her to sue and promised her the name of his solicitor. He even made a point of walking round the stage to her and giving her a kiss.
Back to the plot the hits came thick and fast with another break for the band to do their thing while he went off. We had, It’s Gonna Be Alright, Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying, I’m the One, The Way You Looked Tonight, Slow Down, I Heard It Through The Grapevine (the band solo number), Walk Hand In Hand With Me, Jambalaya and then came the biggest laugh of the night when he went to introduce the band.
He turned round waving at The Pacemakers (all bar the bass player were young enough to be his children – easily) and a woman’s voice called out from the audience ‘Are they the originals?’! The audience and band creased up, Gerry wanted to know where on earth she was from (Old Kent Road) and the balding organ keyboard player said indignantly ‘I’m only 36!’
Then we had Ferry Cross The Mersey, I Like It and of all things a Little Feat song - On Your Way Down. The last song they did was of course You’ll Never Walk Alone which meant a lot of standing up and arm waving. Cunningly he went off waving while the band still played and then came back on for another couple of choruses before departing for good leaving the band to finish off. It told us quite nicely that that was that.
It was a very enjoyable show and despite us having the giggles at some of the audience and the possibility that it may be awful Gerry Marsden proved to be a consummate entertainer still with a very good voice and a good sense of how to play an audience. He did tend to go a bit Les Dawson at times and his referring to those folk pertaining to the pink as Humpty Dumpties (why?) was a throwback to the working men’s clubs when we all know that correct terms are either whoopsies or wooly woofters. Would I see him again? Definitely as the band were very tight and good (most of them did the backing vocals as well) and there was a lot of joking and chatting between themselves and Gerry Marsden which indicated they were having a good time too. I think the car outside with the number plate GER 1E may have been his as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerry_Marsden
http://www.gerrymarsden.co.uk/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerry_&_The_Pacemakers
http://www.myspace.com/souljourneyband
Soul Journey Gerry Marsden's band, The Pacemakers.Now can be booked as Soul Journey.With or without Brass section.
Garth Watt-RoyGarth started playing guitar in 1961 and formed several bands playing locally along with his brother Norman (I taught him everything he knows) Watt-Roy, (BLOCKHEADS) In 1967 Garth and Norman formed 'The Greatest Show On Earth', an 8-piece soul band and turned professional signing with E.M.I. Harvest label. With this they enjoyed record success and touring all over Europe and the U.K. In 1972 Garth joined 'East of Eden'; then moving on in '76 joined 60's band 'Marmalade' Tours with Barbara Dickson and Bonnie Tyler followed then the '70's was rounded off with a tour with B.A.Robertson. The '80's saw Garth joining the 'Q.Tips' (Featuring Paul Young).This gave Garth the opportunity to go back to his soul roots on guitar. After the break up of the Q.Tip's. Garth started touring with 60's artistes. (Heinz, Mike Berry, Jess Conrad, Jet Harris, Tommy Bruce etc In 1990 Garth was approached to join the Barron Knights for their forthcoming Australian tour. This time he was on bass guitar. This ended up an association that lasted for 12 years. On leaving the Knights, Garth went on to be a backing musician for the 'Reeling and Rockin' Show' backing artistes such as Gerry Marsden, Dave Dee, Mike D'Abo Wayne Fontana etc. Along with fronting the SJ's, Garth is currently bass player and backing singer for Gerry and the Pacemakers.
Tony Young After winning "Battle of the Bands" in the early eighties with white reggae band "The Second". Tony thought that it could be a good career move to quit a secure job and a place at Trent Polytechnic. Mmm. I think the phrase that springs to mind rhymes with 'what a mosser'. Anyway the damage had been done and with Steve Thompson went on to form the "Sincere Americans". Whilst taking on the job of lead vocals with this soul, funk, rock outfit, Tony and the band became management bedfellows with Curiosity Killed the Cat and Tapau for sometime until the inevitable split emerged in 1988. There comes a time when the mortgage has to be paid so Tony became a backing musician for such celebrated artistes such as Billy .J. Kramer, Brian Poole and PJ Proby. For ten years now, Tony has played piano for Gerry and the Pacemakers enjoying many tours overseas including the States and Australia. In his spare time he has done a number of BBC sessions for hit duo "Alicia's Attic" and the odd jingle. So after meeting Garth Watt-Roy in a bar on the east coast and introducing him to Stella, (A cruel mistress), project number 876 was about to be hatched. (The SJ's). With working commitments (see date sheet attached) it's taken time to get off the ground but in hindsight it's been well worth the wait.
Steve ThompsonSteve was offered the opportunity to play on the British sixties circuit, where he is to this day. Many world tours later he is still enjoying life on the road & as had the pleasure of working with lots of British recording artists like: Brian Poole, Mike Pender, Billy J Kramer, P.J.Proby & of course Gerry Marsden (too many to mention) Along the way, he as met lots of fantastic musicians & singers & consider himself to be very lucky to be involved with the current S,Js line up, Mitch, Andy, Tony & of course the great talent of Garth. Still a very keen song writer, He hopes that together with the band they will soon be writing their own brand of soul music…….. So, bring on Soul Journey…….part two.
Andy WildAndy joined the Liverpudlian beat combo 'Gerry And The Pacemakers', in February 2004 touring regularly to locations such as America, Canada, Australia and China. Since then he has worked as a backing musician for other sixties artists such as PJ Proby and Wayne Fontana. He currently plays Keyboards and Hammond organ in the SJs.
Mitch OldhamMitch has been performing and teaching percussion professionally for nearly 15 years. He is a specialist in Brazilian percussion as well as having great experience in Jazz, Cuban, African and South American percussion. He writes and performs with his own band ‘Battuta’ at festivals nationwide including support slots for the likes of Bill Wyman and the Rhythm Kings, Bob Geldof and performances including the Notting Hill Carnival and Edinburgh Festival. Mitch is regularly called upon to tour from a variety of artists including many World, European and U.K. tours. He has been in many successful, original, underground bands gaining much acclamation for his collaborations. As a freelance percussionist Mitch coaches and performs in and for schools, colleges, universities and businesses locally and internationally to both students and teachers working for many Arts organisations across the country including the Arts Council of England. He is the founder member of the ‘Watermelon Music Club’ and has toured and recorded with bands and productions as varied as Folk music to vocal harmony, Orchestras to Big bands. This diversity has brought him together with bands such as European Heavy Metalists ‘Skyclad’, 60’s artists Gerry and the Pacemakers, P.J.Proby, Wayne Fontana and Brian Poole and Folk-Rockers ‘Seven Little Sisters’.
Mick Jagger Centre 26th April 2009
The first ever pop concert I went to was to see Gerry & the Pacemakers at the Vaudeville Theatre in the West End in about 1963 or 4 I think. It seemed a bit of a hoot to see him 45 years or so later so off we trotted to the Mick Jagger on a nice traffic free Sunday evening. As opposed to Friday’s rush to get there in the nick of time we made it in time to get a drink in the foyer with a much more sedate crowd that the blues fans of two nights previously.
I wasn’t too sure what to expect as it was billed as Gerry Across The Mersey so I wouldn’t have been surprised if there was a support band and Gerry Marsden came on strumming an acoustic later on. Fortunately there was a new incarnation of The Pacemakers and on they came all nicely dressed in matching black shirts. They started off with the old Cliff Bennett hit (one of 2!) Got To Get You Into My life which was a bit weird as Cliff Bennett & The Rebel Rousers were on the bill in 1963 or 4. As a real nerd point in the Rebel Rousers at the time were Chas Hodges and Dave Peacock who became Chas’n’Dave. Gercha!
It was clear from the outset that they were a very good tight band. They operate in their own right as Soul Journey and are a 5-piece. There is a guitarist (nice two tone Strat white going into black), a bass player, a drummer and somewhat oddly two keyboard players. One keyboard player plays all the brass and organ parts on two identical Roland XP30s and the other electric piano on a Yamaha. There’s a load of blurb on them further down.
Then Gerry Marsden came on to good applause and for a 67 year old he still had a very good voice and didn’t stint on anything. His 2 tone wine red Strat looked really good and he was no slouch on it either. He explained that the first half would be all the songs that influenced him and after a break it would be the hits. That seemed a very sensible way of doing things and he launched into Lonnie Donegan’s Puttin’ on the Style. The audience were encouraged to join in and we had the panto stop the song and complain that we aren’t singing loud enough routine on a few occasions.
What followed was a very good show full of enthusiasm that years of the working men’s clubs and the cabaret circuit had honed. I don’t mean that it was particularly slick or insincere but that he knew what he was doing in and did it well. The rest of the first half was one good old song after another. I will risk boring you by listing the songs. The Wonder of You, All Shook Up, Sweet Dream Baby (inc the story of Roy Orbison’s dark glasses), Blueberry Hill, I Saw Her Standing There (The Pacemakers only as Gerry went off, maybe he has a problem down below is he did the same in the second half), Lucille, Bette Midler’s The Rose, Great Balls of Fire and Conway Twitty’s It’s Only Make Believe.
That was a pretty good selection and to show what a sedate, aging audience we were in when we went out at the break there was no rush for the bar at all (for Snowy White on Friday it was a scrum) and the barmaid remembered what we had been drinking for the same again. We had a look at the rather weak merchandising stall that was being run by one of the MJC staff and I got a t-shirt as an annoying gift for someone and a very cheaply produced CD. I also got a poster of the band to find out who they were & when I put it in the car I saw the most awful Fiat Panda in the car park. It was orange & white. I took a pic of it (available on request!) to show work that there were worse cars than mine out there.
Back for the second half the band were now in new shirts, different colours this time and they sort of looked symmetrical on stage. They started off with Barefootin’ on their own again for Gerry to come back halfway through with new clobber on as well. He obviously likes an entrance. Gerry did like a bit of interaction with the audience and we found out that a woman had come over from Florida especially for the show. Also he singled out a young woman in a wheelchair who he seemed to be familiar with. It turned out she was paralysed from a botched operation and he told her to sue and promised her the name of his solicitor. He even made a point of walking round the stage to her and giving her a kiss.
Back to the plot the hits came thick and fast with another break for the band to do their thing while he went off. We had, It’s Gonna Be Alright, Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying, I’m the One, The Way You Looked Tonight, Slow Down, I Heard It Through The Grapevine (the band solo number), Walk Hand In Hand With Me, Jambalaya and then came the biggest laugh of the night when he went to introduce the band.
He turned round waving at The Pacemakers (all bar the bass player were young enough to be his children – easily) and a woman’s voice called out from the audience ‘Are they the originals?’! The audience and band creased up, Gerry wanted to know where on earth she was from (Old Kent Road) and the balding organ keyboard player said indignantly ‘I’m only 36!’
Then we had Ferry Cross The Mersey, I Like It and of all things a Little Feat song - On Your Way Down. The last song they did was of course You’ll Never Walk Alone which meant a lot of standing up and arm waving. Cunningly he went off waving while the band still played and then came back on for another couple of choruses before departing for good leaving the band to finish off. It told us quite nicely that that was that.
It was a very enjoyable show and despite us having the giggles at some of the audience and the possibility that it may be awful Gerry Marsden proved to be a consummate entertainer still with a very good voice and a good sense of how to play an audience. He did tend to go a bit Les Dawson at times and his referring to those folk pertaining to the pink as Humpty Dumpties (why?) was a throwback to the working men’s clubs when we all know that correct terms are either whoopsies or wooly woofters. Would I see him again? Definitely as the band were very tight and good (most of them did the backing vocals as well) and there was a lot of joking and chatting between themselves and Gerry Marsden which indicated they were having a good time too. I think the car outside with the number plate GER 1E may have been his as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerry_Marsden
http://www.gerrymarsden.co.uk/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerry_&_The_Pacemakers
http://www.myspace.com/souljourneyband
Soul Journey Gerry Marsden's band, The Pacemakers.Now can be booked as Soul Journey.With or without Brass section.
Garth Watt-RoyGarth started playing guitar in 1961 and formed several bands playing locally along with his brother Norman (I taught him everything he knows) Watt-Roy, (BLOCKHEADS) In 1967 Garth and Norman formed 'The Greatest Show On Earth', an 8-piece soul band and turned professional signing with E.M.I. Harvest label. With this they enjoyed record success and touring all over Europe and the U.K. In 1972 Garth joined 'East of Eden'; then moving on in '76 joined 60's band 'Marmalade' Tours with Barbara Dickson and Bonnie Tyler followed then the '70's was rounded off with a tour with B.A.Robertson. The '80's saw Garth joining the 'Q.Tips' (Featuring Paul Young).This gave Garth the opportunity to go back to his soul roots on guitar. After the break up of the Q.Tip's. Garth started touring with 60's artistes. (Heinz, Mike Berry, Jess Conrad, Jet Harris, Tommy Bruce etc In 1990 Garth was approached to join the Barron Knights for their forthcoming Australian tour. This time he was on bass guitar. This ended up an association that lasted for 12 years. On leaving the Knights, Garth went on to be a backing musician for the 'Reeling and Rockin' Show' backing artistes such as Gerry Marsden, Dave Dee, Mike D'Abo Wayne Fontana etc. Along with fronting the SJ's, Garth is currently bass player and backing singer for Gerry and the Pacemakers.
Tony Young After winning "Battle of the Bands" in the early eighties with white reggae band "The Second". Tony thought that it could be a good career move to quit a secure job and a place at Trent Polytechnic. Mmm. I think the phrase that springs to mind rhymes with 'what a mosser'. Anyway the damage had been done and with Steve Thompson went on to form the "Sincere Americans". Whilst taking on the job of lead vocals with this soul, funk, rock outfit, Tony and the band became management bedfellows with Curiosity Killed the Cat and Tapau for sometime until the inevitable split emerged in 1988. There comes a time when the mortgage has to be paid so Tony became a backing musician for such celebrated artistes such as Billy .J. Kramer, Brian Poole and PJ Proby. For ten years now, Tony has played piano for Gerry and the Pacemakers enjoying many tours overseas including the States and Australia. In his spare time he has done a number of BBC sessions for hit duo "Alicia's Attic" and the odd jingle. So after meeting Garth Watt-Roy in a bar on the east coast and introducing him to Stella, (A cruel mistress), project number 876 was about to be hatched. (The SJ's). With working commitments (see date sheet attached) it's taken time to get off the ground but in hindsight it's been well worth the wait.
Steve ThompsonSteve was offered the opportunity to play on the British sixties circuit, where he is to this day. Many world tours later he is still enjoying life on the road & as had the pleasure of working with lots of British recording artists like: Brian Poole, Mike Pender, Billy J Kramer, P.J.Proby & of course Gerry Marsden (too many to mention) Along the way, he as met lots of fantastic musicians & singers & consider himself to be very lucky to be involved with the current S,Js line up, Mitch, Andy, Tony & of course the great talent of Garth. Still a very keen song writer, He hopes that together with the band they will soon be writing their own brand of soul music…….. So, bring on Soul Journey…….part two.
Andy WildAndy joined the Liverpudlian beat combo 'Gerry And The Pacemakers', in February 2004 touring regularly to locations such as America, Canada, Australia and China. Since then he has worked as a backing musician for other sixties artists such as PJ Proby and Wayne Fontana. He currently plays Keyboards and Hammond organ in the SJs.
Mitch OldhamMitch has been performing and teaching percussion professionally for nearly 15 years. He is a specialist in Brazilian percussion as well as having great experience in Jazz, Cuban, African and South American percussion. He writes and performs with his own band ‘Battuta’ at festivals nationwide including support slots for the likes of Bill Wyman and the Rhythm Kings, Bob Geldof and performances including the Notting Hill Carnival and Edinburgh Festival. Mitch is regularly called upon to tour from a variety of artists including many World, European and U.K. tours. He has been in many successful, original, underground bands gaining much acclamation for his collaborations. As a freelance percussionist Mitch coaches and performs in and for schools, colleges, universities and businesses locally and internationally to both students and teachers working for many Arts organisations across the country including the Arts Council of England. He is the founder member of the ‘Watermelon Music Club’ and has toured and recorded with bands and productions as varied as Folk music to vocal harmony, Orchestras to Big bands. This diversity has brought him together with bands such as European Heavy Metalists ‘Skyclad’, 60’s artists Gerry and the Pacemakers, P.J.Proby, Wayne Fontana and Brian Poole and Folk-Rockers ‘Seven Little Sisters’.
Snowy White MJC 24 April 2009
The Snowy White Blues Project
Mick Jagger Centre 24th April 2009
This was a bit of a stab in the dark but the fact that he was a name and the words blues and project indicated a good evening. After an irritatingly awful drive to Dartford in very heavy Friday evening traffic we got there with about a minute to spare before the scheduled 8 p.m. starting time. I assumed there would be either a support band or they would start a fashionably bit late but I was wrong on both accounts.
I was sure we had seats but hadn’t bothered to check whereabouts we were sitting so it was a bit of a surprise when the guy at the door said that it was to be standing but now it was sitting and you could sit where you liked. If I had known that we would have left a bit earlier to get a better position. We didn’t have time even to get a drink before we were ushered in. We did manage fairly decent seats though about halfway up and just to the left of the aisle.
The band came on and it turned out to be a classic 4 piece with 2 guitars, bass and drums. Snowy, looking like a Kwik Fit mechanic positioned himself to the left of the stage and had a simple Les Paul plus AC30 set up. Matt Taylor the other guitarist went for the much more noticeable white t-shirt and jeans ensemble and suffered a little from constantly changing guitars syndrome. Ruud Weber jr was on bass and the flamboyantly named Juan Van Emmerloot was on drums.
All three of the front men did vocals and Snowy seemed quite happy to let the other two have their fair share of the fun. I did wonder if what with Snowy’s Thin Lizzy connection whether we would get a bit of hard rock but I didn’t need to worry. We got a totally blues dominated set from the word go and very good it was too. They had a CD out at the end of last year and they played quite a few songs from it ranging from some Freddie King to an acoustic I’m So Glad to a lot of tunes they had written themselves.
Apart from the acoustic songs Snowy kept to his Les Paul in standard tuning including the slide work as well. The very proficient Matt Taylor changed from either a white Strat to a black Strat to a lovely sunburst Tele after every song and had a handy guitar tech to sort them all out for him. The Tele was used for his slide work and it is no surprise that he has his own band. Check him out on You Tube.
I think they wanted to play straight through as Snowy said they were told to take a break and would be back in 20 minutes. They aren’t going to sell any beer if the band don’t take a break are they? It did us a favour we hadn’t had a chance to get one earlier and the very efficient barmaid sorted us out with a pint of London Pride and a JD & coke pretty quickly considering the number of those clamouring for a drink. When the band came back on we had more of the same and then the couple of acoustic numbers. For this Snowy and Matt had jumbos similar to a Martin D28 (I was too far away to check the make) and the drummer came out from behind the drums to sit on and play a flamenco cajon box. Juan Van Emmerloot on drums was very good. He played a simple kit and made the most of it. I’m not usually very keen on the drum side of things and prefer them to be unobtrusive but Juan was impressive.
The second acoustic song was the Skip James I’m So Glad. They played close to the original rather than the Cream version and with Snowy doing slide it was very well done. Then we had more electric to the end. Then Snowy stayed on stage while the others left and he explained that rather than go off and hope there was enough applause to come back he’d stay there and play a solo electric number until the band came back on for a final song.
They played longer than I thought which goes to show that the set didn’t drag at all (we got into the car at 10.25) so must have played the best part of 2 hours. It was very good and very enjoyable and I would definitely recommend the band if you get the chance to see them. I even bought the CD (a lot of others did as well) and it’s pretty good. In today’s marvellous way there is even a clip of the band making the album on the You Tube clip below. If you fancy a bit of sheer blues class also check out the Clapton clip below for a blistering version of Freddie King’s Someday After A While that the band might have played but I’m not sure!
http://www.snowywhite.com/?location=/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7rnNs-4cos
www.myspace.com/matttaylorband
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caj%C3%B3n for the cajon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3wX1wn-0go&feature=related Eric clip
Mick Jagger Centre 24th April 2009
This was a bit of a stab in the dark but the fact that he was a name and the words blues and project indicated a good evening. After an irritatingly awful drive to Dartford in very heavy Friday evening traffic we got there with about a minute to spare before the scheduled 8 p.m. starting time. I assumed there would be either a support band or they would start a fashionably bit late but I was wrong on both accounts.
I was sure we had seats but hadn’t bothered to check whereabouts we were sitting so it was a bit of a surprise when the guy at the door said that it was to be standing but now it was sitting and you could sit where you liked. If I had known that we would have left a bit earlier to get a better position. We didn’t have time even to get a drink before we were ushered in. We did manage fairly decent seats though about halfway up and just to the left of the aisle.
The band came on and it turned out to be a classic 4 piece with 2 guitars, bass and drums. Snowy, looking like a Kwik Fit mechanic positioned himself to the left of the stage and had a simple Les Paul plus AC30 set up. Matt Taylor the other guitarist went for the much more noticeable white t-shirt and jeans ensemble and suffered a little from constantly changing guitars syndrome. Ruud Weber jr was on bass and the flamboyantly named Juan Van Emmerloot was on drums.
All three of the front men did vocals and Snowy seemed quite happy to let the other two have their fair share of the fun. I did wonder if what with Snowy’s Thin Lizzy connection whether we would get a bit of hard rock but I didn’t need to worry. We got a totally blues dominated set from the word go and very good it was too. They had a CD out at the end of last year and they played quite a few songs from it ranging from some Freddie King to an acoustic I’m So Glad to a lot of tunes they had written themselves.
Apart from the acoustic songs Snowy kept to his Les Paul in standard tuning including the slide work as well. The very proficient Matt Taylor changed from either a white Strat to a black Strat to a lovely sunburst Tele after every song and had a handy guitar tech to sort them all out for him. The Tele was used for his slide work and it is no surprise that he has his own band. Check him out on You Tube.
I think they wanted to play straight through as Snowy said they were told to take a break and would be back in 20 minutes. They aren’t going to sell any beer if the band don’t take a break are they? It did us a favour we hadn’t had a chance to get one earlier and the very efficient barmaid sorted us out with a pint of London Pride and a JD & coke pretty quickly considering the number of those clamouring for a drink. When the band came back on we had more of the same and then the couple of acoustic numbers. For this Snowy and Matt had jumbos similar to a Martin D28 (I was too far away to check the make) and the drummer came out from behind the drums to sit on and play a flamenco cajon box. Juan Van Emmerloot on drums was very good. He played a simple kit and made the most of it. I’m not usually very keen on the drum side of things and prefer them to be unobtrusive but Juan was impressive.
The second acoustic song was the Skip James I’m So Glad. They played close to the original rather than the Cream version and with Snowy doing slide it was very well done. Then we had more electric to the end. Then Snowy stayed on stage while the others left and he explained that rather than go off and hope there was enough applause to come back he’d stay there and play a solo electric number until the band came back on for a final song.
They played longer than I thought which goes to show that the set didn’t drag at all (we got into the car at 10.25) so must have played the best part of 2 hours. It was very good and very enjoyable and I would definitely recommend the band if you get the chance to see them. I even bought the CD (a lot of others did as well) and it’s pretty good. In today’s marvellous way there is even a clip of the band making the album on the You Tube clip below. If you fancy a bit of sheer blues class also check out the Clapton clip below for a blistering version of Freddie King’s Someday After A While that the band might have played but I’m not sure!
http://www.snowywhite.com/?location=/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7rnNs-4cos
www.myspace.com/matttaylorband
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caj%C3%B3n for the cajon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3wX1wn-0go&feature=related Eric clip
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