In December 1966 a brand new £50,000 club in South Shields was opened by Cream featuring Eric Clapton on guitar. Back in 2007 I interviewed businessman and owner Stan Henry.
“I used to run a school of dancing with my mother in Beach Road and we wanted to expand our facilities because it was limited in size. So, we went to the local authorities and they gave us a site in Thomas Street which we built the Cellar Club on. We had the Cream on and Jimi Hendrix was there”.
In the coming months Geno Washington, The Family and the John Mayall Blues Breakers were booked to appear, however on Wednesday 1st February 1967 the Jimi Hendrix Experience played The Cellar Club.
On the same night, entertainment in the town included local stage acts at various clubs including the Latino, La Strada, Ranch House and at the ABC cinema the main feature film was ‘One Million Years B.C.’ starring Raquel Welch – wey she was in technicolour!
But the big draw at the 200 capacity Cellar Club was Hendrix. Being just a bairn I wasn’t there but I did find two punters who were regulars at the club. Local musician and regular Rod Hallremembers…
“The Cellar Club was my second home you know. I remember walking down the street near the club and this van pulled up and a bloke popped his head out and asked in a deep voice “Where’s the Cellar Club?” I looked at him and it was Eric Clapton on Fowler Street in a van!”
Another regular was music fan David Robertson “My road to Damascus moment was seeing Jimi Hendrix at the Cellar Club. At first, we thought he better be good cos we’ve paid about ten bob to get in. After watching Eric Clapton everyone wanted to be a guitarist. After Hendrix everybody wanted to be in a band”.
On the off chance the local newspaper had written a review of the gig I recently popped into the local history section of The Word (library) and searched the archives. Luckily, I found this in the Shields Gazette by reporter David Jenkins, it was printed Thursday 9th February 1967.This picture needs to be credited but I think the photograph was taken in the Cellar Club by South Shields photographer Freddie Mudditt.
(Review start) Jimi will soon be ‘leading the fleet’ (headline)
Jimi Hendrix IS an experience. Like a drop of gin in a bucket of retired tonic, heady serum for post teen starvation (which, finger shakily on my own pulse, I diagnose these days).
The actual teen scene of the Cellar Club though like Madame Tussaud’s. The 23 year old next to me gasped “Go” and people turned to stare.
Playing his guitar with his teeth, his Indian head-dress tubes of hair flailing, he fixes a glorious enraptured grin on his face. Little spouts of sweat gloop from temples.
More important, the fiery body of sound, the completely original effect he squeezes out of his guitar. “Follow that” said Les Gofton, lead singer of The Bond, who were to take over later – make Hendrix the most exciting animal in the cage at the moment.
But the Cellar is inhabited by so many? (unreadable). A Wild Thing like you never heard it raises a small cheer, small beer. What on earth do you want?
Well, wait a couple of years, when you have heard another 10,000 discs, as I have, and you too will fall about a Hendrix. (He came up specially to South Shields for this one night appearance). Some day soon he will be the admiral-in-chief. Pipe him aboard somebody, for heavens sake. (Review end)
Little did they know the impact that Jimi Hendrix and his music would have. He has been described as one of the most influential guitarists of the 1960s, but sadly he died in London on 18 September 1970 aged just 27.
After being in business as a nightclub during the 80s and 90s the Cellar was revived as a live music venue until the club was sold and renovated into a dental practice in the 2000s.
If you have a story about the Cellar Club to add to the site just get in touch.
The music world has always had its fair share of myths, legends and hell raising antics. The time Ozzy bit the head off a dove or was it a bat? Well both actually. According to reports one was in a record company office the other was live on stage. He also snorted a line of ants. The list is endless for the Oz.
I came across a gaffer tape incident involving a music journalist and Killing Joke, as I was trying to find out who the journalist was, where and when it happened – if it did! I read a few other short stories with North East connections
This one taken from the 1993 book ‘Our Story’ by Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler from The Jam.
‘The Vapours profited greatly from Bruce and The Jam. They became regular touring companions which lay them open to the usual barrage of pranks and abuses. While on stage, Paul, Rick and Bruce took great pleasure in taping their personal effects to the roof of their dressing room. But the main butt of jokes was Vapours tour manager, Tony Newman’.
‘He was once dispatched with instructions to purchase copies of each weeks Melody Maker, Sounds and New Musical Express. The unfortunate soul came in for some gleeful ribbing when he returned with 16 copies, one for each member of the party. ‘Plonker!’ cite Rick and Bruce in unison.
The headline band decided Mr Newman, who is remembered as looking like a natural victim in the Woody Allen mode, had ‘spent far too long trying to ingratiate himself with us’. He was promptly gaffer taped to a chair outside the Swan Hotel in Newcastle’.
Also taken from the same book…’It was still Paul who suffered from the worst excesses of fandom. On one occasion his sartorial elegance nearly cost him his life. Having taken to wearing the long, college scarf featured in many latter day photo sessions, he had probably never considered the garment a possible lethal weapon’.
‘Stepping out of a doorway in Newcastle, two enthusiastic fans made a grab for the scarf from either side of him. Consequently, Paul found the breath being sucked out of him as he tried to ward off his admirers. It was a neat analogy for his state of mind’.
The band appeared on the first episode of live music show The Tube filmed in Newcastle and broadcast on Channel 4.‘Of all The Jam’s television appearances this one, which took place on 5th November 1982, was arguably the most important. The announcement of the split had become public knowledge just a few days previously’.
In ‘Ska’d For Life’ by Specials bassist Horace Panter he talks about recording and playing live…’There’s a kind of etiquette at rock gigs. The audience at say, Newcastle Mayfair, will behave in a certain way towards different bands. The security staff will know their limits and the crowd will be aware of this. You behave yourself, you have fun. You misbehave, and something else happens – generally something you don’t like. These are unwritten rules. This is why venues like Newcastle Mayfair keep putting on shows. There is a system. It works’.
He recalls the mayhem surrounding a gig on the American tour in Palo Alto.
’Frank has a stand up row with the PA crew, and Neville has had enough and wades in with his fists. He then grabs a mike stand and hurls it at half a dozen guys that are still having a go at Frank by the monitor desk. Fists fly, but it’s soon over, and we retire to the dressing room, where Jerry and Terry destroy furniture, fixtures and fittings’.
‘Nev has lost a tooth and has a nasty gash over his right eye. Rico leaves, never to return. We get back to the hotel in subdued mood only to find reception closed and the crew without their room keys’.
‘This is ‘bar room blues band’ country and I don’t want to sound egotistical, but I can’t help feeling that we are achieving nothing playing here in the suburbs. It reminds me of my days in ‘Breaker’ playing workingmen’s clubs in Sunderland and dreaming of a record contract. It doesn’t work. Two more gigs and we’re out of here. The novelty has worn off. It’s now a slog’.
‘When recording ‘More Specials’ in 1980 at Horizon Studios I got a call from the office in London. They had received a letter from the mother of a teenage boy who had been in some kind of accident. He was in intensive care in Gateshead’.
‘The letter said that the lad was a mad keen Specials fan, and a message of encouragement would help enormously. I said I’d see what I could do, but the vibe at the studio was not conducive to brotherly love, and the plight of a distraught mother seemed to be a different universe compared to the ‘I don’t see why Dammers says his songs are better than mine’ and ‘we should make decisions as a band and not have one person calling the shots’ that sort of rubbish that people were starting to come out with’.
‘After a couple of weeks, I eventually got a cassette of rough mixes together and wrote a few lines of encouragement. A while late I got a letter back from the mother in Gateshead, thanking me for sending the tape, but she had buried her son a fortnight previously. The tape had arrived too late’.
‘This had a deep impact upon me and made me question an awful lot about who I was and what I was doing with my life. I was part of the most influential pop group of the day, I was doing what I had only been able to dream about a few years ago’.
If you’ve got a story to add just get in touch.
Alikivi March 2025
Research >>>
‘Ska’d for Life’ – a personal journey with the Specials by Horace Panter (2007)
The music world has always had its fair share of myths, legends and hell raising antics. The time Ozzy bit the head off a dove or was it a bat? Well both actually. According to reports one was in record company offices the other was live on stage. He also snorted a line of ants. The list is endless for the Oz.
I came across a gaffer tape incident involving a music journalist and Killing Joke, as I was trying to find out who where and when it happened – if it did! I read a few other short stories with North East connections.
Chas Chandler, (bass) The Animals
Following on from the last post which featured Lemmy and Jimi Hendrix is a short story about Phil Lynott and Chas Chandler. Sadly, both deceased now, Phil and Chas were two of music’s huge characters. A snapshot of their achievements featured in earlier posts on this site. (links at the bottom)
I never saw Thin Lizzy in concert the only time I caught them live was in the studio of live music show The Tube broadcast on Channel Four in 1983. Other bands booked that night were JoBoxers, Thompson Twins and Pat Benatar reflecting the shows policy of booking a diverse range of music.
Guitarist John Sykes led the charge for Lizzy’s blistering performance of Cold Sweat, they played a few more songs including The Boys are Back in Town and if my memory is not too fuzzy a track not broadcast which I think was Whiskey in the Jar?
‘The Rocker – Phil Lynott’ by writer Mark Putterford is packed with stories of Thin Lizzy’s leader and talisman. One that stood out was about the time Lynott came up against a very angry Chas Chandler.
At the time Newcastle born former Animals bassist Chandler was managing a very successful Slade. In 1972 Lizzy supported Slade on their UK tour. A contributor to the book was booking agent Chris O’Donnell who recalls that tour.
‘That Slade tour was a really important one in the development of Lizzy as a live band, and particularly in the overall development of Phil as a performer. It made Phil realise what was expected of him. Slade were huge at the time and they would go on stage and absolutely slaughter the audience night after night with incredibly powerful performances. It was far removed from what Lizzy were doing at the time’ recalls Chris.
On the 22nd Novemberthe tour landed at the Top Rank in Sunderland, tickets were £1.00, however the opening night was at Newcastle City Hall on 3rd.
Chris added ‘On the opening night at Newcastle Phil was standing there mumbling as usual, looking at the floor and being all introverted, and someone threw a bottle at him. This shocked Phil because he thought he’d done a perfectly adequate set. But then Chas Chandler came in the dressing room afterwards and really ripped into the band’.
“Either you wake your ideas up or you’re off the tour. You’re here to warm the kids up not send them to sleep! What the hell doyou think you’re doing standing there looking at the floor? You haven’t even got your act together. Sort yourselves out”.
‘Phil was devastated. He’d never been criticised so directly before, and to hear it from someone as well respected as Chas – the man who discovered his hero Hendrix! – was the worst aspect of all’ added Chris. ‘At the next show the band made a big effort to improve their presentation, and performance wise I don’t think they ever looked back’.
More short stories with a NE connection will be added soon including Jimi Hendrix, The Jam and The Specials.
The music world has always had its fair share of myths, legends and hell raising antics. The time Ozzy bit the head off a dove or was it a bat? Well both actually. According to reports one was in record company offices the other was live on stage. He also snorted a line of ants. The list is endless for the Oz.
I came across a gaffer tape incident involving a music journalist and Killing Joke, as I was trying to find out who, where and when it happened – if it did! There were other short stories I read some with North East connections.
Sadly, both deceased now, Lemmy and Jimi Hendrix were two of music’s biggest characters – their spirit and influence live on. But what is their connection to my home town of South Shields?
In his autobiography ‘White Line Fever’ Lemmy recalls that in early 1967 “I went up north. I woke up one morning sitting on a beach in South Shields eating cold baked beans out of a can with my comb. I thought there’s got to be more to life than this.”
Was this just a random visit to the seaside town? Why not go to the main cities of Newcastle or Sunderland close by, or was there someone or something else in the town that attracted him?
Around the same time Lemmy was a roadie for Jimi Hendrix. He explained in his biography that in early 1967 he got in touch with a friend, Neville Chesters, who was a roadie for Hendrix. Lemmy ended up dossing down at Neville’s London flat that he was sharing with Hendrix’s bass player.
Lemmy recalls “They needed a spare set of hands, so about three weeks after I landed at Neville’s, I got a job working with them. I worked for Hendrix’s band for about a year on all the TV shows and tours through England. I was only a fetcher and a lifter but still it was an amazing experience”.
Even though he didn’t expand on the beach story the timeline of the visit to South Shields and a gig sort of fits, but what we do know for certain is that Jimi Hendrix played the Cellar Club, South Shields on 1st February 1967.
When Lemmy was a roadie was that when he ended up on South Shields beach and not on a random visit? Or has he been twice? We’ve got to take in account that after a full on rock n roll lifestyle with Hawkwind and Motorhead, Lemmy’s memory might have been a bit fuzzy remembering events for his biography.
Just a couple of thoughts here – the beach is only a 5 minute drive away from the club, plus to hoy a spanner in the works was Lemmy even a roadie at the Shields gig or did he join the road crew at a later date?
He explained in his biography – ‘I worked for Hendrix’s band for about a year on all the TV shows and the tours through England’. I suppose we’ll never know for certain unless a Hendrix or Lemmy aficionado can help nail down specific dates. Anyone got access to their diaries!
A post looking further into Hendrix’s South Shields gig will be added to the site soon. Where you there in the audience? Where you a member of local band The Bond who also played that night? If you have any information, much appreciated if you get in touch.
If ya like ya lists these make for interesting reading. There’s been a new welcome addition to the back office stats from owners WordPress. Previously they’ve counted views from each country with the total to date 422,000.
Now they have drilled down further and added the number of views from what regions and cities where the posts are being read. These are from start date February 2017 – March 2025.
Top 10 countries >>>
UK
USA
Australia
Canada
Spain
Germany
Ireland
France
Netherlands
Italy
This list includes countries with ex pats who I think will add views from countries like Australia and Canada. European countries Germany, Spain, Italy, France etc might include followers of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal – I’ve added many posts including North East bands Fist, Raven, Tygers of Pan Tang etc.
Top 10 regions >>>
England, UK
Scotland, UK
Virginia, USA
Wales, UK
California, USA
Northern Ireland
Dublin, Ireland
Limburg, Belgium
Texas, USA
Ontario, Canada
This list is harder to summarise – USA regions Virginia, California and Texas in the top ten are a surprise. I have added a few posts with musicians based in America so maybe that’s it really. I can speculate as much as I like about why people are attracted to the site but honestly, I’m just very grateful that people enjoy reading it.
Top 10 cities >>>
North Shields, England
London, England
Newcastle upon Tyne, England
Manchester, England
Edinburgh, Scotland
Washington, USA
New Silksworth, England
Sheffield, England
York, England
Birmingham, England
Few things popped out of that list – New Silksworth is only a small suburb of the city of Sunderland so a big shout out to the Silks whoever you are! Washington, the capital of America, is not to be confused with Washington near Sunderland because when I checked on the list the stars and stripes are next to the name.
Outside the top 10 the next most international cities viewed are Menlo Park in California, USA, Maasmechelen in Belgium, then Lincoln in Nebraska, USA, next is the Australian city of Perth and then Dallas in Texas, USA.
Big thanks to all the readers it’s much appreciated that you check in to the site from wherever in the world you are. New posts have slowed up lately so why not do a quick search on the archive to see who or what is there – you might be surprised – and why not pass the link on to a friend.
If you’ve got a story to add why not get in touch.
The last time I met David was in October 2019 he talked about starting up Impulse Studio in Wallsend and the legendary record label Neat.
David exclusively revealed how the success of North East comedian Bobby Thompson kick started the label which went on to spawn chief headbangers Raven, Venom, Blitzkreig and Tygers of Pan Tang who in turn were a huge influence on American bands Metallica, Anthrax and Megadeath. Read the interview here >>>
We’re in The Customs House, South Shields chatting over a pot of tea and David is in a talkative mood. We talk about North East music and how influential live music show The Tube was, and how it outclassed other music TV. I was lucky to be in the audience of the ground breaking show and being exposed to different genres of music that opened my eyes and ears.
I remember The Tube. I took Venom to the studio they weren’t playing they were there to highlight the type of music they were doing and getting their name out. On that occasion Madonna and Cliff Richards were also on recalls David.
I knew Geoff Wonfor and his wife Andrea who both worked there. I was surprised when it was shut down it was a beautiful studio. Andrea worked on the Lindisfarne film in our recording studio in Wallsend, that was for local news. Unfortunately, a lot of that footage and much more has been lost. Andrea done really well she ended up an executive at Channel Four.
However, my interest in music goes back to when I was 16 year old, a long time ago I’m nearly 80 now. I remember asking a bank manager for a loan to open a recording studio ‘A what?’ he replied. There was a drummer from Howdon came to see me, he looked around ‘Is this yer studio is it. A recording studio in Wallsend? Ya must be f***in’ mad’. That just gave me a push to get on with it.
Councils weren’t interested. Music wasn’t taught much in schools then. We had only one school from Blyth who had enough sense to come down and get the kids to know what it was all about. If you encourage people to find out about things it works on all parts of their life rather than trudging about.
At Impulse I ended up recording every Tom, Dick and Harry in the North East. There was John McCoy and his band. John ran the Kirklevington Country Club near Stockton on the A19. His brother was chef in the restaurant downstairs while bands played upstairs, the club booked in a lot of big acts including Jimi Hendrix.
I have the recording here that I did for them at Impulse in Wallsend, I was 21 we had just started the studio. This must be from 1967 or 68 the time they opened for Jimi Hendrix. They were some band, I tell ya the Real McCoy could really play.
John was a nice bloke, he must be in his 80’s now, he was a really good musician (I’m in touch with John his stories will be added to the site soon). I saw the band at Middlesbrough Town Hall that was always a good gig. I used to go to the Country Club because the food was amazing – charcoal grilled fillet steak in red wine sauce with all the trimmings …beautiful.
We had bands coming to Impulse like The Sect, Half Breed, John Miles – he was brilliant, a class act, a great songwriter, it’s very sad he’s not around now he was such a nice bloke. As a studio it was how basic can you get really but we were all trying to learn new things – that’s how you start.
All the stuff we were working on in the studio was original songs – folk, alternative, punk. We had The Carpettes and Penetration from down Durham way, and from your doorstep in South Shields who else but the Angelic Upstarts! Yes, they were a wild bunch! I didn’t do an LP with them at Neat records it was only the first single ‘Liddle Towers’ and ‘Police Oppression’.
Cover for Angelic Upstarts 7″ single ‘The Murder of Liddle Towers’.
I remember years later they were on Warner Brothers and I got a phone call ‘I need the tracks you did with them to put on an LP, can you mix them and send them to us’. In the archive I had the 16 or 24 track tape they had done so it was possible. ‘When do you need it for‘?‘Tomorrow morning’. I was up all night I couldn’t get the engineer so had to set it all up but got there in the end and they paid the bill for re-mixing.
But thinking back the Upstarts were fine lads I got on with them. I went to see them at the Guildhall in Newcastle and out comes the pigs head with a helmet on which they start kicking around the stage! I could see what they were doing. People like a bit of edge to things I see it now when you watch TV. A band wouldn’t be able to do that now – probably get them locked up.
There was a lot of musicians who really worked at it and built themselves up, there was even my milkman. Well, it was his son Gordon who used to work weekends to collect the money with his brother Phil. Thing was I used to frequent the Peoples’ Theatre in Newcastle’s Haymarket, this was around 1970, ‘71. My friend Andy Hudson talked about a Newcastle Big Band, around 20 of them – there was sax, drummer, trombone all sorts and of course the bass player was Gordon Sumner or Sting as he became.
They played all this American big band stuff there were some professional players in there like Ronnie Pearson the drummer. But sometimes they weren’t taken seriously as there were members who had day jobs or on the dole – it was a real mixed bag. Andy used to lead it and it was really good, the place would get packed out, a good atmosphere.
I used to go on a Sunday and had the idea to record them at Newcastle Playhouse. I took up a portable kit, a Revox quarter inch tape recorder and made a record which we put out, just a few hundred copies pressed. We sold them at the gigs, ironically the bands do things like that now to make money which is the only way for most bands.
Andy had good contacts and one of them was the airline to Holland. He fixed up a gig for the band to play for the Mayor of Amsterdam, it was some kind of twinning town or similar. We all got on the plane with the instruments for a 7.30am flight to Amsterdam it was only a short flight. When we got to the town hall we set up and had a bit practice. The Mayor turned up and we met him and he gave us a few drinks….within an hour we had a good skinful and were bladdered.
The flight back after the show was much later in the day so Andy suggested a walk around town. Not everyone went just the hardcore were left walking around. We eventually ended up in the red light district with its little bars and clubs. There was a few of us so we negotiated a cheaper admission into a live show.
Some lads still had their instruments with them as we sat down to watch the show. A couple got on stage and started doing their act and got well ‘at it’. One of our lads got his trombone out and waited for a certain movement by the act then played a short burst – it didn’t go down well. The lass on stage gave them ‘what fettle’. ‘We are professionals, this is our job’! The lads were thrown out by the manager. You’d have to ask Sting if he was there.
Andy then arranged a visit down to Pau in France near northern Spain. I went with my recording equipment and we took the gear in a transit van down through France. Part of the road was Le Mons race track it was so smooth you couldn’t hear the tyres. In all it took about two days.
We had a member of the band with us in the van and he had an accident in his underwear, so he chucked them into the back of the van. When you went abroad you used to have a carnet which was a document listing everything in the van to make sure you brought everything back. Everything was listed down to the name of the instrument, serial number, colour, value – you had to sit down and type out pages of it. Then apply for it, then get it stamped before you go anywhere.
We get to the border and the customs officer checked the carnet. ‘So, you are a band, open the doors and just step out the van’. We open the back doors the smell hits them. Holding their noses they quickly say ‘Hurry up, close them and be on your way’! Touring at its best.
We then went to Pau municipal casino. It was like a big echo chamber in there, I remember they played ‘Hey Jude’ with everyone singing along to the chorus. That was a good recording, we spliced it with a version from a Newcastle recording, it came out great.
We sorted out digs at the university because hotels would have been expensive for all the band and crew. As we tucked in to our first meal it was ‘What’s this? – it’s a bit tough’. It was cheval – we all had horse steak for the first time.
We crossed the border and travelled to San Sebastian, there was a jazz festival with big names on, Last Exit played in the town square, I don’t think the Big Band played there. I remember Sting played bass in Last Exit and other members of the Big Band were also in Last Exit.
When it was all over, we headed to Bilboa and jumped on the ferry. The crew found out about the band travelling over to England so invited them down to the Pig and Whistle bar in the bowels of the ship.
It was a great atmosphere with jam sessions going on, laughter, food and a few drinks – well more than a few drinks. At the end of the session as we were coming into Portsmouth, I went to the bar to pay but the steward said ‘no, nothing’. I insisted ‘Come on the boss told me to sort it out you’ve been really good, we’ve enjoyed ourselves, how much do we owe?’‘Ok’ he replied ‘One pound’. Wasn’t that a great gesture.
You know it was 2011 when the Borough Theatre in Wallsend where Impulse studio and Neat records were based was eventually demolished, it had been lying empty for years. Looking back, it was a great time but to be honest I just wanted to hoy the keys away. I worked there from 1966 to 2001. The years since then have passed very quickly.
After I sold Neat records I ran a Theatre group which went well until Covid destroyed the numbers involved so we are building it back up again. I kept a lot of the group together through ZOOM. I was also on the local club committee at Cullercoats on the North East coast here.
Now I’m writing short comedy scripts for a podcast. I’m trying to get them on local radio. Problem I have is some of its adult humour you might laugh your socks off but not sure you’ll hear it on the radio.
What else do I do? I’m also on a committee for wine tasting because I like my wine. That’s been going for 40 years. We also like our holidays, we have a few planned this year. We look after our Grandchildren and dogs and take them out to the country each weekend, yes you just get on with things don’t ya. I’ve also been involved with a few compilation CDs with the Cherry Red label, I’ll let you know all about that when we catch up next time.
Rock is still big in the North and you can’t get bigger than at Newcastle Trillians. In the coming months bands booked have the power to rip yer skin off yer skull. Here’s a few gigs to stir yer up and let yer know yer still alive in ’25.
Friday 14 Feb > Tytan/Baphomet – ex Angelwitch NWOBHM flag bearer Kev Riddles – “Great to be returning to Trillians, our North East home from home. Brilliant atmosphere and banter at the expense of yours truly! Amazing how a London accent brings out the best in people, see ya there!”
Friday 28 Feb > Godzz of Wor – ex Venom/ Ballbreakers guitarist Jim Clare – “We’ll be rocking the place with 205 years of experience – not bad for a three piece. Hardest working trio in the North East”.
Saturday 8 March > Spartan Warrior – NWOBHM/Guardian/Roadrunner Records frontman David Wilkinson– “Trillians shows are always pretty special it’s one of the best rock venues in the UK. Having hosted many fantastic and legendary bands across the decades it’s the North East equivalent of the Cart and Horses down south. We always have a great crowd in Trills, that’s appreciated and never taken for granted. We’re really looking forward to playing a headline show on home turf alongside special guests Risen Prophecy and Overdrive. It’s going to be a hell of a night…guaranteed!”
Also squeezed in are dates for White Tyger who opened for ex Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil and WASP guitarist Chris Holmes. The Midland Metallers hit the stage on Thursday 27 Feb. Stopping off in the Toon on Sunday 9 March is former vocalist with Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow/Michael Schenker Group/Vandenburg/Elegant Weapons frontman Ronnie Romero on his UK tour.
Big thanks to all the readers of the site with just over 4,000 for January and a total of 418,000 since the first post in February 2017. There was an extra push on social media for ‘The Butchers of Bolingbroke’ (Angelic Upstarts) and the punk band proved as popular now after first posting the interview in 2017.
January readers in UK & USA have contributed most views to the site, however there’s been a spike in numbers from Australia and Sweden after another social media push on ‘Ticket to Ride’ from promoter Julie Clay in 2021 and ‘Light ‘Em Up’ from stagehand & lighting technician Par Can in 2023.
Finishing with a big number crunch from the backroom statistics uncover the largest number of referrers to the site are from Google search then Facebook, with smaller numbers from Twitter, Bing and Yahoo.
Drilling down into the count for daily views reveal a rise from the first year (2017) of 46 to 219 in 2020 and 212 the next year, with a slight drop to 147 in 2024. Average views per day in the first month of this year are at 130.
Well, it’s just about the end of the eighth year of the site, loved every minute of working on it and meeting everyone I’ve interviewed over the years. I look forward to seeing who or what will turn up in 2025. If you’vegot a story to add, just get in touch.
The incredible true story of Harry Clasper is set to tour the North East in February. The one man play ‘Hadaway Harry’ stars Jamie Brown who won a NE Culture Awards Performing Artist of the year.
Harry Clasper was born in 1812 in Dunston, Gateshead, at two year old he moved to Jarrow where he fell in love with the water watching ships coming up the Tyne. Education was limited for Harry, he couldn’t read or write and signed his marriage certificate with a cross. He started work at Jarrow Pit but unfortunately that didn’t work out so his next stop was an apprenticeship at Browns Boatyard.
‘That’s where he got clued up about boats. Harry revolutionized boat racing and boat design, innovations that became part of boat racing then are still employed in boat building today’ explained Jamie.
‘By shaving the boat they made a gun barrel shape instead of a square bottom and pointed the front of the boat. That increased the speed rather than drag through the water, and they made a scooped shape oar’.
‘It was like the time during the 2012 London Olympics when cycling became really popular, they had lightweight helmets, handlebars were shaped to create more speed – huge innovations just like Harry Clasper done for boating in the 1800s’.
‘Rowing was the main sport then, people would sit on the bank of the river and watch the race. Bets would be placed and there would be sponsors – even in those days. There would be stories of men employed to drill holes in the boats of opponents or tempt the oarsmen with alcohol the night before. There was even a case of someone’s food being poisoned. One of the first cases of boat tampering was with the part of the boat called the scull. The term skulduggery comes from that’.
‘The writer Ed Waugh has a desire to shine a light on people or events that have gone under the radar. We’ve done plays about North East musicians and singers Ned Corvan, Joe Wilson and Wor Bella about a ladies football team plus at the end of last year was The Cramlington Train Wreckers’.
‘These extraordinary stories about the working class, are told so they go unforgotten. There is a thirst for these stories, people responded well to them with standing ovations and sold out shows’.
pic. by Local Historian, Steve Ellwood
The Hadaway Harry shows in 2015 and 2017 eventually got Harry Clasper some recognition as a blue plaque was fixed onto the base of the High Level Bridge in Newcastle. There is also a pub called the Harry Clasper in Whickham, Gateshead.
‘He came from a big family – he was one of 14 and had 12 children himself. His ancestors are still around today, they’ve been to the shows and are very proud of his achievements’.
‘But his story wasn’t straight forward, it’s not looking back with rose tinted spectacles as he suffered personal tragedy and professional disappointments, there was plenty of hardship and personal dilemma’.
Later in life Harry became a publican in Newcastle but sadly died in 1870.
‘Over 120,000 people lined the streets for his funeral the procession was only a few miles but took over 12 hours. His coffin was put on a boat and sailed down the Tyne to Whickham where he was buried’.
The North East has stories of talented people achieving great things – we talked about the footballer Paul Gascoigne, coincidentally also born in Dunston where Harry came from.
‘Before Association football the sport of the people was rowing and Harry Clasper has been likened to the David Beckham of the day. I think, as many people do, he should have a statue next to the river Tyne. His achievements were fantastic. Do you know he won the world championship 8 times in 12 years’.
‘It’s been a privilege telling his story, but sadly this will be my last time on stage doing the Hadaway Harry show. I’ve loved doing the show but in the second half of the play it is hard rowing and narrating the story as a one man show plus I’m 40 in February so it can be a bit exhausting’.
‘So, this is me hanging up my oars but the play will go on and maybe a younger actor will take on the role. This is why on the tour schedule after about three nights we have a day or two off where there is time for rest and recovery and then for the next show I’m ready to be able to give 100%’.
For information about tour dates and venues contact the official website >>>
46 year old Tynemouth resident Luan Hanratty has strong Celtic roots. His father was born in Jarrow with their family connections going back to Galway in Ireland and his mother originally from Rosyth on the east coast of Scotland.
Luan at Arbeia Roman Fort, South Shields.
‘Yes, the Hanratty name is Irish, however, a brief background to my employment story is that I worked the financial sector in Prague, Czech Republic, moved to Shanghai in China where I was employed as an English teacher. I even appeared on TV there and published some books. Education is strong in my background as my father was a Drama Teacher’.
‘After Covid in 2020 I came back to the UK and based myself in South Shields. I was looking for my next adventure when I came across some local history and got obsessed with reading the stories’.
‘With my business partner Gary Holland we put together a website called Penbal – which is a Celtic name for the Tynemouth headland – the site features articles on Tyneside local history, photographs, AI art, links to Maritime Trust, Lifeboats Brigade and Fishermen’s Heritage plus local products for sale – prints, postcards, mugs, t-shirts and more’.
The latest story has recently featured on BBC News >>>
Luan’s latest post on the site is about a long lost river which flowed from the Mill Dam in South Shields.
‘Beneath the busy modern landscape of South Shields lies a forgotten natural feature – a river called the Mill Dam Creek but also known as the Branin River. This flowed from Mill Dam, next to Customs House today, out to the sea near North Marine Park and the Pier. This effectively made the Lawe an island’.
‘The channel played a vital role in the development of the town, both as a waterway and a habour, and once it was dammed with ballast, the Mill Dam formed a bridge between the north and south reaches of the early town’.
‘So important then, was the creek as a resource that it forms the base of the first industrial activity in South Shields, with coal mining also evident on the south bank where the pit wheel now stands above Asda carpark in Coronation Street’.
‘If you stand on the long sloping escalator when exiting Asda and look out across the huge carpark, you really get a feel for the valley nature of the Mill Dam Pond. Imagine what it must have looked like all those centuries ago’.
‘Another twist to the story is that in the 19th century much of the eastern end of the creek was covered by Denmark Street, where the Denmark Centre is today. In the 1830s, while building the street, a Viking longboat was discovered beside what was originally the river bed’.
‘Maybe there is someone out there who has more information about this amazing find. We know it featured in The Shields Gazette in the 1980s’.
Luan stresses that he has no plans to research any murders or the race riots that have happened on Tyneside.
‘So far, we have over 200 local history posts and we don’t look at any taboo subjects, I just like to paint a picture of our very rich heritage here on Tyneside’.
ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST MUSIC & CULTURE 