“This play looks at domestic violence, coercive relationships and the perils of on-line dating in older people. When computers are relatively new to you it can be difficult to negotiate the etiquette of ‘facey’ (Facebook) and ‘the gram’ (Instagram)”explained Alison.
Alison Stanley
“We live in a digital age where meeting and talking on-line is the norm. Everyone seems to have an on-line presence due to the explosion of social media. We talk to people virtually every day and this can be good in combatting social isolation but do we really know who we are talking to on-line and should we be taking information on social media as gospel?”
Alison got the idea to write the play after listening to a group of older ladies…
“They were talking about chatting to people they had never spoke to for donkey’s years – maybe there’s actually a good reason for that! I found it fascinating how they took everything at face value. This produced some great comedic results but also got me thinking about how dangerous this could actually be”.
More research revealed that older people will put up with unacceptable behaviour much longer than their younger counterparts….
“Sometimes they never complain as they have come from a ‘you make your bed, you lie in it’ era and don’t want to be seen as a failure. The production has comedic moments and that sounds quite odd given the subject matter”.
“The play starts where two main characters are having their first meeting after a spell of on-line flirtation. Their chat revolving around family and virtual situations is funny and relatable. This is in direct contrast to the darker moments we see as their relationship develops”.
Rod Glen
”The roles are being played by myself and Rod Glenn (American Assassin, Emmerdale). I’m really excited about it and Rod will do an amazing job of bringing his character to life”.
‘You Need to Say Sorry’ is on at Laurels, Whitley Bay 7.30pm 14-25 November 2023.
“Laurels is a fantastic little gem of a theatre. It’s an amazing fringe venue that brings theatre into the heart of the community and gives a platform to underrepresented voices”.
Trillians Rock Bar is fronting a chain of gigs by New Wave of British Heavy Metal bands. Prepare yersel for an avalanche of soaring vocals, drums like cannons and torpedo tipped solo’s.
In the coming months Newcastle aims to melt yer ears with Tytan, Di’Anno, Millennium, Spartan Warrior, Girlschool, Alcatrazz, Raven and the Tygers of Pan Tang – make no bones about it the gangbusters are in town.
First up on Friday November 3rd is a triple punch powerplay from Tytan, Spartan Warrior and Millennium. Front man Mark Duffy explained…“I think the NWOBHM scene has lasted so long because it’s produced so many good bands who recorded great records. There’s also a younger generation who are discovering these bands for the first time”.
Spartan Warrior vocalist Dave Wilkinson added…“We’re excited to be co headlining with our friends Tytan, it’s going to be a great night for sure. We have a long history with Millennium who were our Guardian label mates, so in our 40th Anniversary year that’s a bit special too”.
Tytan’s Chief, Kev Riddles, chipped in…“I always feel a little pressure when playing the North East, this year we’ll be lucky enough to play alongside Spartan Warrior at Trillians again”.
Playing on home turf, Tygers of Pan Tang will be looking to deliver thunder from their recent album Bloodlines, plus mixing in some lightning strike favourites from their extensive back catalogue on Friday November 23.
Two days before that former Iron Maiden front man Paul Di’Anno, who was present at the birth of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, holds court at a sold out Trillian’s.
Keeping yer plugged in for 2024 a bone crunching date of 15 February has been set for Girlschool, Alcatrazz and Chief Headbangers Raven as part of a Heavy Metal Assault tour – aye Heavy Metal with a capital H. Be careful out there.
For more info & tickets contact the official website:
A book about the Newcastle music scene in the 70s & 80s ‘Closest Thing to Heaven’ featured in a post back in December 2020 (link below).
Pages of black and white photos of bands, venues, posters and flyers were put together by Mick Fielding and Simon McKay. Featured in the book is guitarist and songwriter Alan Fish.
“That picture was taken in 1979 at The Mayfair, Newcastle. Before that In 1976, Bry Younger asked me to join his rock band ‘Hartbraker’, a band very much in the mould of Led Zeppelin and Free. My influences were The Who /The Kinks. This chemistry was perfect for the fast changing music landscape”.
“The photo perfectly captures our transition from rock to new wave with some of us already taking the brave move of getting our hair cut! A new image! A new sound! And a new name ‘White Heat’.
“Bob Smeaton and I were developing a strong song writing partnership and our first independent release, ’Nervous Breakdown’ got us Radio 1 airplay as well as attracting major label record company interest. 1979 was definitely a big year for us”.
If you feature in the book just get in touch using the contact page. The book is available direct from Tyne Bridge Publishing:
The site has over 350,000 hits on a blog which when it first went live in 2017 I thought would be read by half a dozen people a day. To mark the occasion here’s snippets from the first few posts which gave the site a solid start and built to around 1,000 reads per week.
If you’ve read the blog a big thanks for your support – much appreciated. If you haven’t, why not give it a go there’s hundreds of great interviews featured, you might be surprised.
“The kids were hungry for this noise, anger, excitement and a do it yourself attitude. It was definitely getting to me, getting in my blood, this raw and visceral sound was becoming addictive. The term New Wave of British Heavy Metal had been coined by then, and yeah it really was a new wave and you’ve gotta go with it… and we did” Brian Ross.
“We jumped on a ferry to do some gigs in Holland. We took this thing around Europe and by then the whole British Heavy Metal scene was red hot so it was one mad scene of gig here, gig there, some stories you can’t tell. When you’ve played the Royal Standard in Walthamstow in front of fifty people and they aren’t interested, then you get out here where they are running after your car, sign my booby and all that, that’s gonna turn anybodys head…and it did” Lou Taylor.
“I remember Joe Strummer saying we’re coming to your gig tonight do you mind if I bring Iggy Pop? We said ‘aye go on then’. The gig was in New York we walked on stage, the lights blazed on and Mensi screamed “We’re the Angelic Upstarts, We’re from England, 1,2,3,4” as I strummed my guitar there was an almighty bang, it all went dark then nothing. There was a huge power cut. They couldn’t get it sorted out so we jumped off stage and went to the bar at the back where The Clash were standing and I ordered a Jack and Coke and said to Iggy Pop “It’ll be sorted in a minute, this sort of thing happens to us all the time” Mond Cowie.
“Creative process for me is always different, some are instant, some are like pulling teeth and it goes on for years, literally. You never can tell. Just have to have a good memory really. Lately I’ve been able to do a single album, a double album and now a triple album. Mind you I’m not planning to buy a yacht or anything on the proceeds!”Bernie Torme
“I remember Bordello doing a showcase for CBS. We really went for it, putting our heart and soul into it you know. A guy called Dave Novek came along to have a look at us, we really laid it on in a good studio. But we found out that we ‘weren’t quite what they were looking for’. A couple of weeks later he signed Sigue Sigue Sputnik!’ Go figure!” Steve Dawson
“I remember getting a call around 1981 from NEAT records owner Dave Woods he asked me if NEAT could include our song ‘Flying High’ on a compilation they were producing called ‘Lead Weight’. Well of course I said yes when he listed the other bands who were going to be on – Fist, Venom, Raven just those three names were enough, they were THE Heavy Metal bands from the North East and to be in their company was fantastic for Warrior. Yes really proud of that” Dave Dawson.
“1983 saw Cloven Hoof touring throughout the length and breadth of the UK, earning ourselves a sizable underground cult following. In the summer of that year the band recorded a four-track session for the Tommy Vance Friday Rock Show on Radio One and on the strength of the bands popularity Tyneside based NEAT Records signed us to record our first album. Things were starting to happen for the band, we were really in the mix” Lee Payne.
Check the About page above for a full list of features and interviews.
A book about the Newcastle music scene in the 70s & 80s ‘Closest Thing to Heaven’ featured in a post back in December 2020 (link below).
Pages full of black and white photos of bands, venues, posters and flyers were put together by Mick Fielding and Simon McKay. I got in touch with Simon and asked him about working on the book.
“Working on this book took me back to my most enjoyed gigs in 1980-81 at Newcastle University, Polytechnic Union Buildings, Spectro Arts and the Guildhall. It was wonderful to be reminded of all that. Hopefully, it will stir some good memories for readers too”.
“Closest Thing to Heaven’ is a book evoking simpler times. I thought all I saw then was lost, but Mick and I did find photos of that time”.
“I was reminded that these bands, these times, seemed to come and go in an instant. It was fascinating to revisit it all and reconnect with the excitement of a glorious era and, of course, the hungry optimism of my own youth”.
“The bands that I loved; the bands that I thought would be huge. Sobering, that few got further than Stockton. But those nights spent waiting for bands to come on, watching them play, just being there and connecting with people was such a pleasure”.
Some North East musicians who featured in the book got in touch and talked about their memories of the photos.
‘My old band Sneeze (1969-1971) is pictured – at least the lead vocalist Rod Foggon is. Sneeze were regular performers at the Mayfair in the lifetime of the band supporting some top bands of the era’ saidRoger Smith, author of music blog ‘Ready Steady Gone’.
‘A young Jimmy Nail was a Sneeze fan back then and mentions the band and one of its popular covers in his autobiography. He also refers to the ‘mighty Sneeze’ in a post on Ready Steady Gone. Coincidentally a picture of Jimmy Nail’s band The Prize Guys is next to the Sneeze pic in the book’.
Dance Class frontman Dave Taggart looks back at their picture…
’This is a still from the eponymous Tyne Tees Television’s live music show The Tube. When? I would say 1983 as we played a new song from the forthcoming second album’.
‘On that show were Steve Strange, Southern Death Cult – who later became The Cult – and The Stranglers. We finished the show and had our own fan base in the audience which created a great buzz’.
‘We were green as grass. For instance, every act had to supply their own PA system. We faced our speakers out to the audience which was totally unnecessary as it was for TV and The Stranglers just had a massive monitor system for themselves as they were seasoned performers and knew the score! But what an experience’.
‘We had a gig that night at one of the University Hall’s in Newcastle, Kid Jensen was DJ’ing and presenting added Dave.
He said on his radio show he had ‘just witnessed a band who performed not only on The Tube but also for a massive student audience and they are destined for great things’. What a damn shame’.
‘But that second album I was talking about, we have just got it back after all these years and its being remastered and we are thinking about putting it out on vinyl, CD and Apple tunes’.
The book is available direct from Tyne Bridge Publishing:
Released on 20 October 2023 Lockdown is the new studio album since Something Wicked This Way Comes in 2017.
Drummer Barry Graham Purkis, AKA Thunderstick, best known for being a member of Samson who were part of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal scene (1979-83). Samson played in the UK and the US and released one of the first NWOBHM albums in 1979.
The new album features brand-new material plus never released compositions written by Purkis in the 1980s.
“I believe that it’s been worth the wait. I’m so lucky to have found the musicians that I now work with especially Raven of whom I consider to be one of the finest rock singers that I’ve the good fortune to listen to. She is the real deal both in terms of voice and stagecraft. The next chapter in our story is now ready for the writing.”
Thunderstick are renowned for their female-fronted power rock. Raven Blackwing took time out from rehearsals for their forthcoming gigs……
‘I’m very excited about the album which is my first with the band. I always struggle a little being in the recording studio as I actually don’t like the sound of my own voice. Although my colleagues and friends would probably tell you different!’
‘It’s something I’ve always been paranoid about since childhood. I’ve learnt to appreciate the power I have as well as my range but it’s not the ‘pretty’ voice I dreamed of as a child!
‘I do however love the whole process. We had great fun in the studio but of course there are parts of the album that were actually having to be done from our home studios due to lockdown. The opportunity to just play around with stuff as and when needed was awesome’.
‘You’d suddenly wake in the night with a harmony part going round your head or lyrics and could get it down to send across and build the song from there’.
‘I know Mr Stick (Barry) had the hard job because as stuff was recorded remotely he then had to try and bring it all together’.
How do you think the album turned out? Are you happy with it or could you have worked on it more?
‘I think as a musician you always think there could be some improvement but I am so proud of what we have achieved. The album sleeve is beautiful, the imagery within really encapsulated each song. Also to have had the opportunity to write a couple of the tracks was beyond what I could have envisaged happening’.
‘I like the diversity on the album. I’m happy with it. it’s been a long time coming’.
Are you taking it out on the road?
‘We’ve got gigs lined up for next year, Mearfest, Hard Rock Hell and Poland again but unfortunately not sure we will be able to do a tour as such. Although certainly wouldn’t rule it out’.
‘We are currently all getting together to create our new show. There are several numbers from the album that will be added. I can’t wait to see which songs become fan favourites and hopefully a few of these will be what we’ve chosen.’
‘Due to lockdown a lot of gigs we had in the diary had to fall by the wayside but we’re excited with the new album coming out that we are now getting back out there’.
‘I’m loving being out with the boys! I can’t wait to make the show bigger and better for this album. There’s new costumes coming and new shocks!’
‘I’ve been in the band about four and half years now, which just seems to have flown by. I very much look forward to seeing all our Thunderstick friends at a venue soon’.
The album also features a number of guest appearances from former Thunderstick guitarists, Dave Kilford and Vinny Konrad, ex-Iron Maiden guitarist, Terry Wapram, Dave John Ross from NWOBHM band, More and solo heavy metal guitarist, Marius Danielson.
Thunderstick 2023 line-up: Raven Blackwing – vocals, Pete Pinto and Dave Butters – guitars, Rex Thunderbolt – bass, and Barry Graham Purkis – drums.
Lockdown is released by Roulette Records on 20th October 2023, in CD format and on all the main digital platforms.
On Friday 13 October Newcastle Trillians Rock Bar host a deadly night of NWOBHM with Witchfynde and openers Millennium.
Also at Trillians on Friday 3 November a triple bill with Millennium, Spartan Warrior and bringing the flame in middle order are Tytan. This is gearing up to be one of those loud, hot metal nights that leave blood on the walls.
With fire still in his belly Chief Tytan Kev Riddles explains… “Have to say this is a gig we are really looking forward to as we always get a great reception at Trills, and as guests of Spartan Warrior it should make it a belter gig plus sharing the stage with Millennium should be a hell of a night”.
Later that month Tytan are paired on a double bill with fellow NWOBHM band Praying Mantis at the Black Box in Hastings on Wednesday 22 November.
But next up for Tytan is Poland this month (6th ) opening for Metal Church on their Annihilation world tour, a week later they are back in the UK at Leo’s Red Lion, Gravesend on Friday 13 October.
Kev Riddles’ Baphomet open the show followed by Tailgunner, then Tytan put the hammer down until the last shots ring out from closing headliners Trespass.
“2023 is shaping up to be our busiest ever year so far with over 25 festivals and gigs” added Kev.
”We start work on the third Tytan album soon. We’re in the studio in the coming weeks to knock the ideas into shape and hope to record before Christmas. A release in spring 2024 – that’s the plan. And we are booking for 2024 as well”
Already coming down the pipe is a triple bill of powerhouse metal monsters Tytan, Troyen and Trojan will be running amuck at Bradford’s Nightrain on Saturday 2 March 2024.
‘Watching You Leave’ is the new single by Emma Wilson released on Friday 29 September. It’s the second from her new album Memphis Calling out on 27 October 2023.
“Watching You Leave’is about accepting that every time your lover leaves you just know they are going to come back”explained Emma.
The track is written by Emma and Gary Burr. Emma travelled to Nashville, USA in January 2023 to spend four days writing in Gary Burr’s studio.
‘He has a home studio so it’s a very relaxed environment, yet when we start work it’s intense. I learned from Gary that songs are like movies, you visualise the story’.
Emma, who was winner of the Emerging Blues Artist of The Year at the UK Blues Awards 2022, was in good company as Gary Burr is a Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee, Billboard Country Songwriter of the Year, written fifteen #1 hits and had songs recorded by Garth Brooks, Carole King, Ringo Starr, LeAnn Rimes, Christina Aguilera and Ricky Martin.
‘It was a real masterclass in songwriting. I consider myself at the beginning of my songwriting career however Gary has been at the forefront of the Nashville songwriting scene for decades, in fact, he’s internationally recognised having won many awards’.
What did you learn from the songwriting sessions?
‘I learned that simplicity is often the key, I was trying all sorts of ‘flowery’ lyrics and Gary just said “Imagine you’re having a coffee with a friend. What would you say?” And it works you can get your message over like a conversation’.
‘I’ve also been used to repeating the same lyrics in verses but Gary says “A line is never to be wasted, you have to finish the story”. We wrote four great songs together’.
‘I really enjoyed my time, Gary made me feel very much an equal, professionally and musically. I did smile to myself though when I looked over to his cabinet full of awards!’
How do you think the single has come out ?
‘I’m absolutely thrilled with the single, Gary and I demo-ed it with guitar, bass and drums. Then he said to me you need a really groovy band to record this. Of course the band in Memphis loved it and put a great feel on it’.
‘We picked a great key for my vocal so I can really deliver it, that’s another great thing about writing your own songs, you can pitch it however you want to get the best out of your voice’.
Have you any live dates booked ?
‘Yes I’m playing Leeds on Friday 3rd November at The Cross Keys as part of Leeds Blues Club with my UK Band who are excellent’.
Does a day go by without listening to music? It runs through yer veins. Addiction to music is a feeling everyone reading this site knows, and the person who this new post is about has it bad.
‘I’ve finally come clean and admitted to myself that I’m totally addicted to going to rock concerts. I’ve also realised that all attempts at treatment are futile, and anyway I don’t want to be cured!’ said Peter.
‘This blog is part of my treatment, creating a permanent record of gigs that I’ve been to. I try to remember as much as I can about them which is difficult as my memory is not good these days’.
‘It takes me back to the late 60s early 70s and includes concerts by Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, T Rex, Kate Bush and events such as Reading Festivals, Donnington Monsters of Rock and Live Aid. I’ve attended around 2000 gigs since 1969’explained Peter.
The music blog started in 2011 (link below), and includes great reviews and stories as well as being illustrated with a collection of Peter’s ticket stubs.
First, a bit of background to Sunderland born Peter Smith. Peter graduated in Computing and Mathematics from Sunderland University in 1978, by 1981 he completed a PhD.
He went on to hold a number of positions at the University spending 11 years as a lecturer before being made professor in 1992. Not stopping there he became Dean of Computing and Technology from 1999 until 2007.
Peter has written hundreds of academic papers and books as well as speaking at conferences worldwide. In 2012 he retired from the University and was made Emeritus Professor.
Despite a severe spinal injury in 2016, Peter continued his life’s work and being a massive music fan,alsofound time to publish numerous papers and books on music venues, classic rock and punk bands.
In July 2022 Sunderland University commemorated his contribution to academia, awarding him with an Honorary Doctorate of Technology. Is that enough for ya’?
I started listening to music in the ‘70s and going to gigs in the ‘80s – they were great times and I know how lucky we were to see fantastic bands. Who do you consider your most memorable gigs?
‘Best gigs were Live Aid in Wembley Stadium 1985, I have so many great memories of that day. Queen’s performance is often rated as the greatest live performance by any band. Freddie certainly commanded the crowd that day’.
‘U2 weren’t far behind them with Bono showing how great a front man he was. For me, however, the highlights were The Who and David Bowie, as I was, and remain, a big fan of both acts’.
‘There was Led Zeppelin at Sunderland Locarno in 1971. I remember Zeppelin came on stage quite late, and the crowd immediately rose to their feet and surged to the front, forming a terrible crush’.
‘I remember a guy trying to take a photo of Robert Plant and the bouncers waded into the crowd to get his camera. Robert intervened, and told the bouncers to leaveoff the guy to a great cheer from the crowd’.
‘I was right down the front close to the band. I could almost touch them, the atmosphere was electric’.
‘I also remember great gigs from the Sex Pistols at Whitby in 1975, David Bowie at Newcastle City Hall in ‘72, Rolling Stones at Newcastle in ‘71, The Who played Charlton football ground in 1974 and Abba at Stafford in 1979’.
On your blog you talk about seeing North East bands Geordie, Angelic Upstarts, Brass Alley, Lucas Tyson, Penetration and Tygers of Pan Tang.
There’s a review of a gig by Punishment of Luxury at the Dunelm House, Durham, what can you remember of that night?
‘This gig at Dunelm House came quite early in their career before they had released any recorded material, and was probably one of the first times I saw them.’
‘I do recall seeing Punishment of Luxury several times in 1978 including a packed gig at Newcastle University canteen, and supporting local punk heroes Penetration at the City Hall’.
‘Punilux as they were often called, were quite quirky and unique in their approach. Although their music undoubtedly grew out of punk, their spiky staccato art-rock had much more depth to it, and their performances were very theatrical, strange and in some ways scary, with use of masks and dance’.
What other North East bands have you seen?
‘Last Exit, Sting’s first band, were excellent, Penetration the best North East punk band, I found Prefab Sprout quirky and great, Lindisfarne always magnificent and now we have Sam Fender who is exciting, plus many others’.
What changes have you seen in the live music scene since attending your first gigs and now ?
‘The growth of custom-built arenas. Sadly fewer concerts are held in small venues. However, my hometown Sunderland now has its own great venue The Fire Station’.
For live reviews including Slade, Queen, Genesis, The Clash, Van Halen, Sex Pistols, The Who and zillions more check out Peter’s excellent music blog at:https://myvintagerock.com/
Part two of the interview with Lighting Tech & Stagehand Par Can.Any other venues you worked at stand out?
Madison Square Gardens – oh Lord above. I did the arena upstairs and downstairs was the Felt Forum. Both times the New York State Circus had cages in the building where they kept animals when they weren’t on the road. The smell…you could imagine!
The Manchester Belle Vue had a similar animal circus thing, I saw Peter Frampton and Parliament there and you got this faint whiff of dung. Like the person in front having really bad B.O.
Wembley Arena was easy enough to get in and out off but back in the day it had a reputation for rubber rigging. I remember putting Queen in there in 1980.
When the ‘fly swat’ lighting pods with follow spots went up and down they weren’t smooth like they should be, they bounced…up, up, up. Same when they came down…boing, boing, boing. Yeah that was rubber rigging.
Philadelphia Spectrum was bad, a lot of iconic venues you read about as a kid it’s disheartening when you find they are horrible places. It was always known as the RECTUM !
There was an arena that The Tubes were doing, might have been Minneapolis? No it was Duluth. Next door was a car museum and next to that was a freezer plant because the place was also an ice rink.
Now they used ammonia to pump under the ice rink to freeze it, it was a whole complex – America is all bigger and better apparently!
After the gig during load out warning lights started flashing, horns started screaming. Next thing everyone’s choking there had been an ammonia leak “Everybody out”.
Fire brigade made it safe but your eyes were burning, you’re choking, felt as if you were gonna throw up from your feet. Not gonna forget that one in a hurry.
Newcastle City Hall
I started at Newcastle City Hall in October 1977 and it was all the older guys who’d been there a while. Then slowly but surely, the Sheelz (South Shields) Mafia landed – Dave Ainsley, Dave Linney, Ian Rylance, Gary Lilley, Alan Armstrong and Kev Charlton who once tried on Phil Lynott’s leather pants and he couldn’t get them past his thighs.
Kev was thin himself in those days. We were rolling around in hysterics it was so funny. It showed how skinny Phil Lynott was.
Colin Rowell was the manager and it was rare for him to just leave us overnight to crack on with stuff – but he knew we’d get up to no good. Rush in 1979 comes to mind.
There was a big plastic bin full of ice cubes lying around so we took it up through the roof into the rigging points which looks onto the stage.
One of the lads was looking for us, Dave Ainsley, he was walking across Rush’s stage which was covered in a lovely white shag pile carpet, he shouted “Where are you” as the ice cubes went flying down on him… never thinking ice cubes from 45 feet up could have knocked out… or worse !
When Thin Lizzy played the City Hall me and Kev Charlton ‘acquired’ some pyro and at 6am went up in the old empty projection room on the roof.
We set alight to the pyro, a white mushroom cloud went up and started drifting towards John Dobson street. We ran downstairs when there was a bang on the stage door.
“Morning officer” we said “Never heard nothing we’ve just been asleep”. Somehow we got away with that one.
Another night Mr Plod visited again about 2am “What’s going on in there?” We’d been on the stage and turned on the City Hall organ thinking we were playing Phantom of the Opera.
Looking down on the stage from the balcony to the ‘Biggest production in the City Hall’ Van Halen 17 June 1980.
One night we found a small tunnel on the side wall panels near the seats. We all crawled along on our hands and knees to see where it went. We ended up in next door’s building – the City Baths.
So obviously we got our kit off and swam about – well what else would ya’ do? Unfortunately we must have triggered an alarm so we scurried back to the hall with our clothes under our arms!
The tunnel led to a number of turning points and they went on for a fair distance, some were blocked off by a fence. I’m sure they led all over the city. Once we ended up at a fenced off exit all the way in the Ouseburn Valley ! Took almost an hour to crawl each way !!
Back then it was great, so much fun. Nowadays after spending hours putting them together they don’t let the crews watch the show.
We didn’t do it because we were Meccano freaks, we did it because we were hanging around with the gear, the musicians, to see bands we would never dream of paying to see – Weather Report at Newcastle City Hall was one such band.
Me and Kev Charlton were sitting on the drum riser before soundcheck, Jaco Pastorius came in and sat at the drums. Thwack, thwack, leading with the left, leading with the right, giving it six nowt. We were astounded.
Then he gets up and another guy comes in on drums, believe it was Pete Henderson. Then Jaco Pastorius picks up a fretless bass and starts playing. The sounds they created were amazing. Kev and I were mesmerised.
We did follow spots for the comedian Billy Connolly and one joke had me and Kev laughing so much that we couldn’t keep the follow spot steady. Billy said “Geordies, pissed again”! The whole audience turned to look up at us.
What impact did the road have on your life today?
Until 1990 I never saw that career ending, I came back to the UK got married and had a beautiful daughter. But touring for months at a time isn’t compatible to a home life. So eventually got my hair cut and got a proper job – boy have I regretted that ever since.
How did it affect my life? It got me around a lot of the world several times, lived in America, and to this day I’ve still got an amazing amount of friends I met and worked with because of that time. Some of them, not many, are still on the road today.
ALIKIVI : NORTH EAST UK CULTURE 