The starting gun fires on Friday 4th August on old school NWOBHM at Trillians. They won’t be nights full of half arsed tunes. Expect red hot, heavy, driving sounds topped with power vocals – just the way you like it.
First up is Kev Riddles’ Baphomet, Kev was an original member of NWOBHM band Angel Witch who released their first album in 1980.
The record, along with the track Baphomet, always feature on any ‘Best of NWOBHM’ lists. On their last visit to Newcastle, Kev Riddles’ Baphomet played original Angel Witch classics to a packed house. Expect the same on a loud start to your weekend.
Another night of old school metal is a triple bill on Friday 1st September with Avenger, Abaddon and Spartan Warrior.
Spartan vocalist David Wilkinson explained“2023 has been a milestone year for Spartan Warrior as we celebrate 40 years since the release of our debut album, ‘Steel n Chains’, on the Guardian label”.
“We’ve played some well received anniversary shows where we’ve played our debut album live in its entirety”.
“As we have two shows at the same venue quite close together we want to give people something different each time. The 1st September set will be exclusively from the ‘Steel n Chains’ album and the second album only. November’s set will draw material from all four albums”.
That November date is set for Friday 3rd, a pre-Bonfire night with Kev Riddle’s other band Tytan. What to expect from Tytan? Chunks of melodic, epic rock with screaming riffs and Tony Coldham’s soaring voice. At the time of posting the band are on the road back from Germany after playing the Headbangers Open Air Festival.
Joining the bill are Millennium, frontman Mark Duffy explained“The first time Millennium played in Newcastle was when we were asked to do a reunion show for the Brofest festival in 2016 and we’ve played Newcastle a number of times since”.
“We know Spartan Warrior as they were on the Guardian records compilation ‘Pure Overkill’ along with Millennium. Although we didn’t get to meet them till around five years ago, we’ve since played gigs on the same events. Wehaven’t played any gigs with Tytan before so we’re looking forward to that”.
Spartan Warrior’s Wilkinson added“We’re very excited to be co headlining the November show with our dear friends Tytan. We’ve shared stages before and it’s going to be a great night for sure. We also have a long history with Millennium who were our Guardian label mates, so in our 40th Anniversary year that’s a bit special too”.
Millennium’s Duffy added “I think the NWOBHM scene has lasted so long because it has produced so many good bands who recorded some great records. There’s also a younger generation who are now listening and discovering these bands for the first time and appreciating their music”.
“We’re looking to do some gigs with other NWOBHM bands and hoping to play festivals in Europe having played in Athens this year. But it’s always good to play home shows at Trillians – really looking forward to it”.
If that isn’t enough for ya’ on Thursday 23rd November at Trillians is a hometown visit from the Tygers of Pan Tang. After trekking around mainland Europe during summer they have arranged extra dates to support new album Bloodlines.
Phil Lynott, Thin Lizzy, Black Rose tour 1979 Newcastle City Hall. pic Paul White.
Phil Lynott played the cool, sexy, rock star. The hot shot gunslinger with studded wrist band and clenched fist. The Rocker. But he was dead by 36. What happened in the last few years of his life?
Thin Lizzy had been around since the early seventies releasing a number of successful singles including Whisky in the Jar, Rosalie and Waiting for an Alibi, and top 30 chart albums including Black Rose, Renegade and the imperious, Live and Dangerous.
The double album produced by Tony Visconti (Bolan/Bowie/Morrissey) in 1978 reached number 2, staying in the UK charts for over a year. Many critics label the record as one of the greatest live albums.
Although I never saw them in concert, I was in the Newcastle audience when they appeared live on Channel Four’s music show The Tube on 28th January 1983.
I remember watching a blistering version of Cold Sweat from the Thunder and Lightning album. The boys were back in town and at the top of their game. Or so I thought.
In comparison, I later watched a videotape of the show and thought the dressing room interview with Lynott was awkward and dull, he looked fragile. Was this the beginning of the slow decline for the Irish rock legend?
The TV show was only the second appearance of new guitarist John Sykes, formerly of Whitley Bay heavy metal band, Tygers of Pan Tang. His first gig was a few days earlier on BBC’s Sight & Sound concert – talk about being hoyed in at the deep end!
Lynott was more than happy with Sykes. He could see a new future for Lizzy. Cold Sweat entered the UK charts and another TV slot was scheduled for Top of the Pops.
But the band were dropped from the running order after a drunken Lynott was reported to have told the producer to ‘fuck off’ – twice.
Morale was low and cracks appeared amongst the team. Lizzy found themselves slowly falling apart through health and personal reasons. Eventually a split was announced.
1983 UK tour dates
So what was left ? The Thunder and Lightning UK tour included two dates at Newcastle City Hall, with a night at London’s Hammersmith Odeon and a reunion of past Lizzy guitarists, Brian Robertson, Gary Moore and Eric Bell.
“It was chaos” said Bell. “A mess if you listened to what was being played. It was a turning point in my life, after that I never wanted to hear those songs again. I suppose it was a good way of burying Thin Lizzy forever”.
Roadie for the band Peter Eustace explained “On the crew we all thought Phil was scared of success. Once you’ve arrived where do you go? And all you know is that these young guns are breathing down your neck”.
The future, well the ‘80s, belonged to the new chart soundz ! from the likes of Depeche Mode and Duran Duran. While a rejuvenated Queen, and soon to be Irish legends, U2, both benefited from Live Aid. Meanwhile, Lizzy struggled to play a few more dates in Ireland and Japan.
Their last UK show was headlining the Reading festival in August ‘83. The curtain came down on their final live performance in Nuremburg, Germany on 4th September, sharing a bill with Saxon, Motorhead and Whitesnake.
Fellow Irishman and Boomtown Rat songwriter Bob Geldof said “Phil couldn’t imagine a life not in leather trousers, with a limousine taking him to work every day”.
In 1984 a zoned out Lynott appeared on ITV’s Breakfast Show talking about his new band, Grand Slam, but also about his problems as a heroin addict.
He resolved to work hard, in rehearsals he drilled the band for eight hours a day earning him the nickname ‘Sergeant Rock’. Had the thunder returned?
The band toured extensively throughout the UK and what seemed like victory soon turned into disaster as no major label offered them a recording contract. The industry was backing off.
In 1985 old friend Huey Lewis – from the News – spent time with Lynott recording in a San Francisco studio, but the old swagger wasn’t there. A delicate and tired Lynott only managed a couple of vocal tracks.
Although he did manage a UK chart hit in June ‘85 with Out in the Fields when he paired up with another old friend and former Lizzy guitarist Gary Moore. Cutting out management, Lynott made a direct deal with the label and received £5,000 in cash for being on the record.
But his darkest days were ahead with long days and weeks spent at his London home in dressing gown and slippers not answering calls or seeing friends.
Then out of the blue a charity concert was arranged to be played in front of a world-wide TV audience, it was made for the return of Thin Lizzy.
Live Aid saw The Who, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin reforming for a one off gig. But Lynott wasn’t asked. Did fellow Irishman and organiser Bob Geldof stay away knowing of his problems?
Co-organiser, songwriter & former Lizzy touring guitarist, Midge Ure said…
”To our dying shame neither Bob nor I even thought about asking Phil to put Lizzy together for Live Aid. If he had been in a healthy state that could have been the Queen moment for them – ‘The Boys are Back in Town’ – at Wembley? Jesus, can you imagine?“
“Why didn’t we do it? Was it that psychologically we had already given Phil up as gone? It’s something that will stay with me for the rest of my life’.
There were rumours that Lynott was to play Jimi Hendrix in a biopic of the guitarists life, but nothing came of it. In the studio he was working on recording solo material.
Phil Lynott’s final public appearance was in December 1985 when he travelled to Tyne Tees TV studio in Newcastle to record a Christmas special for pop programme Razzmatazz, he performed his solo single Nineteen.
Ironically the presenter was David ‘Kid’ Jensen, the DJ who had championed the band in the early seventies. Also on the programme were Slade, who Lizzy had opened for back in the early days. Back when the fight was being won.
At home Lynott was visited by hangers on, pushers and gofers. He ended up surrounded by people, but very alone. In court on a drugs charge he was called ‘a drugs victim and a trajedy’ by his own solicitor. His close friends wondered where did he go? The musician, the poet, the man they loved.
Sadly, on 4th January 1986, Phil Lynott died of kidney, liver and heart failure. One of his close friends said “Phil didn’t die of a heart attack, he died of a lifestyle”.
Alikivi July 2023
Research:
Phil Lynott: The Rocker by Mark Putterford.
Cowboy Song: The authorised biography of Philip Lynott by Graeme Thomson.
Launched in Holland in 1981 and focused on releasing Heavy Metal records, the label then expanded and opened offices around the world including UK, USA, Germany, Japan and Australia.
A documentary about the company is currently in production, the idea for the project started during lockdown when 34 year old Bill and his friend from Leeds started a podcast called Temple of Bleh.
The idea for the podcast was for the pair of us to reconnect with heavy music in a more meaningful way explained Bill.
This would be done through projects such as The Hunt for the Secret Channel 4 Metalhead, then we finally arrived at looking at The History of Roadrunner Records.
Being a metal guy of my age, I noticed a thread that connected my favourite bands – Trivium, Killswitch Engage, Sepultura, then the likes of Mercyful Fate and Type O Negative. So I toyed with the idea of a book on the subject.
After writing a brief report on the topic for the podcast, by complete chance, I crossed paths with former PR for Roadrunner UK, Michelle Kerr. She told me she’d like to see the finished product.
This was a sign to take this project to an academically accurate standard – so as not to look a complete twat in front of Michelle, who had kindly taken an interest.
I spent about a month creating a monster spreadsheet, detailing every original Roadrunner release since its formation in 1981 – conventional wisdom says Roadrunner formed in 1980, this is a lie.
After finishing this, I set about contacting every band, with mixed success, for a Zoom interview – which would be put up on the Temple of Bleh podcast and You Tube channel.
Then the idea was to roll them up into three documentaries of 60-75 mins each and detailing the three core ‘eras’ of the record label – 1981-1986, 1987-2001 and 2002-2012 explained Bill.
Andreas Kisser of Sepultura, pic BillSaxton, 4th November 2022, at KK’s Steel Mill, Wolverhampton.
Research can always bring up a number of unusual stories, and Bill found a few about Roadrunner.
A good story I found is that Roadrunner’s first Gold single wasn’t metal at all – it was a 1995 gabba song called I Wanna Be a Hippie by Technohead.
Also, in this period Roadrunner was trying to edge away from heavy metal, and in the UK specifically were trying its hand at Britpop.
If you were to ask Franz Ferdinand singer Alex Kapranos who first signed him, he’d say Roadrunner, with his early outfit The Karelia.
Another story is the range of artists Roadrunner licensed to Europe from the rest of the world. There are albums from Sinead O’Connor and Cliff Richard bearing the Roadrunner label.
Bill emphasised that the main point of the documentary is to illustrate that once upon a time, death metal hit the top of the Billboard charts, and had a seat at the table with the perceived top industry ‘players’.
It’s important to my generation to understand exactly how that came about. Who better to ask than those responsible at Roadrunner Records.
It’s also insanely convenient that you can’t answer the ‘how’ question without showcasing the stories and legacies of the key artists on the label such as Mercyful Fate, Type O Negative, and Slipknot – as well as the less mainstream bands like Deicide, Gruntruck and Blue Mountain.
Madball being interviewed, pic by TheFinalCut, 7th February 2023, at Manchester Club Academy.
After six months, 150 hours of interviews, one mini and one full documentary complete, Bill was contacted by Mrs X – who would prefer to remain anonymous.
She favoured the project so much she came up with the finance to form a production company and elevate the quality to broadcast standard.
Big thanks to our Mrs X where would I be without her! said Bill. So far I’ve filmed 32 interviews for the project, across six countries, both artist and Roadrunner personnel alike. I’ve still got a lot to go before I can call this thing even close to complete.
Bands from North East UK are represented by stories from Battleaxe and Dark Heart. It’s a dense mix of music business learnings, interwoven with rock n roll regalia.
As it stands at this moment, ‘The History of Roadrunner Records’ has no distributor or broadcaster interest as yet– so this will likely be hitting YouTube.
The documentary is being exclusively filmed in the UK and I’m managing the time with my day job, so I can’t put a final deadline on the production. I’m considering crowdfunding to quicken it up.
For more info or if you dealt with the Roadrunner label contact Bill at templeofbleh@gmail.com or @HistoryOfRoadrunnerRecords on Instagram.
So far, this year has been golden for Raven who’ve been inducted into the Metal Hall of Fame, recorded a new album ready on the blocks for release, awarded a front cover on the highly respected International Rock & Metal magazine Aardschok and preparing for an upcoming tour. Bassist & vocalist John Gallagher explains the positive mood in the Raven camp…
The new album ‘All Hells Breaking Loose’ will be our 15th full studio album. The album name is one of the tracks and it’s always nice to have a title track. This one stuck out as a great title to build the album around and sparked the cover idea too.
But lately at gigs we’ve been playing the ‘All for One’ album as it’s reached it’s 40th anniversary.
Raven at Newcastle Mayfair 16 June 1983 pic Duncan Butterfield.
1983 was a big year for Raven – they hoyed the kitchen sink and both taps at a major USA tour, previously there was a gig at London’s Marquee and a few nights later they landed on Newcastle Mayfair.
The biggest bands on the planet including Zeppelin, Queen, Nirvana and The Who had played the venue, then on one red hot sweaty night in June ‘83, Raven played on home turf.
John remembers that night…I do seem to remember doing a ‘runner’ during my bass solo. Jumping offstage, running up to the balcony, round and back on before most people knew what happened!
John Gallagher Newcastle Mayfair 16 June 1983 pic Duncan Butterfield.
It was a great night, I was doon the front as were many from Sooth Sheelz as the show was opened by local metallers Hellanbach.The red hot atmosphere of the night was captured in these excellent live pics by music fan Duncan Butterfield.
Mark Gallagher, Newcastle Mayfair 16 June 1983 pic Duncan Butterfield.
Sadly, the Mayfair was demolished in 1999 only to be replaced by a shiny pub and restaurant block with some bonny lights.But here we are many moons later and Raven have been busy in the studio mixing up the latest concoction.
It’s 10 songs, about 40 mins of all killer no filler – 1000% pure mania!So far we’ve put out two video singles, ‘Go for the Gold’ and ‘Surf the Tsunami’ and there will be one more when the album comes out.
The Godfathers of Thrash release their new album All Hell’s Breaking Loose on 30th June 2023. Check the official Raven website for merch/album/video & upcoming European gigs in July & September 2023.
It’s 1996 and Greedsville were splitting up after the five years that I’d been in the band. I was exhausted cos I had a day job as well plus I was getting interested in just song writing rather than being in a full-on band all the time.
Me and Pete the singer lived in the same flat and we had discussions about it not working anymore. We felt we had taken it as far as we could and our manager Sue Wilkinson had exhausted herself.
So, I wasn’t going off behind anyone’s back when I went to the studio and recorded a few songs looking at trying to get a publishing deal.
Fred Purser ex Penetration & Tygers of Pan Tang (1982)
The studio was Trinity Heights in Newcastle run by Fred Purser (ex guitar Penetration/Tygers of Pan Tang) who I love, he’s great. I was in three days playing all the parts with keyboards by ex-Greedsville man Mark Burton.
(Check the interview ‘Square One’ with Fred Purser 30 December 2018).
Sue agreed that she would be point of contact for the demo that I’d sent to a number of record companies. After only a few days Sue called me and said that Chrysalis A&R were interested.
They liked the songs but they wanted a band not just singer-songwriter. So, after a few phone calls I got in Ed Box who was guitarist and Gary Foalle who played bass in XLR8R, keyboardist Mark Burton was already in.
I also got Graham Hattam in on drums – he was second Greedsville drummer – when I formed the first version of the band. We called it Arch Stanton, a name featured in the great Clint Eastwood film The Good, The Bad & The Ugly.
Arch Stanton publicity photo (1998)
To put two songs together we went into Sams Studio in Newcastle because Trinity Heights was booked. Sue sent the tape to the A&R guy but we never heard anything back! The Chrysalis receptionist told us it’s on his desk. Still nothing. This was all annoying after the money and time spent.
This was all in the summer of ’96, we wrote a few more songs and done some gigs. Nothing was happening really apart from our manager Sue Wilkinson applying for a National Lottery grant. (Check the interview ‘Making Plans’ with Sue Wilkinson 25 March 2023 link below).
Well things were fizzling out and the other guys went back to XLR8R until I got a call from Sue ‘get the band back together’! The Lottery grant had been successful and we gathered a four piece band with me, Ed Box, Gary Foalle and Mick Robson on drums and wrote some new material.
Then we went into Trinity Heights and recorded four songs and it was the best feeling, it all just clicked. The lovely Sue got us loads of publicity in the media, TV slots on BBC Look North, cable, radio and newspapers.
The timing was great for the band, we all felt good about it. With the Lottery grant we didn’t need to worry about how much the studio would cost – we could relax into it you know.
Greedsville & Arch Stanton manager Sue Wilkinson
Then the BBC contacted Sue and said they were coming up to Newcastle to film us for a National Lottery show and it was going to be a Spice Girls special! A camera guy came up and filmed us miming in Fred’s studio (Trinity Heights).
Along with Sue I was going to be in the TV studio on the night, live TV, millions of people watching. Night before leaving for the Lottery show Sue called and said the BBC have been in touch and they want a girl singer on because it’s all about girl power with The Spice Girls on. There was a female vocalist in a band from Sunderland who also got a grant so she got the gig instead!
On the night it was broadcast I had a ticket to see the comedian Bill Bailey so my mam video-taped the live show. To be honest when I watched it back it didn’t look good with a video montage of Newcastle, Tyne bridge, Ant & Dec that sort of thing you know.
The 10 second shot with us in Trinity Heights studio didn’t have our name on, or music, or any other bands who were awarded grants. But it was memorable for the night that Geri left The Spice Girls.
For the record, I found the BBC Lottery clip on YouTube, the girl who ended up on the show, instead of me, was called Lara – least that’s what I think they said! Her band was called K9. I heard the backstage gossip was you could cut the tension with a knife (laughs).
The whole point was that the grants were awarded to help bands, but none of us were mentioned. Audience was around 12 million – one of them could have made a difference to any of the bands, but it wasn’t to be.
We, Arch Stanton, carried on for another few year playing gigs at venues like The Riverside, and we recorded a seven track album in Fred’s Trinity Heights studio which was eventually released in 2015.
Also a further five songs were recorded in Sam’s Studios and Octopus Studios. This made up the twelve tracks that were released as an album The Stanton Files in 2015, this was also the year I released my first solo album Life Off Line.
Fred Purser (2021).
I was employed at Trinity Heights, by Fred Purser as a video editor/production assistant, with some assistant sound engineering as a second role. The first music videos I worked on were for what become the album Square One by Fred Purser and Jon Deverill – both ex Tygers of Pan Tang.
When the band The Cockney Rejects were recording their album in Trinity Heights, Out of the Gutter, they asked Fred if they knew someone who played harmonica, he said yes, there’s one sitting upstairs doing some video editing!
I had met them when they came in, great bunch of lads, and ended up playing harmonica on the track Collar Felt Blues. The video for this song was shot in the studio with me in it, it was broadcast on MTV Europe at the time.
Evan Dando of The Lemonheads, UK, 1994. (Photo by Denis O’Regan/Getty Images)
Arch Stanton had split by 2000, and that’s when me, Ed Box and Gary Foalle ended up in New York. We were on holiday and our friend Elizabeth from Newcastle lived there as she was engaged to Evan Dando from The Lemonheads. She was a model in London, Paris then New York where she met Evan. She started off by winning a competition in the Newcastle Chronicle.
We were invited to their wedding in New York and we met a few celeb’s, one of them was Anthony Langdon from the band Spacehog. I first met Anthony – originally from Leeds – in March 2000, when I first went to New York City.
We were hustling around passing our demo to people but nothing really come of it. Evan came over to the UK and played the Wylam Brewery in Newcastle in 2017 where I supported, it was a great gig.
Evan Dando & Clive Jackson at the Wylam Brewery (2017)
With the experience working on video at Fred’s studio in 2004 I set up my own company, Automatic Films, where I went to New York to film Evan in a Day in the Life documentary called One Day in New York.
Chanel Four were looking at it but never took it up but this led me to working on other film projects like short films, music video, comedy and entering them into film festivals.
What am I doing now in music ? I ‘m just completing a new album called Distortion and hopefully release it by September 2023.
For more information/albums/photo’s check out Clive’s official website :
Clive is a singer/songwriter who released two solo albums, Life Off Line (2015) and Rocket Science in (2019). He is currently working on a new album for release this year.
A veteran of rock bands who were part of the Newcastle music scene in the 1990’s, he was a member of Greedsville who released an album in 1994.
Greedsville promo pic with Clive on the right.
The main thing that motivated me to get a guitar and become a songwriter in a band was when John Lennon died in 1980, they played tons of Beatles songs on T.V and Radio. I was already aware of a lot of it, but when I heard A Day in The Life on ITN news, I was hooked.
I joined various bands in the 80s, one being Twelve Angry Penguins – it was the era of daft band names! Then I was guitarist in a band called Dark Roads, and in 1991 we recorded a demo at Linx Studio with Mond Cowie (ex Angelic Upstarts) engineering. I was really pleased with my vocals, song writing and guitar work on that but unfortunately within six weeks everyone left Newcastle!
The drummer went to be a policeman in Leeds, the other guitarist went to live with his girlfriend in Wakefield and the bassist moved to Scotland to manage a hotel. In the midst of all that I got a phone call from Andy Carpenter who was bassist in Greedsville.
We sort of knew each other because we rehearsed in the same place, the 244 Rock club on Westgate Road here in Newcastle. There was a car repair shop in the back and in front was an old navy club, it was a very underground set up.
I handed Andy the Dark Roads demo and he asked me to join Greedsville as a song writer, that worked out and I became rhythm guitarist. Other bands on the scene were XLR8R, Strange Thing, 2000 and Roswell.
Greedsville live at London’s Marquee.
We gigged a lot and played in Newcastle, Hull and Leeds, we went down to London Marquee seven times. I had a full-time job in the Civil Service so ended up using all my annual leave when we had to travel to gigs in London. We couldn’t knock back gigs in the capital.
Sometimes I had to arrange a half day here, and a full day there. For one London gig work wouldn’t give me a half day. I pleaded with them as we had reviewers from Kerrang and NME coming along, it was important, one gig could make all the difference.
So, I decided to get the train from Newcastle to Kings Cross, legged it to the Marquee, did the gig, ran off stage, missed the last train, so jumped on the all-night bus from Victoria – still sweating and stinking with my stage clothes on. It was a long night as the bus stopped off everywhere.
Finally got home, showered, then made it to work just in time. But I was knackered, more of this wasn’t doing my health any good.
Around the early 90s we met a London guy called Sean Worrall who reviewed our demo, he ran a fanzine called The Organ and was connected to record companies. He would promote showcase gigs at the Marquee or Camden Monarch where A&R guys would turn up. Sean set up one for us.
There was Geffen records, EMI and MCA hanging at the back of the hall. It wasn’t like a gig more like a jury with them not clapping. Sadly, nothing came of it.
Then London Records saw us play in The Broken Doll, Newcastle and paid for a 4-track demo which we recorded in Hi Level studio. They asked us to ‘grunge’ the sound up.
Then we recorded a rough demo on a four track recorder in the Greedsville rehearsal room. Sean took it to MCA and the first song on it, one I’d written, was more like what they were looking for.
But the rest of the band didn’t want to go in that direction. At the time we were being compared to REM and Roxy Music – quite a wide spectrum.
Greedsville manager Sue Wilkinson
The Greedsville manager was Sue Wilkinson, who has just retired from the BBC. In the 90s she was running Generator here in the North East, she got us loads of publicity, articles and reviews in the press, plus radio and TV slots on local and national TV.
She got us on Tyne Tees, you can watch it on You Tube, Greedsville – Local ITV News, UK (Tyne Tees Television) 21st June 1993. That’s footage from a showcase gig at Newcastle’s Riverside. Ian Penman (Ravendale, music journalist) is also on who was a really nice guy and supportive of the North East music scene. Sadly, he passed away not long ago.
One time we were on the bill at Camden Monarch with Skunk Anansie. There was a chalk board outside the venue with the bands names on – they were billed as Skunk and Nancy and we were Green Sleeves!
I was staring at the board when their singer Skin, she is beautiful by the way, came up to me and asked if I was in Green Sleeves. I said ‘it’s Greedsville’ we were both laughing at the mistakes. They got a record deal. We didn’t.
Our guy in London, Sean Worrall backed off in the end because he explained to us that he’d met the record companies, they’d sent A&R men, heard the demos, he felt that he’d done all he could. It was an amicable parting, no hard feelings he’d just run out of road for us.
There was still a lot of Newcastle connections around that time, like Kev Ridley, engineer at Linx Studio. There was a band I knew called For Gods Sake with guitarist Steve Wallace, there was Steve Charley the Canadian, he was studio engineer for a while. There were connections to the Music for Nations label with Venom and Skyclad.
Then Greedsville signed to North East independent record label Bleeding Hearts run by Eric Cook and Tony Bray, Eric was manager of Venom and Tony was the drummer.
What happened was Sue Wilkinson got a call from Eric Cook asking would Greedsville be interested in a deal? ‘Great’ we all said. At the time we were recording in Trinity Heights studio run by Fred Purser (ex Penetration and Tygers of Pan Tang).
Greedsville album released in 1994.
The singer Pete Turner was involved in all the conversations between Eric Cooke and Sue Wilkinson, and the rest of the band, including myself, were all present at meetings when major decisions were made. The contract was for distribution in Europe and Asia, we had it checked out and it was ok. We signed on the dotted line around 1994.
We had originally planned to record an EP with four songs but with the deal happening it turned into an album. We recorded in three studios – Linx, Trinity Heights and a place in Chester le Street with Frankie Gibbon. It was all mixed and mastered at Fred’s Trinity studio.
Eventually we released The Casino Royale Collection. We made 10,000 copies and it was on sale in shops like Our Price and Virgin stores.
We were due to play in Middlesbrough, then onto the Heineken Music Festival in Gateshead Stadium. But a few weeks before that we played in London and on the way back in the van our drummer Doug Hayes said he was leaving.
So, we quickly had to get someone else in, that was Graham Hattam. We were really up against it, but Graham learned quick in a small time frame and the Heineken gig went well. The Stranglers and Jools Holland big band were also on, it was a great time and Sue got us lots of press.
But we started to lose momentum, Britpop had taken over, the band were falling apart. In 1996 it was all over for Greedsville.
Clive Jackson
Looking back the 90s had loads of different bands playing folk, blues, metal, psychedelia, it wasn’t just one genre. That’s one of the many reasons I think the A&R thing didn’t really happen here.
In one night, they would see a band dressed like they were in a pantomime, others playing Frank Zappa, and in the next pub there would be a full on metal band playing. There just wasn’t a load of bands playing one type of music where they could watch and give a definite yes or no, or maybe sign a band to a development deal.
Back then we sold around 5-6,000 albums but never received a penny. The Greedsville album is still on sale now through outlets like Amazon. If people are getting something out of listening to the songs that’s great – but did I make a living out of the music business? Absolutely not.
In the digital age copyright goes out the window. I do get royalty cheques now and then from my latest solo albums, the last was from Spotify for around $400.
There’s lots more to add to the Clive Jackson story, and that will be added to the blog later, but for more information check the official website:
Once an act has been booked for the WinterStorm Rock Weekender Mark is effectively the main point of contact.
It can be as simple as answering basic queries such as how far the band hotel is from the venue, to arranging UK entry requirements for bands that are coming in from abroad.
I sometimes end up being taxi driver taking them to and from the airport or hotel, which can be quite surreal at times when you realise you have just had an in depth chat with one of your childhood heroes.
pic by Andrew West
WinterStorm in Troon, Ayrshire sits on the beautiful Scottish coast and attracts bands and fans from across the globe.
Audiences literally do travel from all over the world to attend WinterStorm, although in many ways it still feels that we are Scotland’s best kept secret.
We get regular attendees from all over the UK as well as Europe, but we’ve also had people from Central and South America explained Mark.
Robb Weir, Tygers of Pan Tang. pic John McBean
We’ve always tried to offer something for everyone with a nod to the original wave of NWOBHM as well as the newer bands coming through and the more established acts.
There’s been some exceptional acts over the years – personal highlights were standing spellbound watching Bernie Torme and Uli Jon Roth, but for sheer energy, music and stage presence I would have to go with HEAT who were then fronted by Erik Gronwall.
We’ve also had Magnum, Skid Row, Quireboys, Ricky Warwick, Tygers of Pan Tang, Praying Mantis, Tyketto, Bernie Marsden, Diamond Head, Pete Way, Dead Daisies, Wayward Sons, Girlschool to name just a few.
Chantel McGregor
Having been involved with music for many years, Mark has a very eclectic taste…
Current listens include Chantel McGregor, Runrig, Iron Maiden, Scorpions, Pink Floyd, Marillion and The Brink. The last gig I attended was the Scottish M2tM heat in Edinburgh.
It’s also important to recognise that every big band now was a small band once, and if we don’t support our local venues then these bands will have nowhere to play and develop, so get yourself along to Newcastle Trillians or wherever is local to you that has live music on and support it.
In the seven years WinterStorm has been operating Mark remembers a stand out performance…
I think the performance that most surprised our audience -although not me – was Blues guitarist Chantel McGregor as not many of the crowd knew her.
To see her bring a packed hall to absolute silence was almost mesmeric – you could literally have heard a pin drop, the applause was thunderous!
But it’s important to recognise and acknowledge that WinterStorm simply couldn’t function without the team behind it – I’m just a small cog in a big picture. Although it was initially Ian McCaig’s brainchild that came into being after talking with Jim Kirkpatrick from FM and Steve Strange.
I often hear people say that it’s ‘a family’ and it very much feels like that, with a very friendly and supportive team of volunteers ensuring that all our guests are well looked after.
The Sound teams, stage crew, bar team, the ‘Stormtroopers’, particular shout outs must go to Team Angus, Simon, Johnny and Claire.
I’ve never heard anyone who has attended WinterStorm say they didn’t enjoy it, and this applies to band members and audience.
WinterStorm 2023.
This year with an extra night, acts booked so far include Michael Schenker, Massive Wagons, Focus, Russ Ballard, Paul Di’Anno, Tygers of Pan Tang & Praying Mantis – and all compered by Tom ‘Godfather of Rock’ Russell and Pete K Mally.
It’ll be a best of the first seven years, bringing down the curtain on our opening chapter. We’ll be back next year with a refreshed WinterStorm providing a new direction and experience on the UK music scene.
Mark added…We’ve always promoted an inclusive event and environment where all attendees can feel part of something special, I think this is reflected in the number of repeat bookings that we get before any of next year’s acts are announced, and the number of bands that get back in touch asking for a return date as they’ve had such a good time.
For further information and tickets contact the official website:
When it’s finally time to leave the stage all entertainers would love to go out at the top and Sunderland born comedian Bobby Thompson was no exception.
At his peak performing in North East clubs, punters were packed in like sardines and in 1985 Bobby was interviewed on BBC TV’s Wogan Show.
But is there a reminder of his achievements anywhere in the North East, and what happened to Bobby? There is a story that he had a statue given to him by The Little Waster pub in Wallsend after it closed down.
One night Bobby was broken into, cash, jewellery, and gold records were bagged, but after opening a cupboard and seeing his statue the burglars fled empty handed after realising who the house belonged to.
The life of Bobby, aka The Little Waster, features in A Private Audience by Dave Nicolson. The book is packed with interviews from fellow performers, managers and family members, with a foreword by comedian Ken Dodd…
‘To have an audience in uproar, to help them forget their everyday problems and worries, if only for an evening, is an experience to treasure’.
Former manager Brian Shelley remembers…
‘At the height of popularity his fee in the clubs was between £300-£500 a night. He did theatres for £1,000 for an eighteen minute slot. He was riding the crest of a wave. Bobby had it all going for him in 1978 with his record out’.
Some people interviewed on this site have mentioned seeing Bobby’s act or working with him. Back in October 2019, David Wood, boss of Wallsend’s Impulse studio, told me a story with a surprising ending.
I knew his manager Brian Shelley, he said Bobby is doing really well around the clubs do you fancy recording him ? I thought yeah we’ll give it a go.
We recorded him in Rhyope Club and Newcastle Mayfair around 1978. It was around an hours recording we put out and got Vaux breweries to sponsor it. Ironically Bobby didn’t drink then and there he was on a promo poster with a pint of beer.
Soon as we put the record out it took off, straight to number one in the local charts. Every shop was selling bucket loads, they couldn’t get enough off it. It was phenomenal.
With the profit from Bobby’s album the studio came on in leaps and bounds. We started the Neat heavy metal record label as an alternative to what we were doing.
We released a couple of singles then the Tygers of Pan Tang, Raven and Fist came along and suddenly we’ve got what became a New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Venom added to that and before we knew it we’ve built up a library of heavy metal singles. So yeah we’ve got to thank Bobby for Neat records.
Actor & musician Pete Peverly
In September 2019 I talked to actor and musicianPete Peverly who performs as Bobby in a tribute show. If he had a posh accent would he have appeared a lot more on TV and topped the bill on UK tours ?
His accent wasn‘t just Geordie it was Pitmatic, that’s very strong, and yes it was a barrier but one of the reasons why he didn’t make it outside the region was because I think he didn’t want to, he had everything up here.
He might have had more ambition in the early part of his career when he was doing Wot Cheor Geordie for the BBC. Maybe he thought about pushing it further but certainly not during the ‘70s.
All the other regional comics and entertainers who made it nationally were all-rounders, actors, comedians, song and dance men, Bobby wasn’t. He was a pit comedian from the Durham coalfields talking specifically to that community.
Actor, writer & theatre producer Leah Bell
One performer who worked with Bobby was actor, writer and theatre producerLeah Bell. I talked to Leah back in July 2021 and asked her what was he like to work with?
I worked with Bobby Thompson a lot, he was a nice man. His act was of its time, the poverty, the war – very funny.
We done a panto in Newcastle Theatre Royal with David Jason (Only Fools and Horses). David didn’t know Bobby Thompson at all, Bobby never rehearsed with us, there was no interaction.
So Bobby done his cabaret piece at the start of act two, and afterwards backstage would shuffle around saying hello to people.
David used to say to me ‘What a shame for that old fella, fancy having to work at his age, I’ve just given him some money for a cup of tea’. I said ‘What ! He gets dropped off in a limousine (laughs)’.
One night David said ‘He’s never in the finale, it’s nice of the theatre to let him go early, he must be tired’. Really, Bobby was doubling up and playing the late spot at Newcastle Mayfair.
Bobby had great delivery, clear, distinctive and not draggy. It can sound like he’s just talking along but it’s not, it’s very precise. He was a one off.
Comedian, Bobby Pattinson
Another North East comedian, Bobby Pattinson, is interviewed in the book.
‘Over the years I gave him bookings at my club. I never saw him as a rival, but regarded him as a friend even though people told me he didn’t have a good word for me’.
‘Most North East comics were content to go on stage in any order, Bobby always wanted to be last, he interpreted that as top of the bill. Buthe wasn’t as successful as I hoped when I booked him in December 1981 and had to cancel sixteen shows’.
In his detailed introduction, author Dave Nicolson tells us…
‘Bobby had success and money through the golden years, but he also had loneliness. The last few years were embarrassing for him, empty tables and chairs told him the harsh truth. Even the examiner at his bankruptcy hearing in 1986 was kind and considerate’.
‘Having lost the company of an audience his feeling of loneliness and isolation intensified. Spending late nights at Newcastle’s Casino Royale and the roulette wheel provided his nightly stage’.
Sadly, Bobby died on Saturday 16th April 1988 in Preston Hospital, North Shields. Family and friends attended his funeral with a fellow comedian adding a one liner that summed up Bobby Thompson…
’He’s late because he’s found out there’s another funeral after this and he wants to go on last!’
Alikivi May 2023
Research: Bobby Thompson, A Private Audience by Dave Nicholson.
Don’t know if you’ve noticed but lately Tyneside’s metal bands are warming up ready to hoy the whole kit and caboodle into the pot, taking everything with them and leaving nowt and no one behind. Are you ready for the Great North East Metal Raid?
They first plugged in around the 1970s and never in a million years did they think they would still be dancing with the devil 50 years later. So a quick update on where they are now and what they are doing is in order.
Firing off instant messages and communicating directly to followers on social media is used to full effect by the Tyneside Metal Raiders with a message from Raven loud and clear…‘The album has to be all killer no filler, no messin’ around with 19 minute epics, its smash yer face in with an ice pick. The title sums up everything we do. We wanted to tear it up, which is what Raven are all about’.
The forthcoming album from the Godfathers of Thrash, ‘All Hell’s Breaking Loose’ is released on 30th June 2023.Contact for sales, tours, photos & info:Raven | Official Raven Lunatics Website
After releasing three singles ‘Back for Good, Fire on the Horizon’ and the epic, ‘Edge of the World’, Tygers of Pan Tang officially release their ten track album ‘Bloodlines’ on 5th May 2023.
‘A week after its release we’ll be celebrating Bloodlines at the Nordic Noise Festival on 12th May in Copenhagen with our record company who are of course, based in … Copenhagen. They have promised us that the drinks are on them’.
After six albums and countless UK & European tours, battle hardened Satan reached out to the United States again this year.
‘After kicking off the Hell’s Decibels tour at the legendary Whiskey a Go-Go on the Sunset Strip in April, Satan had a blast touring the USA with Night Demon and Haunt. You guys were a pleasure to work with, brothers forever and a piece of my heart will be with you until the end of time’.
Mythra are one of the original New Wave of British Heavy Metal bands. They recorded their legendary ‘Death & Destiny EP’ in 1979.
‘The new album ‘Temples of Madness’ is out now and has been available in Brazil and USA for a week or so. We’ve started to sell them through our on line shop and business is pretty brisk’.
Southbound were active around the North East in the 1970s. The Sunderland band were regulars on the workingman’s club circuit, supported New Wave of British Heavy Metal bands Raven and Tygers of Pan Tang at Newcastle Mayfair, and had a residency at the Gosforth Hotel in Newcastle.
Southbound have already featured on this site, interviews with Mick Kelly and the late Alan Burke have proved to be popular.To discover more of the Southbound story and find out what he is up to now, I met up with George at The Littlehaven Hotel in South Shields.
Growing up it was a very musical house. Although I knew that my Dad’s voice was classically trained, I never found out till late that he went to lessons for ten years. My mother used to sing and my brothers and sisters were also into music. We had a guitar and piano in the house, I took a few piano lessons and changed to guitar when I was 11 year old.
I served my time as a sheet metal worker in Jarrow and worked for another year, but it was too much with the amount of work Southbound were getting on the North East circuit.
Southbound had three sets, one all original material, then another playing Eagles, America West Coast stuff, and then more poppy stuff to get paid in the clubs. We were out regularly every week, in fact a few times we played nine gigs in one week!
The Ivan Birchall agency had us in the clubs till 10.30pm, get your gear off stage then double up and go do a night club, then a Sunday afternoon gig.
But our stomping ground was The Gosforth Hotel where we took over the residency from Sting’s band, Last Exit. Sting went to London and joined The Police, we were fortunate to get the residency.
He came to one of our shows around the Roxanne days, he had the dyed hair, the leather jacket, he’d be stood at the bar and we had a few words with him – nice fella. Playing the Hotel was good for us, it would get packed, the queue to get in would sometimes be out onto the street.
There were a few line ups of Southbound but when we were becoming popular there was myself and Alan Burke on guitars and we wrote the songs. Mick Kelly on drums, bassist was Dave Giles and Mal Troughton used to sing with the band. There is a photo of us standing against a van, this was taken around 1975 or 76.
I’m racking my brains here but Mick Kelly was great for all the names and dates, a real memory man for the venues we played. (Interview with Mick on this site – All Right Now 13th March 2019)
When punk came in 1976 the record companies saw us as old hat, they all wanted punk bands. But we still packed venues out and had a good following.
We played Newcastle Mayfair with Tygers of Pan Tang, we played with Raven and headlined there in our own right. Obviously, played the Sunderland Mecca a few times, some good gigs at Newcastle Guildhall and the Bedrock festival.
Bob Smeaton, who is a very successful film maker now and a great lad, used to be singer in Newcastle band White Heat and when they weren’t gigging he often used to jump in the van with us and help out with the gear.
Tom Noble, who manages Tygers of Pan Tang now, used to work on the Bedrock BBC North East radio programme during the 70s and 80s, he worked alongside Graeme Thomson. They managed a band I was in with Phil Caffrey called The Lions Share and then Caffrey. We got a publishing deal on the back of that band.
Graeme’s brother Steve, was engineer at Impulse Studio in those days and he recorded four songs on a Southbound demo. Actually, he released them on Cherry Red label not long ago. We also recorded at Linx studio in Newcastle.
In hindsight if we had more of our heads screwed on and business focused it might have been different, but we were just having a good time spending most of our money on brown ale and curries after gigs in the restaurants on Ocean Road in South Shields.
George and his musical brother Alan Burke at Newcastle Mayfair.
Looking back to those times we just took it in our stride and loved being with our mate’s playing music. You know Southbound never really fell out, we might have had an argument here or there but no, we were all good mates having a lad’s night out and getting paid for it.
After Southbound I teamed up with Phil Caffrey in a song writing partnership, we had a publishing deal with Axis music which was a subsidiary of EMI. We used to write songs and go down to London and record them. We were signed and managed by a guy called Nigel Thomas.
Nigel also managed the Heavy Metal band Saxon, Joe Cocker and Kiki Dee who recorded one of our songs and put it out as a single. This went on one of Kiki’s albums, Angel Eyes, with the likes of Dave Stewart and Daryl Hall, it was just nice to get our names to something like that. Nigel also managed Keith Emerson and Lynsey De Paul so we did some work with them.
It was late 80s when Saxon were recording a new album at Hook End Manor Studio in Berkshire, which had been Dave Gilmour’s house. It was a residential studio with horse stables in the grounds, a great facility, we were down there about a week. The Saxon lads were great.
Def Leppard had a huge album at the time (Hysteria, released 1987) with big sounds and plenty vocals on. The Saxon album (Destiny, released 1988) was nearly finished they just wanted to experiment with block harmonies using four male voices.
Through our manager Nigel Thomas, Phil Caffrey and I got the job, we got paid the session fee. There was another guy managed by Nigel called Steve Mann, who now plays with the Michael Schenker group.
We were waiting in the studio for the fourth male vocalist when in walked an old Sunderland friend of mine – Dave Taggart. I said ‘what you doing here?’ he said ‘what you doing here?’! I couldn’t believe it. Just a massive coincidence.
(Formerly in Danceclass, Dave now plays in the Belinda Carlisle band. An interview with Dave features on this site – Music Still Matters, 15th April 2018).
Dave told me that Stephan Galphas produced the album by Sunderland band Well, Well, Well and he had recorded some backing vocals on it. Stephan’s next project was producing the Saxon album and he asked him to come down and put some backing vocals on Destiny.
Don’t know how successful the album was but I heard the single Ride Like the Wind on national radio a few times.
Actually, we asked Dave to join Southbound at one time but he was playing with Tony McAnaney. Later I did record some backing vocals on the Jimmy Nail album they were working on, Crocodile Shoes.
What am I doing now? Well during lockdown I invested in a home recording set up, I’ve always worked with a porta studio facility writing and recording songs, but this was an upgrade to a digital studio. So late in life I learnt how to record properly and put down a lot of songs.
I originally had 50 then whittled that down to 12, I was doing drums, guitar, vocals, all recorded solo, a one man band. I hadn’t thought about releasing them.
Then I lost two musical brothers, Alan Burke, original guitarist in Southbound and Richard Archibald, who also played in a late Southbound line up. He also played in the Big Picture, a band from Sunderland amongst others.
This made me think profoundly differently. Why not release these songs on an album and why not ask friends of mine if they want to get involved? So I did, and was absolutely blown away when they all said yes. The album is called Family and Friends because that’s who’s on it!
Family & Friends album inner sleeve.
It includes North East musicians Dave Ditchburn, Phil Caffrey, Don Airey, George Shovlin, Archie Brown, Terry Slesser, Emma Wilson and more, plus my brothers and sisters. I got some great performances.
The album got some great reviews and was in the blues charts at number two – Buddy Guy pipped me to the post!
At first I thought the logistics of playing it live would be too difficult, but after a longer think I went ahead and touch wood, after getting all our diaries synched up I’ve booked The Fire Station in Sunderland on the 10th June 2023. I’m really looking forward to it.
The Fire Station auditorium is a fabulous place. I had the tour looking on stage, checking the sound system and back stage – it’s a great place.
As a house band I’ve got ex Showbiz Kids guitarist Pat McMahon, Paul Wilson on keys, ex Circus and Lucas Tyson bassist John Taylor on bass, Jim Bullock on harmonica and not one but two drummers, Ian Hamilton and Barry Race.
Everyone on the album apart from Don Airey can make it – he’s touring with Deep Purple that night. Don’s a lovely bloke he still keeps in touch with his Sunderland roots.
Looking back at the Southbound days, we weren’t striving to make it we were just enjoying the journey, making it wasn’t the main focus. We were young kids playing in our bedrooms, wrote a few songs then took it to the next stage and it was great fun. We were just dead lucky.
I never thought in a million years that here I am 66 year old and still doing it …I still feel that I’m dead lucky!
Click here to buy tickets for The Fire Station on 10th June 2023
ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST MUSIC & CULTURE 