Apprentice steelworkers and musicians Steve Thompson and Robin Hird formed Bullfrog in 1969. Being a Consett band their first ever gig was in The Freemasons Ballroom. Reportedly a wild west of a venue! Bullfrog played all over the North East gaining a huge following, and supporting big names including The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Hot Chocolate and Wishbone Ash.
Bullfrog finally attained the holy grail of a record deal but sadly failed to turn North East popularity into global stardom.
Steve(bass) takes up the story …“Ultimately, we had two record deals on offer from EMI and Cube. After a few years slogging around pubs and clubs in the North East we decided we needed to cut some demos and go after a record deal. So off we went to Multicord studios in Sunderland and laid down our entire repertoire of original songs.”
“We had also come second in a national competition and the prize was a recording audition at EMI Studios. EMI liked the recordings and started discussing a deal. Then we heard from Cube. They liked the demos we had sent and wanted to come see us at a live gig.”
“They came to Wingate Constitutional Club. It couldn’t have worked out better. They were swinging from the rafters and the band were going down great. Girls were banging on the dressing room door desperate to ravage our young bodies.”
“The Cube dudes were impressed and wanted to sign us there and then. We mentioned the interest from EMI. They said at EMI we would just be a small fish in a big pool. Come with us, they said, we’re smaller and can give you individual attention. They convinced us and we agreed to sign.”
“In due course we were booked into Island Records’ Basing Street studios. Many of our heroes had recorded there so it was quite exciting. Our producer was Roger Bain who had produced Black Sabbath of whom we were fans so another plus. Roger’s mate came along for the sessions, a guy called Gus Dudgeon with whom I was to work with several years later. Unfortunately, we made a string of dumb moves.”
“Dumb move one – we wrote a joke song called ‘Ridley Tiddly Tum’. Dumb move number two – we made a demo recording of the joke song. Dumb move number three – we played it to the record company. They declared it would be a massive hit and it was to be our first single. We were horrified but we couldn’t talk them out of it. But they were wrong it wasn’t a massive hit.”
“On reflection something else we did was probably a dumb move too. When you’re young you have a huge propensity for doing dumb things. We declared the single was a double A side and at every opportunity we promoted the actual B side a song called ‘In The City.”
“We did a film for BBC’s Look North driving around Newcastle in an open top car with ‘In The City’ blasting out. At every opportunity and interview we promoted the B side of the single. Our record company must’ve loved this. And so, it wasn’t to be and finally the band broke up in 1974.”
Steve then decided to concentrate on songwriting which led him to Wallsend’s Impulse Studios as House producer and eventually the legendary Neat Records who were responsible for launching the big four North East rock bands – Fist, Venom, Raven and Tygers of Pan Tang.
Steve explains his new project “It’s been over 50 years since Bullfrog’s first gig with 50 being a magic number in the music business. It’s the amount of years that must pass before recordings drop out of copyright. So finally, Bullfrog are free of that ill fated record deal so I’ve dug out the old master tapes and dusted them off”.
Steve added “These remixes of our 1972 demo tapes have been assisted by AI and I’ll own up to a small number of 2025 overdubs. The band now sounds how it would have done if modern day recording studios had been available when we first cut the demo tapes. And now you can enjoy the songs too – 50 Years On”
Bullfrog 50 Years On is available on 12 inch Vinyl album and a CD (with bonus tracks). You can hear previews of the songs and purchase your copy here >>>
https://elasticstage.com/bullfrog
Alikivi May 2026
ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST MUSIC & CULTURE 