classic-rock

SPELLBOUND – in conversation with Prelude singer & songwriter Brian Hume

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What did the new millennium bring?

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

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

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

What does the future hold for Prelude?

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

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

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

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

Alikivi   June 2025

A NIGHT WITH JETHRO TULL – with former Pirahna Brothers drummer, Tony Hodge

/ Alikivi / 1 Comment

In previous posts Tony has talked about the influence Ginger Baker had on his drumming, and the many nights with friends going to watch bands like The Nice, Tina Turner, Jimi Hendrix and The Animals at Newcastle’s Club a’Gogo.

Before joining the Pirahna Brothers, Tony drummed for North East band Turm with Micky Balls (lead guitar), George Sturrock (guitar), Alf Passmore (bass) and the late John Lawton (vocals). He remembers the night they got a gig opening for Jethro Tull in a County Durham club.

‘It was an amazing experience to play on the same bill as the legendary Jethro Tull, unfortunately, the venue we were booked in was the Argus Butterfly in Peterlee. I say unfortunately because The Argus Butterfly was and still is a difficult venue for two bands to play as the stage and concert room are really small and there was an even smaller dressing room at the back of the stage’.

‘We arrived first and set our gear up  and heard that Jethro Tull and all their equipment were travelling up from London in a small Thames van’.

Turm at the Cellar Club, South Shields

Before big names including Cream, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin packed out halls around the UK, they built their reputation playing smaller venues including Bay Hotel in Sunderland, Club a’Gogo in Newcastle, Cellar Club in South Shields,  Kirklevington Country Club in Yarm and Argus Butterfly in Peterlee.

‘When we got the booking I hadn’t heard of them as they were yet to hit the big time but when they entered the club, we were all fascinated by the lead singer. He was very thin, wore unusual hippy type clothes and had very long hair. This was becoming the fashion in London but was yet to be a fashion on Tyneside. Here was Micky and me wearing brightly coloured satin shirts in pale blue and fluorescent pink – so last year darling!’

‘All the guys were very friendly and were taken by our Geordie accents. They piled their equipment out of this small van, we wondered just how all their gear, four band members and a roadie got in the van – never mind drive 200 miles up the A1 dual carriageway. Note – there were no motorways yet’.

‘We were ready to play our set. Our fourth song in was a rousing number called Amen which had three or four sing along choruses with clapping to accompany it. This was a perfect song for John’s voice and the girls loved it’.

‘Each time the chorus started I would jump off the drums and go back stage clapping as I did. It sounds ridiculous, and it probably was, but it seemed to work well for the show’.

‘However, Mick Abrahams, the lead guitarist of Jethro Tull, was in the dressing room catching a well-deserved snooze on top of several amp covers. The first time I rushed in he jumped up in shock but then he saw the funny side when I ran back on stage for the opening riff after the sing along chorus. The next time I did it, Mick was laughing a lot as he had watched me returning just in time to start up after the chorus. The third time however he was ready. He grabbed me by the arms and didn’t let me return at the end of the chorus’.

‘The looks on the rest of my groups faces was a picture when they started with no drums. I can still see the vision in my mind today. Fortunately, he let go of me and it didn’t ruin the whole song, great guy, and a great laugh’.

‘After our opening set it was time for Jethro Tull to go on and they just couldn’t have been more different to us and were truly mesmerising. Their music was unlike anything I had heard before and their style was far away from anything I had seen before on the various stages in the North of England’. 

‘Another first for me was that Ian Anderson, the main vocalist and front man, played a flute that was a huge surprise. He also played harmonicas which he kept in small leather pouches around his waist and there was a funny side to this. He also kept his cigarette tobacco in these pouches and this meant he had to knock the tobacco out of each harmonica each time he was about to play them which was really very funny to watch’.

‘The visuals of the band were like nothing I had seen before and Ian sang many of his songs on one leg. This became his trademark as time went on and still is today. The drummer and bass players were very solid, had a great sound and the band was well received’.

‘Turm and Tull had a great time together as fellow musicians even if we probably looked a bit out of the current fashions in London. After this meeting they released Living in the Past a song that started my romance with my wife Jane many years later’.

‘They became rock superstars filling massive stadiums all around the world to thousands of people. I wonder if they ever thought back to the good old Argus Butterfly in Peterlee, the Turm and the 200 plus audience – somehow, I doubt it’.

Words: Tony Hodge

Edited: Alikivi   May 2025

More stories on the site from Tony Hodge including Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Tina Turner and Club a’Gogo.

Link to previous interview with Tony >>>

LUCKY MAN – part one, with North Shields actor & musician Tony Hodge. | ALIKIVI : NORTH EAST UK CULTURE

THIS CLUB’S A’GO GO with former Pirahna Brothers drummer, Tony Hodge

/ Alikivi

This second part of Tony’s memories feature his pilgrimage to Newcastle’s Club a’Gogo where he saw many bands who were on their way to a successful career in music. They included Amen Corner, The Nice and a young guitarist from the United States – Jimi Hendrix.

North East venues for the Hendrix tour in 1967 included dates at Kirklevington Country Club in North Yorkshire on January 15th. The Cellar Club, South Shields on February 1st and February 2nd at Imperial Hotel, Darlington with a gig at Club a’Gogo in Newcastle on March 10th.

‘We were right at the front and only a few feet away from the great man himself. He was tall and looked very young. His style of guitar playing was like no other I had ever seen – even playing with his teeth on some numbers. At one point Hendrix dropped a ten shilling note and the guy next to me rushed to pick it up and hand it back to him. He thanked him saying that was for the bands supper’.

‘He went on to finish the night with a long guitar solo and then thrust his guitar into the ceiling leaving it there with the feedback screaming as he left the stage. On many subsequent visits we saw the hole still in the ceiling. A great memory of a great night’.

‘Over the following months we saw many emerging London based bands play at the a’Gogo like ‘Amen Corner’ with Andy Fairweather Low, Jeff Beck with a very young Rod Stewart as his main vocalist wearing an extremely long college scarf and of course our very own local mega band ‘The Animals’

‘This club forged mine and many other local musicians’ tastes for the years to come and we got to see megastars playing only a few feet away from us’.

‘While I’m talking of being right up close to your idol musicians there are two more instances of things that could never happen today. On these occasions my brother Barry and I went to music events at the Sunderland University students Union’.

‘On one night ‘The Nice’ played and my brother was sitting on the edge on a two-foot-high stage only a foot or two from Keith Emerson and his famous Hammond Organ when he did the world renown stabbing of the keyboard. We also saw Tina Turner when she was still performing with Ike. She wore a one-piece lemon coloured jump suit and looked amazing. Once again, only feet away from us, wow!’

‘We didn’t know it at the time that only a few months after these events these bands would play in much bigger venues and stadiums so the days of being within a few feet of your idol were gone for ever’.

Plaque for Handyside Arcade and Club a’Gogo in Newcastle.

‘Sadly, the Club a’Gogo itself was only open for six years, it became a bingo hall as the game was becoming all the rage in the North East. Finally, the club and the surrounding buildings were demolished in the 1980’s making way for the Eldon Square shopping complex. The club was only open for a short time but the mark it left on the Newcastle music scene was amazing’.

‘These venues were where I started to love that different style of music, but it wasn’t until we formed bands that I got the chance to play it not just listen to it’.

Words: Tony Hodge

Edited: Alikivi  May 2025.

Link to previous interview with Tony from February 2021 >>>

LUCKY MAN – part one, with North Shields actor & musician Tony Hodge. | ALIKIVI : NORTH EAST UK CULTURE

AN ANIMAL IS BORN with former Piranha Brothers drummer Tony Hodge

/ Alikivi

On 1st February 1967 on his way to becoming one of the most influential guitarists of the 1960s, Jimi Hendrix played the Cellar Club in South Shields.

A previous post (19 March 2025) looked at the impact this gig had, also mentioned was the opening of the new Cellar Club in December 1966 by Cream.

Reading the article stirred up some memories for North East musician and actor Tony Hodge, he recalled the time he was introduced to the band and in particular the drummer Ginger Baker and how influential he became in his life.

‘In the sixties my good friend Ray Laidlaw played in Downtown Faction along with Rod Clements and Simon Cowe – all three became famous in the amazing band Lindisfarne. Ray and Rod had an excellent bass and drums connection, driving the band’s music with real power – I loved to hear them play’.

‘On many occasions we went to see each other’s bands play at various venues including the Briar Dene Tavern in Whitley Bay and The Nautilus Pub, a short walk from my house that became a regular haunt from 1964 onwards.’

‘I would often go with Micky Balls and meet Ray and other likeminded musicians like Billy Mitchel, Will Browell and Billy Dunn. We always had great meetups and all types of music were discussed’.

Micky Balls and Tony in Newcastle.

‘One night near Christmas 1966 Ray mentioned he had heard of a drummer that played with two bass drums. This drummer apparently could play a drum roll with his feet!’

‘A drum roll is hard enough to play with your hands using sticks, never mind with your feet using foot pedals. I found it hard to do a fast double beat that was required in some pop songs of the time never mind a full drum roll. I said I couldn’t see that it was possible and we had quite a heated discussion about how impossible it would be’.

Fortunately, the band were due to play at Newcastle Club a’Gogo and Ray saw this as a chance to convince Tony. The Club a’Gogo was a popular venue housed in two upstairs rooms above Handyside Arcade in Newcastle.

It opened in 1962 as a jazz club but broadened its musical style and became better known as a Soul, Rhythm n Blues and Rock venue attracting big stars like The Who, The Rolling Stones, Jeff Beck and local stars The Animals.

Tony explained ‘It was split into two separate rooms each with its own stage three feet up from the floor. One room was called ‘The young set’ for under eighteens and the other was called ‘The jazz lounge’ for everyone young and not so young’.

‘When the big stars played there, they would play a set in each room. This must have been a nightmare for the road crew as during the interval everything needed to be set up in one room then taken down and set up in the other’.

‘If you got in early, you could be right at the front and literally a couple of feet from the stars. That was amazing for a fan. On every visit I always got to the front and had the most amazing view of people who were to become megastars’.

‘We had come to see the band that we had discussed in the pub with this special drummer. It was a newly formed band from London. Unusually they were just a three-piece group, lead guitar, bass guitar and drums and had no separate singer as was the popular set up of the time’.

‘The club had an amazing atmosphere, it was dark and you were all packed in together. Small lights lit the stage which was only big enough for artists to play and not a lot of extra room for big theatrics. The stage was absolutely packed with equipment’.

‘To each corner were two sets of PA speakers and on the right-hand side were four Marshall 4×12 cabinets and the same on the left-hand side. In the middle was a set of Ludwig drums with two tom toms, two floor toms and two bass drums showing the name Ginger on one drum and Baker on the other. Yes, this band was Cream and the amazing drummer Ginger Baker. At this time of course, I had no idea who he was – but that was about to change’.

‘On came a man dressed in a long purple Teddy boy jacket and a ginger quiff with a half pint glass of rum (I think) in his hand. He sat down picked up his sticks and hit all four tom-toms then did an amazing roll on the two bass drums. He stood up and left through the back door of the stage, his sound check completed. This was the one and only Ginger Baker’.

‘Both Ray and I just stood and looked at each other in amazement. The speed and technique were just amazing and so different to us two young drummers, I heard nothing like it before’.

‘I was still recovering when two other guys entered the stage and came to the microphone. Ginger came through and sat down behind this huge kit. They started to play with no count in just heavy tom-tom beats, then guitar, then the man in front of me who was Jack Bruce started to sing ‘Driving in my car, smoking a cigar, the only time I’m happy is when I play my guitar’.

‘The opening to N.S.U. was like nothing I had heard or played – ever! The drums rolled around the kit the volume was deafening and when the guitar solo came in by Eric Clapton the hairs on my neck stood up. It was loud, very loud. It was something you never forget’.

‘The rest of the set was also amazing playing in a style I could never have imagined. Ginger played a drum solo that was again long and loud but it ended with him playing the two bass drums and his tom toms in a chest thumping roll that went on for several minutes.

That was the famous twin bass drum roll Ray had been talking about, it was true, a drummer could play a drum roll with his feet. I had to learn that, I had to be able to play drum rolls with my feet. I was hooked’.

‘The trip back on the bus was all about the miracle we had just seen, a drummer like no other. I was changed overnight, by this one-man, Ginger Baker. Without my friend Ray persuading me to go to the Gogo to see him I would not have become the mad drummer I became. That night ‘Animal’ was born’.

‘I had to have a double bass drum kit and if possible, a Ludwig one. Off again to the music shop and more debt but I got a lovely Ludwig drum kit with a pearl finish just like Ringo Starr. It looked and sounded fantastic’.

‘Once I got this kit my whole style changed. I was more brash and started playing a drum solo at the end of The Pirahna Brothers first half. It was long, loud and not very technical but this new style and the notoriety it brought with it opened many doors. My nickname was ‘Animal’ and people shouted it out at venues’.

More stories from Tony Hodge coming soon including Jimi Hendrix, The Nice, Jethro Tull and Tina Turner.

Edited: Alikivi   May 2025

Link to previous interview with Tony from February 2021 >>>

LUCKY MAN – part one, with North Shields actor & musician Tony Hodge. | ALIKIVI : NORTH EAST UK CULTURE

SHORT CUTS –  Lynott v Chandler

/ Alikivi

The music world has always had its fair share of myths, legends and hell raising antics. The time Ozzy bit the head off a dove or was it a bat? Well both actually. According to reports one was in record company offices the other was live on stage. He also snorted a line of ants. The list is endless for the Oz.

I came across a gaffer tape incident involving a music journalist and Killing Joke, as I was trying to find out who where and when it happened – if it did! I read a few other short stories with North East connections.

Chas Chandler, (bass) The Animals

Following on from the last post which featured Lemmy and Jimi Hendrix is a short story about Phil Lynott and Chas Chandler. Sadly, both deceased now, Phil and Chas were two of music’s huge characters. A snapshot of their achievements featured in earlier posts on this site. (links at the bottom)

I never saw Thin Lizzy in concert the only time I caught them live was in the studio of live music show The Tube broadcast on Channel Four in 1983. Other bands booked that night were JoBoxers, Thompson Twins and Pat Benatar reflecting the shows policy of booking a diverse range of music.

Guitarist John Sykes led the charge for Lizzy’s blistering performance of Cold Sweat, they played a few more songs including The Boys are Back in Town and if my memory is not too fuzzy a track not broadcast which I think was Whiskey in the Jar?

‘The Rocker – Phil Lynott’ by writer Mark Putterford is packed with stories of Thin Lizzy’s leader and talisman. One that stood out was about the time Lynott came up against a very angry Chas Chandler.

At the time Newcastle born former Animals bassist Chandler was managing a very successful Slade. In 1972 Lizzy supported Slade on their UK tour. A contributor to the book was booking agent Chris O’Donnell who recalls that tour.

‘That Slade tour was a really important one in the development of Lizzy as a live band, and particularly in the overall development of Phil as a performer. It made Phil realise what was expected of him. Slade were huge at the time and they would go on stage and absolutely slaughter the audience night after night with incredibly powerful performances. It was far removed from what Lizzy were doing at the time’ recalls Chris.

On the 22nd November the tour landed at the Top Rank in Sunderland, tickets were £1.00, however the opening night was at Newcastle City Hall on 3rd.

Chris added ‘On the opening night at Newcastle Phil was standing there mumbling as usual, looking at the floor and being all introverted, and someone threw a bottle at him. This shocked Phil because he thought he’d done a perfectly adequate set. But then Chas Chandler came in the dressing room afterwards and really ripped into the band’.

“Either you wake your ideas up or you’re off the tour. You’re here to warm the kids up not send them to sleep! What the hell do you think you’re doing standing there looking at the floor? You haven’t even got your act together. Sort yourselves out”.

‘Phil was devastated. He’d never been criticised so directly before, and to hear it from someone as well respected as Chas – the man who discovered his hero Hendrix! – was the worst aspect of all’ added Chris. ‘At the next show the band made a big effort to improve their presentation, and performance wise I don’t think they ever looked back’.

More short stories with a NE connection will be added soon including Jimi Hendrix, The Jam and The Specials.

Alikivi   March 2025

Research >>>

The Rocker – Phil Lynott by Mark Putterford.

Links to Chas Chandler & Phil Lynott >>>

HOME NEWCASTLE – snapshot from the life of musician, manager and record producer Chas Chandler 1938-96. | ALIKIVI : NORTH EAST UK CULTURE

LOVER, FIGHTER, HELLRAISER – The Rise & Fall of Phil Lynott 1949-1986 | ALIKIVI : NORTH EAST UK CULTURE

SHORT CUTS – Hendrix & Lemmy in Shields

/ Alikivi

The music world has always had its fair share of myths, legends and hell raising antics. The time Ozzy bit the head off a dove or was it a bat? Well both actually. According to reports one was in record company offices the other was live on stage. He also snorted a line of ants. The list is endless for the Oz.

I came across a gaffer tape incident involving a music journalist and Killing Joke, as I was trying to find out who, where and when it happened – if it did! There were other short stories I read some with North East connections.

Sadly, both deceased now, Lemmy and Jimi Hendrix were two of music’s biggest characters – their spirit and influence live on. But what is their connection to my home town of South Shields?

In his autobiography ‘White Line Fever’ Lemmy recalls that in early 1967 “I went up north. I woke up one morning sitting on a beach in South Shields eating cold baked beans out of a can with my comb. I thought there’s got to be more to life than this.”

Was this just a random visit to the seaside town? Why not go to the main cities of Newcastle or Sunderland close by, or was there someone or something else in the town that attracted him?

Around the same time Lemmy was a roadie for Jimi Hendrix. He explained in his biography that in early 1967 he got in touch with a friend, Neville Chesters, who was a roadie for Hendrix. Lemmy ended up dossing down at Neville’s London flat that he was sharing with Hendrix’s bass player.

Lemmy recalls “They needed a spare set of hands, so about three weeks after I landed at Neville’s, I got a job working with them. I worked for Hendrix’s band for about a year on all the TV shows and tours through England. I was only a fetcher and a lifter but still it was an amazing experience”.

Even though he didn’t expand on the beach story the timeline of the visit to South Shields and a gig sort of fits, but what we do know for certain is that Jimi Hendrix played the Cellar Club, South Shields on 1st February 1967.

When Lemmy was a roadie was that when he ended up on South Shields beach and not on a random visit? Or has he been twice? We’ve got to take in account that after a full on rock n roll lifestyle with Hawkwind and Motorhead, Lemmy’s memory might have been a bit fuzzy remembering events for his biography.

Just a couple of thoughts here – the beach is only a 5 minute drive away from the club, plus to hoy a spanner in the works was Lemmy even a roadie at the Shields gig or did he join the road crew at a later date?

He explained in his biography – ‘I worked for Hendrix’s band for about a year on all the TV shows and the tours through England’. I suppose we’ll never know for certain unless a Hendrix or Lemmy aficionado can help nail down specific dates. Anyone got access to their diaries!

A post looking further into Hendrix’s South Shields gig will be added to the site soon. Where you there in the audience? Where you a member of local band The Bond who also played that night? If you have any information, much appreciated if you get in touch.

Alikivi   March 2025

Research >>>

White Line Fever by Lemmy with Janiss Garza.

Concert Archives – Jimi Hendrix

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

/ Alikivi

The last time I met David was in October 2019 he talked about starting up Impulse Studio in Wallsend and the legendary record label Neat.

David exclusively revealed how the success of North East comedian Bobby Thompson kick started the label which went on to spawn chief headbangers Raven, Venom, Blitzkreig and Tygers of Pan Tang who in turn were a huge influence on American bands Metallica, Anthrax and Megadeath. Read the interview here >>>

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

We’re in The Customs House, South Shields chatting over a pot of tea and David is in a talkative mood. We talk about North East music and how influential live music show The Tube was, and how it outclassed other music TV. I was lucky to be in the audience of the ground breaking show and being exposed to different genres of music that opened my eyes and ears.

I remember The Tube. I took Venom to the studio they weren’t playing they were there to highlight the type of music they were doing and getting their name out. On that occasion Madonna and Cliff Richards were also on recalls David.

I knew Geoff Wonfor and his wife Andrea who both worked there. I was surprised when it was shut down it was a beautiful studio. Andrea worked on the Lindisfarne film in our recording studio in Wallsend, that was for local news. Unfortunately, a lot of that footage and much more has been lost. Andrea done really well she ended up an executive at Channel Four.

However, my interest in music goes back to when I was 16 year old, a long time ago I’m nearly 80 now. I remember asking a bank manager for a loan to open a recording studio ‘A what?’ he replied. There was a drummer from Howdon came to see me, he looked around ‘Is this yer studio is it. A recording studio in Wallsend? Ya must be f***in’ mad’. That just gave me a push to get on with it.

Councils weren’t interested. Music wasn’t taught much in schools then. We had only one school from Blyth who had enough sense to come down and get the kids to know what it was all about. If you encourage people to find out about things it works on all parts of their life rather than trudging about.

At Impulse I ended up recording every Tom, Dick and Harry in the North East. There was John McCoy and his band. John ran the Kirklevington Country Club near Stockton on the A19. His brother was chef in the restaurant downstairs while bands played upstairs, the club booked in a lot of big acts including Jimi Hendrix.

I have the recording here that I did for them at Impulse in Wallsend, I was 21 we had just started the studio. This must be from 1967 or 68 the time they opened for Jimi Hendrix. They were some band, I tell ya the Real McCoy could really play.

John was a nice bloke, he must be in his 80’s now, he was a really good musician (I’m in touch with John his stories will be added to the site soon). I saw the band at Middlesbrough Town Hall that was always a good gig. I used to go to the Country Club because the food was amazing – charcoal grilled fillet steak in red wine sauce with all the trimmings …beautiful.

We had bands coming to Impulse like The Sect, Half Breed, John Miles – he was brilliant, a class act, a great songwriter, it’s very sad he’s not around now he was such a nice bloke. As a studio it was how basic can you get really but we were all trying to learn new things – that’s how you start.

All the stuff we were working on in the studio was original songs – folk, alternative, punk. We had The Carpettes and Penetration from down Durham way, and from your doorstep in South Shields who else but the Angelic Upstarts! Yes, they were a wild bunch! I didn’t do an LP with them at Neat records it was only the first single ‘Liddle Towers’ and ‘Police Oppression’.

Cover for Angelic Upstarts 7″ single ‘The Murder of Liddle Towers’.

I remember years later they were on Warner Brothers and I got a phone call ‘I need the tracks you did with them to put on an LP, can you mix them and send them to us’. In the archive I had the 16 or 24 track tape they had done so it was possible. ‘When do you need it for‘? ‘Tomorrow morning’. I was up all night I couldn’t get the engineer so had to set it all up but got there in the end and they paid the bill for re-mixing.

But thinking back the Upstarts were fine lads I got on with them. I went to see them at the Guildhall in Newcastle and out comes the pigs head with a helmet on which they start kicking around the stage! I could see what they were doing. People like a bit of edge to things I see it now when you watch TV. A band wouldn’t be able to do that now – probably get them locked up.

There was a lot of musicians who really worked at it and built themselves up, there was even my milkman. Well, it was his son Gordon who used to work weekends to collect the money with his brother Phil. Thing was I used to frequent the Peoples’ Theatre in Newcastle’s Haymarket, this was around 1970, ‘71. My friend Andy Hudson talked about a Newcastle Big Band, around 20 of them – there was sax, drummer, trombone all sorts and of course the bass player was Gordon Sumner or Sting as he became.

They played all this American big band stuff there were some professional players in there like Ronnie Pearson the drummer. But sometimes they weren’t taken seriously as there were members who had day jobs or on the dole – it was a real mixed bag. Andy used to lead it and it was really good, the place would get packed out, a good atmosphere.

I used to go on a Sunday and had the idea to record them at Newcastle Playhouse. I took up a portable kit, a Revox quarter inch tape recorder and made a record which we put out, just a few hundred copies pressed. We sold them at the gigs, ironically the bands do things like that now to make money which is the only way for most bands.

Andy had good contacts and one of them was the airline to Holland. He fixed up a gig for the band to play for the Mayor of Amsterdam, it was some kind of twinning town or similar. We all got on the plane with the instruments for a 7.30am flight to Amsterdam it was only a short flight. When we got to the town hall we set up and had a bit practice. The Mayor turned up and we met him and he gave us a few drinks….within an hour we had a good skinful and were bladdered.

The flight back after the show was much later in the day so Andy suggested a walk around town. Not everyone went just the hardcore were left walking around. We eventually ended up in the red light district with its little bars and clubs. There was a few of us so we negotiated a cheaper admission into a live show.

Some lads still had their instruments with them as we sat down to watch the show. A couple got on stage and started doing their act and got well ‘at it’. One of our lads got his trombone out and waited for a certain movement by the act then played a short burst – it didn’t go down well. The lass on stage gave them ‘what fettle’. ‘We are professionals, this is our job’! The lads were thrown out by the manager. You’d have to ask Sting if he was there.

Andy then arranged a visit down to Pau in France near northern Spain. I went with my recording equipment and we took the gear in a transit van down through France. Part of the road was Le Mons race track it was so smooth you couldn’t hear the tyres. In all it took about two days.

We had a member of the band with us in the van and he had an accident in his underwear, so he chucked them into the back of the van. When you went abroad you used to have a carnet which was a document listing everything in the van to make sure you brought everything back. Everything was listed down to the name of the instrument, serial number, colour, value – you had to sit down and type out pages of it. Then apply for it, then get it stamped before you go anywhere.

We get to the border and the customs officer checked the carnet. ‘So, you are a band, open the doors and just step out the van’. We open the back doors the smell hits them. Holding their noses they quickly say ‘Hurry up, close them and be on your way’! Touring at its best.

We then went to Pau municipal casino. It was like a big echo chamber in there, I remember they played ‘Hey Jude’ with everyone singing along to the chorus. That was a good recording, we spliced it with a version from a Newcastle recording, it came out great.

We sorted out digs at the university because hotels would have been expensive for all the band and crew. As we tucked in to our first meal it was ‘What’s this? – it’s a bit tough’. It was cheval – we all had horse steak for the first time.

We crossed the border and travelled to San Sebastian, there was a jazz festival with big names on, Last Exit played in the town square, I don’t think the Big Band played there. I remember Sting played bass in Last Exit and other members of the Big Band were also in Last Exit.  

When it was all over, we headed to Bilboa and jumped on the ferry. The crew found out about the band travelling over to England so invited them down to the Pig and Whistle bar in the bowels of the ship.

It was a great atmosphere with jam sessions going on, laughter, food and a few drinks – well more than a few drinks. At the end of the session as we were coming into Portsmouth, I went to the bar to pay but the steward said ‘no, nothing’. I insisted ‘Come on the boss told me to sort it out you’ve been really good, we’ve enjoyed ourselves, how much do we owe?’ ‘Ok’ he replied ‘One pound’. Wasn’t that a great gesture.

You know it was 2011 when the Borough Theatre in Wallsend where Impulse studio and Neat records were based was eventually demolished, it had been lying empty for years. Looking back, it was a great time but to be honest I just wanted to hoy the keys away. I worked there from 1966 to 2001. The years since then have passed very quickly.

After I sold Neat records I ran a Theatre group which went well until Covid destroyed the numbers involved so we are building it back up again. I kept a lot of the group together through ZOOM. I was also on the local club committee at Cullercoats on the North East coast here.

Now I’m writing short comedy scripts for a podcast. I’m trying to get them on local radio. Problem I have is some of its adult humour you might laugh your socks off but not sure you’ll hear it on the radio.

What else do I do? I’m also on a committee for wine tasting because I like my wine. That’s been going for 40 years. We also like our holidays, we have a few planned this year. We look after our Grandchildren and dogs and take them out to the country each weekend, yes you just get on with things don’t ya. I’ve also been involved with a few compilation CDs with the Cherry Red label, I’ll let you know all about that when we catch up next time.

Alikivi   February 2025.