Musical Local Heroes

[unapologetic pedant]

On 23/12/2020 at 16:51, GUBRATS said:

Pete Shelley , founder of the Buzzcocks 

Founded of course at Bolton Tech. Like many aspiring artists, Pete had to leave his tiny hometown and head for The Big Smoke.

[unapologetic pedant]

On 22/12/2020 at 23:36, JohnM said:

 Dave Tomlinson, ex keyboard player with Vissage (for a short while) plays at the club occasionally as Dave Formula and the Finks.  

Dave Formula is surely more renowned for his work in Magazine than Visage.

[unapologetic pedant]

On 22/12/2020 at 23:36, JohnM said:

Cleethorpes

Rod Temperton - wrote "Boogie Nights", "Rock With You", "Stomp", "Thriller", among many others.

[Padge]

1 hour ago, Robin Evans said:

Here is some musings of l'angelo mysterioso ..... aka Chris Westwood..... he still enjoys his music.

 "Now and again I scan TRL, mainly to see what you, Padge, Phil, Gingerjohn and a few others are up to. There's a thread on AOB about local musical heroes. I can't believe the Bradfordians have left out John Verity, sometime lead guitarist of Argent, and a highly regarded session musician. Can you mention him?  And what about Bill Nelson"?

I can't understand why I didn't bring Bill Nelson up..... again. Sunburst Finish remains in my top three albums ever.

Chris knows his muso's, he knows his RL as well, I miss his contributions on this site.

[JohnM]

2 hours ago, unapologetic pedant said:

Dave Formula is surely more renowned for his work in Magazine than Visage.

Probably., plus the Angel Brothers. He's still a phenomena keyboard player. Talking to him before lockdown, turns out he lived as a kid just as few streets away from my grandma near Maine Road, Manchester. Also, he's just finished his new recording studio, The Sweet Factory, near Louth. Also relatively local is Harmonica Dave (Hunt) who has played at the club several times. 

[doc]

I once stood next to Rick Wakeman, at Ronaldsway airport, IoM.

But he didn't recognise me.

[unapologetic pedant]

Skeletal Family from Keighley. Quite good, and better looking than your typical Yorkshire Goth band. One of them, anyway.

[unapologetic pedant]

2 hours ago, Johnoco said:

Saw them several times in the early 80’s, they morphed into Ghost Dance, who I think have recently reformed. ‘One of them’ presumably being Anne Marie the lead singist. 

I remember Anne Marie in an interview bemoaning John Peel`s reluctance to play Ghost Dance because they were too poppy. Was at the time of "River of no return", which should have been catchy enough to scrape the lower reaches of the singles chart with a fair wind. Janice Long played it a lot. To no avail.

[unapologetic pedant]

Paragons of discretion and decorum the Anti-Nowhere League were from salubrious Royal Tunbridge Wells. They had their journey to stardom cruelly derailed by the obscene publications squad. For reasons that it`s best to draw a veil over.

Apparently there`s an RL team called Weald Warriors in RTW.

[unapologetic pedant]

Bogshed from Hebden Bridge. Numerous entertaining titles. Personal favourite, "Fat Lad Exam Failure".

[unapologetic pedant]

Couple of Somerset entries.

The Chesterfields from Yeovil delivered a few good jangly tuneful moments in the mid-80s.

The Family Cat are also listed as hailing from Yeovil, though I swear I remember reading Taunton back in the day. Their terrific track "Tom Verlaine" made Peel`s festive 50 in 1989. They later did a couple of duets with P.J. Harvey and a track called "Bring me the head of Michael Portillo" before he reinvented himself as a TV personality. Also had some tangential connection with a legal case involving FCUK, since they had been the first to use the acronym as their logo.

Only thing I`d previously known about Yeovil was the Soccer team`s F.A. Cup giant-killing exploits as a non-league club.

[Futtocks]

8 hours ago, Johnoco said:

The guy who won Strictly a few years back (Ore Oduba) is married to Animal from ANWL’s daughter.

Now that is a truly left-field piece of showbiz trivia!

[unapologetic pedant]

On 22/12/2020 at 23:36, JohnM said:

We are currently shut of course but can weather the financial drought. Up till March this year we had live New Orleans jazz 50 Saturdays a year, and maybe 15 other nights featuring blues bands. We attract professional bands from Denmark, Hungary, Holland and our resident pro band features players from the local area, Hull, Beverley, Lincoln, Boston etc. I know they are pros because I'm the one who has to pay them.

The irony is, I'm not really a fan of New Orleans Jazz but I am happy to play my part in keeping this institution going.

Would your resident band be similar to Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen? Relevant to your mention of Saturdays since I remember them adding a lot of colour to "Saturday Night at the Mill".

I`ve long struggled with all types of Jazz. Got quite a few records though. Every so often I dig out albums by Davis, Coltrane, Mingus, Dolphy, etc to see if I`ve finally reached an age when it will all fall into place.

BTW, do any of your regulars ever say "It`s Trad, Dad"?

[unapologetic pedant]

23 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

Now that is a truly left-field piece of showbiz trivia!

Maybe Johnoco conducted the ceremony. Or did the catering. Some kind of inside knowledge.

[JohnM]

7 hours ago, unapologetic pedant said:

Would your resident band be similar to Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen? Relevant to your mention of Saturdays since I remember them adding a lot of colour to "Saturday Night at the Mill".

I`ve long struggled with all types of Jazz. Got quite a few records though. Every so often I dig out albums by Davis, Coltrane, Mingus, Dolphy, etc to see if I`ve finally reached an age when it will all fall into place.

BTW, do any of your regulars ever say "It`s Trad, Dad"?

No not Kenny Ball style "trad" and no, no one ever says "it's trad dad?".. Not least because most members are already in their 69s, 79s, 80s, so their dad's are probably late dad's.

Our resident band plays what's known as New Orleans, whereas trad is a sort of east sanitised fun version. 

[unapologetic pedant]

In the 80s Peel started playing a number of Welsh language groups. Only one I have any records by is Datblygu, who were from Aberteifi. Not sure if it`s an effect imparted by the language, but the vocalist sounds as shouty and irascible as Mark E. Smith. 

[unapologetic pedant]

11 hours ago, Johnoco said:

Not me...I hate people. 

Misanthropy and catering are by no means mutually exclusive. Restaurant critics are especially vulnerable.

[unapologetic pedant]

On 01/01/2021 at 23:40, JohnM said:

Probably., plus the Angel Brothers. He's still a phenomena keyboard player. Talking to him before lockdown, turns out he lived as a kid just as few streets away from my grandma near Maine Road, Manchester. Also, he's just finished his new recording studio, The Sweet Factory, near Louth. Also relatively local is Harmonica Dave (Hunt) who has played at the club several times. 

Dave Formula`s colleague in Magazine Barry Adamson did a Jazz-influenced soundtrack-type album called "Moss Side Story" in 1989.

Could ask Dave Formula`s current group to do a version of Magazine`s "Permafrost". Make for an interesting evening.

[unapologetic pedant]

8 minutes ago, Johnoco said:

The Cult, started out in Bradford as Southern Death Cult. They became Death Cult, then The Cult. I saw em a couple of times in their early days including an eventful Rock against Racism one, where supposedly a load of NF were outside waiting for trouble. Everyone stuck together and stormed outside...to discover two local loons with a loudhailer thingy.

Is Bradford small enough to qualify for this thread?

I remember Ian Astbury being in the BBC studio during Live Aid. Must have been around the same time "She sells Sanctuary" was a hit.

Billy Duffy, one of the all-time great guitarists. Was previously in the Nosebleeds with Vini Reilly and Steven Patrick Morrissey.

[unapologetic pedant]

1 hour ago, Johnoco said:

 I saw em a couple of times in their early days including an eventful Rock against Racism one, where supposedly a load of NF were outside waiting for trouble. Everyone stuck together and stormed outside...to discover two local loons with a loudhailer thingy.

This is a terrible gag, and probably been done before. Did you "Take the Skinheads to West Bowling"?

[Futtocks]

1 hour ago, unapologetic pedant said:

This is a terrible gag, and probably been done before. Did you "Take the Skinheads to West Bowling"?

Maybe more people would get the joke if you told it in a Camper way.

[unapologetic pedant]

If Bradford isn`t too big for this thread, no reason not to give Hull a mention.

When the Housemartins pronounced themselves "the fourth best band in Hull", the key word was "in". A lot of the members of groups associated with a place aren`t from there. 

The three above the fab four in the quality pecking order were reckoned to be Everything But The Girl, Red guitars, and the Gargoyles. EBTG are definitely not from Hull, they just went to university there. Red Guitars made a very good first album and I think their Humberside credentials are more authentic. Don`t know a thing about the Gargoyles.

The only recommendation for the Housemartins was that they had a geeky specs bloke. This is usually a good sign. The pedigree must go back to Buddy Holly, on through Elvis Costello, and then to some 80s indie guitar groups. Both the American group the Feelies, and the Farmer`s Boys from Norwich, had 2 geeky specs blokes.

[unapologetic pedant]

6 hours ago, Johnoco said:

 Everyone stuck together and stormed outside...to discover two local loons with a loudhailer thingy.

Very sensible. Nothing wrong with pragmatism. Every heroic urban warrior knows there`s safety in numbers when you`re fighting fascism.

If you were in a band yourself at the time, would have been the perfect moment to try and get yourself arrested with minimal risk of personal injury. Jimmy Pursey would not have hesitated.

[Stuff Smith]

Did someone say Bradford? Did someone say all-time great guitarists?

And no one said Allan Holdsworth?

Crikey. I despair.

(P.S. I'm not from Bradford, but I've been there a few times!)

[unapologetic pedant]

On 26/12/2020 at 16:24, Padge said:

My younger brother was at college with Richard Ashcroft, he likes to drop into conversations that Richard Ashcroft taught him to play guitar, my usual response is he didn't teach you very well that's why you are always skint and he isn't.

Limahl I am embarrassed to admit was brought up about a mile away from me.

 

The first Wigan group to be on my radar was the Railway Children. Bought their first album on Factory. Nothing special, but not a waste of money either.

To give Limahl his due, he did bail out pretty quickly, thereby condemning the rest of them to sink with little trace. Tony Hadley was never as conscientious.

Sticking with RL towns, when I was mining a seam of 70s prog reissues a while back, I bought a couple of albums by Gravy Train, who it turned out were from St. Helens. According to the sleeve notes the singer/guitarist once played in Lord Sutch`s group. Then again, who didn`t?