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

/ Alikivi

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Links to previous interviews >

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

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

Alikivi   July 2024

THE COPS with TV actor & musician Michael McNally

/ Alikivi

Flicking through TV channels I landed on BBC police drama The Cops. I remember when it was first broadcast in the late 90’s it was like watching a Ken Loach film on steroids. No surprise when it walked away with two BAFTA awards.

Executive producer was Tony Garnett, you might not know the name, but his pedigree is second to none. He and Loach pulled off some groundbreaking, influential work on Kes, Up the Junction and Cathy Come Home.

Written by Jimmy Gardner (The Bill, This Life, Inspector George Gently), The Cops is a gritty fictional drama which deals with the chaotic lives surrounding criminals and cops. Even everyday mundane events are served up on a shovel.

The script is sharp, the pace unrelenting, the hand-held fly on the wall documentary camerawork increases tension and keeps the viewer locked in to the authentic voices. The working class voices. And they don’t shy away from difficult situations, some scenes are far from being an easy watch.

After binge watching series one and two I switched on the third and sadly the final season, I recognised one of the characters, Michael McNally, who featured on this site 28 August 2018 (link bottom of page). So I got in touch with Michael to find out his story behind The Cops.

I’d watched the first two series and it was my favourite programme on TV said Michael. When I started watching it, I thought it was a fly on the wall documentary it took me 10 minutes before I realised it was a drama. I was totally hooked.

My favourite directors are Mike Leigh and Ken Loach – The Cops is somewhere in between their methods, the way they work with actors or non-actors in some of Loach’s films. In the programme there were two of the best actors I ended up working with, and that’s including working with Gary Oldman, there was Katy Cavanagh and John Henshaw – absolutely fantastic actors and people.

Some of the stories they told, drugs, robberies and coppers beating people up – how did they get away with showing this? I found it really brave, fascinating and refreshing to watch, I never imagined I would have an opportunity to get on it. I remember watching a BAFTA awards programme and it won beating a show called This Life which was also excellent TV.

Michael in the back row behind Katy Cavanagh and next to John Henshaw.

How did I get on the show? I remember I was just about to get on a train from Durham, I was living back in the North East then, I was excited about going down to London for an interview and read for a part to play alongside Robson Green (fellow Geordie actor, Soldier Soldier, Wire in the Blood).

When my agent called me up ‘Don’t get on the train, you’ve had a recall’. Three weeks earlier I’d had one interview for The Cops, I’d met the cast and was introduced to an incredible actor called John Henshaw (Early Doors).

At the interview it was all improvisation, there was no script, we were set up in different scenarios, like an acting workshop. I was nervous but got through it and think I done alright but never heard anything so was disappointed I’d missed out on this fantastic show.

Then a few weeks later another call from my agent ‘Get in your car and drive to Bolton’ – that’s where The Cops is filmed. It was great meeting up with all the cast again, the casting session was videoed, but again after a good session a few weeks had passed and no word. I’m thinking what’s going on? I missed that reading with Robson Green for this.

Then I got a call to go back down to Bolton they said they would pay my expenses so that was fine. This time it was more specific and the actors were working well together. I went back home and a week or so later they asked me to come down for a day and that’s where they said I had the job.  

I stayed in digs in the town, one of the camera men had a small flat I rented off him. During the week I was there in my police uniform, at the weekend I was still playing in a band in working men’s clubs in the North East. That was 23 years ago, a great experience, PC John Martyns was my character.

Martyns was an ex professional footballer, based on a David Batty type player (1990s/2000s Leeds United, Newcastle United, England) an aggressive little player who made a bit money in the game then came out of it and ended up a copper – like some do in real life!

For me it was a really exhaustive process, there were lots of actors up there for the same parts. It was also one of the most exciting processes I’d been in because every time I went there it was nothing like any interview I’d had for an acting job before.

All the actors had a hunger for success, it was like they hadn’t achieved their full potential yet and they wanted to be part of something special. I went in on the back of the two series so felt a bit under pressure.

We were based in an old run-down school transformed and fitted up into a Police station. In rehearsals every Director you worked with would just give you tiny bits of information to work on then leave you to it.

They would give you a scenario like going into a bar where there are two attractive ladies, you are arrogant full of yourself, you don’t know what they are like, and you have to chat them up.

You would get three or four different situations like this which would last five or ten minutes. You’d think is anyone going to say stop – you were really out of your comfort zone. It was all about staying in the moment and it prepares you for the actual filming.

My first night filming I was given a script but told the filming might start before the script and might go on after – you just have to wait until somebody shouts ‘cut’. So, the script was just a guide, the general public were unknowingly involved in some of the scenes.

One of my first scenes was with Danny Seward, a lovely talented guy, also another singer and songwriter. I was sat in a police van on Friday night 11pm on Bolton High Street with a walkie talkie. The general public are walking up and down the street, in our scene we had to arrest someone.

Two actors were having a fight in the street and we got the message to go, so on with the blue flashing lights, pulled up and jumped out of the van – it wasn’t a closed set like on some programmes. Some of the general public were trying to defend the actors and others were encouraging us to get in there and sort it out.

We didn’t know where the cameras were we just heard someone say stop, so we got back in the van, re-set and done the scene about four or five times.

Same happened when responding to a fight in a bar, we had to pull people out and the general public in the bar didn’t know what was going on! There was an element of choreography for the fight, we didn’t want anyone to get hurt.

After that first night the cast got together afterwards for some pub grub and a karaoke. Most of us were unknown actors so mixed in with the general public without any hassle. Every member of the cast got up and sang, mine was Should I Stay or Should I Go by The Clash – it was a really good night. We were all getting in taxi’s later because it was filming the next morning.

Michael Caine’s masterclasses in acting were a real influence when they were shown on TV. Caine learnt you about film technique, camera angles and using your eyes.

I didn’t go to drama school like most actors I’ve met, I was a law student who first acted in a Channel Four film Accounts and moved to London. I remember everything Caine said, but The Cops was like chucking it all out the window.

You just had to be truthful to the moment, trust the guys who were filming and don’t be worried about their job just fully concentrate on being truthful and honest about the scene.

When the cast were socialising in a hotel bar the production team would watch who we would gel with and if there was any tension, or the one’s not making any eye contact, things like that. I’m sure they were aware of this and then put us together in scenes.

The police organisation weren’t too happy about some of the scenes because we were exposing bad behaviour inside the force. So, we had a couple of weeks training by officers from the London Met where we turned up in uniform, learnt how to read people their rights, how to deal with challenging situations, they told us loads of stories – really fascinating stuff.

The producers also sent us off to Doncaster, undercover with coppers. I remember over a weekend sitting in the back of a cop car with two uniformed officers watching how they made arrests and calmed situations down. On one occasion we spent two hours chasing a horse!

Production team and cast of The Cops.

Because it was so refreshing to do that work in The Cops, in a way everything else felt a bit of a disappointment. I thought would I be happy to do some of the jobs I’d done before?

After finishing on The Cops I got an interview for a regular place on Emmerdale. I’d already been in Crossroads, and soaps have their place rightly so, but coming off the back of a challenging show to a light fluffy programme – well I wasn’t sure about that.

After talking to my agent, I went along and done an improvised scene with an actress, but I got that feeling of I don’t want to be here. I must have given that impression because I didn’t get the job. I talked to my agent about it and sort of felt relieved.

What did I do after The Cops? Unfortunately, I went through a divorce then picked up working again, this time in education. I was a Drama teacher for young offenders in the Prison Service in Barnard Castle. I felt I was doing some really effective theatre work with the prisoners and some of them loved being involved. I done that for over 12 years.

What am I up to now? I still teach music and my next project is for PRS Inclusion Services, it’s for people with disabilities. I’ll be developing a choir from four community groups with a performance at the end, I’m looking forward to that.

I’m missing acting so I’ve been looking if I can get back into doing some again. Here in the North East I’ve been involved in a few performances and still playing music, also just been down to London and got some new photographs taken with the aim of getting a new agent. I think at my age I will be a lot better now with more life experience, and it means so much more.

You’ll find all 24 episodes, three series of The Cops on BBC iPlayer.

RUN FOR HOME with North East actor & musician Michael McNally | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

Alikivi   July 2024

FLYING HIGH – Manhattan, Helicopters & Council Estates

/ Alikivi

The site has been live since 2017 and now in 2024 is on course to hit 400,000 views so it’s a big thanks to readers from all over the world.

As the years fly by I find myself looking back and remembering film projects I’ve worked on. Memories may be a bit fuzzy but the good stuff comes to the front.  

During a recent sort out at home I came across a work diary from 20 years ago. A quick flick through revealed a busy summer starting with dates for a short film I was commissioned to make about public art in the North East.

When discussing the project I was asked how would the film be made? Looking at the map of the art trail there’s quite a few sites located over a large area.

Off the cuff I remember replying ‘Well you can get great angles from above…so why not use a helicopter’. To my surprise my suggestion was met with enthusiasm and I was given the green light. Now I’d never been in a helicopter before and I’m not too clever with heights, when leaving the meeting I asked myself why did I even suggest it?  

Back to my office and a quick look through Yellow Pages, yes it was that long ago, I came across Eagle Helicopters based in Newcastle, so put a phone call into them and booked a flight.

One sequence was shooting at Roker Marina in Sunderland, then the Conversation Piece on South Shields seafront and another circling the Angel of the North in Gateshead. To be honest it’s hard to believe it was 20 years ago, but the exhilarating feeling of filming in a helicopter hundreds of feet in the air will always remain.

A couple of weeks after that I flew out to America and enrolled on a film making course at New York Film Academy. Within days of landing at JFK airport and booking into a hotel in East Village, I was shooting a music video on the streets of Manhattan! I picked up some great tips from the Academy’s instructors for future projects.

A month later I returned to South Shields and was approached by South Tyneside Council about making an in-depth documentary recording a regeneration project in the town. Basically, the council tenants were looking to spruce it up. The brief was to document the progress working with the residents. Sounded like a good opportunity to use the techniques I learned in New York. And it was.

I remember first day of filming and a resident asking ‘What do you want to see’? my reply was ‘Show me the worst on the estate and we’ll work up from there’. ‘You’ll do for me’ he said.

He showed me the back of a vacant house where there was a make shift wooden shelter with a sleeping bag and quilt. Obviously, somebody’s bed, somebody’s home.

Years later when reading through those pages it made me realise the highs and lows of documentary film making in one summer. From capturing the celebration of public art from the sky, then brought down to earth by filming real life desperation.

Alikivi   July 2024

NORTH EAST MUSIC & VIDEO with Hartlepool based VainGloriousUK

/ Alikivi

VainGloriousUK are collectively known as Chas Groovy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Get in touch at  info@vaingloriousuk.com

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

Watch music videos at >  VainGloriousUK – YouTube

Alikivi   July 2024

WALKING MY STREETS – New Poetry and Prose collection from Jarrow born Tom Kelly.

/ Alikivi

Tom Kelly is a short story writer, playwright and lyricist now living further up the Tyne in Blaydon. He’s written a number of musicals with the late John Miles that have been produced by The Customs House, South Shields, including the work of Tyne Dock born author Catherine Cookson.

‘Tom & Catherine had its premier at South Shields Customs House, it was really exciting. All the team were really nervous on the opening night but when the overture began, we all felt it was going to be a success. And it was. It had a ‘sold out’ run. A measure of its success was that me mam wanted to go every night! And she was not a theatre-goer. She loved ‘Tom & Catherine.’

“The play was first produced in 1999, and again 2001. In 2006 there was an outdoor performance at Bents Park, South Shields in which Jade Thirlwall (Little Mix) appeared, and most recently in 2019” said Tom.

His two football plays I Left My Heart in Roker Park (1997 & 98, 2004 & 2014) and Bobby Robson Saved My Life (2019) toured the North East and were well received by audiences and critics alike.  

“I Left My Heart in Roker Park’ is a one-man play that looks at the life and football times of an avid Sunderland supporter. As more than one have said of the play, ‘it makes you laugh and cry” said Sunderland fan Tom.

His new book ‘Walking My Streets’ is his fourteenth and thirteenth published by Red Squirrel Press. Tom read at the Lit & Phil, Westgate Road, Newcastle, Cullercoats Library and The Word in South Shields to promote the book.

“I’ve already read at a number of venues and thankfully it’s gone down very well. As it says on the books cover, ‘Walking My Streets’ explores in prose and poems Kelly’s life and the changing face of his native north-east of England’.

Walking My Streets is available from Red Squirrel Press.

Contact the official website >

https://www.redsquirrelpress.com/poetry?Author=Tom%2520Kelly

Alikivi   June 2024

WIRED FOR SOUND part two with Hartlepool musician Jimmy McKenna

/ Alikivi

After playing in club groups and appreciating other people’s music, Jimmy was now spending more time writing his own songs. Then in ’76 New York Kings of Punk the Ramones blitzed the bop and beat on a brat. This was the catalyst to form DisGuise.

DisGuise in 1978, Jimmy McKenna, Alan Sculley & Pete Scott.

It was May 1977 when White Spirit’s drummer Crash Crallan played with me and another Hartlepool musician Peter Scott at The Queens pub in Hartlepool. On the way home in the hired van we tried to persuade Crash to join us but he remained loyal to his mates said Jimmy.

As we approached a junction a young couple in a state of intoxication were having an altercation. As we drove past the young lass stepped back and fell under the van. I jumped out and sprinted the 200 yards home to ring for an ambulance, convinced she had died, we were relieved when we found out she hadn’t.

She had a nasty cut on her head and the lads took her to hospital. The next morning we returned the van and informed the hirer that the Police might wish to check some details, but we had already cleaned up most of the blood and vomit from the van.

The gig itself was recorded by our friend Dave Emerson on his trusty cassette recorder. This was used to entice Chiswick Records into taking an interest in us. We eventually recruited Alan Scully on drums.

At the time we thought we were really good and assumed we were going to be the next Big Thing, yet one by one other North East punky type groups came up from behind and overtook us.

It was 1977 and DisGuise had a club gig booked around the time when Elvis Presley had died in the August, Marc Bolan died in the September and it was the anniversary of the death of Jimi Hendrix. At the gig we played a Bolan song and a Hendrix song, completely forgetting about Elvis.

Unfortunately, the club was frequented by a lot of Teddy Boys who quickly took exception to the DisGuise performance. A common practice at Social Club gigs was for song requests to be written on a beer mat and handed to the artist during their performance. The one handed to Jimmy said ‘play Get Off by Nobody Likes You’. The song was written in the van going home.

LINK > ‘Get Off’ : https://youtu.be/Kpy32rgX2YQ

Confidence grew among the three members of DisGuise to where they gave up their day jobs to became full time musicians.

As did our three road crew! This of course meant that we were signing on for unemployment benefit.

It was September ’77 we had a gig at Longscar Hall in Seaton Carew, we were getting paid £30. We went across the road to Max Magic shop and blew it all on little disguise type masks which we threw out to the audience. The next week we were all called into the Benefit Office and had our dole stopped for working.

On 23rd October 1977 we were at Middlesbrough Town Hall opening for AC/DC. There was no time for a soundcheck, I recall running on stage and turning my bass amp to 11 and just going for it.

Afterwards we were invited backstage for a bit of socialising, but declined because we wanted to get home in time for Match of the Day. Also, during the AC/DC set I was in the wings of the stage when their roadie came over to ask if I had a safety pin. Of course I had one in the lapel of my jacket and he used it to great effect on a running mid song repair to Angus Young’s school shorts.

On 25th February 1978 we were booked for Middlesbrough Rock Garden with local group, Giantkiller. Over at Redcar Coatham Bowl, the Sex Pistol’s former guitarist Glen Matlock’s new group The Rich Kids were supposed to play but there was a power cut. So they contacted the Rock Garden to ask if they could play at our gig. Suddenly we were relegated to being first on, but we got our mad up and played well.

Later I was watching Giantkiller’s set when Glen Matlock sought me out to tell me that he enjoyed the DisGuise performance. Mind, he then asked to borrow my plectrum and my guitar strap – which he wore side saddle, which looked cool though he had to keep adjusting it as it slid off his shoulder. The Rich Kids set finished with Pretty Vacant – of course, with a two guitar chiming intro.

In June ’78 it was one of the Newcastle Bedrock Festivals, sharing the stage with some local youngsters called White Heat. I remember watching them soundcheck doing Dylan’s Lay Lady Lay and thinking oh dear is this what Newcastle rock is all about? I was wrong of course.

After our two-dimensional set White Heat went full on 3D with show-off frontman Bob Smeaton pushed to stage front by the explosive drumming of John Miller. John later joined Disguise in 1979.

Chiswick records promo poster for Dis Guise.

DisGuise recorded one single for Chiswick records in December 1977, but it wasn’t released until November ’78.

I think someone from the Netherlands bought a copy and then errr nothing. So, our chance at fame had come and gone. The single chosen by Chiswick who were very keen on the song, was not representative of what we normally sounded like, it being rather polite pop.

I have recently been tidying up some of the other recordings from December 1977 and made them available as the 1977 And All That album, which redresses the balance a little.

The original DisGuise came to an end in Summer 1979. There were some on and off recordings with Peter and myself up until 1985 and some of these are available on VainGloriousUK.

LINK to DisGuise live in 1982 >

 www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPWvRXYhU5M&t=43s

Music is still a big part of Jimmy’s life…

Since then I’ve tricked and coerced musicians into feeding the needs of my songs. Gavin Bell on bass and Jason Bell – no relation but brothers in creative rhythm, are my go-to duo every time I want to start a bunch of new recordings. I will have a rough idea, shout out some chords to Gavin and songs take shape very quickly, even my peculiar ones.

Jason Bell, Jimmy McKenna & Gavin Bell.

LINK to Jimmy, Gavin and Jason performing ‘Mystery Singer’ >

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlGKn_DuyJ8

The website VainGlorious UK features biogs, books & music videos by North East bands. Jimmy explains…

Yes, it’s for bands who for one reason or another didn’t get that big break. When it came about it seemed a good way to finally store all my music, of course in the hope that others may pick up on it.

Check the official site >

Home – VainGloriousUK

Alikivi   June 2024



WIRED FOR SOUND with Hartlepool musician, Jimmy McKenna

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Hartlepool musician Jimmy McKenna has over 50 years in the business and in that time has released 14 albums. In the first part he looks into his musical memory box and digs out stories about auditioning for White Spirit, playing for Hell’s Angels, and does he still listen to Cliff Richard?  Read on….

The legend in our family is that my Dad went out to buy a washing machine and came back with a radiogram. As a small child I would play all the family records, A and B sides, digesting the labels as to who wrote the songs etc.

The radiogram did really well up until 1970 when it struggled trying to play my Deep Purple in Rock LP – it jumped all the time – by that time stereo was the big thing.

Jimmy was a child of the 50’s and his home was full of the top musicals of the day, Carousel, South Pacific, Carmen Jones, West Side Story, as well as current pop songs.

My all-time favourite was The Wanderer by Dion. My first love was Cliff Richard and I remember arguing in school with older kids who were trying to tell me that Elvis was better than Cliff – I just wouldn’t have it. Mam and Dad dutifully bought me all the early Cliff singles. Then of course came the Beatles, writing their own songs, the Merseybeat explosion and all that followed.

Jimmy in Iron Cross, 1973.

Jimmy’s big present for Christmas 1967 was a Magnus chord organ – a small keyboard with buttons to play chords.

I wanted to play the big hit of the time A Whiter Shade of Pale, but instead learned to play Silent Night and Londonderry Air. By now I was making up tunes in my head, including putting a couple to poems I found in a book about the 1745 Scottish rebellion!

By the time I was 14 my friends and I all received our first guitars, and suddenly we were a group. Within weeks we went from being The String Vest to Black Canyon to Iron Cross and later as pretentious 17 year olds we became Hansard. Also, within weeks I was relegated to bass as I was the last to master that pesky F chord.

As Iron Cross we played our one gig at a Boys and Girls Brigade party, performing My Generation and easy bits from ‘Live at Leeds’ when I was suddenly promoted to lead singer. My sister Margaret had been knitting a quilted bed spread, but converted it into a Roger Daltrey type coat for me!

After appreciating other people’s music, Jimmy started spending time writing his own songs.

We had a piano at home on which I spent hours doodling and making up quasi classical tunes, not even understanding what key I was playing – most of these have still to be completed/recorded, but they are on the list.

My friends and I were also diverging in our tastes, I discovered the ambitious music of Van der Graaf Generator and Peter Hammill. When I later heard the Sex Pistols I noted that a rock group had a singer with the same passion in his voice as Peter Hammill. I later learned that John Lydon was a Hammill fan also.

I then connected with Peter Scott of Hartlepool – not to be confused with Newcastle folk songwriter Pete Scott or that bloke who went to the Antarctic. Peter was an intuitive and aggressive guitar player. He was impressed that I was writing songs which encouraged him.  

Our first club group was Silver and our singer was Geoff Grange who would later sing, blow harmonica and record for Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings and Thomas Dolby.

After a gig one cold night the van’s windscreen was completely frozen over and our roadie Peter ‘Dock’ Oliver had the perfect solution and stood on top of the van to pee over the windscreen. It worked well.

Link to Silver playing intro to Purple Haze (Jimi Hendrix).

By 1975 Jimmy had an electric piano…Still only able to play my little quasi classical tunes, but I answered an advert for keyboard player for local rockers White Spirit. I blew it as soon as I got into their van, when I exclaimed that they were a bit young. I was 19 and they were just 17. After extensive jamming on the main riff of Jethro Tull’s Locomotive Breath their manager Sandy gave me the ‘we’ll let me know’ speech.

So back to bass guitar, around 1975/76 Peter Scott began backing popular Country and Western singer Mick Layton. There was a nightclub gig in Scarborough, the manager was desperate. A group of Hells Angels had arrived for a weekend of fun but it had rained nonstop and their weekend had fallen flat.

The manager was worried they would take their disappointment out on his premises so he begged us to do what we could to entertain them. This was Peter’s cue to turn up his guitar and we spent two hours doing extended Status Quo, Jimi Hendrix and Chuck Berry songs. At the end the biker lads were on their knees giving us the ‘we are not worthy’ hails and everyone went home happy.

At this gig Peter did a little trick with his wah-wah pedal, placing his guitar against his amp to make it feedback, then balancing one foot on his wah-wah to change the notes of the feedback  – noisy but dead good. This was while we were playing Ghost Riders in the Sky.

The Mick Layton Trio would often get booked into cowboy clubs…

I remember the audience all dressed up with names like Diamond Lil and Big Jim Bowie. It would get hectic when in moments of excitement they would start firing their pretend guns.

We once had a polite gig in a posh Newcastle Hotel. The manager came up to us at half time, a little excited. Cliff Richard was performing one of his Gospel Shows that night, and was staying at the hotel. The manager said he would ask Cliff on his return if he would sing a couple of songs with us – we had already played Apache.

Unfortunately, Cliff was a little tired and just wanted a nice cup of tea, so declined the invitation. Then Summer ‘76 we heard The Ramones and everything changed.

DisGuise in 1978, Jimmy McKenna, Alan Sculley & Pete Scott.

Next up read part two of Jimmy’s story including his close brush with fame with punky pop group DisGuise opening for AC/DC, Glen Matlock and The Rick Kids, and on the bill at the Newcastle Bedrock Festival with White Heat.

Alikivi   June 2024

HEED CASE release debut album ‘All the Rage’

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Newts & Si – ‘Heed Case’ 2024

Heed Case are North East UK musicians Newts Newton (ex Angelic Upstarts guitarist) and Si Cadelik (Northumbrian Psych rock bassist).

“We’ve been involved in music since our late teens, so that’s approximately 40 years and counting. In some ways it feels like forever, in others, like only yesterday” said Newts.

“Recently I noticed the closure of the Marsden Inn in South Shields and was saddened because that’s where I played my first gig back in 1984”.

Are the duo still angry after all these years?

“The album explores gaslighting, narcissism and entitlement. All three elements feature heavily in populism and identity politics. Social media allows this to flourish, elbowing aside balance, objectivity and critical thinking. This emboldens extremists and those who seek to radicalise people with their brand of hateful rhetoric”.

Watch 1 min promo >  All The Rage – Album Release Promo (youtube.com)

This album ain’t no snoozefest. Heed Case deliver hefty chunks of pneumatic post punk on steroids, their angry vocals reflect the problems of the world around them, and us, today.

“Rather than tackle the causes of problems, the trend is to scapegoat. This should be a worry and concern for everyone, not just two people in a band. One day, that scapegoat might be you!”

All Wankers, Rats and stand out track WTFH are on a 16-track album that clocks in at a ball busting 30 minutes.

“The album was recorded at home but mixed and mastered by Martin Trollope at his studio Harbourmaster Productions. We think he did an excellent job, he was a pleasure to work with.” explained Newts.

Heed Case debut album June 2024

With an impressive debut album in the bag the Case are in no mood to rest on their laurels.

“It’s an introduction album but also a transitional one, we hope people will enjoy what they hear and stick with us moving forward as we look to broaden our horizons beyond our punk and psych roots”.

Next up for Heed Case is transferring the songs to a live stage. Can it be done?

“Absolutely. We must do the hard yards and tour – it’s as simple as that. We’re working on that right now, so please like and follow our socials for news of when and where we’ll be making a nuisance of ourselves around the UK and beyond.”

Debut album ‘All the Rage’ is released on Friday 21st June 2024 & on pre-sale from the website.

For further info-music-video-merch- contact official website

Alikivi   June 2024

TITS UP – New play from Alison Stanley

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“A couple of years ago a young friend of mine was diagnosed with breast cancer, people think it’s older people who develop this disease, so I wanted to raise awareness of this”.

Alison Stanley

‘Hard’, ‘Life of Reilly’ and ‘You Need To Say Sorry’ writer & actor Alison Stanley has tackled diverse subjects such as autism, sex workers and domestic violence. Her new play ‘Tits Up’ examines the strength of maternal love and the choices women face. 

“Last year I found a lump and experienced the process of going to the breast clinic. Fortunately, my lump wasn’t anything of concern but it did make me think”.

“Even though I was fine I began questioning my own mortality and spent nights wondering what would happen if I had cancer? What would’ve happened to my son who is autistic”.

Alison threw herself into an intensive period of research, she spoke to people who had lived through cancer and heard real stories including from the LGBTQ community who had another perspective.

“I went along to Live Well with Cancer in North Shields where the ladies were kind enough to share their stories with me”.

From here, Alison created a piece that looked at life choices for three different women with different lives united together in their fight against breast cancer.

Alison explains “Tina, Rachel and Rosie are unlikely friends. Tina is a devoted Mam, she can’t understand why ‘bonny bairn’ Rosie wants to put rings through her nose, and Rachel, who lives to work, can’t understand why Tina is content at home and why Rosie doesn’t iron her jeans”.

Alison added “The three characters are very different and would never have met if they hadn’t found themselves having treatment at an oncology ward. The play hasn’t been cast yet, but will be soon.” 

Alison’s last play ‘You Need to Say Sorry’ received good reviews and is now used by Northumberland/North Tyneside social services as a training tool.

“I’m in discussions with Northumberland Police to do the same with them. A lot of police and social services staff came to see the play”. 

Alison also finds time to be Director of Participation at the Whitley Bay venue, Laurels, where her new project is called ‘Pasty, Play & a Pint’. People buy a drink and a pasty and a ticket to see a reading of a script of produced plays and new writing.

“It’s an attempt to open up the theatre during the day and encourage older visitors” added Alison.

‘Tit’s Up’ runs from October 8-17 at Laurels, Whitley Bay. There are some matinee performances and tickets are on sale now via Laurels official website.

Link > Laurels Whitley Bay – Restaurant, Bar and Theatre

Alikivi  2024

TON UP for North East actress and entertainer Helen Russell 

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A North East icon will celebrate her 100th birthday with the launch of her new book of poetry at The Word, South Shields.

Helen is one of the few surviving ENSA (Entertainments National Service Association) members from WW2 – the elite troupe who entertained military personnel. She joined ENSA at 15-year-old and toured the UK singing and dancing.

Helen was born in London on May 30th 1924 near the London Palladium. “I was bitten by the showbiz bug as a young girl and fortunately I could sing and dance well, so I was able to follow my dreams”.

Helen started her career aged eight and at 14 performed in her first professional pantomime, Dick Whittington, at the Winter Gardens in Morecambe.

During the war Helen married Colin Hillcote, who ran a dance hall in Belfast. “It was an exciting time there, too”. At the end of the war the couple returned to South Shields, Colin’s home town, and she has been an adopted Sand-dancer since 1946.  

In the 1950s Helen was singing at church events and played many roles as member of the South Shields Amateur Operatic Society. A friend who performed in working men’s clubs heard Helen sing and invited her to step up on stage.

“From there I became an artist in my own right, singing and dancing throughout the region” she said.

“We didn’t have a phone in the house so I’d take calls on the local public telephone box to tell me where I was playing that night! Sometimes it meant getting a bus to Newcastle and then catching another to Stanley in County Durham, or Ashington in Northumberland, then heading back after 10pm – all the time humping my guitar and other equipment. I had no helpers!”

“When guitar groups became popular in the 60s I had to stop dancing on stage because of all the leads and wires. That’s when I took up the guitar and later started writing my own songs.”

In 1965 a Vaux beers television advert came calling and a number of variety shows were filmed at Tyne Tees Television, including a double act with Bill Pertwee of Dad’s Army fame and working with Dick Emery. She was a contemporary of North East legends Bobby Thompson, Bobby Pattinson and Dick Irwin, all of whom she knew well and regularly worked with.

Her TV and film appearances include When the Boat Comes in, Supergran, Catherine Cookson adaptations, Highway (during which she sang with Harry Secombe), Emmerdale, The Fast Show and Billy Elliot.

On stage, Helen’s credits include performing in her self-penned plays Off the Shelf and Keep Calm and Carry On. She was also an original Dirty Duster, a play which transferred to Newcastle Theatre Royal and sold out twice. Helen was still performing in the Dirty Dusting tour until the age of 90!

She was also part of the hugely popular Angels of the North variety group with the two other original Dirty Dusters – Jean Southern and the late Gwen Doran. Their shows, mostly of original material, were self-written and performed to sell-out audiences all over the region.

Regular successful contributions to BBC Radio 4’s Poetry Corner sparked Helen’s creativity, she started writing in the 1970s and returned to poetry during the Covid lockdown.

Her new book of poems “Oh! Life is a Joy” will be launched at a free event in The Word, South Shields Market Place at 1pm Thursday, May 30th.

There will also be an ’in conversation’ with Helen to mark her remarkable life and career. All profits from the book will be donated to cancer charities. Helen successfully fought off breast cancer a decade ago.

 Alikivi   May 2024