May 2004

"A quite stunning tribute, they set the place on fire" - John Simcox, organiser of Official Bee Gees fan club convention held in Walsall, Oct '99.

"One of the few bands to sell out on their debut. And now I can see why. Brilliant." - The Limelight Club, Crewe

"One of the country's top tributes. A fantastic night guaranteed." - Robin R 'n' B Club

Leslie West (from Mountain) with Todd Wolfe (Ex Sheryl Crow Band) with special guest Del Bromham (from Stray)

In 1967, four young musicians from Nottinghamshire, England, Leo Lyons, Ric Lee, Chick Churchill  together with Alvin Lee, formed Ten Years After and became one of the biggest names and the most explosive quartet on the world stage.  

Their now legendary encore, "I'm Going Home"  performed at The Woodstock Music and Arts Festival in August 1969, was captured on film and exposed their jazz, blues, rock amalgam to a large audience of movie-goers who were blown away by the intensity of the band's erformance when the Academy Award winning documentary was released in 1970. Their ten-minute appearance in the film is an acknowledged highlight and established Ten Years After a place in the rock history.    

From 1968 to 1975 constant touring, playing important musical events like The Newport Jazz Festival, The Miami Pop Festival, The 1970 Isle of Wight Festival, The Toronto Peace Festival and huge venues like The Royal Albert Hall in London, Madison Square Garden in New York and The Budokan Theatre in Tokyo, exposed the band's music to a Global Audience. It is estimated that they performed to in excess of 75,000 new fans a week. Almost four million people a year,  not counting those who saw the band in the "Woodstock" film. Between 1967 and 1974,Ten Years After recorded and released ten multimillion selling albums.  The band's albums are still available and all have Gold or Platinum status.

To watch T.Rextasy in concert not only demands stamina, but also a healthy pair of lungs to sing along to the rocking numbers that made Bolan the leading force of Glam Rock. After the initial impact of T.Rextasy's stage presence, and the lead singer's uncanny resemblance in voice and looks to Marc Bolan, you know that you're in for an evening's worth of Bolanic hits, played to perfection and with incredible enthusiasm. T.Rextasy play for their audience, and most of them obviously want to hear songs they know and love. Therefore, the band always include T.Rex's Top 20 hits such as: Metal Guru, Jeepster, Telegram Sam, Hot Love, Children of the Revolution, Ride a White Swan, Get it On, I Love to Boogie, New York City, The Groover, Solid Gold Easy Action, and 20th Century Boy. T.Rextasy are more than just a tribute band, they are ultimately the definitive T.Rex experience of the 21st Century.

No longer fighting for a chart place, singer-songwriter Colin Vearncombe is taking control of his distribution online, as he tells Sean McManus.

Wherever you go, there are songs that follow you. One of those songs is Wonderful Life by Black, even now broadcast on radio stations worldwide and often piped into lifts in swanky hotels like it's part of a global culture. Colin Vearncombe is stepping out from behind his former monicker 'Black' and revisiting Wonderful Life and other past singles on his album 'Abbey Road Live'.

Sean McManus

Karnataka have built up a reputation as an outstanding live band and they continue to bring their music to a wider audience with constant touring in the UK and abroad. Their performances continue to garner rave reviews - the band received the Classic Rock Society's Gig Of The Year award for 2001.

Their extensive touring has included prestigious European concerts with Porcupine Tree and culminated in the release of their live DVD "Karnataka - Live in Concert", filmed at London's Mean Fiddler and premiered at Planet Hollywood in the capital's West End. The band have recently performed in the USA at an acoustic concert in Manhattan and also at the Patriots Theatre in New Jersey at The Classic Rock Festival. The latter concert was filmed for release in 2003 on DVD.

Phil Collins Tribute

Graham Goacher (Drums) - a long-term "serious" fan of Phil Collins and his music, first raised the idea for this band. He approached two other music colleagues, Vic Chase (Guitar) and Chris Peddie - Burch (Bass) and the band was born. The addition of Kevin Stuart (Keyboards) quickly followed and these four members together worked on the structures and sounds of the songs from Phil Collins' album "Serious Hits Live" until the foundations of the show were in place.

The band then approached lead vocalist and "Phil" sound alike Dave Whitehouse, who is already well known on the tribute band circuit as the frontman for the Genesis tribute "Invisible Touch". Dave agreed to join and the group was now five strong.

"No Jacket Required" is the only nine piece dedicated Phil Collins tribute in the UK so if you are a fan of the man himself, don't miss this group next time they are in the area.

Hottest Young bluesman on the circuit (Acoustic Show)

Aynsley picked up the guitar at 8 and played his first gig at 13. One year later on a family trip to San Francisco, he was jamming with a band supporting Cocoa Montoya at 'Lou's Bar' on Pier 49. Brought up on his father's record collection, he had learned to play by ear and would sit for hours in his bedroom playing along to old 45s of Freddie King, John Mayall and Eric Clapton.

By the time he was 18, he had worked his way through various bands and decided to form his own three piece to play the music he loved – blues. Fronting a band for the first time, he also started singing and writing his own material. The band decided to put out a couple of albums, the second of which featured 3 of Aynsley's self penned numbers. It was these that attracted the attention of Ruf Records head honcho Thomas Ruf, and in the summer of 1998 they signed a deal.

Together with producer Jim Gaines (Stevie Ray, Albert Collins, Santana), Aynsley went into the studio and recorded his debut for the label including a duet with veteran bluesman Walter Trout. Released in Europe, Lister received critical acclaim and toured extensively over the next two years sharing stages with artists such as Buddy Guy, Robert Cray and John Mayall and as diverse as Bryan Adams and Fun Lovin' Criminals.

Marcus from Detroit, Michigan USA was first signed by Al Teller of United Artist Records - now EMI Capitol.

Marcus has performed at the Royal Albert Hall, Burnley and Colne Festivals in the UK; Harlebeke Blues Festival in Belgium; the Bospop Festival in Holland; Valdagno (Vicenza) Blues Festival in Italy; and various UK Art Centres and Blues Clubs.

Marcus is presently working the European blues circuit, festivals and concert halls including tours of Belgium and Holland. In 2004 Marcus will be headlining or appearing at most of the major festivals in the UK.

Marcus has written, produced and recorded his album "One More Time" which was released in January 2000 on the Redline Music label distributed by RMG/Universal. The title song "One More Time" is featured on 'Blueprint 1999 -The Best of The British Blues' album.

Marcus' second album -'Walkin' Shoes'- was released in August 2002 on the Redline Music label, and features some of the UK's finest blues musicians. The track 'Take It To Heart' is featured on 'Blues In Britain' 2002 - 'The Best of British Blues' album.

Marcus performed two self-penned acoustic numbers 'Take It To Heart' & 'What About Me'live on the The Paul Jones Show BBC Radio 2. The session was was aired in December 2002. A live session with his band was recorded at BBC Pebble Mills studio in Birmingham for airplay on the Paul Jones Show near the release date of his 3rd album - ''Blue Radio'.

Al Stewart is a Scottish singer-songwriter ("folkie") who is perhaps best known for his hit song "Year of the Cat." There is much more to him than one song, though it is generally possible to remind someone of who he is by mentioning that song. One of the things he does best is to combine a historical situation with a personal one.

The history behind his songs is well-researched; Kim Dyer, one of the Al Stewart Mailing List (ASML) members (with the assistance of other list members) has done an excellent job of writing up many of the figures and events mentioned in his songs. (Taken from)

Al has signed a contract for a new album. Recording of "demos" is going on now. Current plans call for recording to finish up shortly after Al finishes the UK tour, with the album coming out in the fall/winter of this year. Laurence is once again working with Al.