Spent the 80s working with various bands and artists such as Shriekback (studio life up to first album Tench),
Pigbag (joined in time to make all the Top Of The Pops appearances, played from New York to Tokyo, and stayed till the bitter end), I'm playing sax and wearing a silver jacket, trilby hat and tie.
Kirsty MacColl (a dear friend who I worked with on television and some unheard studio tapes), and yeah, the BBC have removed this Top Of The Pops clip for copyright reasons. The same BBC who do not pay fees for appearances on Top Of The Pops 2! Which they are supposed to, according to the MU. Which I left as they are fairly useless at getting what thier members are owed. I rest my case. If the BBC ever pay up my money will go to CUBA.
This is me sitting in with Carlos & The Bandidos on telly.
Virginia Astley (with whom I played percussion while classically trained beauties sawed away on strings), Luc Van Acker (for whom I moved to Belgium and stayed on even after he sacked me), and at the end of that decade I helped form a clean little R&B combo called Shout Sister Shout! In just over 3 years this band had 10 different members. We’re working on releasing a CD of our various missing tapes for all our five fans to enjoy. When we split up it was the 90s. Check out my space for Shout Sister Shout! http://www.myspace.com/lovebanditrecordstapes
For most of the following decade I played with Big Joe Louis & His Blues Kings, the longest I’ve ever stayed in one band. Running parallel to this I found myself having a recording session career, during which I worked with Ronnie Dawson, Planet Rockers, Ray Sharpe, Eddie Angel, Neanderthals, Sonny George, Holly Golightly, Carl Sonny Leyland, Teddy Paige, Carlos & the Bandidos, Duffy Power and others. A great deal of this session work was held at Liam Watson’s Toe Rag Studio.
Live work was often an offshoot of these recording sessions. I worked around the UK, Europe and the United States with Ronnie Dawson, Mac Curtis, Joe Clay, Billy Lee Riley, Sonny Burgess. Live tours with blues artists included Lazy Lester, Big Daddy Patman, Big Boy Henry, Booba Barnes, Chicago Bob Nelson, R.L. Burnside, Big Lucky Carter, the Eldorados, Rev. Charlie Jackson, and many others. Spent a lot of time in Paris with my long time bass playing partner, Matt Radford, working in a trio with the wonderful Carl Sonny Leyland. This lead to working around the Bay Area, California, with Carl and meeting Deke Dickerson. Which in turn lead to a period of time living and working in Los Angeles, and touring every corner of the States with Deke’s then new combo, the Ecco-fonics. My stay on the west coast meant more sessions and gigs, with Big Sandy, Ray Campi, Sammy Masters, the Collins Kids and a list that my memory has sent to the recycle bin.
I compile albums for Ace & Kent Records. Here are some favourites
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I’m in Louie & The Louies, with Sir Bald Diddley and my old mate, Matt Radford, who’s gone electric for the occasion. I also play with pianist and singer Jamie Rowan; have sat in with with Carlos & the Bandidos; have done weekender gigs with Deke Dickerson; and sometimes can still be seen organising my blues shuffle behind Shakey Vick, Chris Youlden or Top Topham. Have recently started working with Little George Sueref again after many years. A great pleasure it is too.
Of the songs you can hear on my profile, 'Del Scorcho' came out as by Brian Nevill & The Quiet Three, and Deke Dickerson put it on a compilation album. It was cut at Toe Rag and has Matt Radford on double bass and Bruce Brand on six string bass guitar. The Louie & The Louies track is 'Standoff' from our new 45 out now. To hear both sides of the single go to the Louie & the Louies myspace. Ronnie Dawson's 'No Dice' comes from a deleted No Hit single that's a different version from the album track. This take has yours truly, Matt Radford & Eddie Angel on it. Teddy Paige & The New Jesters were Teddy, me and Matt Radford. The track 'Moon Over Mankora' used to be on my profile but it got axed by the sleazo law-abiding US record label that put it out. I've replaced it with 'House Party' that was released by UK record label Big Bertha. Ho-hum to that. It was one of four cut at Toe-Rag Studio. For more information concerning the illusive and enigmatic Teddy Paige check out the Internet. A recent addition is Holly Golightly's version of 'Sally Go Round The Roses' from the first album I recorded with Miss Golightly, 'Laugh It Up'. I heard this track being played at Nitty Gritty and had to go and ask who it was! That weirdness inspired me to put it up here. The most recent addition here is 'Beans On Toast', a vinyl-only bonus track on Deke Dickerson's King Of The Whole Wide World album. This has me, Chris Sugarballs Sprague and Deke going all Merseybeat at Toe Rag Studio one day, and it's a shame Liam didn't trust us to record a whole album of this stuff. I've recently uploaded songs by Carlos & The Bandidos, Eddie Angel and Carl Sonny Leyland. These were all released and I'm drumming on all.
Boogie Lightnin'
A night of fine New Orleans piano blues, blistering boogie-woogie and bopping 50s rock'n'roll. Over his 25 year musical career, Jamie Rowan has performed on radio and television and toured extensively in the UK and abroad, playing for thousands, in a multitude of venues. An exciting and dynamic pianist and singer, Jamie plays from-the-heart, storming juke joint music steeped in the legend of Louisiana greats - Professor Longhair, Fats Domino and Jerry Lee Lewis. His band currently sometimes features the handsome and talented Matt Radford slapping the doghouse bass, Brian Nevill, one of the most in-demand drummers on the scene today and the bluesy & folky Sally Wilshire on vocals.
