Anyone who enjoys the music of Bob Dylan is going to be interested in a gig
at the Tower Arts Centre in Winchester on Wednesday December 10. Fans of Fairport Convention and Brummie rocker Steve Gibbons will also be licking their lips in anticipation of a concert by The Dylan Project.
Stylish Steve teams up with folk-rockers Simon Nicol, Dave Pegg and PJ Wright from Fairport ,with Steve providing the voice to interpret a selection of songs written by the mighty Bob. Not a tribute act in the usual sense - The Dylan Project bring their own distinctive take to Bob’s music - but a tribute in the sense that they revere his music, and regard “His Bobness” as perhaps the greatest postwar songwriter.
The depth, breadth and sheer quality of the Dylan canon is explored by the Dylan Project during their set. The cool and charismatic Steve Gibbons manages to sound uncannily like Dylan while retaining his own inimitable vocal style. Instrumentally, PJ Wright’s scintillating slide and haunting pedal steel, Simon Nicol’s strong rhythm guitar and tuneful backing vocals, and Dave Pegg’s subtle but powerful bass lines integrate seamlessly. An album, “The Dylan Project,” was recorded at Dave Pegg’s Woodworm Studio in Oxfordshire and released in 1998. As well as Steve, PJ, Dave and Simon there are guest contributions from Chris Leslie, Ric Sanders, Maartin Allcock, Ben Bennion, and Mick Bullard on an album which has sold consistently since its’ release.
Since its inception The Dylan Project has been touring the UK’s arts
centres, concert halls and theatres regularly, also playing in Europe and at festivals large and small, including Cropredy, of course. The band’s repertoire spans the whole of Dylan's ouvre – everything from “Highway 61 Revisited” to “Serve Somebody” – and new material is frequently added to the setlist. “When The Ship Comes In,” “ Simple Twist Of Fate,” “Memphis Blues Again,” and “Just Like A Woman” are amongst the gems to get a regular airing on The Project’s travels.
Tickets for the Tower gig on December 10 are £12.50 - ring 01962 867986 straight away to avoid disappointment. (© Peter Ashton 2003)

Platform Express
Preview by Peter Ashton

Two Americans and an Irishman form The Spikedrivers who perform at
Southampton’s Platform Tavern on Tuesday December 16. The band play a mixture of blues, jazz, rock and other styles.
Band founder Ben Tyzack grew up in the USA with spells in Iowa City,
Charleston, Carolina and Atlanta, Georgia and all had an influence on his music.
The railroad yards near the family home in Iowa City were a playground for the young Ben and also later inspired the band's name. Spikedrivers were the men who drove the spike that held the steel rails to the wooden ties, and songs from the band’s current repertoire such as “Ghost Train Shuffle” stem from these early memories.
Ben's musical education began with dipping into his father's record
collection, full of Dixieland, New Orleans Jazz and Ragtime. When he first picked up a guitar he worked his way through a book of jazz chords to enable him to accompany his trumpet-playing dad. This time was also the heyday of Southern rock and bands like Little Feat, The Allman Brothers, ZZ Top and The Georgia Satellites also exerted their influence on Ben. Soon he was playing in rock covers bands as well as his father's Early Days Jazz Band. He discovered the blues while working in Turtle's Record Warehouse in Atlanta where he had moved with David Rowell and The Reaction - a James Taylor influenced singer/songwriter outfit. A local college radio station ran a two-hour blues programme from 7pm - 9pm every morning, and suddenly Ben discovered the world of Big Bill
Broonzy, Doc Watson, Blind Lemon Jefferson and company. He learned to fingerpick and bought a four-track tape machine to record his early self-written songs.
All of these diverse influences went into The Spikedrivers who have built
up a big reputation in this country over the last few years. The current
lineup includes Californian bass-guitarist and vocalist Constance Redgrave and Belfast-born drummer and vocalist Maurice McElroy. Constance has worked with Otis Grand, Steve Cropper and Hank Wangford, among a host of other luminaries.
Maurice has worked with Otis Grand, Larry Garner, Big Joe Louis and Earl Green to name just a few.
Together they blend a unique mix of styles which will fill The Platform
with atmosphere on Tuesday December 16. Advance tickets are £4 through 02380 337232.  (©Peter Ashton 2003)

Brother Rowan
Preview by Peter Ashton

Just how a cult 80s American Bluegrass guitarist, banjo player and singer comes to be playing in the wilds of Hampshire this month we don’t know, but Peter Rowan will be playing in Hyde Memorial Hall, Fordingbridge, on Saturday December the 6th.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Peter Rowan came from a musical family and hung out at the Hillbilly Ranch when he was a teenager. Hearing old-time bands like the Lilly Brothers and other bluegrass favourites it was not surprising that he was inspired to become a musician himself. He taught himself to play numerous stringed instruments and the saxophone, began writing his own songs and singing them, and was not averse to a bit of yodelling too!
Also a big fan of the blues, Rowan formed the Tex-Mex band The Cupids while still in high school. The group became a big New England attraction and independently released a single. After college, he became a professional musician, joining the Cambridge-based Mother Bay State Entertainers as a mandolin player and singer in 1963, appearing on their LP The String Band Project. In 1964, after performing with Jim Rooney and Bill Keith, Rowan became a rhythm guitarist and lead singer with Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys. He remained with them through 1967, leaving to join mandolinist David Grisman in the folk-rock band Earth Opera. The group recorded a couple of albums and toured extensively, often opening for The Doors, until the early '70s.
While with Monroe and Earth Opera, Rowan wrote and co-wote songs, some of which were used in both bands. After leaving Earth Opera, he became a part of Seatrain, a rock-fusion outfit whose records were produced by George Martin.
Rowan left the band in 1972 to form The Rowan Brothers with siblings Chris and Lorin, recording one eponymous album. After the group disbanded Rowan then recorded “Old & In the Way” with Grisman, Jerry Garcia, Vassar Clements and John Kahn.
In 1974, Rowan, Grisman, Clarence White and Richard Greene formed
Muleskinner, a bluegrass band which released one album before disbanding. Reforming The Rowan Brothers, they toured until the early '80s. Meanwhile, Rowan also began playing rock and bluegrass with Mexican Airforce, which featured accordion player Flaco Jimenez. In the mid-'80s, he and Jiminez teamed up to record as Flaco Jiminez and Peter Rowan, releasing the album “Live Rockin' Tex-Mex.”
He founded the Nashville-based Wild Stallions in 1983. Since the mid- 80s Peter has continued to work with a variety of different bands and toured as a solo act.
So the gig at Hyde Village Hall promises an intriguing performance from a highly skilled musician with a diversity of styles - ring 01425 653487 for more information   (©Peter Ashton 2003)

Family Chap
Preview by Peter Ashton

Roger Chapman, fondly known as “Chappers” by his fans, will be rocking The Brook to its foundations with The Short List on Saturday December 13. A Roger Chapman gig at The Brook is always an experience, with Roger’s tremendous vibrato voice still in great shape thirty years after his heyday with Family. One of the greatest showmen on the rock circuit, he also has a terrific band line-up these days.
After years of success with Family, Roger famously went on to front
Streetwalker in the mid 1970s, becoming a huge cult success on the British rock scene before the punk scene exploded in 1977. Like many 60s musicians, Roger suddenly found himself out of favour in the UK, and rebuilt his career in Germany during the 1980s. The resilient Roger was soon packing out venues all over Germany to promote a spate of successful albums. He also enjoyed a hit all over Europe with his impassioned version of Mike Oldfield’s “Shadow On The Wall.”
Up to 1993, Chapman only played an occasional clandestine gig in Britain, but following his successful “Kick It Back” tour in that year, he has repaid his legions of fans with regular gigs every year all over the UK. So get ready to roar for Roger when he takes the stage at The Brook on the 13th to rock your soul and build up a good sweat (towels at the ready, Bryn).
For ticket details ring 02380 555366 right away as the gig is sure to sell
out.  (©Peter Ashton 2003)

“I am the God of Hellfire, and I bring you.......Fire!” Words synonymous
with The Crazy World of Arthur Brown and the band’s No 1 hit of 1968. Arthur Brown who will forever be associated with his one-off hit, appears at The Joiners in Southampton on Thursday December 18.
Arthur was one of the most spectacular live acts of the late 1960s
sporting his helmets of fire and outlandish costumes. His highly theatrical
performances drew big crowds wherever he appeared, despite never following up his “Fire” hit. The song also hit No 2 in the USA, and Arthur’s debut album became one of the most left-field commercial successes of the late '60s, if not of rock history, getting into the LP Chart Top Ten in 1968. Showcasing Arthur’s wild, lyrical visions and swooping vocals, it was probably the first truly psychedelic album to enjoy popular success.
Arthur’s original band broke up early in 1969 with Arthur going on to form Kingdom Come in the early1970s, with whom he released several albums featuring a rather innaccessible form of art rock. Arthur’s flirtation with commercial success soon ended; after a film appearance in “Tommy” playing a priest, Arthur disappeared from the public eye.
Since the mid-1970s Arthur’s life has been eccentric, to put it mildly. In
1976 Arthur married and fathered a son. Later he lived in a Sufi
establishment in Scotland, released two unsuccessful albums, moved into a hut in Bermondsey, then on to Burundi in Africa, where he became a teacher of music and history for a while. For the rest of the decade, Arthur lived and worked in Europe teaming up with pioneering German synthesiser and electronics giant Klaus Schultz to produce three albums and several successful tours.
Early in the 1980s the nomadic Arthur moved to Austin, Texas, with his
American wife. Despite continuing to work on his music, Arthur teamed up with Jimmy Carl Black, the Mothers of Invention drummer, to start a house painting business.
Later in the decade he gained a Masters Degree in Counselling, then moved to Mexico to study music healing. By this time his marriage had broken up and eventually in 1993 Arthur returned to the UK and started performing again with his American band. All went well until Arthur collapsed on stage with a brain haemhorrage in 1994, narrowly escaping death it took him about six months to recover.
Arthur has continued to plough a highly individual furrow since
relaunching his career in 1996. Most of the time has been spent touring as a solo artist, but he was also involved as The Narrator in the first ever world-wide Live Internet Global Broadcast of the milestone psychedelic album "S.F. Sorrow" by "The Pretty Things" in 1998. His contribution re-established him overnight within the UK music industry.
There are several support acts for the Joiners gig including Southampton
band Careless. Arthur will be on stage around 10pm - for more details ring 02380 229319. (©Peter Ashton 2003)

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