↓
 

The Steve Thompson Band

Steve Thompson: Songwriter

  • Home
  • About
  • Releases
  • Shop
  • Blog
  • Contact Us
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • Talks & Multimedia Presentations
<< 1 2 3 4 5 >>

Category Archives: Musings

Post navigation

← Older posts
Newer posts →

TESTING

The Steve Thompson Band Posted on November 6, 2012 by Steve ThompsonNovember 6, 2012

Posted via email from Steve’s Gmail Blogging

Posted in Musings | 1 Reply

Digital Download

The Steve Thompson Band Posted on October 21, 2012 by Steve ThompsonOctober 21, 2012

Finally, Hurry Home by Wavelength available as a digital download. People who have worn out their vinyl have been contacting me for years about this. The vinyl version is changing hands for anywhere between £1 and £40.

Posted in Musings | Leave a reply

An Experiment

The Steve Thompson Band Posted on July 8, 2012 by Steve ThompsonJuly 8, 2012


Posted in Musings | Leave a reply

Cellar Club South Shields

The Steve Thompson Band Posted on December 18, 2011 by Steve ThompsonDecember 18, 2011

Left Mick Whitaker – Right Steve Thompson, Behind, Ken Goodinson on Drums

This was the Whitaker Band in 1998 or 1999 (can’t quite remember) at one of our favorite gigs – the Cellar Club, South Shields. I took these down from my old site as I had run out of file space. Here we go again.

Vocals: Mick Whitaker,

Keyboards & Backing Vocals: Andy Hawking,
Guitar and Backing Vocals: Steve Thompson,
Bass: Richard Rutherford,
Drums: Ken Goodinson. ( see also this page )

Set One

Dreams to Remember

Send Sweet Kisses to You

Tore down A La Rimbaud

Love and Happiness

Jealous Guy

She’s So Fine

First We Take Manhatten

I Can’t Make You Love Me

Set Two

Hold On

Let’s Get It On

Bulbs

Must Have Been A Fool

That’s The Way Love Turned Out For Me

Baby I Love You

 

Posted in Musings, News & Stories | Leave a reply

Diverse

The Steve Thompson Band Posted on October 16, 2011 by Steve ThompsonOctober 16, 2011

For no apparent reason this thought came to me as I was out driving:

“I’ve played guitar with the Jeff Beck group and sung with the Nolan Sisters”. How diverse is that?

So. how did these two, poles apart situations come about? Well, firstly producer Wayne Bickerton picked up on one of my songs and wanted to put it out on his label, State Records. He really liked the demo and asked who was playing on it. I informed him it was just two people. My mate Paul Smith on drums and me doing everything else. So Wayne says, “OK, you come and play guitar on the track and I’ll pull in a bunch of session people”. Vocals on the release were to be Mick Whitaker but it also ended up with Chris Farlow singing it (I met him at the studio a few months later) You can hear both these versions by clicking here. So the sessions took place with Waynes session guys and I showed them all the parts – it sounded a lot like the demo only more polished of course. When I returned to the North East Keith Satchfield (of Fist) asked me about the sessions. I said there was some guy called Simon Philips on drums and a bass player with an unusual name. Keith said “was his name  Mo Foster”. Ahah. I said that’s it. Keith looked a little stunned for a moment and then declared “F*** me, you’ve only been playing with the Jeff Beck band (Mo and Simon far right in pic below)

So on to the other part of the story. In 1985 I took part in an event to support the Bradford Football Fire Disaster Appeal. The gig took place at St Georges Hall, Bradford and featured the likes of Smokey, Kiki Dee, Motorhead, Colin Blunstone and of course the Nolan Sisters. I played keyboards with John Verity’s band. John had organised the gig. Top of the Bill was Gerry Marsdon (he of the Pacemakers). There was a big jam session towards the end and I distinctly  remember trading keyboard licks with Rod Argent. Jim Rodford and Bob Henrit, respectively bass player and drummer with the Kinks were keen to do a couple of Kinks tunes in the jam so we obliged with “You Really Got Me” – no problem. Next came “All The Day and All of The Night”. The main riff was easy enough to busk but nobody was quite sure of the chords to the bit “The only time I feel all right is by your side” so it kind of fell apart there with just bass and drums really knowing it. The funniest bit for me was when we were doing a blues jam. I looked to the assembled guitarists  on stage and noticed they were playing in the key of G (by the chord shapes their hands were making) and so I joined in, also in the key of G (naturally). A few moments later I glanced at Worzel of Motorhead and spotted he was playing in the key of A, blissfully unaware he was the only person doing so!  Incidentally this was the gig credited with re-uniting Smokie but that was almost short lived when their drummer Pete Spencer fell backwards off the drum podium and injured himself. Luckily, as well as multiple guitarists we were sporting two drummers (Paul Smith) at the time and so the beat went on.

And finally; my singing debut with the Nolans. The last act was Gerry Marsden and the last number was the anthem for the appeal “You’ll Never Walk Alone”. Everybody got up and sang this one. There were loads of us so we clustered in groups around several mics. I clustered with the Nolans and that, dear readers is who I got to sing with the Nolans. Sadly there is no picture of this event but I do have the programme (below) strangely the Nolans are not mentioned on it – a strange oversight.

Click to Enlarge

Posted in Musings | Leave a reply

Remembering Charlie Crane

The Steve Thompson Band Posted on October 11, 2011 by Steve ThompsonMay 4, 2018
Charlie Crane

I met Charlie Crane mid to late 80’s through my work as a songwriter. I had just come to the end of a publishing contract with MCA Music and Charlie had just left employment as a publisher (can’t remember – maybe it was ABC Music) I was looking for a new publisher and he was looking for some action. I can’t remember how we met but we hung out for a while. To be honest I had kinda fallen out with MCA as they fired my main man, Pete Waterman leaving me without a mentor.

I stayed at Charlie’s house a couple of times and met his wife and kids. I recall a moment when Charlie caught me dealing from the bottom of the deck in a card game. I was playing with his six-year-old son at the time.

I remember hearing somewhere that Charlie was a one-time member of a band called the “Crying Shames” but I did not pay this much attention as I was more concerned with my own career. Eventually, Charlie got the gig with MCA music which put an end to us working together since I had just left them. I guess I should have stayed in touch and got him to work my back catalogue but I was more concerned with the future. I got a publishing deal with DJM through Gus Dudgeon and concentrated on that, losing touch with Charlie.

Just yesterday evening Charlie came to mind so I thought I would Google him. I vaguely recall hearing he had died so I didn’t expect to find him on Facebook. I did find him though. Made me think how great the web is that I could learn more about his story that I selfishly paid scant attention to. Through YouTube I was able hear him sing and realising that the record was produced by the legendary Joe Meek, I really wished I had got into a conversation about this. This web page – tells the story of the “Crying Shames” very well and in the YouTube below you can hear Charlie sing. He was a nice unassuming guy and I wish that I had kept in touch but our paths crossed briefly and we went our own ways – such is life.

Posted in Blog, Musings | 25 Replies

Never Go Back

The Steve Thompson Band Posted on January 24, 2011 by Steve ThompsonJanuary 24, 2011

I’ve mentioned to a few people my habit of knocking out a quick song and then forgetting it. Everyone says “run a tape recorder and capture them”. But that would destroy the art of it – a song created, performed and forgotten all in 10 minutes or however long it takes a video or some file to render. Well I knocked one out just now and ran a recorder. The singing is crap and it’s just 40 seconds long. However, the whole song is there in 40 secs, it’ll never be any longer. For those in the know nudge nudge, let’s call it my South Stanley song.

Posted in Musings | 3 Replies

Power Glam

The Steve Thompson Band Posted on September 16, 2009 by Steve ThompsonSeptember 16, 2009
click to enlarge

click to enlarge

In the early 70’s my band Bullfrog were signed to Cube Records. In a moment of madness we wrote a jokey song called “Riddley Tiddley Tum”. We tried to cloak our daftness by naming it Glancy after our first singer. However, our record company picked up on it and pronounced it to be our first single. We were mortified being a serious rock outfit so we promoted the B side on TV shows and the like which must have driven our record company mad.

Anyway, I thought that was all long forgotten but it seems that in the digital age your past is just behind you. I gather the track is out on a compilation and doing very well under the title of “Blitzing the Ballroom: 20 UK Power Glam Incendiaries” (oh my goodness!) It’s available on Amazon http://bit.ly/powerglam and apparently it’s 59 in Tower Records top 100 best sellers of glam rock CDs and it’s available and reviewed all over the web. Infamy at last!

Posted via email from Steve’s Gmail Blogging

Posted in Musings | 2 Replies

Places, first notes finally laid down after 2 years

The Steve Thompson Band Posted on September 1, 2009 by Steve ThompsonJune 5, 2016

Two years ago I contemplated a music project idea in a restaurant in
Tuscany https://steve-thompson.org.uk/places-in-time/

I’ve thought of it many times since but have still to lay down the
first track. At the weekend, I finally began. I awoke in the
Blackenrigg Hotel to one of my favourite views overlooking Ullswater
in the English Lakes. On listening back once home again I must say the
slow evolving chords do indeed evoke that scene. Lots more needed
before there is a full music collection. I hope the sound of the Duomo
bells tolling in Prato is still in my iPaq. (HP)

Posted via email from Steve’s Gmail Blogging

Posted in Musings, Places In Time | Leave a reply

Packet Tops

The Steve Thompson Band Posted on May 22, 2007 by Steve ThompsonMay 22, 2007

I heard “The Letter” by the Box Tops the other day and the memories came flooding back. Way back in ’67 when that record charted I was about to begin my bid for rock stardom but, being only 15 many of these tunes we just a wonderfull noise and I could not comprehend how they were constructed.

I therefore asked my Mam to pick up the sheet music for me on some of the current tunes so I could decipher them. On this ocassion as she was going into town I asked her to get the sheet music for “The Letter”. She came back and informed me that they had never heard of the PACKET TOPS !!

So that set me back aways in my studies.

Anyway I heard the tune the other day and remembered this story. As listened I was struck by the blight of every developed musician. I could clearly determine what chords were being played. I went home and picked up my guitar and played it through. I then called my Mam and told her I’d figured it out some 38 years later and absolved her for letting me down so badly all those years ago. 🙂

Posted in Musings | Leave a reply

Don’t Try This At Home

The Steve Thompson Band Posted on April 21, 2007 by Steve ThompsonApril 21, 2007

See yonder ladder up tree. Branch is mostly sawn through. Rope is tied to branch and slung over pegoda.

Noose in end of rope lynch mob style. Stevie the lumberjack climbs into noose and applies his not inconsiderable weight.

Sounds of creaking branch. Branch breaks and sails though the air towards the overweight chap swinging on the other end of the rope. Oh shiiiiit !!!! Survived with just inches to spare.

Posted in Musings | Leave a reply

Music by the Yard

The Steve Thompson Band Posted on November 5, 2006 by Steve ThompsonNovember 5, 2006
I once worked with an (Irish) sound engineer who was often required to supply pices of music for advertising jingles. He would take a piece of library music and recortd it to quarter inch tape. Since this machine ran at 15 i.p.s. (Inches per second) he could now measure out the required piece with a tape measure. So for a 30 sec commercial he needed 37 feet 6 inches and when the appropriate point was reached, out came the razor blade and, snip, the appropriate lenght of music was handed over to the commercial producers: no regard for musical form or beats.

Posted in Musings | Leave a reply

Post navigation

← Older posts
Newer posts →
Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on TwitterFollow Us on InstagramFollow Us on Wikipedia

Latest Blogs

  • Consett Skyline
  • SMOKING NOTES
  • Flow River Flow
  • DISTANT PRODUCTION of DISTANT DESTINATION:
  • THE SINGER ON MY LEFT IS ER……………
  • BOP BOP SHE WAH
  • TWO SONGS – THREE HITS
  • Diva #2
  • Diva #1
  • FOLLOW THE DIVAS
  • A Whitley Bay Song.
  • The Bank Manager and a Hit Song
  • Rockin’ At Rocking Horse Rehearsal Studio
  • THE CRY OF THE AUTUMN CROW
  • Bar The Doubting
  • YouTube
  • Vocal Rehearsals At The Secret Location
  • Three Diva’s
  • Vocal Rehearsal At A Secret Location
  • DISTANT DESTINATION
  • Acoustic Set
  • Obsolescence
  • The Last Teardrop
  • Road Trip
  • A Very Tenuous Jeff Beck Connection
©2025 - The Steve Thompson Band - Weaver Xtreme Theme Privacy Policy
↑

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in .

The Steve Thompson Band
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.