Here is the second part of the story I promised. You can read the first part here. Actually, Gus came back to my mind this week with the passing of David Bowie. Gus was one hell of a story teller and story he recounted to me many times was how he produced Bowies’s “Space Oddity”. Not the same story over and over you understand but different facets of it. I recall he told me how he brought in Rick Wakeman, one of the few, if not the only guy who owned a Melatron at the time. Gus explained how they created colour coded charts for the parts Rick was to play. Another story Gus told me that I’ve not seen or heard anywhere else is how he came to be producing “Space Oddity” in the first place. Apparently Tony Visconti was producing the album but called Gus to ask if he wanted to do one track that he (Visconti) was not wild about. He sent Gus the demo and when it arrived he was sure there had been a mistake. Gus called Tony and asked had he sent the wrong demo. No, Visconti said, that’s the one. Gus said, are your crazy, this is fantastic! However, Visconti wasn’t wild about the song so Gus produced it and the rest, as they say is history.

However, I digress. We had finished the marathon writing sessions that produced “Going Solo” which I hoped would make it to the next Elkie Brooks album. I think there were three demos in all. A rough with just me and a drum machine and then a more involved one made in a small studio. The third demo was cut in Lynx studios, Shieldfield Newcastle and Gus declared he would come to Newcastle to produce it. I assembled a team: Maureen Harold Vocals, Paul Smith Drums, John Cook Keboards, Frankie Gibbon Bass and I played guitar. The session was great but there were a few occasions where Gus forgot he was not on some big budget Elton John album or something. At one point he wanted to edit the 24 track  multitrack tape which is unheard of when making demos. Two-inch tape costs so much and anyway the studio did not have a 2 inch editing block. Anyway, we got the job done and it turned out pretty good.

The next task was to play it to Elkie Brooks. Gus had produced Pearls and Pearls ii with Elkie. Both were collections of well know songs by big writers. However when Gus went to visit Elkie disaster struck. Elkie declared she wanted to do her own material and not another album of covers so that was me out. However, it was still quite an adventure to write and record the song so I don’t regret it at all. Here for the first time ever you can hear the song and imagine how it may have been as an Elkie song.

A few years later I did get a couple of songs on an Elkie Brooks album. Gus was no longer producing her records but he did help me squeeze a whole lot more out of one of the songs. He called me up and went through some suggestions. This was totally a favour as he wasn’t producing me at that time either and the publishing deal we’d had was over. It was just an act of generosity. As it happens the Elkie album I got a  couple of songs on ended up being called Pearls iii so I made the cut anyhow !

The Steve Thompson Band is set to go into rehearsal in January. It’s about 15 years since I gigged regularly (with the Mick Whitaker Band)  and I hadn’t really intended to do this now. There have been posts on Facebook, Twitter and this blog but Things have developed rapidly so I thought I’d lay it all out here and then blog the developing story regularly.

I guess it began when I posted a picture of my new guitar on Facebook. Bassist, Richard Rutherford commented and a conversation ensued. He said he’d be happy to join me in “gigging” the new guitar and was fairly confident that drummer Paul Smith would be up for it too. (and he was). I last saw Richard and Paul when we rolled out the Steve Thompson Band at the Customs House, South Shields. It was a review called Songs Of Love Work and War. Songs written by Tom Kelly and I including songs from our Musical “Steel Town”. Richard joined the band when we took the musical to Consett, the town where I was born and the original Steel Town of the story. He suggested back then that I put a band together to perform the songs I’ve written down the years. I didn’t go for it then as it seemed uncomfortably ego-centric.

So why now?

Well, I have a perception that some of what I’ve done has been around so long it ceases to be old fashioned and has become trendy or at least interesting. I’ve given talks around the world and done interviews for books and DVD’s on different aspects of my writing and production career. With the new band I can tell these stories and actually play the music I’m talking about. Now, that’s going to be a daunting task because as a writer I’ve written an eclectic range of material covering everything from pop ballads to heavy rock (see the image at the foot of this post). There has also been some interest in my very first band Bullfrog which toured extensively in the 70’s and cut a few records. So what I thought was this: What if Bullfrog had not disbanded ? What if I had written these songs for them and not the likes of Celine Dion, Elkie Brooks, Tygers of Pan Tang etc? So what I plan to do is put our most well known song in the set. We’ll make it sound credible and now? and then try to create a unified sound stemming from that. These songs all have other artists stamp on them and I’ve never performed them apart from cutting the demos. So what will our sound be? For this reason I plan to make the first rehearsals just a three piece – bass drums and guitar (as Bullfrog was). We have a keyboard player who will shortly be announced on the band line-up page and we’ll introduce him into the second wave of rehearsals. Furthermore I can’t sing for toffee so we’ll need to find a singer but we’ll also have guests – the first to come forward is Lorraine Crosby.

So exciting times ahead. I’ll keep you posted in this blog. You can like our Facebook Page or subscribe to our mailing list using the form at the foot of this page.

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Earlier this year I was in Finland where I delivered a lecture on Heavy Metal.

I was having a beer whilst waiting for my tram when Meatloafs “Anything For Love” came on juke box. Of course I had to wait and wait until I heard my old mate Lorraine Crosby come in with that killer vocal. As I listened I saw my tram departing in the rainy street outside. So naturally I had to have another beer and as I waited for the next tram I had a Facebook chat with Lorraine and we both agreed too much time had passed since we last made music together. We agreed to do something about it. but you know how time passes and plans get forgotten etc. However, I’m delighted to report that when the Steve Thompson Band hits the road in the New Year Lorraine has agreed (schedules permitting) to guest on a few numbers. We’ll be doing The Last Teardrop a song I wrote for Elkie Brooks and sung in this version by Lorraine. Elkie made a few alterations in her version and we’ll be … er .. altering it back!