Thanks to Ian Bone.
Category Archives: Blog
THE HOMECOMING SHOW
Wow, what a lovely time I had last night at The Steel Club, Consett “Homecoming Show”. I don’t think I’ve ever done a show with such a warm and friendly atmosphere. My highlights are too many to mention. Dave Ditchburn’s gyrations were infections to the whole front line. Many times I looked out on a sea of faces with many folks up on chairs taking pictures. Hopefully, some pictures will start to come in via Facebook. There were folks at the show who have been coming to hear me make music in one form or another going back 50 years. I was gobsmacked when the Manageress said to me “we’re honoured that you brought this show here”. With so much to do, playing, telling stories and pressing various pedals including one to advance the projections there were bound to be mishaps. Several times I was playing one guitar whilst the other was plugged in – Hilarious. It was remarkable to see so much goodwill and good vibes packed into one small place – it was quite special. Thank you Steel Club, ST Band and Audience. The single is out today: download and CD purchase info is here The album “THE LONG FADE” will be launched at a show The Cluny, Newcastle on May 30th. Tickets now on sale.
Like My Father’s Father Released Today
Today the official release date of our single “Like My Father’s Father” Get it on APPLE MUSIC https://itunes.apple.com/…/like-my-fathers-fathe…/1459242162 OR iTunes
SPOTIFY https://open.spotify.com/album/273TbhOxu8XE9dbvXbxqOw
These are single downloads. If you want the full pack of the Full track plus the Radio Edit plus the “B” side “Red Dust Overture” OR – to order the full package on a CD go to Vainglorious UK http://www.fathersfather.xyx
Like My Fathers Father
Here is a preview of our single “Like My Fathers Father” out April 12th. It will be available to download or order CD via www.fathersfather.xyz from 12th
Thoughts on the Third Age
I give talks in various places for an organisation called the University of The Third Age (U3A). This is most enjoyable and the members are usually very nice people. I’m not disposed to join a U3A though as I’m just a youngster myself! I looked up the “third age” as I like the phrase and found the definition below. Sounds about right. I’m enjoying my own “third age”. Surprisingly it is very different to what went before. When you’re young you have no idea about what is to become. In mid life you imagine you will just keep on keeping on until you drop off the perch. But then you enter the third age and it’s all quite different to what went before. I’m very lucky to be having an absolutely blast in this Autumn period. I’m doing things that I got sidetracked from and also surprisingly some totally new experiences are presenting themselves. It seems more related to my youthful adventurous experience than my midlife. That’s my pondering for the day. Hope yours is good.
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The Third Age is now considered by many to be the “golden years” of adulthood. It is generally defined as the span of time between retirement and the beginning of age-imposed physical, emotional, and cognitive limitations, and today would roughly fall between the ages of 65 and 80+.
Projection
Book my band and you get a maintenance fitter (aka songwriter) thrown in. Last week I sorted the projector at the Steel Club so it’s ready for my show but it also means they can now watch football and see the whole of the pitch. I moved the ceiling mounted projector nearer the screen. I’m chuffed with my work. Went swimmingly with only minor mishaps. Like when I descended the ladders with the projector and stepped off four steps from the bottom. I kinda flew through the air but landed ok with nothing broken. I was up the steps when an old boy walked in. “Are you Steve Thompson”. I told him I was. “I remember you…. Bullfrog! Turns out he has tickets for the show. He’s really looking forward to it. He says “it’s gonna be great, me, the missus and the bairn are coming”. (The “bairn” is 44)
The next day I reflected on the previous day’s activity re-locating the ceiling mounted projector. There is something really satisfying in the successful completion of a bit of physical graft like this. Even more so when it’s a piece of work with comrades. Sad that this country ceased so much production industry and embraced instead service industries. Come see the fruits of yesterdays labour at my “Steve Thompson, Songwriter” show – Steel Club Consett April 11th. Just a few tickets left – either from the club or online www.bit.ly/Steel
The Band Plays On
Publicist Dave Hill just reminded me that it’s a year since we enjoyed a fantastic show at The Georgian Theatre, Stockton. The band were ecstatic and more shows were booked.
Then they fell like dominoes. Eventually, there were just three of us left. So, me, Jen Normandale and John Dawson began an incredible adventure. Ian Halford soon joined us but we were still undermanned for gigging so we started recording just for the hell of it. And it grew and snowballed. The recordings started to take on the shape of an album which is now imminent for release. THE LONG FADE. Guests have joined us on that album: John Gallagher, Steve Lamb, Antony Bray, John Verity, Martin Francis Trollope, Jim Hornsby, Mick Glancy, Jayne Mackenzie, Elizabeth Liddle, Steve Dolder, Michael Lavery. We have a single from the album “Like My Father’s Father” coming out April 12th. With the addition of Dave Ditchburn and Richard Naisbett, we are now ready to rock live which we will be doing at The Steel Club, Consett on April 11th. More dates to be announced: we will return to The Georgian Theatre, Stockton and watch out for the special album launch show in Newcastle May 30th (venue TBC). If you want to observe this phoenix emerging from the ashes and receive a free CD copy of our single you need to hurry, tickets are dwindling. https://www.facebook.com/events/199305694284671
Stories From Goliath – Crazy and Musical
My formative years were spent at Consett Iron Company. I was assigned to the Blast Furnace as a Fitter.
In the picture below are the three blast furnaces of Consett. In the forefront is the Goliath gantry crane. That was some piece of engineering. The gantry trundled left or right in the picture. The cabin moved forwards (towards the furnaces) or backwards (towards the photographer). In this way it could traverse the vast stockyard and pick up the raw materials and fill the hoppers in front of the furnaces. On the days I was assigned to the crane for maintenance we would take our bait and spend the entire day on it. We clambered all over it, sometimes on the gantry and sometimes riding the huge cabin. It took a good while to walk to the end of the gantry. One day the fitter I was assigned to had to climb down the chain to stand on the huge grabber to perform a repair there. I was glad it was not me. One day we were having a bit of craic in the cabin and one of the older guys said “you’re Dick Thompson’s grandson aren’t you”? I said I was and they all started telling stories about him. One guy described him as very musical and quite crazy. There you go folks, it skipped a generation but now you know where “crazy and musical” landed. They blamed this on a very bad motorcycle accident he and my grandmother had. After the accident he ceased singing popular hits and took to singing opera in the pubs and clubs. He also took to walking around Consett wearing a top hat, spats and a silver-topped cane. I’ll be in Consett myself this coming Thursday but minus the top hat and spats. I’ll be giving my final talk in a series of three. This one is “Steel Town”. It’s about my time in the Steel Works, how I escaped into the world of music and the musical Tom Kelly and I wrote about the adventure. It’s 7pm at The Steel Club. £2 if you want to come (there’s a spot of industrial language in this one)
On April 11th I bring my full band to town: Look out Consett!!!
Neat Recording Artists Come Together On One Album
I’m just contemplating how many prescient moments my life has thrown up. When I was house producer at Neat records how could I know that 40 years later Neat 02, Neat 03 and Neat 06 would merge under one recording session? This will happen this coming Tuesday when Jayne Mackenzie (Neat 03) is part of the backup singers for a new recording featuring the singer of Neat 06 John Gallagher of Raven and the guitarist of Neat 03 Steve Lamb of Tygers of Pan Tang (ok he wasn’t the original guitarist but I later cut two Tygers albums with him) How well I remember lovely Jayne aged 11 coming in to cut her Neat 02 single. Looking forward to the next session. You’ll get to hear it when the new album “The Long Fade” comes out Mid Spring.
Free CD – Like My Fathers Father
Our new single will be released on 12th April. It will be downloadable £1 and on CD £3. But you can get if FREE.
Everyone who buys a ticket to our show at The Steel Club Consett on April 11th will get a free CD the day before the official release. You can purchase tickets from the venue or online click here.
The “B” side is Red Dust Overture. Both songs have very strong Consett connections: “Father” being about how once generations followed each other into the same trade. “Dust” is from the musical Steel Town.
This CD single is taken from our forthcoming album: The Long Fade. To hear news about release dates and shows sign up to our newsletter by going to our website at www.steve-thompson.org.uk or go to www.facebook.com/thestevethompsonband
Vocals: DaveDitchburn, Guitars: Steve Thompson, Bass: John Dawson, Drums: Ian Halford, Keyboards: Richard Naisbett, Lap Steel: Jim Hornsby, Booster Box and Cajinto: Steve Dolder. Backing Vocals: Jen Normandale, Elizabeth Liddle & Jayne Mackenzie.
The Fathers Father Industrial Choir: John Gallagher, Mick Glancy, Steve Daggett, Jen Normandale, Elizabeth Liddle, Jayne Mackenzie, John Verity, Michael Lavery, Steve Thompson
New Single for April 12th
The new album to be entitled “The Long Fade” will be ready mid Spring. There are many collaborators contributing to this album and we’re all very chuffed with it.
We’ll be going into our first rehearsal on Monday for our show at The Steel Club Consett on April 11th. Tickets are available from the venue or online at bit.ly/steelclub
On April 12th we will release a single from the album “Like My Father’s Father” C/W “Red Dust Overture”. Ticket holders for the Steel Club gig will get a FREE copy of the single a full day before official release. The two tracks are very much tied to my home town of Consett. And here’s an added bonus: the original singer of my Consett band Bullfrog (formed in 1969) Mick Glancy will contribute to the single. Mick will be going into a radio station near where he lives in Devon to record his part for the “Father’s Father Industrial Choir”
There have been quite a few of these distant collaborations. Steve Lamb (formerly Tygers of Pan Tang) has just turned in some terrific guitar parts for “Behind The Wheel”, a song I originally recorded with Alvin Stardust. The track features John Gallagher of Raven on bass and vocals plus the only core band member on the track Ian Halford on drums. I quickly recorded the track over the Christmas holidays. John had just got in touch to say he was in the UK visiting family and would I like him to guest on the album. With just a week to spare, I went into Green Dragon Studios in Stockton and laid down programmed drums, bass and keyboards. These parts have now been replaced with a power trio. Johns vocals and bass in Customs Space, South Shields, Ians Drums in TSOM in Thornaby and Steve’s guitars in Bournmoor Barn.
So, The Long Fade will feature everything from pop ballad “Hurry Home” to the hard rock of “Behind The Wheel” and everything in between. Expect that sometime in May. Meanwhile, look out for the single on April 12th or get it free the day before by getting tickets to our Steel Club show in Consett.
Nights That Pass In The Ship
It was 1980 and I’d just spent the day in the studio making demo recordings of some new songs. I session guys had done a fine job. One of ’em said “why are you still writing pop songs when all this heavy metal is happening”. (NWOBJHM). They all got onto this and pressed me to do something about it thinking that since I was already A&R for Neat I could get them a deal. “Ok”, I said “you lot fuck off to the pub and I’ll knock off a coupla heavy metal tunes. I said “Make it two pints to give me a little time”. Mickey Sweeney wanted nowt to do with it and just set everything up for me to engineer the session and then he went home. Before doing so he gave the band a great name “Nights That Pass In The Ship” (the very pub the guys were going to). While they were gone I knocked up a couple of songs.
When they came back I went through the two songs with them. Then I set the tape running and jogged back to the studio and picked up my guitar. Also on the session was Peter Richardson: Guitar, Garry Maughan: Bass and Michael Black: Drums. We recorded the two songs and went back to the pub. The next day I called Phil Caffrey and he came in to sing them.
And that was that. The songs never saw the light of day. And then I spotted them: they’re on the same tape reel as the Raven audition tape. I’m about to digitise this before shipping off to John Gallager in Florida. Perhaps these recordings will join my archive stuff going out on Vainglorious UK