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.
‘There’s been nationally recognised music scenes in Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Glasgow and Bristol but there hasn’t been one in the North East. So, I thought there’s a story to be told’.
Retired former Nissan worker Ian Fawdon decided to write a book about his passion. ‘Too Far North’ features over 30 interviews with musicians talking about what it means to be a musician from the North East.
‘I started talking to musicians like The Kane Gang and Lindisfarne drummer Ray Laidlaw, they were all fantastic to interview. White Heat frontman Bob Smeaton was a great storyteller and I found the Heavy Metal section really inspiring’.
‘John Gallagher from Raven and John Roach from Mythra were so enthusiastic – after all these years. When I met Robb Weir from Tygers of Pan Tang I took their first single to the interview I bought in 1980 to get autographed. Robb was more shocked than me!’
‘I start off looking at the 60s and The Animals. I talked to people from then, it was a really vibrant scene. Then I look at the folk scene and Lindisfarne, then punk and New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Then the Kitchenware record label and Sunderland bands Field Music and the Futureheads and finish off by bringing it up to date with Nadine Shah’.
‘Did I come across any unexpected stories? When putting this book together good management really stood out it really made a difference. Tom Noble at Tygers of Pan Tang went to MCA and got them a four album deal. Fist got an album deal but didn’t do as well’.
‘I talked to Keith Armstrong, owner of Kitchenware Records a really interesting guy. Until they came along there was only one choice for bands and that was to go to London. Kitchenware thought no, you don’t have to move we can do it up here. That for me was a refreshing attitude’.
‘They had four bands – Prefab Sprout, Kane Gang, Hurrah and Martin Stephenson and the Daintees. Keith got them all really good deals. Kitchenware still managed the bands but were licensed to the major companies’.
‘Prefab Sprout had already recorded a single and were selling them in HMV when Keith heard them. He went to CBS for Prefab and they asked him how much he wanted. ‘£100,000’ he replied. They made a quick phone call to their boss and agreed the price. He said he had ‘no idea where that number came from!’
‘He later went on to Editors and Jake Bugg. Keith could spot talent and he always hoped that each band recognised that he was doing his best for them’.
Lindisfarne at Newcastle City Hall.
‘Further interviews with Keith revealed that around 1982 there wasn’t much happening in Newcastle. ‘There was me and a couple of mates looking to start something. There was Viz, Trent House bar and a club called World Head Quarters. We wanted to put bands on in the town, there was plenty Heavy Metal gigs but nothing else’.
‘We got a few bands from Scotland like Aztec Camera and a few other nights started up. Our favourite band was New Order so we thought of getting them’. They phoned the manager up and he demanded cash on arrival, which they agreed to. Tickets sold quickly so they transferred the gig to Newcastle Mayfair, that sold out and set them up’.
‘The New Order gig money was enough to record singles in a London studio for Hurrah, and Martin Stephenson and the Daintees. One day Keith Armstrong, who was manager at Newcastle HMV, had Martin Stephenson’s Daintees busking outside the shop. But they were getting some grief so Keith asked them to play inside. He liked some of the tunes – that’s where he asked them about going down to London to record’.
‘Just every now and again you get people from the North East who have that drive, that ambition, and Keith was like that. He was just a young lad at the time, in his early 20s and a manager of a record shop’ said Ian.
‘Keith told me that he got hold of Malcom Gerrie who was the top boss at The Tube and said to him ‘you’re not doing much on the North East why not do something on Kitchenware?’ It wasn’t long till a segment on Kitchenware records was broadcast on The Tube. Keith was pushy with enough belief in the North East. He’s still active now and has Soul Kitchen Recordings and gets young talent from the North East to put records out’.
‘If you are looking for a sad story in the book I did an interview where I did feel sorry for those concerned. There is a lot of tales of woe. One of the bands in the punk section were from Durham, called Neon. I really liked them, they were so arty and interesting and played a lot in the North East. One of the famous gigs at the Guildhall in Newcastle was with Angelic Upstarts and Punishment of Luxury where a massive fight broke out’.
‘Punishment got signed by United Artists who were also sniffing around Neon. In an interview Tim Jones (vocals, Neon) told me there was a guy called Martin Rushent (Buzzcocks, Stranglers, Human League). He was a big name producer starting up a new label. He asked Neon to ‘come down to our independent label and we’ll put your single out give you plenty of attention’.
‘They went with them and started touring but the van was breaking down, the PA was knackered, there was just no money. They went to the studio where Martin was recording XTC and told him about the situation, he replied ‘What do you expect me to do about it?’
The band were devastated and not long after split up. Tim was shocked at the treatment and said ‘at first someone gave us the dream, then just dropped us. How could he treat a bunch of 18 year old kids like that? It seems we got picked up then they got bored of us’.
‘You want a funny story? Maybe not comical but the book has a number of incidents that occur around musicians and gigs. This one included top Hollywood film director Spike Lee’.
‘Believe it or not Spike has a brother who is a massive Prefab Sprout fan. A few year ago Spike wanted to develop a fairy tale animation based on the music of Paddy McAloon. Everything was going alright until they met in London and Spike had changed his mind because he had fallen out with his brother’.
‘Hurrah got the gig supporting U2 and found themselves in a big venue in Birmingham where they didn’t understand the scale. Their little curly guitar leads wouldn’t stretch across the huge stage’.
‘They also told me they didn’t play the game. After gigs they didn’t go in the green room to rub shoulders with other bands and music biz people. They’d stay in their dressing room turn the light off and shout at each other while throwing their rider about, which was usually fruit. At one gig The Edge and Larry from U2 opened the door to someone shouting ‘bananas’!’
‘I spoke to Brian Bond and he told me Punishment of Luxury were on a European tour and the last gig was in Holland. The stage manager said why not do something special? So, on their last song Jellyfish he got a bucket of raw fish and threw it at the audience – who threw it straight back all over the guitars and amps. Brian said it was the worst thing he had done on stage he couldn’t believe he had done it and had to apologise to the band’.
Ian adds ‘I wrote the 400 odd page book in a positive fashion, I didn’t include stories about drugs and not everyone’s favourite is in but I favoured the North East bands, always loved them and saw plenty when I was younger’.
‘Too Far North’ on Tyne Bridge Publishing is out now for further information contact >
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”.
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).
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 ‘NervousBreakdown’. 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.
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”.
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 >
After 500 posts and over 370,000 views, WordPress (who run this blog) have sent their congratulations to the North East culture site after completing its seventh year, aye seven years, can’t believe how quickly time has gone.
From the first post in February 2017, the free site – without any ads, pop ups or clickbait – has gone from strength to strength picking up views not only here in the UK but worldwide, including USA, Japan, Brazil, Sweden, Ireland, Australia and European countries Spain, Italy, France and Germany.
First up were metal bands Fist, Mythra, Raven, Satan, Venom and Tygers of Pan Tang followed by music memories from bands including Beckett, Angelic Upstarts, White Heat, Lindisfarne, Lorraine Crosby, Wildhearts, Dance Class, Kane Gang and Southbound.
Searching the site, you’ll find interviews with authors and photographers, there’s also stories from recording studios Guardian and Impulse.
As well as theatre producer Leah Bell and TV actress Lesley Saint-John, by far the most popular post at 15,000, there are stories from roadies, radio presenters and TV production teams.
During the 2020 covid lockdowns people looked for something new to read so their views added to the regular readers, resulting in monthly numbers of 7,000 with a high of 9,700.
Now the site gets a steady monthly count of 4-5,000, I must say a big thanks to everyone who reads the posts – much appreciated.
How long will it last? Well, the phone’s still ringing and stories keep dropping in my inbox, so I’ll keep gaan until the juice runs out.
First rumble of thunder out of Whitley Bay was way back when their first single was recorded at the legendary Neat records in Wallsend. Now after nearly half a century the NWOBHM flag bearers Tygers of Pan Tang are not ready to throw the towel in just yet as they prepare to unleash a live album.
Vocalist Jack Meille explained“Recording a live album after all this time? I never thought I would experience it but with the Tygers I have learnt that the impossible is possible. ‘Live Blood’ captures all the energy we deliver while playing our favourite songs live and raw!”
Recorded in summer 2023 at The Patriot in Wales, with guitarist Robb Weir, vocalist Jack Meille, drummer Craig Ellis, guitarist Francesco Marras and bass player Huw Holding, the set includes Euthanasia, Love Don’t Stay, Paris By Air and Love Potion No.9 from their first albums plus Edge of the World, Fire on the Horizon and A New Heartbeat from the latest album ‘Bloodlines’.
‘Live Blood’ will be released on April 26th 2024 via Mighty Music. The double LP includes three exclusive bonus tracks, it’s also available on CD and digital formats. Pre-orders and full track listing are available here.
Robb Weir added“Every time we play a show we’re asked when are we going to record a new live album. Our live show adds a new dimension to the old songs and allows us to stretch out a bit on the newer numbers”.
The album will be preceded by two singles – the live favourite Gangland from their legendary album ‘Spellbound’ and Keeping Me Alive from ‘Ambush’.
The end of 2023 is nearly upon us as I post the last blog of the year and coincidentally the 500th since starting in 2017. As well as wishing a great Christmas and New Year it’s a BIG thanks to everyone who took the time out to add their story to the site and all the readers around the world who have made it a success.
I’d also like to mention the recent plaque awarded to The Tube placed on Newcastle’s City Road where the Tyne Tees TV studio used to be. Many North East musicians were inspired by the live music show, Toy Dolls, Kane Gang, Tygers of Pan Tang and Dance Class to name a few got to play live. Plus behind the scenes some of the production staff were Geordies adding an extra Tyneside flavour to the programme.
The influence that The Tube had on me and many other people in the North East can’t be underestimated, so we give a salute to the ground breaking, never to be forgotten, legendary Tube and all who sailed in her.
Finally to close the book on this year it’s over and out from me with al’ the best for 2024!
“I’ve been living in Los Angeles since 2010 after marrying my LA woman, Sheila.I was born in Yorkshire but from the age of 10 grew up in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham. Then went to art college in Newcastle where I spent a good portion of my grant on seeing as many bands as I could at the City Hall”.
Richard E, Newcastle City Hall tickets.
“1979 was a great year for me. Finally getting out of small town Newton Aycliffe to live in Newcastle for a year doing a foundation course in art and design. I just dived right into the music scene and saw as many bands as I could”.
“Penetration I loved, Pauline was my punk crush! And they were local heroes who lived in a town 5 miles down the road. Roxy Music were supported by a band called The Tourists featuring a certain Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox! “
“The Jam were the only band to force security to let the kids actually dance in the aisles. They were usually very strict at the City Hall, but Weller took them on, mid set, and somehow made it happen”.
“I wish Punilux had done more. I bought Puppet Life when it came out. I included it in one of my recent radio shows, it still sounds so fresh. I also got to be at an epic concert that year that wasn’t in Newcastle. Led Zeppelin at Knebworth!”
Richard is composer/producer for award winning band Annabel (lee), which he created with his American wife, singer, lyricist and composer Sheila Ellis.
Their debut album released in 2015 on Ninja Tune Records won the UK’s Dead Albatross Music Prize, chosen from over 700 releases in the UK and Eire.
“During lockdown I had the time to record my first solo album harking back to my roots fronting a post punk, indie rock band in London in the late 80s” said Richard.
Hoochmongers press shot1990.
“I was moved to start writing my own songs again to express my discontent with world events over the past few years, encompassing rock, post punk, electronic and psychedelic influences”.
“The album features bass guitar on four tracks by David J ex- Bauhaus / Love & Rockets who became a friend after hearing a track by Annabel (lee) on LA’s independent radio station KCRW. I was also lucky enough to get David Bowie’s pianist Mike Garson to play on The Great Showing.”
Richard added “The video for my debut solo single was officially released on November 17th. Some people have said it has a Floydian vibe, and I felt myself once it was finished it made me think of George Harrison jamming with the Floyd”.
“ Jon Dalton, who you have previously interviewed on this site plays on the track and will be in my live band. I’m also producing his new album. Jon can be seen in the video playing his spacey guitar part in a very interesting way!”
