An earlier iteration of the ST Band expressing workers solidarity at Consett Empire in the musical “Steel Town” circa 2000. There may be some Steel Town songs in the set with the new line up.
L to R Gary Cowie – Keyboards, Guitar – Me, Drums – Paul Westgate, Bass – Richard Rutherford, Vocals – The Cast
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!
I’ve been having an email conversation with a guy who recently bought my old band Bullfrog’s single (on vinyl obviously) He was intrigue that the B side was the stand-out track whilst the A side is crap so I told him the story.
I’ll be telling this and other stories when my band hits the road in the new year. I’m gonna throw that B side into the set too (check it out below). Then it struck me – the new band should be a continuation of Bullfrog – same attitude just like 40 years on. Like we’ve been hiding out in rehab or something.
If anyone wants to hear the crap A side you can get it from Amazon on a CD called 20 Powerglam Incendiaries http://bit.ly/powerglam POWERGLAM FFS !!!!
My band goes into rehearsal in January.Core line-up is Paul Smith – Drums, Richard Rutherford – Bass and me on Guitar. Since my repertoire is so eclectic having written for a broad range of artistes http://goo.gl/HMlCxV we will use those early rehearsals to establish a sound and vision. Then we’ll add keyboards and vocals. The set will feature stories as well as songs and believe me, I have a lot of stories.
I’m deadly serious – my guitar is in the workshop being serviced. I’m going back to the Gym to service my ageing body and I’m practising my chops and getting my mojo ready – look out 2016 !!
Facebook reminded me that I posted this 2 years ago today. It’s a newspaper cutting that I broke down into separate pics so it could be read. It didn’t really work on Facebook so here it is again in my blog. You should be able to read the clips in order. It tells the story about the night Mick Whitaker and I were having a beer or two when we chanced upon a hapless journalist. We had a record out at the time so we went into heavy promo mode. The journalist tells it all blow by blow. I found a version of the recording I posted a while ago and you can hear it below. The first segment is Toni Haliday’s version, then Mick and finally Chris Farlow had a bash. The released version was by Mick. Click on he thumbnails below to read the story.
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This is my granddaughter Mia in the video below aged 6 spoofing up one of those “sell your house” TV shows. She tells her viewing public “The man who lives here used to be famous but he’s not that famous any more” Huh – out of the mouths of babes !!
Anyway, fast forward 8 years and she now owns that white guitar and this week she’s been learning to play on the red Strat. When she said she’d like to learn on this visit I thought, a few scales and maybe a chord or two. Then she tells me she’s now into Hendrix, Led Zep, The Doors, The Jam…….. get in !!
These workshops are now available via “crowd-sourcing” – as new participants book the cost goes down. So it’s really worthwhile to get others in your network involved. The next session is Digital Video in Tyneside so go here https://steve-thompson.org.uk/booking/ click on the video tab to see how many are attending and use the contact form to request a place. All other workshops listed here https://steve-thompson.org.uk/emb-dig/#goldennuggets
I’m off to Arcada University of Applied Sciences in Helsinki in a couple of weeks and they’ve asked me to give a lecture for students in … wait for it: HEAVY METAL
Facebook’s new(ish) feature “on this day” reminded me that 3 years today I posted the picture below under the caption “Plotting revolution in a cellar in Finland”. Indeed we were, hard to identify but the picture I’m clutching is of Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin who allegedly had a clandestine meeting in Tampere, Finland where I and my comrades were plotting in a cellar. Actually what we were doing was devising and recording a script for a Machinima (animation) movie. The results were hilarious but we never made the film. Perhaps I’ll post the audio. I shall be heading to Finland again in a few weeks (Helsinki) and I’ll see if I can pay a visit on Tampere. Alas I fear I will not meet up with my fellow revolutionaries as most have moved on (perhaps pursued by the authorities)
Click to enlarge
The “Do Button” from IFTTT looks like having amazing possibilities https://ifttt.com/products
I wrote Lonely at The Top for the Tygers of Pan Tang for their 3rd album “The Cage” back in 1982. They were already planning to record my song “Paris By Air” but their chief songwriter, John Sykes had just quit the band and strong songs were in short supply. I went round to their management office which was above a Carpet shop in Whitley Bay and played this song to their manager (My brother Graham actually). Tom Noble may also have been present. All I had was an acoustic guitar so I demonstrated the song with much arm twirling, foot stomping and shouted “kabooms”. They loved it and said “go ahead and make a demo” – which I did, and the song made the album. What I didn’t realise until just now (see pic) was that the song also came out as a single. To be honest in 1982 things went ballistic with my songwriting and I would have had a hard time keeping track of where any of my songs were.
Sorry to bother you with tests but it seems my WordPress postings do get triggered to Google + via the Jeptack sharing plugin. However the title is not included and it seems a somewhat random image from my blog gets posted. What happens if I purposely add an image to this post?
