LOUD GUITARS

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

‘SEVEN BRIDGES’ new album from The Attention Seekers

/ Alikivi

During Covid lockdowns some musicians took time out to reboot ideas and produced new music, guitarist Alan Fish was no different.

‘Against all odds I managed to produce a new collection of songs. It’s been quite a journey. This pandemic has reminded us how fragile and precious life is and it’s in this spirit of gratitude that we are releasing a new album which is a tribute to my home town Newcastle upon Tyne’.

‘We’ are a collection of musicians trading under the moniker The Attention Seekers who went into Newcastle Cluny studio and with engineering skills of Tony Davis, recorded new album Seven Bridges – also the name of a track with its infectious chorus…

‘It’s a beautiful city I know, from the steps to the quayside, and I can still see Seven bridges to carry me home, to the streets of Newcastle tonight’.

The album is Tyne soaked in a positive acoustic feel with vocals on the eleven tracks shared between Jesse Terry, Romaana Shakir, Sam Blewitt and Alan who had different plans back in 2020.

‘Everything stopped in March 2020. The world as we know it ground to a halt. Covid made the future uncertain. The plan had been to return to the USA to promote the previous album A Song for Tomorrow. We had promo in place but gigs and radio interviews had to be put on hold’.

‘Fast forward to 2022 and some semblance of normality is gradually returning, most importantly my family, friends, bandmates and I have our health intact. There are too many who have not been so fortunate’.

When did you start putting the Seven Bridges ideas together ?

‘I travelled back in time to revisit songs from my days in North East rock bands White Heat and The Loud Guitars in Do Me A Favour, Chain Reaction and Is it Too Late? Keeping in that frame of mind I wrote a letter to my younger self in Daydreaming’.

‘Romaana Shakir provides great vocals on the track Mr Coastguard which is a letter of thanks to The Turkish Coastguard Service. What happened was my wife Viv and I spent a night in a tiny speedboat lost in rough seas and with no fuel. An experience Viv and I will not be repeating’.

‘And there is a ‘what if’ song called Money In His Pocket. The lyrics covered the story of a musician trying to ‘make it’ in the music biz’…

‘He put some money in his pocket, grabbed a bag and picked up his guitar. He took off in the middle of the night in his beat up car. He left behind the prettiest girl, to find his way in the big wide world’

‘That’s about walking away from ‘the deal’ which was one of the best decisions I ever made. In 1989 White Heat reformed for a one-off festival appearance alongside Aswaad and Nick Hayward.

After our set we were approached by Don Arden ‘notorious’ owner of Jet Records, manager of ELO, Dio and Black Sabbath, father of Sharon Osbourne, and father in law of Ozzy’.

‘He expressed an interest in managing us (White Heat), although I had long put aside any thoughts of a full time career in the music business, I was interested in what he had to say and I agreed to meet with Don the next day’.

‘His plan was to put us out on tour after tour in the states supporting his bands – ELO, Black Sabbath to name but two, until we ‘broke the market’. He was aware I was married with a young family and said “you have a decision to make”. I kindly declined the offer, ‘Money In His Pocket’ is a fictitious story where in a parallel universe I accepted the deal’.

A full interview with Alan was posted on 13 September 2019. (Link below)

A track on the new album was originally by a band with its roots firmly in the North East – Lindisfarne.

‘The Alan Hull (Lindisfarne) track Winter Song was suggested to me by New York radio presenter Charlie Backfish, many thanks Charlie! Both Sam Blewitt and Jesse Terry share lead vocals and I think their voices work incredibly well together, I am planning to repeat this combination in the future’.

‘Passing Ships is a dip into the murky waters of Greek Mythology and The Girl with the Jukebox Mind was after a chance encounter with someone in New York, she definitely had the Woodstock look, she described herself as having a ‘Jukebox mind’ – a brilliant title for a song!’

‘And on the next track who is Alison Jones ? well everybody loves a mystery’.

Have you plans to take Seven Bridges out on tour ?

‘Firstly a huge thanks to all the talented musicians who have joined me in this venture and yes there was a mini tour in October finishing at The Cluny in Newcastle’.

‘Our next gig is at Birmingham Central Art Space on the 30th October supporting Dan Whitehouse, and more gigs to be announced soon so keep a look out on our social media page or check the official website’.

http://www.the-attention-seekers.co.uk

‘Seven Bridges’ is available to stream/download via all the usual platforms.

NO ORDINARY JOE – in conversation with Alan Fish former guitarist with WHITE HEAT | ALIKIVI : NORTH EAST UK (garyalikivi.com)

Alikivi  October 2022

PLAY IT AGAIN – on TV & Stage with music documentary director, Bob Smeaton

/ Alikivi

Smeaton first featured on this blog back in November 2018 talking about his time as lead vocalist and frontman with Newcastle bands Hartbreaker, White Heat and Loud Guitars. Over 17 years Bob played over 400 gigs, his last was in 1991.

Some say White Heat were the best band to come out of Newcastle who ‘never made it’. They signed for Virgin records in 1980, went on tour with Judas Priest and headlined London Marquee – they set alight to the Tyne, but sadly not the Thames.

Smeaton turned to acting on stage and TV, and like most North East actors was cast in an episode of Auf Wiedersehen Pet.

‘I was in the second series that was mostly filmed in Nottingham prior to them moving the action to Spain. I had known Jimmy Nail from when he used to come and see White Heat and had also met Tim Healy a number of times, as I had once worked with his wife Denise’ remembers Bob.

Nearly 40 years later the show about a group of British workers on a German building site is still being repeated on TV today.

Even though some scenes have been chopped out – it still gets me smiling which is a hard ask at the best of times. I suppose it’s a great example of ‘feel good telly’ – and nothing comes close.

‘My role as shop assistant in a man’s boutique was very much blink and you miss it, and in fact it didn’t warrant a mention in my memoir. I’m sure that role could have been played by a hundred other actors. 

I was told recently that my scene has been cut from the re-runs on UK Drama but my name is still there in the end credits!

As chance would have it I was in a club in London a couple of years ago and a bloke came up to me pointed to my trousers and asked ‘Do they do the Italian paratrooper in your size’. Which was one of my lines from the scene.

He then proceeded to run the whole scene with him playing the role of Oz and me reprising my role as the shop assistant’.

Fans of the programme still regard it with much affection and the interview with Auf Wiedersehen actress Lesley Saint John, is by far the most popular interview on this blog (link below). Lesley appears in ‘Hasta La Vista’, the episode that Bob appeared in.

It just goes to show what a brilliant series it was and how people still look upon it with great affection. I was also lucky to have been in a scene with Tim Spall, he is a genius and nothing like the character he played on screen.

Bob in his early days in White Heat.

TEENAGE DREAM

When my careers guidance teacher asked me what I wanted to do when I left school I told her I wanted to be an actor or singer. This didn’t seem like an option and she suggested the shipyards as a third option. As it turned out I have been fortunate to do all three.

Without doubt singing in a band was, and remains, the best thing that I’ve ever done. Nothing beats being on stage and performing to an audience. And my love of music was the springboard to my present job as a director of music documentaries. 

Even working in the yards had its upside, it gave me loads of material for song lyrics and made me realise ‘there must be more to life than this’.

Bob and Mick McNally shooting a scene from the Film on Four, Accounts.


STAGECRAFT

I always felt there was an element of acting in being in a band, you learnt your lines, put on a show and hopefully entertained an audience with a degree of honesty.

I first acted in school plays at junior school even though at South Benwell school we didn’t do drama. Therefore, I would write plays and give myself the lead role. Often with a few songs thrown in for good measure.

When White Heat split I was very fortunate to be cast in a Film on Four called Accounts. The guy who wrote it, Micheal Wilcox, had seen me presenting a television show called The Colour Programme, and thought that I would be right to play the part of Andy Mawson.

The role had previously been performed on stage by Kevin Whately. Mike McNally played the role of my younger  brother, Donald. Mike and I have remained good friends and I look forward to getting up a doing a turn with him at ‘Jarra Tapas’ in the not too distant future.

15 MINUTES OF FAME

I thought that having had a lead role in a film would be the springboard to more acting work, but that wasn’t the case. I soon learnt that for every role there would be hundreds of actors going for the same part.

I was up for roles alongside the likes of Robson Green and Joe Caffrey, great actors with more experience than I had.

As far as my acting career goes the thing that got me noticed most was an advert for McEwan’s Best Scotch. When it was broadcast I discovered what it was like to be famous for 15 minutes.

The irony was I was recognised more for that ad than I did for being in a band. But I guess that’s that the power of television. It’s still out there on You Tube. And I can laugh at it now and it’s great to have a record of what I looked like all those years ago.

Like most local actors I did a Catherine Cookson. I was cast in the The Black Candle and had my throat cut about ten minutes into the film. My mam thought it was the best thing that I had ever done, and would watch on repeat my sad demise at the hands of some posh bloke.

Those Cookson’s were great and had really high production values and were a great source of work for a load of local actors. I am sure every actor in the North East will have a Cookson on their CV.

Bob during the time of making the McEwans Best Scotch commercial.

SCREEN TIME

Another show filmed in the North East was TV detective show Spender, broadcast 1991-93. The programme starred Jimmy Nail who created the series with Ian La Franais, who also wrote Auf Wiedersehen Pet.

I played the part of a drug dealer in Spender, I think Jimmy Nail put me forward for that role. I still see Jimmy occasionally but we never talk about acting.

Like me I think his first love was and remains music, we talk about music and the sad demise of our football club.

I also did some Theatre work and my debut was in a play called Fur Coat and No Knickers by Mike Harding. This was at the Palace Theatre in Westcliff Upon Sea.

My opening line was “Hello I’m Mark Greenhalgh I’m as bright as the inside of a cows bum”. It wasn’t Shakespeare, but it was a good laugh.

Eastenders actor Ross Kemp was also in it. We became good mates, we also did The Wizard of Oz together. Me and telly hardman Ross Kemp in leotards playing munchkins was a sight to behold. I never really caught the theatre bug and much preferred television and film acting.

I did dip my toe back into acting when I finished working on the Beatles Anthology. Matthew Robinson cast me in Quayside a soap opera that was set on Tyneside.

The television audience hated it, and it got dropped after one series. I loved it and had a great time making it, the highpoint was getting to work alongside the great Joe Caffrey.

One time we were sat waiting to start filming and he was chatting away to me. I didn’t realise he was running the scene. It didn’t seem like he was acting. That was the difference between my acting and the likes of Joe, for him it was effortless.

Bob on stage at the Palace Theatre doing Wizard of Oz. Ross Kemp and Bob standing either side of Dorothy.

TV EXIT

I haven’t done any acting since Quayside (1997), the series was cancelled around the same time as my career as a director of music documentaries began to take off.

My first love was always music, but I was very fortunate to have experienced what I was like to be an actor and I really enjoyed it and I would ‘never say never again’.

I really miss performing and although acting will never replace the buzz of being on stage with a band I feel it works a similar muscle. Performing is in my blood and I would like to think both of those doors remain open.

When I released my book someone got in touch and suggested trying to make a film of it and that I could play the role of my dad. Anyone who has read the book would realise me and my dad had a difficult relationship, but maybe playing him might have helped get rid of some demons. Also I would have got to get up and sing a bunch of Tom Jones songs.

YOU BETTER YOU BET

The year before the pandemic struck I broke my knee-cap and I was out of action for six months. I was finally back up and running at the start of 2020, then the pandemic struck.

I have been very fortunate to have been kept busy during this past year. I finished a documentary about the Who Sell Out album just before Christmas, this is due to air on Sky Arts around the end of April.

At present I am in the process of finishing a film about a big American band, I’m not at liberty to say who it is, it should hopefully get a cinema release later this year and will also screen on television.

GOT TO GET YOU INTO MY LIFE

As we have not been able to get out and do much socialising, my evenings have been spent working on some new songs and practicing my singing and guitar playing. It would be great to get the songs recorded.

I am also pondering the possibility of getting out there and doing some gigs once the restrictions are lifted. I am not sure what form the gigs would take but I am keeping my options open.

But I have always said that it’s as big a buzz playing to twenty people as it is to two thousand.

Bob Smeaton’s memoir – From Benwell Boy to 46th Beatle…and Beyond

is available now through Newcastle Waterstones and Amazon.

Link to previous interview:

THE BOY FROM BENWELL – with Film & TV Director, Bob Smeaton | ALIKIVI (garyalikivi.com)

Link to interview with Lesley Saint John:

TALKING PICTURES in conversation with actress Lesley Saint John | ALIKIVI (garyalikivi.com)

Interview by Alikivi   March 2021.