The Rio @ Bradford All-dayer - Saturday November 3rd, 2001:-
The rest of
the players
Beerzone
Well what can you say ? Iain had asked me to play and it seemed high time to
get Beerzone on the bill. They seem to sound quite different to the way that I
used to remember them but I can't put my finger on why ! I was grateful to
them anyway for making the large journey up to Scotland from their base and for
stopping off to make this the final show of their tour. As it happens, they
are the band that I can remember the least about from the day, I must have been
busy at the door. If you have ever met Iain their singer you'll know why I
find it amusing to recall any dealings with him, the guy is a one-man promotion
machine for the band but so what, it's a hard industry to try and succeed in
and if that's what it takes so be it. I am sure that Iain will have had the
day down as another occasion that they 'Came, Saw and Conquered' !
Vibrators
It seems to be trendy to knock the Vibrators, why I don't know because they
always sound pretty good to me ! I have seen a them a few times now and they
are what they are, a melodic Punk band with some very good tunes under their
belt, hardly surprising after 25 years on the road. I was very happy that they
stepped in to replace the Uk S*** and they sounded great, I can't say any more.
M.D.M
I have had quite a few dealings with Rag and Mandy from M.D.M now and it has to
be said that M.D.M are one of those bands that unfortunately evolved too
late to become a 'classic' 80's band but nontheless sound a lot better than
many of those that are classified that way. They had just released a new LP
'United We Stand' prior to the gig and that recording is way ahead of their
previous releases in terms of quality and possibly content. Needless to say,
they aired quite a bit of it that day along with many other older songs ..
'Laced up Mary' to name one of many. They have also recorded an excellent new
song 'Doing it for the kids' which will be appearing on the forthcoming 'Punk
Aid' LP re-inforcing my belief that they have finally achieved a status that
they deserve.
The first pic is a bit tounge in cheek as if I remember correctly, Rag was on
the phone to their guitarist Rob at the time (asking him where he was as he was
late), or should I say posing in the background as Mandy gingerly negotiates
the Rio's steps in her usual killer platform boots. The last shot I liked as it
shows M.D.M in full-on 80's metal pose, who do they think they are .. Judas
Priest ?!
Lowlife
Lowlife were the 'last' band I booked after advertising for a band that I
hadn't previously seen or heard of to complete the bill (subject to certain
criteria). I could probably write a small book already about dealing with
bands and putting on gigs but I think I'll leave it for another time, what
matters is that Lowlife came across as the best candidates for the show and I
put them on. Unfortunately, I only had the one picture of them on the day
(half the band but that's better than the zero decent ones of the Pink
Torpedoes !) and so here it is. And their performance ? Their debut LP shows
good potential and tracks like 'King O Seams' stand out well both on the LP
and live too. As it happens, singer Beaker has a good personality both on and
off stage and I think that they won more than a few converts that day. I shall
be putting them on again soon.
One Way System
Quite obviously, One Way System have been around for a very long time and have
not been without their ups and downs like so many other of the 'classic' bands.
I could have sworn that when I originally booked them, that they still had Lee
on vocals but have since been told that this would have been impossible. I
must say that I would have preferred to have seen them with Gavin Whyte (their
original singer) on vocals but fat chance of that. As it was, we had the core
duo of Tommy Couch on drums and David Ross on guitar supplemented by a newer
bass player and Pete from Road Rage on vocals. Needless to say, they played
many classic songs that day and seemed to go down very well. The phtoto of
Tommy (a nice guy indeed) was the best that I had unfortunately.
All the helpers ..
Well like I said before, I couldn't have done it without the help of so many
others and here are some of them. Jane, Julie and Paul who all helped me at
the door, also featuring Rag from M.D.M who was extremely helpful both before
and during the gig and also a 'guest' appearance from Steve Harnett who of
course booked the Uk S*** for me .. no comment ! Cheers everybody !
