ROGER
& FRANS PAGES |
WE LOVE MUSIC
Music – especially live music – is very important in our lives, and we are extremely lucky to have some very talented friends who make music (indeed, many have done so professionally). First we must point out that we like ALL sorts of music, and we love to see as much classical, ballet and opera as we can afford, but most of our friends seem to be involved in Rock’n’Roll – so this part of our website tends to focus on that sort of music. |
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THE NASHVILLE TEENS |
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The sixties band which had hits with Tobacco Road, Google Eye and Little Bird. Yes they’re still going strong more than fifty years later, and we’re proud to still call them all friends. Roger supports them by organising their bookings, arranging all their logistics (basically car sharing!) and tending their website at www.Nashville-Teens.com .
The band still play loud "Old School" Rhythm & Blues. Our pal Ray Phillips is a founder member of band and has an extremely melodious voice that can sing the full range from ballad and brilliant blues through to throaty rock'n'roll. Ken Osborn on lead guitar and Simon Spratley on keyboards provide the riffs with Adrian (Spud) Metcalf on drums and our best mate Colin Pattenden on bass guitar. Colin cut his professional teeth as a founder member of Manfred Mann's Earth Band in the early seventies and contributed to hits such as Blinded By The Light and Davy's On The Road Again.
THE JACKIE LYNTON BAND |
Jack Lynton is an impressive entertainer with a powerful voice. After a solo career in the sixties he moved on to join The Savoy Brown Blues Band in the seventies and then John Coghlan's Diesel in the eighties. Jack is also a prolific songwriter. He wrote "Again and Again" for Status Quo among many other of their "head banging" songs. In 2017 I had the pleasure of organising Jack's band to do a major tour supporting another old musical mate, Chas Hodges. It turned out to be Chas and Dave's -final tour as Chas passed away in 2018. Roger also manages Jacks web site at Jackielynton.com . Jack's vocal range is magnificent and he moves easily from melodic thirties songs through to really raunchy Rock'n'Roll. Jack's band also included two other great friends of mine, first and second lead guitars - Chris Bryant (Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Paul Kings Skeleton Crew, Five Card Hand) and Mike Windus, both fantastic guitarists of whom have to be heard and seen to be believed - Jack only surrounds himself with the best!
THE FRAN McGILLIVRAY BAND |
Fran
McGillivray-Burke and
Mike Burke are
extremely talented musicians and songwriters - and absolute encyclopaedias about
The Blues in general. Fran has a magically honey
chocolate voice, with just enough growl to make the blues real. She also plays a
mean bass guitar, and on odd occasions she also plays the flute or the banjo
just to be different. I fell in love with her playing when I walked into St
Mary's church in Hitchin during a Rhythms Of The World festival
back in 2001 - to be greeted by the opening bass riff of Spoonful reverberating
through the eight hundred year old venue, followed by her dulcet voice.
Mike plays lead guitar
and provides vocals too. He is an excellent musician and - although we didn't
know each other then - we both used to frequent Les Cousins Club
in Greek Street, Soho in the mid sixties. They write a prodigious amount
of their own music - all excellent songs.
The duo often expands to a trio when
Roger Nunn
joins in on
drums, or sometimes just on djembe (on which he is an acknowledged master). The music tends to move up tempo from the folky traditional roots which Fran and Mike favour as a duo - with an added
flavour of delta blues, some jazz overtones and a bit of rock'n'roll.
Then add Roland
Kemp on keyboards, and you have a band called So Long
Angel, a blues band with and even stronger foot in the jazz camp!
THE KEITH ALLEN BAND |
Keith cut his musical teeth as drummer with Marty Wildes Wildcats, but now plays guitar, harmonica and contributes excellent lead vocals. on bass guitar is George Leslie Calvert (Alexis Korner, Jonah Louie and Mike Cooper's Machine Gun Company among many others.) Lead guitar is Gordon Vaughan (KEBB) and drums are provided by Simon Baker (Pred8tur). Keith's band is often accompanies by Drew Taylor (Spirit of the Bees) on electric violin.
BEATLES WITH WINGS | |
Beatles with Wings is a celebration of McCartney songs performed by an amazing group of musicians - often twelve or fourteen in number. They are led by our friends Howie Casey (Howie & The Seniors, Kingsize Taylor & The Dominoes, T Rex, The Who, Wings, Paice Ashton & Lord, The Slobs, & K.C. Jones) and Joe Jones (QED, Bowie Fashion, and K.C. Jones). We are also friends with Vicky Barents and Bev Miller, who both sing and play sax, flute and other instruments in the band, and with David and John Christopher who play guitars with Beatles With Wings. | |
K.C. JONES | |
This is a "pocket size" version of Beatles With Wings - and with a wider spectrum of music. It features Howie Casey (Howie & The Seniors, Kingsize Taylor & The Dominoes, T Rex, The Who, Wings, Paice Ashton & Lord, The Slobs, & Beatles With Wings) and Joe Jones (QED, Bowie Fashion & Beatles With Wings). They are often joined by other friends like Vicky Barents and Bev Miller who augment the show. | |
JAMES & MATTHEW COOPER | |
These lads are very special to us, being two of our grandchildren. Still just teenagers, they write their own music and perform with various bands. Matthew plays drums while James prefers the guitar. Both have YouTube followings; Matthew Cooper for his band I'm Down If You Are, and James Cooper for his solo performances and for a band called The Theatre Rejects which featured him with his friends Lizzy, Ethan and Felix - but both are committed to music either with or without these bands, so we watch (and I hope encourage, their musical careers) whatever for they may take. | |
DAVE'S NOT HERE |
Another good friend of ours is Karl Green (founder member and bass guitar with Hermans Hermits). He originally played bass guitar, but is a very talented guitarist (and songwriter) and mainly plays lead guitar and provides most of the vocals with this rock band. Although he does some of the "sweeter" numbers which made Hermans Hermits famous, he has a preference toward the "heavy" end of the rock scale. He often plays as a "guest" with other bands - but his own group comprises Kevin Welling plays the keyboards and Richard Scarfe (Love Affair) provides a second lead guitar. They don't play together very often and the drummer tends to vary, depending on availability.
PAUL KING'S SKELETON CREW and THE KING EARL BOOGIE BAND |
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The King Earl Boogie Band
was a direct descendant of Mungo Jerry. When that
esteemed band broke up back in the seventies and
Ray Dorset retained the Mungo
Jerry name, the other members - Paul
King and Colin Earl -
set up The King Earl Boogie Band. At one time I managed the King Earl Boogie Band's website and bookings. At that time Paul King had moved to Cornwall and was rarely able to join the performances. At that time the band comprised Colin Earl (keyboards), Dave Peabody ("British Blues Guitarist of the Year", three years running) on lead guitar and vocals, John Coghlan (Status Quo and Diesel) on drums, Colin Pattenden (Manfred Mann's Earth Band & Nashville Teens) on bass guitar and Ian Campbell (Levee Camp Moan and Nashville Teens) on lead guitar. Eventually Colin left the band and was replaced by George Lesley Calvert (Alexis Korner, Jonah Louie and Mike Cooper's Machine Gun Company among many others.) The band ceased trading when Colin Earl suffered a minor stroke which has left him unable to play piano to his own satisfaction. He can still play, but not as fast and confidently as he used to. Paul Kings Skeleton Crew is Paul's band now that he has moved back from Cornwall to Weybridge. It comprises Paul himself (Mungo Jerry, Paladin, King Earl Boogie Band) on guitars, mandolin, harmonica and vocals, accompanied by Colin Pattenden (Manfred Mann's Earth Band & Nashville Teens) on bass guitar; and Chris Bryant (Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Paul Kings Skeleton Crew, Five Card Hand). They are sometimes joined for a few guest vocals by Ray Phillips (Nashville Teens). |
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FIVE CARD HAND | |
This is a fairly new creation by Chris Bryant (Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Paul Kings Skeleton Crew); It comprises Chris himself on lead guitar and some vocals, Ray Phillips (Nashville Teens) on lead vocals, Colin Pattenden (Manfred Mann's Earth Band & Nashville Teens) on bass guitar, Ken Osborn (Nashville Teens) on second lead guitar. The band has two drummers, Spud Metcalf (Nashville Teens) and Rob Collins. Sometimes just one of them plays, but on the rare occasions we can get two drum kits on stage - what fun! |
OTHER MUSICAL FRIENDS | |
Among other musical friends, whom we see as often as we can, are friends made in Hamburg, who include Howie Casey (Howie & The Seniors, Kingsize Taylor & The Dominoes, T Rex, The Who, Wings, Paice Ashton & Lord, The Slobs, K.C. Jones, & Beatles With Wings), Beryl Marsden (solo sixties singer, The She Trinity and Shotgun Express), Cliff Bennett (The Rebel Rousers); Ted "Kingsize" Taylor (Kingsize Taylor & The Dominoes). Other acquaintances include Chris Slade (Tom Jones & The Squires, Uriah Heep, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Asia, Toomorrow, The Firm, and Chris Slade's Timeline ), Chris Farlowe (solo singer, Colosseum, and The Hamburg Blues Band), Dave Peabody (three times voted the UKs Blues Guitarist of the year) and Keith Pearson - an old school friend and renowned banjo player. I am also pleased to have known - and worked with - with some sadly departed musicians including Rick Parfitt (Status Quo); Chas Hodges (Mike Berry & The Outlaws, The Rebel Rousers, Heads Hands & Feet and Chas 'n' Dave); Roy Young (Rebel Rousers, Tony Sheridan & The Beat Brothers,& The Roy Young Band), Big Jim Sullivan (Johnny Duncan's Bluegrass Boys, Marty Wilde's Wildcats and The Lames Last Orchestra) and Spencer Davis (The Spencer Davis Group). |
IAN CAMPBELL'S SINGLE HANDED BLUES BAND | |
Sadly this band very rarely performs
nowadays. We first met
Ian Campbell
when he was lead guitarist with The
King Earl Boogie Band. He had cut his teeth with Levee Camp Moan in
the sixties and had at one time been lead guitarist with The Nashville Teens.
Ian
had a unique gift of not only being extremely
proficient with his guitar (he taught the subject for a living) but he
played his guitar with his soul ! His playing style was extremely moving and emotive. He
was lead guitar with KEBB until 31st October 2009. On
that Halloween night we all waited for him to arrive to play at Pyrford Blues Club, but we waited in vain.
Ian
had been almost wiped out on his way to the gig when another
vehicle crossed the dual carriageway and hit his car head on. Hospitalised for
months,
Ian lost so much blood from internal injuries that he effectively
suffered a stroke and although he has pulled through, he can no longer use his
left arm or leg, and is blind in his left eye. Not good news for a man who's
life revolved around playing a guitar, and he admits that he visited some very
dark places in his mind when he was faced with the prospect of never being able
to make music again.
However, Ian is made of stern stuff, and with the help of The Nordoff-Robbins
foundation he learned to play the guitar one-handed! Ian is a blues
man, and luckily most twelve bar blues are played with an open tuning - he is so
good that if you shut your eyes you wouldn't know that he only had one hand!
So in 2013 Ian assembled this band and although gigs are rare he does manage one or
two a year - and they always sell out! A passionate music
man - Ian is now focussed on raising awareness of - and money for - The Nordoff-Robbins foundation.
Before his time with The King Earl Boogie Band he used
to play lead guitar with The Nashville Teens, and before that he had
stints with Crazy World of Arthur Brown and Levee Camp Moan. Other members of this band whom we are proud to count as friends are Keith Allen (originally with Marty Wildes Wildcats) on rhythm guitar, George Leslie Calvert on bass guitar (played with Alexis Korner, Jonah Louie and Mike Cooper's Machine Gun Company among many others.), Simon Spratley (Nashville Teens) on keyboards and Simon Baker (Pred8tur) on drums. |
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and finally.... PIRATE RADIO |
THE END
validated 12/11