Just back after four days filming at the Mouth of the Tyne festival. The stage for the concert is fantastic, set in the grounds of Tynemouth Priory & Castle where the North Sea meets the river Tyne.
From Thursday 6th to Sunday 9th July headliners were The Proclaimers, Siouxsie, ex Housemartins/Beautiful South vocalist Paul Heaton, and on Sunday Gabrielle was on with Tyneside band Big Red & the Grinners. New post soon about the festival.
In September the prestigious Lit & Phil in Newcastle city centre will host two of the region’s most loved television icons for an evening of fun and laughter.
Jeff Brown and Ian Payne are well known North East newsreaders from BBC Look North and ITV Tyne Tees. Despite being on rival stations, Jeff and Ian are good mates.
They have been guests in our living rooms presenting award-winning local news for years – but how much do we really know of them?
Ian & Jeff (pic March 2023)
Ian, 55, originally from Ipswich, came to study in Newcastle in 1986 and never left! He joined Tyne Tees in 1992 and has shared news presenting duties with Mike Neville and the much-loved Pam Royle.
Jeff, 61, who hails from Roker, was a journalist on local newspapers and joined Tyne Tees in 1996 where he worked with the legendary Mike Neville. He has just celebrated 20 years at the BBC.
“Me and Ian spend most of our lives reading out other people’s words, so it’ll be a nice change to tell folk a bit more about ourselves. It’s not just a talk show, though – there’ll be music and all sorts going on”.
Jeff added “We’re hoping it’ll be fun. We’ll certainly enjoy ourselves!”
Both TV personalities agreed to do the talks after being approached by playwright and producer Ed Waugh.
“They are cultural icons of the region, that’s why I suggested this event, so people can get to know them better” explained Ed.
Ed, whose hit plays include Wor Bella and Hadaway Harry, explained “I’ve worked with Jeff and Ian at various times, especially at Sunday for Sammy and the Laffalang. They’re both great lads, really entertaining. Whenever we get together it’s one long laugh. Their stories are captivating and hilarious”.
Ed continued “Ian was a top trampolinist in his youth and appeared on children’s tv show Blockbusters! He’s also a creative writer, a budding artist and loves music”.
“Likewise, Jeff is a creative writer, with a new play on at the Customs House in September. He’s also a canny chanter. I’ve seen him sing live with a band and he rocked!
We’ve already had to add an afternoon talk because of popular demand. It’ll be a cracking show with those canny lads off the telly!”
The event organised by Wisecrack productions will take place on Wednesday, September 6, at 2pm and 6.30pm. Tickets cost £6 and are limited to 80 per performance.
They can be purchased via Eventbrite or available to buy direct from the Lit & Phil or telephone (0191) 232 0192.
50 year old Foster Neville is catching his breath as his new double album The Edge of Destruction is making ambient sound waves in Japan via Durham, Netherlands, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Australia and the USA.
Originally from Consett, Foster has always been a big fan of German electronic band Kraftwerk, but started off as a singer/songwriter in a punk band in the 1980s.
While the music on the new album is mostly electronic, Foster’s starting point for all of the tracks was simple piano improvisation.
He explained “I manipulated these sketchy jazz-like improvisations using aural patterns taken from poetry and architecture. Once they were in the bag, I re-recorded them using electronic treatments.”
“Ambient music is about a different kind of listening, it has to be taken at another pace and is perhaps more suitable to our lives today and the problems we face”.
“I like to think of it as ‘green’ music – sound structures with plenty of space for sunlight or moonlight to percolate through. Thanks to the internet this sort of music is finding an audience everywhere in the world” added Foster whose music and lyrics are inspired by the landscape around him.
“It’s a northern landscape, often reclaimed from, and bearing the scars of, heavy industry and pollution”.
“The opening track, ‘A Change in the Air’ alerts the listener to the threats hidden in idyllic rural scenes and draws on my own childhood memories of playing out after the Chernobyl nuclear accident.”
The title track, The Edge of Destruction, features a girl’s voice counting down in Chinese to imminent disaster before safety is reached in the album’s remaining tracks.
The double vinyl also has a hidden song, which is a homage to the late electronic music pioneer Delia Derbyshire, who is best known for her version of the Doctor Who theme.
“I went from living in a former mining village to curating art in galleries in the West End of London and at Durham Uni was a founder of one of the largest collections of modern art in any UK university”.
“During this time I became friends with the Maharaja of Baroda Shrimant Ranjitsinh, who was to prove an important spiritual and musical influence. It was ultimately through Ranjit that I re-engaged with music-making on my own terms.”
On the new album Foster teamed up with producer John Pilgrim, one of the founders of the folk horror revival movement.
“The folk horror movement celebrates British movies with a connection to rural traditions and folklore, like The Wicker Man and The Blood on Satan’s Claw”.
Foster continued “As an undergraduate at Oxford, I was taught poetry by Seamus Heaney. While dropping out of academia, all of my experience in life provides the album with a literate and artistic background”.
The Edge of Destruction is released on SubExotic Records and distributed through among others, the legendary Rough Trade label. The eleven-song discs plus hidden track are on sale in major record stockists in the UK.
The Fauves are fronted by vocalist Mick Smith, Allen Hughes on guitar, drummer Bob Rowland & bassist Bri Smith.
Their new album is not exactly a snoozefest. Throughout are overtones of French alt. rock band Trust and twisty riffs alike to New York’s King of the punks, Ramones – make no mistake The Fauves are on the hunt.
We’re quite busy at the moment. This is our fourth album really, but we count it as our third because most of the songs on the second album Back Off World were redone with Micks vocals, he gave the songs a bit more aggression than the original version explained bassist Bri Smith.
Universal themes of money, war, drugs and love are delivered with seething anger and frustration.
Resistance 22 is obviously a pro-Ukrainian song, No Escape describes the first stages of war in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, while Sanctuary is about wanting to retreat to a quieter world explained frontman Mick Smith.
Who else is in the firing line?
We have a track about the so called social warriors, the compassionate narcissistic types in Shower of Fanatics – while the track Tax me when I’m Dead is about the lazy work shy being financed at the expense of the workers.
Mental health and the darker side of life is examined on Looking in the Mirror and Inject the Poison… That’s about someone overcoming drug addiction while Chemical Curfew is about the overuse of medication and alcohol to keep us in line.
Poverty of Thought is a song about judging and being judged and Sleeping Rough is someone who seeks love on the street because there’s no love at home.
‘You cannot sleep tonight, there’s a face right up close, try to close your eyes again, want to shake off this old ghost’
Among the chaos and debris of life The Fauves retain a sense of humour in the track Where’s Bob.
That’s about a man who will go to any lengths to get the right sound for his band – even killing several soundmen!
For Resistance 22 the band entered Garage Studios in South Shields and again employed the services of Kyle Martin.
Kyle is great, he engineered the album, we’ve recorded all our albums there and it’s also a great place to rehearse. Kyle knows our style of music and knows what sound we like.
He also throws a few ideas in as well. It’s a great little studio, ideal for us and it’s got all the facilities we need added Bri Smith.
We also did a gig at the Bunker in Sunderland in March where it was recorded live. The recording was that good we decided to release it as a live album which will be released soon. It also has a bonus track on, a new version of Slightest Push an old song from years back.
This summer The Fauves are looking to get back on the road to promote their new album.
We are going to break the new songs in gently, maybe introduce three or four songs at a time, we’ve already played a few of them live explained Bri.
We have a few gigs lined up over the coming months, The Black Bull punk festival 30th June, The Underground in Bradford 8th July, Angels Place Sunderland 22nd July, Trillians Newcastle 23rd July then we’ve got the big one on August 6th at The Rebellion four day festival in Blackpool. Really looking forward to that one.
The Winter Gardens stage Rebellion from 3-6 August, bands include The Damned, New Model Army, Big Country, UK Subs, Exploited, The Only Ones and many more. The literary stage features an interview with South Shields born Wildheart, Danny McCormack.
That’s followed by The Punk and Ska Festival in Redcar 7th September, other gigs are being lined up for later in the year at Manchester and other Northern areas.
The new album on CD released on 1st July 2023 costs £10.00 + £2.00 postage in UK and a free exclusive badge until stocks last.
The CD will be available at all gigs from 30th June.
For details including merchandise, contact Phil on thunderbirdsport885@hotmail.co.uk or
Phil Rowland on Facebook Messenger.
From July 1st 2023 the album will be available on all usual online platforms including BandCamp, Spotify, iTunes, Amazon Music, Deezer and many others.
Alikivi June 2023
Check out Ground Zero for more about The Fauves via South Shields punks Angelic Upstarts.
So far, this year has been golden for Raven who’ve been inducted into the Metal Hall of Fame, recorded a new album ready on the blocks for release, awarded a front cover on the highly respected International Rock & Metal magazine Aardschok and preparing for an upcoming tour. Bassist & vocalist John Gallagher explains the positive mood in the Raven camp…
The new album ‘All Hells Breaking Loose’ will be our 15th full studio album. The album name is one of the tracks and it’s always nice to have a title track. This one stuck out as a great title to build the album around and sparked the cover idea too.
But lately at gigs we’ve been playing the ‘All for One’ album as it’s reached it’s 40th anniversary.
Raven at Newcastle Mayfair 16 June 1983 pic Duncan Butterfield.
1983 was a big year for Raven – they hoyed the kitchen sink and both taps at a major USA tour, previously there was a gig at London’s Marquee and a few nights later they landed on Newcastle Mayfair.
The biggest bands on the planet including Zeppelin, Queen, Nirvana and The Who had played the venue, then on one red hot sweaty night in June ‘83, Raven played on home turf.
John remembers that night…I do seem to remember doing a ‘runner’ during my bass solo. Jumping offstage, running up to the balcony, round and back on before most people knew what happened!
John Gallagher Newcastle Mayfair 16 June 1983 pic Duncan Butterfield.
It was a great night, I was doon the front as were many from Sooth Sheelz as the show was opened by local metallers Hellanbach.The red hot atmosphere of the night was captured in these excellent live pics by music fan Duncan Butterfield.
Mark Gallagher, Newcastle Mayfair 16 June 1983 pic Duncan Butterfield.
Sadly, the Mayfair was demolished in 1999 only to be replaced by a shiny pub and restaurant block with some bonny lights.But here we are many moons later and Raven have been busy in the studio mixing up the latest concoction.
It’s 10 songs, about 40 mins of all killer no filler – 1000% pure mania!So far we’ve put out two video singles, ‘Go for the Gold’ and ‘Surf the Tsunami’ and there will be one more when the album comes out.
The Godfathers of Thrash release their new album All Hell’s Breaking Loose on 30th June 2023. Check the official Raven website for merch/album/video & upcoming European gigs in July & September 2023.
It’s 1996 and Greedsville were splitting up after the five years that I’d been in the band. I was exhausted cos I had a day job as well plus I was getting interested in just song writing rather than being in a full-on band all the time.
Me and Pete the singer lived in the same flat and we had discussions about it not working anymore. We felt we had taken it as far as we could and our manager Sue Wilkinson had exhausted herself.
So, I wasn’t going off behind anyone’s back when I went to the studio and recorded a few songs looking at trying to get a publishing deal.
Fred Purser ex Penetration & Tygers of Pan Tang (1982)
The studio was Trinity Heights in Newcastle run by Fred Purser (ex guitar Penetration/Tygers of Pan Tang) who I love, he’s great. I was in three days playing all the parts with keyboards by ex-Greedsville man Mark Burton.
(Check the interview ‘Square One’ with Fred Purser 30 December 2018).
Sue agreed that she would be point of contact for the demo that I’d sent to a number of record companies. After only a few days Sue called me and said that Chrysalis A&R were interested.
They liked the songs but they wanted a band not just singer-songwriter. So, after a few phone calls I got in Ed Box who was guitarist and Gary Foalle who played bass in XLR8R, keyboardist Mark Burton was already in.
I also got Graham Hattam in on drums – he was second Greedsville drummer – when I formed the first version of the band. We called it Arch Stanton, a name featured in the great Clint Eastwood film The Good, The Bad & The Ugly.
Arch Stanton publicity photo (1998)
To put two songs together we went into Sams Studio in Newcastle because Trinity Heights was booked. Sue sent the tape to the A&R guy but we never heard anything back! The Chrysalis receptionist told us it’s on his desk. Still nothing. This was all annoying after the money and time spent.
This was all in the summer of ’96, we wrote a few more songs and done some gigs. Nothing was happening really apart from our manager Sue Wilkinson applying for a National Lottery grant. (Check the interview ‘Making Plans’ with Sue Wilkinson 25 March 2023 link below).
Well things were fizzling out and the other guys went back to XLR8R until I got a call from Sue ‘get the band back together’! The Lottery grant had been successful and we gathered a four piece band with me, Ed Box, Gary Foalle and Mick Robson on drums and wrote some new material.
Then we went into Trinity Heights and recorded four songs and it was the best feeling, it all just clicked. The lovely Sue got us loads of publicity in the media, TV slots on BBC Look North, cable, radio and newspapers.
The timing was great for the band, we all felt good about it. With the Lottery grant we didn’t need to worry about how much the studio would cost – we could relax into it you know.
Greedsville & Arch Stanton manager Sue Wilkinson
Then the BBC contacted Sue and said they were coming up to Newcastle to film us for a National Lottery show and it was going to be a Spice Girls special! A camera guy came up and filmed us miming in Fred’s studio (Trinity Heights).
Along with Sue I was going to be in the TV studio on the night, live TV, millions of people watching. Night before leaving for the Lottery show Sue called and said the BBC have been in touch and they want a girl singer on because it’s all about girl power with The Spice Girls on. There was a female vocalist in a band from Sunderland who also got a grant so she got the gig instead!
On the night it was broadcast I had a ticket to see the comedian Bill Bailey so my mam video-taped the live show. To be honest when I watched it back it didn’t look good with a video montage of Newcastle, Tyne bridge, Ant & Dec that sort of thing you know.
The 10 second shot with us in Trinity Heights studio didn’t have our name on, or music, or any other bands who were awarded grants. But it was memorable for the night that Geri left The Spice Girls.
For the record, I found the BBC Lottery clip on YouTube, the girl who ended up on the show, instead of me, was called Lara – least that’s what I think they said! Her band was called K9. I heard the backstage gossip was you could cut the tension with a knife (laughs).
The whole point was that the grants were awarded to help bands, but none of us were mentioned. Audience was around 12 million – one of them could have made a difference to any of the bands, but it wasn’t to be.
We, Arch Stanton, carried on for another few year playing gigs at venues like The Riverside, and we recorded a seven track album in Fred’s Trinity Heights studio which was eventually released in 2015.
Also a further five songs were recorded in Sam’s Studios and Octopus Studios. This made up the twelve tracks that were released as an album The Stanton Files in 2015, this was also the year I released my first solo album Life Off Line.
Fred Purser (2021).
I was employed at Trinity Heights, by Fred Purser as a video editor/production assistant, with some assistant sound engineering as a second role. The first music videos I worked on were for what become the album Square One by Fred Purser and Jon Deverill – both ex Tygers of Pan Tang.
When the band The Cockney Rejects were recording their album in Trinity Heights, Out of the Gutter, they asked Fred if they knew someone who played harmonica, he said yes, there’s one sitting upstairs doing some video editing!
I had met them when they came in, great bunch of lads, and ended up playing harmonica on the track Collar Felt Blues. The video for this song was shot in the studio with me in it, it was broadcast on MTV Europe at the time.
Evan Dando of The Lemonheads, UK, 1994. (Photo by Denis O’Regan/Getty Images)
Arch Stanton had split by 2000, and that’s when me, Ed Box and Gary Foalle ended up in New York. We were on holiday and our friend Elizabeth from Newcastle lived there as she was engaged to Evan Dando from The Lemonheads. She was a model in London, Paris then New York where she met Evan. She started off by winning a competition in the Newcastle Chronicle.
We were invited to their wedding in New York and we met a few celeb’s, one of them was Anthony Langdon from the band Spacehog. I first met Anthony – originally from Leeds – in March 2000, when I first went to New York City.
We were hustling around passing our demo to people but nothing really come of it. Evan came over to the UK and played the Wylam Brewery in Newcastle in 2017 where I supported, it was a great gig.
Evan Dando & Clive Jackson at the Wylam Brewery (2017)
With the experience working on video at Fred’s studio in 2004 I set up my own company, Automatic Films, where I went to New York to film Evan in a Day in the Life documentary called One Day in New York.
Chanel Four were looking at it but never took it up but this led me to working on other film projects like short films, music video, comedy and entering them into film festivals.
What am I doing now in music ? I ‘m just completing a new album called Distortion and hopefully release it by September 2023.
For more information/albums/photo’s check out Clive’s official website :
Clive is a singer/songwriter who released two solo albums, Life Off Line (2015) and Rocket Science in (2019). He is currently working on a new album for release this year.
A veteran of rock bands who were part of the Newcastle music scene in the 1990’s, he was a member of Greedsville who released an album in 1994.
Greedsville promo pic with Clive on the right.
The main thing that motivated me to get a guitar and become a songwriter in a band was when John Lennon died in 1980, they played tons of Beatles songs on T.V and Radio. I was already aware of a lot of it, but when I heard A Day in The Life on ITN news, I was hooked.
I joined various bands in the 80s, one being Twelve Angry Penguins – it was the era of daft band names! Then I was guitarist in a band called Dark Roads, and in 1991 we recorded a demo at Linx Studio with Mond Cowie (ex Angelic Upstarts) engineering. I was really pleased with my vocals, song writing and guitar work on that but unfortunately within six weeks everyone left Newcastle!
The drummer went to be a policeman in Leeds, the other guitarist went to live with his girlfriend in Wakefield and the bassist moved to Scotland to manage a hotel. In the midst of all that I got a phone call from Andy Carpenter who was bassist in Greedsville.
We sort of knew each other because we rehearsed in the same place, the 244 Rock club on Westgate Road here in Newcastle. There was a car repair shop in the back and in front was an old navy club, it was a very underground set up.
I handed Andy the Dark Roads demo and he asked me to join Greedsville as a song writer, that worked out and I became rhythm guitarist. Other bands on the scene were XLR8R, Strange Thing, 2000 and Roswell.
Greedsville live at London’s Marquee.
We gigged a lot and played in Newcastle, Hull and Leeds, we went down to London Marquee seven times. I had a full-time job in the Civil Service so ended up using all my annual leave when we had to travel to gigs in London. We couldn’t knock back gigs in the capital.
Sometimes I had to arrange a half day here, and a full day there. For one London gig work wouldn’t give me a half day. I pleaded with them as we had reviewers from Kerrang and NME coming along, it was important, one gig could make all the difference.
So, I decided to get the train from Newcastle to Kings Cross, legged it to the Marquee, did the gig, ran off stage, missed the last train, so jumped on the all-night bus from Victoria – still sweating and stinking with my stage clothes on. It was a long night as the bus stopped off everywhere.
Finally got home, showered, then made it to work just in time. But I was knackered, more of this wasn’t doing my health any good.
Around the early 90s we met a London guy called Sean Worrall who reviewed our demo, he ran a fanzine called The Organ and was connected to record companies. He would promote showcase gigs at the Marquee or Camden Monarch where A&R guys would turn up. Sean set up one for us.
There was Geffen records, EMI and MCA hanging at the back of the hall. It wasn’t like a gig more like a jury with them not clapping. Sadly, nothing came of it.
Then London Records saw us play in The Broken Doll, Newcastle and paid for a 4-track demo which we recorded in Hi Level studio. They asked us to ‘grunge’ the sound up.
Then we recorded a rough demo on a four track recorder in the Greedsville rehearsal room. Sean took it to MCA and the first song on it, one I’d written, was more like what they were looking for.
But the rest of the band didn’t want to go in that direction. At the time we were being compared to REM and Roxy Music – quite a wide spectrum.
Greedsville manager Sue Wilkinson
The Greedsville manager was Sue Wilkinson, who has just retired from the BBC. In the 90s she was running Generator here in the North East, she got us loads of publicity, articles and reviews in the press, plus radio and TV slots on local and national TV.
She got us on Tyne Tees, you can watch it on You Tube, Greedsville – Local ITV News, UK (Tyne Tees Television) 21st June 1993. That’s footage from a showcase gig at Newcastle’s Riverside. Ian Penman (Ravendale, music journalist) is also on who was a really nice guy and supportive of the North East music scene. Sadly, he passed away not long ago.
One time we were on the bill at Camden Monarch with Skunk Anansie. There was a chalk board outside the venue with the bands names on – they were billed as Skunk and Nancy and we were Green Sleeves!
I was staring at the board when their singer Skin, she is beautiful by the way, came up to me and asked if I was in Green Sleeves. I said ‘it’s Greedsville’ we were both laughing at the mistakes. They got a record deal. We didn’t.
Our guy in London, Sean Worrall backed off in the end because he explained to us that he’d met the record companies, they’d sent A&R men, heard the demos, he felt that he’d done all he could. It was an amicable parting, no hard feelings he’d just run out of road for us.
There was still a lot of Newcastle connections around that time, like Kev Ridley, engineer at Linx Studio. There was a band I knew called For Gods Sake with guitarist Steve Wallace, there was Steve Charley the Canadian, he was studio engineer for a while. There were connections to the Music for Nations label with Venom and Skyclad.
Then Greedsville signed to North East independent record label Bleeding Hearts run by Eric Cook and Tony Bray, Eric was manager of Venom and Tony was the drummer.
What happened was Sue Wilkinson got a call from Eric Cook asking would Greedsville be interested in a deal? ‘Great’ we all said. At the time we were recording in Trinity Heights studio run by Fred Purser (ex Penetration and Tygers of Pan Tang).
Greedsville album released in 1994.
The singer Pete Turner was involved in all the conversations between Eric Cooke and Sue Wilkinson, and the rest of the band, including myself, were all present at meetings when major decisions were made. The contract was for distribution in Europe and Asia, we had it checked out and it was ok. We signed on the dotted line around 1994.
We had originally planned to record an EP with four songs but with the deal happening it turned into an album. We recorded in three studios – Linx, Trinity Heights and a place in Chester le Street with Frankie Gibbon. It was all mixed and mastered at Fred’s Trinity studio.
Eventually we released The Casino Royale Collection. We made 10,000 copies and it was on sale in shops like Our Price and Virgin stores.
We were due to play in Middlesbrough, then onto the Heineken Music Festival in Gateshead Stadium. But a few weeks before that we played in London and on the way back in the van our drummer Doug Hayes said he was leaving.
So, we quickly had to get someone else in, that was Graham Hattam. We were really up against it, but Graham learned quick in a small time frame and the Heineken gig went well. The Stranglers and Jools Holland big band were also on, it was a great time and Sue got us lots of press.
But we started to lose momentum, Britpop had taken over, the band were falling apart. In 1996 it was all over for Greedsville.
Clive Jackson
Looking back the 90s had loads of different bands playing folk, blues, metal, psychedelia, it wasn’t just one genre. That’s one of the many reasons I think the A&R thing didn’t really happen here.
In one night, they would see a band dressed like they were in a pantomime, others playing Frank Zappa, and in the next pub there would be a full on metal band playing. There just wasn’t a load of bands playing one type of music where they could watch and give a definite yes or no, or maybe sign a band to a development deal.
Back then we sold around 5-6,000 albums but never received a penny. The Greedsville album is still on sale now through outlets like Amazon. If people are getting something out of listening to the songs that’s great – but did I make a living out of the music business? Absolutely not.
In the digital age copyright goes out the window. I do get royalty cheques now and then from my latest solo albums, the last was from Spotify for around $400.
There’s lots more to add to the Clive Jackson story, and that will be added to the blog later, but for more information check the official website:
left to rightMick Storrie, Ronnie McLean, John Cook, Mark Robinson
In the ‘90s a weekend in Newcastle Mayfair was packed with musicians thinking they’d be the next big thing. As it turns out many were short lived said Ronnie.
Bands like XLR8R had a huge local following but didn’t do much outside the area and others like Whatever and For Gods Sake were making serious in roads.
We were largely doing different stuff so it wasn’t competition, most were good friends – and still are.
What we had in The Reign was mutual respect, you need that. It’s not just about writing and recording, you’re on tour together getting up in the morning traveling all day to the next gig and repeat. So if you don’t get on, it won’t work long term.
When I was younger I was drumming in extreme metal band State of Shock. By the time I was 20 I’d played all over the country supporting bands playing great gigs. We were even lucky enough to play a session at BBC Radio One’s Maida Vale studios.
Following the demise of that band our guitarist Mark Robinson joined The Reign who had been formed by John Cook (bass, vocals) and Mick Storrie (guitar) out of the ashes of Vox Populi. They recorded a demo (Act of Penance, 1991) and got established on the underground scene.
Act of Penance demo 1991
Around this time I went to the USA, I’m lucky enough to have an older brother working in New York so I had somewhere to stay. His contacts helped me get involved jamming in the clubs.
It was a great experience, playing everything from jazz to rock n roll, meeting and playing with some famous and established players. The most amusing to me was Gerry Velez who played percussion with Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock. I also met a few famous folks including a few of Bon Jovi and even Nile Rodgers.
When Ronnie returned from the States he was hungry to get involved in a band again.
My intention wasn’t to play any more extreme metal, so when Mark Robinson (guitar) called me up and asked me if I’d join The Reign who were rehearsing for a tour, I was sceptical.
They had drummer problems and I presented a quick fix. I said I’d do the tour but wasn’t interested in it long term. The tour was with other unsigned bands starting in Liverpool and concluding at The Marquee in London.
But we had so much fun and played some blinding gigs that when I was asked to get involved in recording another demo I was all in.
The songs had mainly been written by John and Mick but Robbo and me brought some experience and a different dynamic to the band which helped add a bit of colour to the music.
This Silent Nation demo 1993
After recording the demo management and record companies started showing an interest in the band.
We signed to a German based management company but not long after fell out with them! I don’t think we were difficult we just had a pretty good idea of what we wanted to do.
After a couple of false starts The Reign eventually signed to European based Mausoleum, a subsidiary of MMS.
The line up for the first two albums was John Cook bass/vocals, Mick Storrie lead guitar, Mark Robinson rhythm guitar & Ronnie McLean drums.
We were largely dealing with the Amsterdam and Frankfurt parts of the company. They were established and had good distribution – it seemed a good move.
We recorded the debut album Embrace in December ’93 and went out on tour in Europe as support to Australian band Mortification, this was to coincide with the album release in June ’94. By then for legal reasons the band was called just ‘Reign’.
First album Embrace released in 1994
At that point we’d played everywhere in Britain numerous times so getting on the road in Europe was exciting and the chance to play bigger crowds.
The album was also released in the USA at a time when the college radio scene was big and it exploded for us. Suddenly we were topping playlists and getting immense feedback across the States.
A series of radio interviews made us think we were really onto something and we’d be on tour imminently. But we heard the record company were having financial problems and couldn’t front the money to get us over there – a real kick in the teeth.
Their immediate idea was to get another album out on the back of the vibe. This wasn’t ideal but you’re powerless when under contract to record companies.
We had a Danish management at the time and surprise, surprise, we fell out with them too. Legal paperwork and hot air led to them being out of the equation.
We decided to look after ourselves and by 1995 went into Rhythm Studios near Stratford to record album number two.
Again we made the best of the situation and Mausoleum rushed the album into the shops in America. It was released so quickly that people had bought it before we had seen the end product.
Second album Exit Clause released in 1995
After a brief UK tour supporting Swedish band At the Gates the band decided to tour Europe again.
We got involved with a European tour manager who enabled us to get back on the road in early ’96. We were having a great time – but in the end it took its toll.
Robbo quit and was replaced and his subsequent replacement replaced! We even did two shows as a three piece before bringing in Andy Metcalf on guitar.
The Reign on tour somewhere in the Italian Alps.
We saw a lot of places, from the ghettos of eastern Europe to playing in front of scary crowds of neo Nazis, all this while travelling through the beauty of the Italian and Austrian Alps with their snow-capped mountains. You can’t buy these experiences – but the gigs weren’t making us any money.
Inevitably they fell out with MMS and the band walked away free after the company were found to be in breach of contract.
Next up was Bleeding Hearts/Demolition records based in Newcastle, home of Black metal masters Venom.
They were fresh from the reformation of Venom and had money and a new recording studio in Barnard Castle. It was a difficult recording because we were not allowed to stay at the studio.
Although we were pleased with the end product – Control Over Anger(1998), again we got pretty much zero help from the record company and what was our best album, was our last.
Third album Control Over Anger released in 1998.
But it didn’t stop us getting back on the road in Europe again. We saw a lot of places played a lot of great gigs and made not a bean along the way – you can’t take away the memories though.
But I felt the attitude and discipline had changed by then and I left at the beginning of 2000. The last line up we had we tried to change things by bringing in a different singer Chris Morrison, who sadly took his own life in 2006.
I also recorded with North East band Whatever on their second album Lies and Gold Dust. I believe it sold well enough in the UK and Japan, but they too had their dreams killed by record company changes. It seems so many of us did.
Looking back we pretty much ticked all the rock n roll boxes, a deceased member, one busted for a drug charge on tour and trouble in so many hotels. We got stopped by police looking for guns, drugs, everything.
We played gigs where the support band showed up with guns because they were scared of the crowds we pulled, and we drank enough foreign beer to fell a herd of rhinos – but we just ploughed on enjoying it all.
The first time experiences like hearing yourself on the radio, seeing your album in the shops, first time you hear yourself on a pub jukebox or have something on TV – as I’ve said you can’t take away those memories.
And now in my 50s I’ve never stopped playing, maybe never will. I just love playing. I’ve been on stage with so many great players. I think I’ve played Newcastle Trillians more than any other drummer. It’s almost a running joke now.
Can’t remember how many bands over the past thirty years I’ve played with in Trillians – I did five gigs last year and there’s a couple in the calendar for this year.
I think the ones that got into it for the attention, the girls, the image an’ all that, they never last. Those of us that love playing just keep going. It’s still fun.
It’s been nearly ten years since John Orton wrote ‘The Five Stone Steps, A Tale of a policeman’s life in 1920s South Shields.(Link below to interview with John in 2018).
I caught up with him recently and asked about his development as a writer over the last decade.
As a young boy I loved hearing my Nan’s tales of Auld Sheelz – you couldn’t shut Gertie up once she got started. When I was given a dog eared copy of Sergeant Tom Gordon’s Memories, which told as much about the folk of Shields in the 20s and 30s as about the job of the polis, it just inspired me to write.
The Five Stone Steps was well received, particularly in Shields with tales of the polis on night-watch having their little pot of whisky tied to the back door of pubs, back street bookies, and the unlucky prisoners turning up in court with black eyes and broken ribs – ‘an unfortunate accident when he accidentally fell down the five stone steps which led into the cells.’
I started writing a sequel and needed a last chapter set during the Second World War and the blitz on South Shields. First I discovered Amy Flagg’s photographs of the ruins after the raids which are held in South Tyneside Libraries photographic archive https://southtynesidehistory.co.uk/
1930s Holborn, South Shields. pic courtesy of South Tyneside Libraries.
Then I read about the Police Auxiliary Messengers (PAMS) – when phone lines were down during an air raid, lads of 16 and over would be sent out on bikes to deliver urgent messages with bombs flying round their ears.
Mossy Hamed tells the story of the ‘Blitz PAMS’. He’s a lad of mixed race – Arab Da’ and South Shields Ma’ – who rides his grocery delivery bike with his six marras as they live through the first years of the blitz.
Mossy falls for one of the other lads, Jackie – but this is not a modern day story! Jackie is really a girl who was turned away by the Polis for being a lass so dressed as a lad and got the job.
I really enjoyed writing Blitz PAMs and got straight into my next book ‘A Chill Wind off the Tyne’ whichis about life on the riverside pubs and streets of Holborn, a neighbourhood of South Shields next to the shipyards.
The book highlights the struggle for work of Yemeni and British seamen, the miners strike in ‘26, the burning down of the Casino on the sea front, and the police raid on the pitch and toss schools at Trow Rocks.
After a good break from writing, having the odd bottle of Newcastle Brown and watching the grass grow, I happened upon a press report of Scottish prisoners captured at the battle of Dunbar in 1650.
The survivors of the brutal death march from Dunbar to Durham were sold off as indentured servants, mainly to the colonies, but I was startled to read that forty were sent to work in the salt pans of Shields.
This set me off again and ‘He Wears a Blue Bonnet’ tells of the experiences of six highland Scots who discover life in Shields under Cromwell’s Commonwealth.
It’s been described as ‘a rattling yarn that takes on the life of poor Tyneside fishers, fish wives, keel-men and panners. A salty tale – love in the sand dunes, sweat in the salt houses and dodging the press gang.’
To check out books by John Orton they are available from The Word, South Shields. They can also be bought on Amazon as paperback or Kindle.
In an earlier post about L.S. Lowry (1887-1976) I talked about the artist frequently visiting the North East, especially Seaburn near Sunderland.
In later life did Lowry look upon the small coastal town as his sanctuary to sooth his aching bones?
Lowry at Seaburn on the North East coast.
Day by day the big fella walked along the beach pausing every few moments to gaze at the sea as if the tide would reveal the answers he searched for. He tried hard to understand but received no answers ‘All I know is that I know nothing’.
He would say to friends ‘It’s all there. It’s all in the sea. The Battle of Life is there. And fate. And the inevitability of it all. And the purpose’.
He would watch the tide coming in ‘What if it doesn’t stop? What if it doesn’t turn? What if it goes on coming in and coming in and coming in’.
Sitting on the beach stirring gravel with his walking stick he would ask ‘We are like these pebbles. Each as important as each other. We all have a place in the pattern of things. What is it for? Why are we here? What is the purpose of it all?’
Self portrait 1938.
At nearly 80 years old Lowry was becoming frail and prone to suffer from shingles. Ironically a touring exhibition that put him on the artistic map was one which ‘nearly finished me off’.
More than 100 pictures were shown in the 1966 Arts Council Lowry Retrospective starting in Sunderland and taking in Northumberland, Manchester, Bristol, with London the closing venue.
The work was Lowry in all his glory, from a 1906 still life to a seascape drawn from the window of his room in Seaburn Hotel in 1966, he wrote to a friend about the opening in Sunderland.
‘I went in on the Saturday afternoon and a good many people were there and a gentleman wore his hat all the time who I thought was the man who comes in to see about the electricity lights but who proved to be the Lord Mayor. He was very interesting and did say they never had a show like this one before and my expressive face flushed with pleasure at that and we parted great friends’.
Far from being the shy recluse he was at home, at times on tour Lowry retained a sense of humour and played the celebrity, some friends were heard to remark on his character and particular his contrariness. But he still worried about the exhibition.
‘This show has put years on me. It is not painting so much as the thousand and one things attached to the job that is the awful thing’.
‘It takes a long time to paint a picture I get £360 for. After the taxman, dealers commission and framing costs I get £107. Like The Beatles what do they get net? Won’t be very fabulous when everyone’s had their shots at it’.
‘Now I’m alright I can sell the stuff. And the blighters won’t stop buying them, that’s the annoying thing. I will have the Official Receiver “To what do you attribute your failure Mr Lowry?” “The fact I’ve sold too many pictures your honour”. And he’d say “Give him twenty years for foolishness”.
Lowry in the 1960s.
Near the end of the exhibition he fled from his home in Cheshire to the Seaburn Hotel ‘to restore my shattered nerves’. Another journey North leading some journalists to speculate about a permanent move to the North East.
‘Journalists are queer creatures’ said Lowry. ‘At no time have I ever said I was going to give up my house in Mottram and migrate here to the North East’.
‘Mottram is getting uglier and uglier if that is possible, but from my point of view it is a convenient place to live in as any other’.
There had also been rumours of his retirement, in an interview with a Sunday Times journalist at home Lowry said ‘I might do the odd seascape or a little sketch but I’ll never hold another exhibition’.
Waiting for the Tide, South Shields 1967. pic taken by Alikivi in The Lowry gallery, Salford.
The reporter was sceptical ‘He says he’s not going to paint, but in his back room there were some painted sketches which looked suspiciously like South Shields harbour and the stone piers. There’s also a white sea with a white sky, and a tanker waiting to come into harbour. Perhaps in his retirement Lowry will do for South Shields what Gaugin did for Tahiti’.
Another close North East link was Mick and Tilly Marshall who ran the Stone gallery in St Mary’s Place, Newcastle.
‘I have got used to this area – there is a very good gallery and they have some good shows. The Tyne is a very alive river with a lot of shipping on it and to watch the ships come in and go out keeps me out of mischief’.
In his later years he was quite happy making frequent visits along the North East coast and found a lot of comfort staring out to sea, again questioning himself ‘Will my pictures live after I am gone?’
Sadly, following a stroke at his home, Lowry died of pneumonia on 23rd February 1976 in Glossop hospital.
Looking for Lowry in Salford Quays 2022.
In the UK there are many opportunities to see the big fella’s work. Here in the North East you can find his pictures hanging in Newcastle’s Laing Art Gallery and Sunderland Museum. On the border with Scotland, Berwick has its picture boards on the Lowry Trail, which I visited a few year ago.
Last year I went to the excellent Lowry in Salford and the Manchester Art Gallery, both well worth a visit, and yes he certainly lives on, and on and on. What was he worried about.
24 year olds Slobo and Azere from Hexham, Northumberland will be releasing Moonbeams, the lead single from their new EP Open & Endlesson 16th June.
It’s an indie-folk/experimental electronic project, we are looking to arrange some gigs this year to promote it explained Slobo.
Slobo taking a break from recording outside Planet Telex, Northumberland.
The biggest influences on my playing style are Nick Drake, John Martyn and Joni Mitchell. I also love some other artists that are not quite as obvious in my sound like D’Angelo, Earl Sweatshirt and War on Drugs.
The last band I saw was The Bagdhaddies in York, a wicked Geordie ska group. Had a proper good wiggle to them with some mates.
Azere
After years of trading ideas, the two friends were looking for somewhere peaceful and quiet to record their songs, they found a place in the wilds of Northumberland.
Azere and I went to an old telecommunication station called Planet Telex in Great Whittington, it’s been converted into an Air BnB. It functioned as a brilliant escape to the countryside for the recording process.
It was the climax of many years of song ideas then finally getting to experiment and smash them all out. Old ideas were sharpened and new potions were put into motion, the perfect blend of two crazy visions. The guitars barely left our hands.
Slobo recording in Planet Telex, Northumberland.
Slobo added…Traces of indie, folk, downtempo, breakbeat, and Indian ragas can be found across the seven tracks. The EP Open & Endless is due to be released on July 21st.
I hope the songs can be listened to around the world, personally I like the idea of them bringing comfort and meaning to people in every quiet nook and cranny of the world.
ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST MUSIC & CULTURE 