The 1980s
Do you remember the 1980s? Were you alive in the 1980s?
This band started kicking their first heels into music from around 1985/1986. Playing in a band with Steve Maynard and Andrew Turner, the band were rehearsing and performing in church halls and scout huts with songs like Desert Moon and Babe; with Julie Landells on the vocals and a nod towards classic american rock. This early version of band fizzled out of existence and Dave joined a band with Bernard O’Hagan and Stephen ‘Kirky’ Kirk (who owned a Korg MS20 synth with his ICI apprenticeship wages). Ian was learning guitar and always asking Mike on the school bus “Has your Dave started that band yet?” Mike and Ian both joined the band too and a gig at The Albert in Middlesbrough was one of the first nerve wracking ventures for the band. The gigs were few but memorable and we learned from each other. We remember playing in The St Andrews Hall to a bemused youth club audience and performed songs by a legendary Middlesbrough Indie group called The Euphoria Case, performing our own version of Richard Sanderson’s song ‘Dealing In Absolutes’. Our own version still exists on a scratchy tape but here is Sanderson’s brilliant original.
https://richardsanderson.bandcamp.com/track/dealing-in-absolutes
Eventually Steve Maynard and Darren got back together with Dave, Ian and Mike and the band ‘Obsession’ was formed, evolving into ‘Broken Dreams’ and then ‘Allnight Street’. All really dreadful names and probably chosen from horses racing in the the 3.30 at Redcar. When Dave started work for the local Civil Service in March 1987, the first thing the band did was take a trip to Guitarzan/Bongo Bills in South Bank. They bought a Peavey XR600 and Carlsbro speakers on the ‘never never’ along with a vocal headset mic for Mike and a Casio Keyboard for Daz. On his return home to his brothers Grant and Gordon informed Darren that Casio were only good at making calculators and made him return it to buy a Yamaha DX21 instead. What a keyboard! Not having a bass player, Darren utilised this amazing instrument to allow him to play the bass lines and do both roles for the band. We performed our first gig at The Normanby on 14th March as mentioned in our previous blog entry.
We tended to perform songs that we…and only we …..liked. Berlin ‘You Don’t Know’, Bruce Springsteen ‘Glory Days’ and Dire Straights ‘Walk Of Life’ stick in the mind. Crowd pleasers such as ‘I Just Died In Your Eyes Tonight’ by Cutting Crew and ‘Live It Up’ by Mental As Anything also are recalled. Here is a playlist of what we were up to:
https://open.spotify.com/user/davemac7/playlist/5gJLeRDgiH2p4WD2NhQQIc
One memorable gig was at Wynyard Hall at the International Scout Jambouree in 1987. A crowd of people from The North East and the rest of the world were our audience.
We recorded our first songs in Steve’s garage on Regency Avenue. German Nights and Obsession were the songs. All captured on a small 4 Track recorder by the Dunston Brothers and Gordon O’Brien. This was our first venture into the art of Multi Track recording and it proved to be a fascinating experience. An impromptu gig was also performed in Steve’s garden with the whole estate complaining of the noise. Further recordings were made in either Darren’s garage or shed. Dave and Mike’s garage was also used for rehearsals with their lovely neighbour Norman Hall regularly putting a request in for ‘House Of The Rising Sun’.
Steve Maynard left the band due to his work commitments and we advertised for a Bass player. Ste Thirkell joined the band and became our bass player for a while. Filling the bass playing role of the band had been tricky and we began to believe that bass players were as rare as rocking horse shite. Ste actually played on our first two recordings in 1988 for Murder In The Rain and When We Say Goodbye. We had saved up for the session and recorded the songs in The Mill at Stockton. Erasure had recorded at the studio the night before. The engineer joked that the pop shield that Dave ws singing throught was a pair of Andy Bell's tights. Later research uncovered that they recorded an intstumental so this was bollocks. Ste Thirkell left the band shortly after these sessions but thankfully had introduced us to his mates, brothers Paul and Simon Atkinson. Simon played bass and so joined the band in 1988 and we have been stuck with him ever since.
We would watch Darren's brother's band in The Normanby on a Wednesday night. They were called Small Change featuring Grant O'Brien, Peter Bolton, Micky Walls and Brian Dales. We must admit that we pinched a lot of their song choices for our set. The crowds that they pulled were a real eye opener and we hoped to achieve that sort of success oneday. Another massive influence was Ted Gray's bandbox with Stevie Palmer. These Normanby legends really helped us define our show. Ted was a true showman and, with his iconic baseball cap and witty patter, he showed us exactly how to blow a pub away. Little did we know at the time but Ted was also part of a famous country trio and eventually provided depping for the Eagles bass player. He was amazing.
Darren’s Dad, Alf O’Brien, helped us buy our first van, a blue Ford Transit. The need for a place to rehearse was becoming a major problem. Dave, Mike and Darren all played in The Grangetown Boys Club Brass Band and we asked our Band Master Jack Kitching if we could use the band room.
After a chat to the committee it was approved and, thanks to the kindness shown by Archie and Diane Robson, we were able to rehearse every Saturday morning in the club. Often hung over, we would turn up at the 'Boysy' and learn our trade. We really developed our craft in that iconic band room. It was in this room that we shaped the arrangements to: The Poison Of Love, The Moon Club, When We Say Goodbye, The Sleeping City, When I Woke Up This Morning I Was A Crazy Hairy Legged Werewolf, The End Of The Day, German Nights and Dreaming By The Sea. All are on the forthcoming album to be released on 12th June 2017.
To fund our dream we joined The Frank Feeney Agency to get some club work. The idea of making money to help us buy equipment was a solid one. It lead to an exciting few years performing in the clubs of the North East. That, however, is a story that will need its own blog entry.
This band started kicking their first heels into music from around 1985/1986. Playing in a band with Steve Maynard and Andrew Turner, the band were rehearsing and performing in church halls and scout huts with songs like Desert Moon and Babe; with Julie Landells on the vocals and a nod towards classic american rock. This early version of band fizzled out of existence and Dave joined a band with Bernard O’Hagan and Stephen ‘Kirky’ Kirk (who owned a Korg MS20 synth with his ICI apprenticeship wages). Ian was learning guitar and always asking Mike on the school bus “Has your Dave started that band yet?” Mike and Ian both joined the band too and a gig at The Albert in Middlesbrough was one of the first nerve wracking ventures for the band. The gigs were few but memorable and we learned from each other. We remember playing in The St Andrews Hall to a bemused youth club audience and performed songs by a legendary Middlesbrough Indie group called The Euphoria Case, performing our own version of Richard Sanderson’s song ‘Dealing In Absolutes’. Our own version still exists on a scratchy tape but here is Sanderson’s brilliant original.
https://richardsanderson.bandcamp.com/track/dealing-in-absolutes
Eventually Steve Maynard and Darren got back together with Dave, Ian and Mike and the band ‘Obsession’ was formed, evolving into ‘Broken Dreams’ and then ‘Allnight Street’. All really dreadful names and probably chosen from horses racing in the the 3.30 at Redcar. When Dave started work for the local Civil Service in March 1987, the first thing the band did was take a trip to Guitarzan/Bongo Bills in South Bank. They bought a Peavey XR600 and Carlsbro speakers on the ‘never never’ along with a vocal headset mic for Mike and a Casio Keyboard for Daz. On his return home to his brothers Grant and Gordon informed Darren that Casio were only good at making calculators and made him return it to buy a Yamaha DX21 instead. What a keyboard! Not having a bass player, Darren utilised this amazing instrument to allow him to play the bass lines and do both roles for the band. We performed our first gig at The Normanby on 14th March as mentioned in our previous blog entry.
We tended to perform songs that we…and only we …..liked. Berlin ‘You Don’t Know’, Bruce Springsteen ‘Glory Days’ and Dire Straights ‘Walk Of Life’ stick in the mind. Crowd pleasers such as ‘I Just Died In Your Eyes Tonight’ by Cutting Crew and ‘Live It Up’ by Mental As Anything also are recalled. Here is a playlist of what we were up to:
https://open.spotify.com/user/davemac7/playlist/5gJLeRDgiH2p4WD2NhQQIc
One memorable gig was at Wynyard Hall at the International Scout Jambouree in 1987. A crowd of people from The North East and the rest of the world were our audience.
We recorded our first songs in Steve’s garage on Regency Avenue. German Nights and Obsession were the songs. All captured on a small 4 Track recorder by the Dunston Brothers and Gordon O’Brien. This was our first venture into the art of Multi Track recording and it proved to be a fascinating experience. An impromptu gig was also performed in Steve’s garden with the whole estate complaining of the noise. Further recordings were made in either Darren’s garage or shed. Dave and Mike’s garage was also used for rehearsals with their lovely neighbour Norman Hall regularly putting a request in for ‘House Of The Rising Sun’.
Steve Maynard left the band due to his work commitments and we advertised for a Bass player. Ste Thirkell joined the band and became our bass player for a while. Filling the bass playing role of the band had been tricky and we began to believe that bass players were as rare as rocking horse shite. Ste actually played on our first two recordings in 1988 for Murder In The Rain and When We Say Goodbye. We had saved up for the session and recorded the songs in The Mill at Stockton. Erasure had recorded at the studio the night before. The engineer joked that the pop shield that Dave ws singing throught was a pair of Andy Bell's tights. Later research uncovered that they recorded an intstumental so this was bollocks. Ste Thirkell left the band shortly after these sessions but thankfully had introduced us to his mates, brothers Paul and Simon Atkinson. Simon played bass and so joined the band in 1988 and we have been stuck with him ever since.
We would watch Darren's brother's band in The Normanby on a Wednesday night. They were called Small Change featuring Grant O'Brien, Peter Bolton, Micky Walls and Brian Dales. We must admit that we pinched a lot of their song choices for our set. The crowds that they pulled were a real eye opener and we hoped to achieve that sort of success oneday. Another massive influence was Ted Gray's bandbox with Stevie Palmer. These Normanby legends really helped us define our show. Ted was a true showman and, with his iconic baseball cap and witty patter, he showed us exactly how to blow a pub away. Little did we know at the time but Ted was also part of a famous country trio and eventually provided depping for the Eagles bass player. He was amazing.
Darren’s Dad, Alf O’Brien, helped us buy our first van, a blue Ford Transit. The need for a place to rehearse was becoming a major problem. Dave, Mike and Darren all played in The Grangetown Boys Club Brass Band and we asked our Band Master Jack Kitching if we could use the band room.
To fund our dream we joined The Frank Feeney Agency to get some club work. The idea of making money to help us buy equipment was a solid one. It lead to an exciting few years performing in the clubs of the North East. That, however, is a story that will need its own blog entry.
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