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SPELLBOUND – in conversation with Prelude singer & songwriter Brian Hume

/ Alikivi / 2 Comments
Ian Vardy, Brian & Irene Hume.

I met up with Gateshead born Brian Hume and he talked about his life in music and what it means to him now.

‘Music dominates your life. It can often exclude things that you should pay attention to. Personal relationships can suffer cos it takes over your life. All you wanna do is make that sound, make that music, at first you don’t care if you make any money you just do it for the love of it.’

‘Unless you’re all on the same page there’s always tension within bands. You’re living permanently on the idea that it will all come to an end tomorrow. If you’re a guitar player you could break a finger or get arthritis. Somebody might leave and your left high and dry. You might have an argument and everybody falls out, it’s a miracle they stay together. But it can be exciting not knowing what’s round the corner’.

78 year old Brian looks back to when and where he was first inspired.

‘Me mother was very musical she’d knock out a tune on the piano and a four string guitar – all self taught, amazing. That’s where I learnt to pick out a few tunes. Lot of houses had a room where no one went very often, that’s where the piano was.’

It was in Grammer school where Brian first met up with Ian Vardy, forming a duo to sing in Tyneside pubs and clubs.

‘One of the first gigs we played was the 99 club in Barrow in Furness. After two songs the chairman came up to the front of the stage “You’re not really right for this kind of environment”. He was nice about it but, yeah, we were paid off.’

‘The Everley Brothers songs were the go to sound, when we heard their two part harmonies we thought we could do that.  We used to play the Bridge Hotel in Newcastle. The folk scene then was vibrant, clubs were always packed out people were singing sea shanties then Paul Simon came along.’

‘Then we’d try writing our own stuff. Our publisher wanted us to be called The Cobblers. You could see the first review – what a load of! We settled on The Carnival – a very 60s hippy name. We lasted for one record – a Paul Simon song called The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine. The review in the NME read ‘social comment at breakneck speed!

‘Ian and I were singing in our flat in Gateshead. We had just bought the Crosby, Stills and Nash album trying out different songs like Sweet Judy Blue Eyes. My wife, Irene was singing in the kitchen with the door open. She was singing the third harmony. We were totally surprised as we didn’t know she could sing. We turned and said ‘sing that again’. It wsan’t long before we went out to folk clubs and started going down really well.’

‘We lived in School Street, Gateshead and nearby at the end of the Tyne bridge is an old toll booth. A big granite structure. It had a lovely echo. Some nights we’d go in there and sing. One night a policeman came in. He thought we were up to no good. Very officious. But he stuck around listening to a few songs then as he was leaving said “Carry on”.

‘We got a deal with Decca Records and recorded a single The Edge of the Sea which had a strong hippy vibe to it. All during that period we were recording in Impulse Studio making demos courtesy of the owner, Dave Woods who soon after ‘discovered’ Alan Hull.’

‘We were called Trilogy for a while but had to change it because there was an American band with the same name. It’s not easy choosing a name as any band will tell you. I came up with Prelude and that stuck. That was 1972.’

‘Three part harmonies had a big effect on musicians. A lot of bands had done it like The Lettermen and The Platters from way back, but Crosby, Stills and Nash were different, this was whack right in your face. Yeah, a big influence on us and many other bands including fellow Tyneside band, The Caffreys.’

‘Different members have come and gone but the band were Ian Vardy, me and my wife Irene. Ian and I got a song writing contract with ATV music which worked for us financially. We decided to put both our names on everything we wrote irrespective of who wrote it.’

‘We had a brilliant guitarist called Frank Usher. We parted company and and he went on to play guitar with Fish from Marillion as well as being a fine guitar maker.’ 

‘We played the North East club scene for a while and in between we’d do Durham College where we’d support artists like Gerry Rafferty, Mott the Hoople, Shaking Stevens and the Sunsets – that band were amazing. There was a hippy commune type band called Principle Edwards Magic Theatre who all dressed in white which looked cool so we copied that – it was a cheap uniform.’

‘Our manager George Carr got us a record deal with Pye who back then were dominated by Max Bygraves selling boatloads of Sing-a-Long-a-Max records. We were the token folk band, although we were never folk they just called us that cos we had acoustic guitars! You couldn’t say that Pye were part of the cultural vibe.’

‘In 1973 we went to Rockfield Studio in Monmouth to record our first album How Long is Forever? produced by Fritz Fryer who was in a group called The Four Pennies. They had a number one with Juliet. A wistful ballad. On the final studio day Fritz asked if there was anything else we had. We used to sing a Neil Young song just for our own pleasure. That was After the Gold Rush.’

‘We recorded it and it sounded pretty good so we double tracked it. Overdubbed it fifteen times and it sounded massive. We never thought for a minute anyone would pick up on it. But John Peel at Capitol radio did. He got loads of calls ‘Who is this band?’ ‘Where can we buy the record’.

‘Next thing we know Pye put it out as a single and we’re on Top of the Pops. That was 1974. We ended up appearing twice the first time was with Marc Bolan. There was a succession of TV appearances. You had to do television because you are reaching a massive audience. We did a show for Tyne Tees called the Geordie Scene. We did the Basil Brush show for Pete’s sake.’

‘Most notably we went on the Vera Lynn show. During rehearsals she referred to us as The Prelude. Later she was walking towards us along the corridor when Ian stopped her and said “By the way Vera it’s not The Prelude it’s just Prelude”. Not skipping a beat she turned to him and said “If you don’t mind it’s not Vera…it’s Miss Lynn”.

Prelude were always based in their hometown Gateshead this meant constantly travelling up and down the M1 to television and recording studios in London.

‘It was every other week. We should have moved down there. But 1974 was a big year for us. We did the background vocals on Streets of London which was a hit for Ralph McTell. He asked us to go out on a UK tour with him.’

‘Ralph wanted to put our names on the record but our company wouldn’t allow it. For the next best thing Ralph put ‘background vocals by ‘The Gold Rushers’. It would have been a great advert for Prelude to have their name on the single but Pye were stupid on that.’

‘Ralph was so talented and generous to a fault. It was a big tour around the country then we played a venue where we’d seen Paul Simon, Crosby, Stills and Nash – here we were on the stage of the Royal Albert Hall. Amazing.’

‘After the McTell tour we went back to playing smaller venues but I’m getting the timeline mixed here because I remember before touring with Ralph was a UK tour with a singer and songwriter called Mike Chapman. He had a devoted following and used to live up the Tyne Valley in Haltwhistle.’

‘Then we went on the road with a great piano player called Peter Skellern who had a big hit with You’re a Lady. Meeting him he was rather quiet and reserved – he later became a priest. Then there was talk of America.’

‘This was 1976. What happened was Lindisfarne played the States. When Alun Hull came back, he’d tell us to get over there ‘Cos all ya’ hear is your bloody record ‘After the Gold Rush’ on the radio all the time.’

‘I always read the NME and Melody Maker, looking at American charts where like the Holy grail of music to me. To see Neil Sadaka, Beach Boys and bands like that we thought wouldn’t it be great to get in there. Our manager George Carr said ‘You’re in the American top 100’. We thought this is a dream come true.’ Then it went towards the top 20.’

‘We wanted to capitalise on the success but the record company didn’t want to pay for us to go to America they sent us to Amsterdam. We played the clubs and had a good time but we should have been in the States where we wouldn’t have even needed guitars as the song was acapella. We could have done the Johnny Carson show and the like and knocked that record up the charts.’

‘It wasn’t until 18 months later we got to the States. There were a few gigs on the West Coast in San Francisco where we supported Jerry Garcia in Berkley and met Nicky Hopkins who played piano on all Rolling Stones records. Then over to the East Coast and played The Bitter End in New York. When we came back to the UK Irene took a break when we had our second boy, Joel.’

‘Things moved on quickly until 1979 when our manager got us a deal with a new company called After Hours who were very forward thinking. We made an album at Abbey Road with The Hollies producer Ron Richards. His style was more towards lush strings and stuff like that. It didn’t really work for us.’

‘We also signed to EMI in 1980 and made an album in Portland Studios owned by Chas Chandler, charming fella. We had some great players on there but the only track that came out of it was Platinum Blonde. Our principal guys were Ian Green de facto producer of Platinum Blonde and Dave Wintour who was Neil Sadaka’s bass player. It was a minor hit which got to number 45 in the charts.’

‘We did a video for it in the old Battersea Power Station in London arranged by the head honcho at our record label, Richard Jacobowski. He was really on the ball, a hip guy. We crashed in his three storey flat in Hampstead and shared it with a band called The Regents who were very talented, like a proto-punk band. They had a hit song on Top of the Pops with Seventeen.’

‘For the single we did Top of the Pops and I remember on the same programme were Bay City Rollers. Platinum Blonde was good for us but afterwards we came back up North and played the folk clubs again.’

‘Ian Vardy was looking at doing something different so left the band around 1985 and became a social worker. We continued and got in ace guitar player Jim Hornsby who had been with a lot of country bands. Jim was very much in demand for session work.’

‘Country was labelled as redneck music then, it wasn’t cool – but it is now. Gram Parsons did a hell of a job making country hip. He influenced The Byrds and Keith Richards. Some clubs turned their nose up at country stuff but we had a great time doing clubs then. Unfortunately, as happens in bands Jim left.’

What did the new millennium bring?

‘From 2001 it was Irene, me and Chris Ringer who we brought in on bass and vocals and took Prelude on the circuit of country clubs and the whole scene. Through the years we have performed with countless numbers of musicians and loved every minute of it.’

‘Our latest album The Belle Vue Sessions (2012) is all acoustic. It started in 2010 when Ian came round to our house, he had an appointment at his dentist round the corner. We got the guitars out, as you do,and it all went well so we asked him to do a gig with us. One turned into many.’

‘It was our manager Sue Brind who originally said ‘Why don’t you make a new Prelude album? We thought ‘why not?’ so we wrote some new songs and recorded them in Broadwater studios, Gateshead. Two lovely guys engineered, Gavin and Paul. We recruited Paul Hooper who was drummer for The Fortunes and again Chris Ringer played bass. We are very proud of the album.’

What does the future hold for Prelude?

‘We’re busy meeting with David Wood who used to run Impulse Studio in Wallsend. Impulse was a gateway for a lot of acts. He released a lot of Heavy Metal stuff like Venom and Raven from the North East, it was a big scene for him.’

‘David recently put out a CD box set of Alan Hull demos, he recognised Alan’s talent early on. Now he wants to do the same with us because he’s got a lot of tapes that have never seen the light of day. We’re looking to release something soon.’

After recalling a life spent with a multitude of musicians and the memories it triggers, Brian reveals that his ‘obsession’ holds a deeper meaning than just getting on stage and banging out a tune.

‘Your friends tend to be musicians and you share a common language which is almost secret amongst you. You know and experience things that nobody else has. There’s a bond between musicians which is friendship but sort of deeper. You know what the other is going to do, what they’re going to sing, – what they can and can’t do. Every successful band has to have that. It’s like brotherly love. It’s a wonderful feeling. It’s why people do music instead of opting for a ‘safer’ life.’

Alikivi   June 2025

ALIKIVI IN CITIES

/ Alikivi

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 >>>

  1. UK
  2. USA
  3. Australia
  4. Canada
  5. Spain
  6. Germany
  7. Ireland
  8. France
  9. Netherlands
  10. 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 >>>

  1. England, UK
  2. Scotland, UK
  3. Virginia, USA
  4. Wales, UK
  5. California, USA
  6. Northern Ireland
  7. Dublin, Ireland
  8. Limburg, Belgium
  9. Texas, USA
  10.  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 >>>

  1. North Shields, England
  2. London, England
  3. Newcastle upon Tyne, England
  4. Manchester, England
  5. Edinburgh, Scotland
  6. Washington, USA
  7. New Silksworth, England
  8. Sheffield, England
  9. York, England
  10. 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.

Keep on keepin’ on.

Alikivi   March 2025

CHAIRMAN WOOD OF WALLSEND  in conversation with ex Impulse Studio/Neat records bigwig David Wood

/ Alikivi

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 >>>

THE FIXER – in conversation with former Impulse Studio and Neat Records owner David Wood | ALIKIVI : NORTH EAST UK CULTURE

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.

Alikivi   February 2025.

SPRING ROCK AT NEWCASTLE TRILLIANS

/ Alikivi

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.

Lottsa more gigs on the official website >>>

Gig Guide – Trillians Rock Bar

Alikivi   February 2025

ALIKIVI IN NUMBERS

/ Alikivi

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’ve got a story to add, just get in touch.

Alikivi   January 2025

HOME COMFORTS for Whitley Bay Tygers

/ Alikivi

A wave of steel is planned this autumn as standard bearers of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal North East Division, Tygers of Pan Tang, map out a series of live European dates.

They include October – Belgium (4th), Germany (5th) and Netherlands (6th) and November – Barnsley, UK (7th) then crossing the border on Friday 8th to play the Classic Grand in Glasgow with Scotland’s very own granite plated rock band Lyin’ Rampant opening.

Rampant lead vocalist Stewartie Adams is looking forward to the gig…

“It should be a great show we’re all up for it and looking forward to a great night with the Tygers. It’s the first time opening for them.”

“We’re back in the studio in Glasgow to work on some new material to add to our set…so we’ll be ready to rock. We’ve had a much needed break after the Graham Bonnet tour. We made great friends with Graham and his band. They were a joy to work with. It was a blast”.

Link to interview >> TARTAN SPIRIT with former Tytan & Lyin’ Rampant vocalist/guitarist Stewartie Adams | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

The legendary Tygers then march back down to Tyneside to celebrate a homecoming return in the seaside town of Whitley Bay on Saturday 9th November 2024. The show is being promoted by the local town council to celebrate over 45 years of the Tygers.

Whitley Bay was the headquarters of the original four Tygers. They had a residence at local club Mingles where they honed the tunes that would make up most of their first album ‘Wild Cat’.

The Tygers most recent album ‘Live Blood’, released on Mighty Music, features songs from across their career including tracks that were first played in Mingles.

Support on the night will come from Shannon Pearl, a North East neo-folk band that was specially chosen by the Tygers.

“I’ve lived in the area for most of my life and being invited to play at the prestigious Whitley Bay Playhouse has long been a dream of mine” guitarist Robb Weir commented.

“I think the current band will really enjoy visiting where it all started. It promises to be one helluva night”.

Wrapping up the autumn dates is a visit to Grimsby (10th) and finally Marseille, France at the South Troopers Festival (16th).

Tickets for Whitley Bay are available here.

Buy/stream ‘Live Blood’ here.

Check the official website for further information on albums, gigs, photos, videos >  

Tygers Of Pan Tang – The Official Site

Alikivi    September 2024

ANOTHER JOURNEY UP THE RIVER – New album from ex White Heat frontman Bob Smeaton

/ Alikivi

Some say White Heat were the best band to come out of Newcastle who never ‘made it’. They made all the right moves – opened for Judas Priest, headlined London’s Marquee, signed to Virgin records, they were contenders – but unfortunately never got over the line.

If you asked me to list what gave me the biggest buzz I would say playing live top of the list, writing songs in second and recording in third place said Bob Smeaton. But one thing I did learn is that playing songs live and recording them in a studio are two different animals.

I love performing in front of an audience and I felt that I was a much better frontman than I was a singer, so studio work for me back in the early days was not always an enjoyable experience.

Also, the vocals were always done last, so the rest of the band were able to relax and the pressure was on me to deliver. What did I do after White Heat and Loud Guitars split? I pretty much stopped performing gigs as my career went down a different path.

After signing up as an actor for stage and TV roles, a successful career in music documentary films came next. Bob worked on programmes featuring boy hood heroes The Who, Rolling Stones and The Beatles.

Bob added…I was fortunate to start making music documentaries but I never stopped writing songs. The songs that I wrote with Alan Fish my song writing partner in both White Heat and later Loud Guitars were good songs, that’s why some of them remain popular forty years after we recorded them. I’m really proud of those records we released in the late 70s early 80s, they’re a great time capsule.

Just before Covid happened Alan Fish encouraged me to get a set up so that I could record at home, I took his advice and got some pretty basic recording equipment.

Like most of us I had a lot of time on my hands so I recorded demos of a bunch of songs, there was a couple I’d been working on for decades but never finished, I also wrote some new ones.

Shine On (The Ballad of White Heat) was a new song and it took about two hours to write, some of them took around twenty years to finish – better late than never.

I always liked songs that told stories. Narrative has always been the key for me, that’s also been my approach when I’ve been making music documentary films and to some extent why I wrote my memoir.

When growing up in Benwell, Newcastle, the first person that I met that owned a Fender Strat was Stew Selkirk. Even as a teenager Stew was a great guitarist (The photographs of Bob and Stew were taken in the backyard of Stew’s house on Colston Street, Benwell, approx.1974).

When I released my memoir ‘From Benwell Boy to 46th Beatle and Beyond’ in 2018, Stew read it and we caught up again, we hadn’t seen each other for over forty years. Stew was still playing guitar and involved in record production. I mentioned that I’d written a bunch of songs that I’d like to record.

I sent him demos which he liked and he suggested we work together. Black Wind Blowing was the first song we recorded at his studio in Wooler during October 2021.

During the second Covid lockdown to cheer myself up, I was listening to Nick Cave’s ‘murder ballads’ album and reading a biography of Johnny Cash. They were the inspiration to write the song.

When I heard what Stew did with that first track, I was overjoyed, he had taken my very basic song and turned it into something really special. None of the songs I had written had been performed live so they had to stand up purely on the basis of what we recorded. Stew did a great job.

Back in the late seventies with White Heat we played the songs in front of an audience before we recorded them so we had a good idea of what were the strongest songs based on audience reaction. Then we would pretty much record the songs in the studio how we had played them live, there was not a lot of production as such.

We never thought to change the keys to suit my voice or rearrange the songs so they would sound better on the radio. It was impossible to capture the energy of a live band in the studio.

I didn’t want to sound like White Heat but there was always going to be a familiarity because it was my voice. There is so much great guitar playing by Stew on the songs, it would have been a different album if he hadn’t produced it.

The first recording that I released from the sessions I did with Stew was Shine On (The Ballad of White Heat). I thought it was quite fitting that for my first solo single I paid homage to my former band.

I revisited the character of Sammy who first appeared in the 1979 song ‘Sammy Sez’, the B side of our single ‘Nervous Breakdown’. Sammy was loosely based on my brother Tony who appeared on the sleeve of the 7”inch. I also name checked a number of songs that Alan Fish and I wrote together.

In essence the song is about the way that music has the capacity to transport you back to a time and a place. It was written as a thank you to those people who supported the band back in the day.

I remember when we were playing gigs the excitement we used to feel when we would perform a song for the first time and how after we had played it a handful of times we would look out into crowd and see them singing along, it was a great feeling.

One of the songs I name checked in ‘Shine On (The Ballad of White Heat)’ was the Fish/Smeaton song ‘21 and Wasted’. In 1979 when we wrote the song, I was in full Springsteen mode, I was obsessed with him, this was my attempt at writing a ‘Springsteenesque’ lyric.

When we played it live it was great, but for some reason, with the benefit of hindsight, the studio version White Heat recorded for the ‘In the Zero Hour’ album fell short of our expectations.

A couple of years ago Alan re-worked the song, gave it a new title and recorded it with the Attention Seekers. I thought it was fantastic. Alan told me he had also recorded a rockier version of the backing track and that I was welcome to add my vocal to it for inclusion on my album.

I believe that in the Attention Seekers version both of the protagonists live to fight another day. In my version I will leave it up to the listener to decide what fate befalls them. It is one of my favourite songs.

In the video clip I used footage that was filmed of White Heat performing the song back in 1981 but cut to the recoding from my album.

Whenever I played Alan my songs, he would often comment on how I never wrote ‘happy songs’, when I first played him ‘Things that She Said’ he told me that I had finally written one.

The song is about the feeling you get when you meet someone who you really believe is going to have your back through good times and bad. Alan liked the song and offered to produce a recording of it, on the understanding that I let him do it ‘his way’.

During the two days we recorded at the Cluny Studios in Newcastle, I managed to keep my mouth shut. I’m pleased I did as Alan did an excellent job. It also features great work by Trevor Brewis, Sophy Jess Ball and Tony Davis. Alan was right it is a happy song. 

Whenever I wasn’t busy working on music documentaries I would drive up to Wooler and record at Stew’s place. I also spent time recording at the Cluny Studio. A lot of the vocals and drums were recorded there. Trevor Brewis formally of Dance Class played drums, he was brilliant.

What are my hopes for the album? Once it was finished all I really wanted is for people to hear the songs and I was more than happy for people to listen to the album for free on the likes of Spotify and You Tube etc.

I enjoyed the writing and recording of the songs but once they were mastered all I wanted was to put them out there. The first thing I did was post the songs on the White Heat and Loud Guitars appreciation society page on Facebook. That was pretty much the sum of my promotion.

Various people offered to help promote the album or help find a record label. I didn’t want to do that, I’d been down that road with White Heat and it becomes more about the business. I didn’t view this as a money making venture, I just wanted people to hear my songs and hopefully enjoy them.

The response has been very encouraging, in that respect all the work that Stew Selkirk and I put into it has been worthwhile.

Am I planning on taking it out live? At the moment I don’t have any plans to go out and start doing gigs with a band. Putting a band together I imagine is much harder now than it was when I first started doing gigs in the seventies, we were kids then, we had less commitments.

There is every chance that I could turn up and do some support slots on my own or maybe with a couple of other musicians. The thing is that I never really considered myself a musician, I always thought I was a performer first and foremost and songs were a vehicle to tell stories which I love doing.

My guitar playing skills are pretty basic but you don’t need to know a hundred chords to write a song. Whenever I meet young musicians I always tell them to write songs and if what you write about is honest and personal to you, there is every chance it will connect with other people, we all go through similar situations in life – songs are like diaries.

When you hear a song it can transport you back to a time and a place and that is the beauty of a great song, it never grows old. As I said in one of my songs “We will shine on because we wrote it all down in a song”.

‘Another Journey Up the River’ was released 5th July 2024. The album is now available on all streaming services, You Tube and available to download on iTunes.

Links to previous interviews >

THE BOY FROM BENWELL with Film & TV Director, Bob Smeaton | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE (5 Nov ’18)

PLAY IT AGAIN – on TV & Stage with music documentary director, Bob Smeaton | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE  (6 April ‘21)

Alikivi   July 2024

NORTH EAST MUSIC & VIDEO with Hartlepool based VainGloriousUK

/ Alikivi

VainGloriousUK are collectively known as Chas Groovy.

“There’s been some amazing music created in the North East which has never received the recognition that it deserved and there is always an emphasis on musicians from the southern end of the country” said Chas.

“Being mostly Hartlepool based we were well aware of bands like The White Negroes – who were immense in Hartlepool in the early 90’s – also Jimmy McKenna and Wendells Parlour”.

In the ‘80s Dave Emerson bought a video camera and started making recordings of local gigs. Dave realised that some of the videos he had might be worth sharing and the VainGloriousUK You Tube Channel was created.

Chas explains “We chose the name VainGloriousUK because all the North East groups went for glory but ultimately for some it was in vain. However, we realised later that the dictionary definition says that vainglorious means someone who is boastful, which is not what we mean at all!”

“We began seeking out, tidying up and uploading historic – and sometimes hysterical – video footage of music associated with the North East”.

Since the early 70’s there had been local TV shows such as The Geordie Scene and Alright Now. Many of these shows still exist in TV archives and bit by bit some interesting videos fell into their lap.

“The VainGloriousUK channel currently has up to 170 videos uploaded and its playlists also link to interesting videos from other sources”.

One of the sources was the late music journalist and broadcaster Ian Penman.

“Ian had undertaken work for Tyne Tees TV and, lucky for us, he kept a personal copy of many of the things he was involved in. It took a bit of arm twisting but eventually Ian let us use some of them”.

“One of these was the appearance of Brian Johnson’s first group Geordie. Recently we learned that our copy appears to be the only one still in existence when we were contacted about it being used in a forthcoming documentary about Brian” said Chas.

The collective had found a hidden treasure trove of recorded music so they created a website companion to the You Tube channel.

“This would enable us to tell the stories of the groups and artists and provide direct links to their specific videos, and most importantly, provide examples of their music to listen to with the opportunity for this to be purchased”.

“CDBaby, Spotify, Soundcloud, all of these companies charge a percentage for their services whereas 100% of any income goes directly to our artists. What we are doing is focusing on a particular geographical area which we passionately believe has been a hot bed of great music, we are doing it for fun – and the odd pat on the back”.

“Most musicians are flattered that we care so much about their music, some are a bit wary about how their historical musical legacy may now be viewed – what you thought was important at 16 is not the same when you are 56!”

Top of the hit list to trace was a band called The Mynd. Eventually contact was made with former keyboard player Billy Surgeoner, who was persuaded to put The Mynd music on to VainGloriousUK.

“Bit by bit that’s how it worked, we learn about an interesting artist, do a bit of homework and sometimes it works out nicely”.

“We would love to find the performance on Tyne Tees TV’s Northern Life programme from early 1977 by Newcastle group Last Exit singing ‘Don’t Give Up Your Day Time Job’ – whose lead singer went on to have a successful career in The Police”.

Early 70’s Newcastle glam/folk group Sandgate have been added to VainGloriousUK, including their appearance on the Geordie Scene.

“With Sandgate there is a great omission. The band comprised of two main line-ups, the first was formed and led by songwriter Fred Wheatley and they made some recordings. Then when Fred left the group the remaining chaps made further recordings which are the ones we have. We would love to locate Fred Wheatley and get our hands on the early Sandgate recordings”.

Vainglorious also have software available that can make a good job of reconstruction and remastering.

“Sandgate had two albums worth of really good recordings, they noticed that our efforts had improved them sonically”.

Songwriter Steve Thompson, who has featured on this site,  has had his work uploaded onto VainGloriosuUK leading to Cherry Red Records releasing it.

“Also, partly as a result of our pestering regarding making the music of mid 70’s group FOGG available again, their original record company has re-released their original album plus a second album of their singles”.

“We’re always on the lookout for interesting artists with a body of recordings. We’re open to ideas for future video uploads so if anyone has an interesting video, we would love to hear from them”.

Get in touch at  info@vaingloriousuk.com

Check out the official website at > http://www.vaingloriousuk.com for links to biogs, compilation albums and books.

Watch music videos at >  VainGloriousUK – YouTube

Alikivi   July 2024

I WILL GO BACK– with songwriter & former Neat records producer Steve Thompson

/ Alikivi

Steve Thompson first dipped his toes in the North East music scene in the early 70’s as bassist with rock band Bullfrog who played the working men’s clubs and opened for Vinegar Joe and Wishbone Ash.

By 1977 Thompson was house producer at Wallsend’s Impulse recording studio and helped set up the legendary Neat records working with Raven, Venom and Tygers of Pan Tang earning him the title ‘Godfather of the North East New Wave of British Heavy Metal’.

Steve worked with top female vocalist Lorraine Crosby, also with producer and songwriter Gus Dudgeon of Elton John fame. He went on to write songs recorded by mainstream artists Elkie Brooks, Sheena Easton, Celine Dion and Wavelength who appeared on Top of the Pops with top 20 hit Hurry Home.
That was incredible, I had quit producing records to concentrate on my song writing career said Steve. I was 24 year old at the time and just quit a waged job to live on fresh air and follow a dream. I was either very brave, very stupid or both. I quickly began knocking out songs and pitching them all over the place. I knew I needed some action or I was going to starve.

One day I was at the dentist in Wallsend. I’d been called upstairs to the surgery when the receptionist called me back down and said ‘there’s a call coming in for you Steve’. It was my publisher they tracked me down to tell me ‘Hurry Home just entered the charts at 63’. You could’ve knocked me down with a feather, that was the break I was looking for.

From there on in incredible things happened it climbed the charts over a period of three months and peaked at 17. Here I am top 20, I had arrived! Then all sorts of things started to happen, the lyrics were printed in pop magazine Smash Hits, people singing it in the street, all the airplay on Radio One, name checks from DJ Mike Read on the Breakfast show, and of course Top of the Pops.

All this was happening but I was still broke. I went to the bank to draw out a fiver. The bank teller knew me and knew I was a songwriter – obviously the only one they had on their books – he said ‘one of those payments you get has come in’. I’d not received notification so I had no idea of this.

He asked if I wanted him to go check how much had come in and I said yes please. I waited with intrepidation. The largest royalty I’d received to that time was £500. I wondered, could it be more than that or just a 20 quid brush off?

The bank teller came back and gave me the figure. I almost passed out. It was an absolutely huge sum of money and this was just the first of many royalty payments to come. He said do you still want to draw that £5? As I walked home, in a daze I thought to myself “Stevie, you’ve arrived”.

Steve was also on the books as songwriter with MCA records working with Pete Waterman. The Tygers of Pan Tang top 20 single Paris by Air came from those sessions.

But it was while Steve was at Impulse Studio that he came across a young guitarist from the seaside town of Cullercoats who went on to achieve world-wide fame.

Andy Taylor and Steve Thompson.

Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor invited me to his homecoming show in Newcastle September 2021. We had a good catch-up backstage at Wylam Brewery and talked about the two tracks that I’d produced with him back in the day that are soon to be released on the Cherry Red label.

I also mentioned I had a new album in production and talked about him guesting on a track I thought would be suitable called ‘I Will Go Back’. The song is about going back to the place where you belong.

Later Andy’s assistant told me he had said to her “Whatever you do, make sure Steve Thompson is at that show.” I thought that was a bit strange, but just let it go.

A week or two later Andy announced his cancer diagnosis and then went completely off radar. So, I ended up singing the song myself. Surprisingly for the first time in many years, I sang in tune. 

Link > ‘I Will Go Back’  https://vimeo.com/643038136 


Other people were pleased with the vocal so it gave me the confidence to do a couple more tunes on the album. There are four in total with me singing on the ‘Distant Destination’ album.

The final song, ‘The Parting of the Clouds’ is basically my life story and people who are anonymously referred to in the lyrics recognise themselves in there. I sing the final verse from beyond the grave.

Then totally out of the blue I heard from my nephew Martin who is also a singer songwriter as well as a rock show promoter “Uncle Stephen, this would be a good show for you”.

He was talking about a solo performance of my songs with acoustic guitar and vocal. I said don’t be daft I can’t possibly do that. But five minutes later I messaged him back “Oh okay, go on then”.

Then I thought, how the hell am I going to do this? I’ve never done anything like it before. Then Barry Race, percussionist on the album track I mentioned that I had sang, messaged me and offered to play percussion on the show, I was glad of the company.

Later my regular keyboard player Richard Naisbett mentioned that he had seen I was doing a show at The Carriage in Jesmond. He said it was his regular haunt and that he would be along to see me. I suggested he bring his keyboards and watch the show from the stage which he did.

Until the very moment I sang the first note of the first song I had no idea whether or not I could do it. It turned out I could do it so I arranged another show at the White Room in Stanley and for this I prepared an extended set.

It turned out to be a well received show and I was pleased with it. I’d gone from being a non-singer to singing a full 90 minutes on my own. It took me two days to recover from that show, so I decided a change was needed.

You will find a link to the Stanley White Room show via You Tube.     

I invited two great singers to join the lineup on backing vocals, Jen Normandale and Kirsty Forster. They have a couple of featured slots as well. Rehearsals with this new line-up have sounded great.

I’m doing all the songs I wrote for people like Celine, Elkie, Sheena as well as stuff from my last two albums, including a hit I wrote for Tygers of Pan Tang and a whole bunch of other artists.

Although we are now a five piece it’s still basically an acoustic show with cut back versions of the songs I wrote for all kinds of people. And this line-up creates a really nice sound with an emphasis on vocals. We’ll be back at the White Room in Stanley on June 9th 2024.

For more information contact the official website >  

https://www.bit.ly/room2024

Link > ‘Distant Destination’ album 

https://bit.ly/2023Destination

Link > Cherry Red albums with Andy Taylor’s tunes:

https://bit.ly/nortoniron

https://bit.ly/nortoniron2

Alikivi   May 2024

BLOODY TYGERS – new live release plus gigs in Miami, Brazil & Europe

/ Alikivi

2024 is shaping up to be a busy year in the Tygers camp – for an old cat there is plenty wag left in its tail!

“First show of the year was a heavy metal cruise called ‘70,000 tons of metal’ the world’s biggest heavy metal cruise. This year the ship sailed from Miami to Porto Plata in the Caribbean and back to Miami. 60 bands and two performances from each act. Absolutely amazing!”

“Next up was Italy, just last week we played to sold out shows in Rome, Florence and Milan” said founding member & guitarist Robb Weir…

“We also have a new live album due out on April 26th called, ‘Live Blood’. The first single taken from the album is in video form on YouTube called, ‘Gangland”.

Second single Keeping Me Alive has just been released. The track is a mainstay of their live set which first appeared on the 2012 album Ambush.

Live Blood was recorded at the Patriot Club in Crumlin, Wales, by vocalist Jack Meille, drummer Craig Ellis, bassist Huw Holding with guitarists Francesco Marris and Robb Weir.

The album includes material from across the band’s career including tracks from their first four albums from 1980-82 on MCA Records. 

Robb explained “Our live show adds a new dimension to the old songs and allows us to stretch out a bit on the newer numbers”. 

Vocalist Jack Meille added “Live Blood captures all the energy we deliver while playing our favourite songs live and raw“.

What has the summer got in store for the Tygers? First up they’ll be zooming over the Atlantic Ocean to play in South America then keep the thunder rolling with a return to Europe for gigs in May.

Robb has the details…“Next shows are the Summer Breeze festival in Brazil on April 27th, then four UK shows starting at Preston Continental May 2, London Boston Music Rooms May 3, The Crown Merthr Tydfil, Wales May 4 and Eleven in Stoke on Trent on 5th May.

We have two days off then back out to play Budapest in Hungary, Zagreb in Croatia, Belgrade in Serbia, and that’s just for starters”.

With the first half of the year mapped out, Robb adds a final message…

“We’ll be playing a rather special show up in the North East of England in November, details coming very soon. We can only do all of this because of your amazing support and belief in the band and the Tygers would like to whole heartedly say ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you, oh, and see you down the front at the next show!”

Live Blood will be released on double LP (black vinyl, including three exclusive bonus tracks), CD and digital formats on April 26th 2024 via Mighty Music.

Full track listing, gigs, photos & latest news contact the official website >

Tygers Of Pan Tang – The Official Site  

Alikivi   April 2024