PoonTang

YOU CAN NOW HEAR 3 NEW SONGS, 'YOU'RE NO LONGER WHAT YOU USED TO BE', 'DEMONS IN THE LIVING' and a re-vamped version of 'ULURU'

BIOGRAPHY 'POONTANG' was formed after a blues night session consisting of local musicians at The Rising Sun (Haverhill, Suffolk) together with american singer songwriter, Bobby Ray during the latter months of 2005. The original line-up for the band was, Bobby Ray, Mark Rowden, Barry Day and Pete Knightly. Shortly following the band's debut performance at The Loft, Cambridge in February 2006, the band changed its line-up that saw the exit of lead guitarist Mark Rowden and the entrance of lead guitarist, singer songwriter Steve Spall. This now remains the current line-up for the band.
You will no doubt have noticed the orange figure on the buffalo skull in our profile picture. What follows is an explaination of its origins; 'Kokopelli' is a fertility deity, usually depicted as a humpbacked flute player (often with a huge phallus and antenna-like protrusions on his head), who has been venerated by many Native American cultures in the Southwestern United States. Like most fertility deities, Kokopelli presides over both childbirth and agriculture. He is also a trickster god and represents the spirit of music. Because of his influence over human sexuality, Kokopelli is often depicted with an inhumanly large phallus. Among the Ho-Chunk, this penis is detachable, and he sometimes leaves it in a river in order to have sex with girls who bathe there. Among the Hopi, Kokopelli carries unborn children on his back and distributes them to women (for this reason, young girls are often deathly afraid of him). He often takes part in rituals relating to marriage, and Kokopelli himself is sometimes depicted with a consort, a woman called Kokopelmana by the Hohokam and Hopi.[1] Kokopelli also presides over the reproduction of game animals, and for this reason, he is often depicted with animal companions such as rams and deer. Other common creatures associated with him include sun-bathing animals such as snakes, or water-loving animals like lizards and insects. Because of this, some scholars believe that Kokopelli's flute is actually a blowgun (or started out as one), but this is a minority opinion. In his domain over agriculture, Kokopelli's fluteplaying chases away the Winter and brings about Spring. Many tribes, such as the Zuni, also associate Kokopelli with the rains. He frequently appears with Paiyatamu, another flautist, in depictions of maize-grinding ceremonies. Some tribes say he carries seeds and babies on his back. In recent years, the emasculated version of Kokopelli has been adopted as a broader symbol of the Southwestern United States as a whole. His image adorns countless items such as T-shirts, ball caps, and keychains. A bicycle trail between Grand Junction, Colorado, and Moab, Utah, is now known as the Kokopelli Trail.
'POONTANG'S' brand of music is difficult to catergorise and cannot be put into a single genre. Other than 'POONTANG'S' music is American.....A fusion of blues, country and rock, offering a 'bridge' to span the gap between what is commonly known as popular music and country. A little of something for everyone. Performing a mixture of original material and covers but not the usual covers you would come to hear from bands, no not POONTANG who does not pander to the whims and requests from its audience. When the band members turn up at the venue for the evening, an impression is immediately made upon the host and the revellers...... heads turn and stare in surprise and jaws gape for they not know what they do, or come to expect as the band ambles in clad in their armour of long hair, shirt-tails, jeans and facial hair trying their hardest to blend in amongst the assembled crowd but failing dismally. However, once the band is set loose before the audience, POONTANG becomes something to behold and the honeyed notes are nectar to the ears and the audience's gaze is transfixed and they're in the groove along with the band. You can see it etched upon their faces as if to say,'fuck, we weren't expecting this...'. Everyone including the band are hooked, on infectious rhythms, Bobby's vocals soft and clear with an edgy southern drawl and his 'Desert Rose' guide you through the piece and then gives way to Steve's magical lead guitar playing, and all the while you're smiling and thinking, how does he do that whilst you fly with him. Barry's bass playing and Pete's drumming are holding on firmly to you as though you have been caught up in a tractor beam. All iced with harmonies. Everybody is smiling and each song becomes a journey. It is then that you discover that you have been 'POONTANGED !!' A term that best describes the event, many thanks to The Winelight Club of Norwich.
The following is a review written by The Winelight Club of Norwich;
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8,2006 What an end to the year!!!
As Jeff Bridges once said (without a trace of irony!) on some unbearably sanitised US TV music documentry.... "Phew ! .... Rock and Roll!' After last Wednesday, I'm with Jeff. Our final Winelight Night of 2006 looked to be normal enough on paper (well, as "normal" as our occasionally eccentric mix of styles CAN be!) Beautiful female singer sonwriters.... unfairly young and talented up-and-coming award-winning male songwriter.... and an acoustic duo playing country/blues/rock. But the "duo" gradually transformed itself into the full-strenght, hairy-assed tattoo-flaunting bunch of ornery critters that is Poontang! I had a mild panic attack... which turned to a full-on crisis when their guitarist unloaded an FX pedal-board the size of a small South American state! Meanwhile, our other artists were dispensing the more traditional Winelight fare. The lovely Nathalie Nahal brought us a small glimpse of serenity with her beautiful moving songs and haunting voice. A swift return to the Winelight is guaranteed for her, I feel. John Galea, who had recently won a national songwriters contest, showed us just why the judges had chosen him, and performed with confidence and soul. He, too, will be back. Fiona Bevan brought a smile to many a face with her dazzling lyrical dexterity and jazz-tinged voice. Original, charming and slightly dark at times, we look forward to her return too! Then it was time to transform the Winelight into a full-on rock venue. And we did it.... all four members of Poontang somehow squeezed into our cosy little "music corner", and we were ready to rock! And boy, did they rock! We'd surely never envisaged roadhouse-style country rock and blues in our little venue, but that's what Poontang had brought with them all the way from the wild and woolly ....well, Cambridge actually! And, yes you guessed it, we'll be trying to shoe-horn them back into the Winelight again, I'm sure. It was a great way to end our final Winelight night of 2006 in an almost party atmosphere, and it was impossible not to smile... which is what it is all about, I suppose! Thanks to Nathalie, Fiona, John and Poontang for a great night, and to the staff of The Wine Press for helping Tony and I to bring our little dream to life, and for everyone who has played, watched, or supported us in any way at all this year. We've come along way in a fairly short time, and had so much fun. Love and thanks to all of you. Have a Happy Christmas, and here's to a rocking New Year! See you in 2007. Steve xxx
POONTANG'S set-list but not necessarily performed in the following order;
1) THE MID-NIGHT SPECIAL ( Lead Belly, Bobby Ray)
2) BAD NEWS (cover)
3) SUSIE Q (cover)
4) PROUD MARY (cover)
5) GONE (cover)
6) TAKIN' UP SPACE (cover)
7) I LIKE IT ALREADY (cover)
8) ONLY THING THAT LOOKS GOOD ON ME... (cover)
9) ULURU (Bobby Ray)
10) COCAINE (cover)
11) DIXIE KIDS (Bobby Ray, Ric Chainey)
12) WITNESS DISPATCHES (Bobby Ray)
13) YOUNG-MAN-AFRAID-OF-HIS-HORSES (Bobby Ray)
14) CINNAMON GIRL (cover)
15) HANG ON SLOOPY (cover)
16) DEVIL IN TEXAS (Bobby Ray & POONTANG)
17) SWEET HOME CHICAGO (cover)
18) SWEET HOME ALABAMA (cover)
19) NARCISSISTIC WOMAN (Bobby Ray)
20) LONG TIME GONE (cover)
21) DUST MY BROOM (Robert Johnson, Bobby Ray)
22) YOU'RE NO LONGER WHAT YOU USED TO BE (Bobby Ray)
23) ROADHOUSE BLUES (cover)
24) CALIFORNIA DREAMIN' (cover)
25) ROCKIN' IN THE FREE WORLD (cover)
26) FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH (cover)
27) THE PUSHER (cover)
28) LETTIN' GO (Bobby Ray)
29) RUNAWAY TRAIN (Bobby Ray)
30) IT'S MY LIFE (cover)
Click here to view and download 'Uluru' now, from Tune Tribe
The Band has a website: www.poon-tang.net where you can sign up to their mailing list.
BOBBY RAY, is the lead singer/guitarist and front man for POONTANG and is a genuine ‘Okie’ from Muskogee, Oklahoma. Bobby was as an ‘Air Force brat’ and spent most of his youth on the road travelling here and there. Bob recalls, “ my earliest memories of home was from one trailer park to another trailer park, up mountains and down mountains, home was attached to the back of our car”. Later, it became one military establishment to another and hating every minute of it. Yes, the travelling broadened his outlook but his education suffered. However, with every negative there are positives. Bobby eventually arrived in Ocean Springs, Mississippi where he spent his formative years living and experiencing the bigotry of the deep south amongst the Spanish Moss and surf. This was one of the happiest periods of his life and at the age of fourteen, began learning the guitar and listening to everything, soaking it up like a sponge. For Bobby, this was a massive musical melting pot and influenced his musical direction and creativity. As in life though, things don’t last forever and time continues to move on taking you with it as though you were like driftwood and Bobby ended up in the UK and has remained there ever since but only travelling nowadays to take holidays. Over the years, Bobby has been in a few bands, Marin County, HOPO, OPM (other peoples money), Bobby Ray & The Dusty Rivers Band, along side his life long friend and musical brother, Ric Chainey. Bobby and Ric still play together but only in North Wales at ‘open mic’ venues as an acoustic duo, also assisting each other in their various recording projects. In particular, The Dusty Rivers Band, a studio band only, whose members are, Nino, Daz, Ric, Clare, Rachael, and Bobby. All gather at Autumn Road, Studios, Wrexham, North Wales. More recently though, Bobby has also teamed up with his friend Edwin Few as an acoustic duo playing in around the Cambridge area performing original material at open mic venues. However, POONTANG remains the number one musical priority for Bobby commenting, “ The band is my total focus, I can’t afford to spread myself too thin, and I’m lovin’ every minute of it. It’s hard work, making sure the music is the correct choice and that it is different and arrangements in the material from other bands to get everyone’s attention. It means that I would change things about the song such as the chords, structure or write a riff that best suits the song and then make it our own. We play the stuff that audiences have either forgotten or that it is new to them on the night and once they ‘get it’, realise what we’re all about…. It’s a wondrous thing havin’ people there in front of you dancin’ and interacting with the band expressing their appreciation. As a performer, it makes you want to give it your all. As far as the song writing goes, well, I keep my ego detached from that aspect of creativity. I listen to everything whether I like the artist or not, I know I can learn by doin’ that and like all good writing you must draw from your personal experiences no matter the pain….. I do”. Some of Bobby’s musical influences are; Poco, Crosby, Stills Nash and Young, Jimmy Webb, The Grateful Dead, The Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield, Terry Reid, David Crosby, Jackson Browne, The Eagles, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Jeff Buckley, Willis Alan Ramsey, Frank Sinatra, Joni Mitchell, Robert Johnson, Rory Gallagher, The James Gang, Pink Floyd, Sara Mitra, Kate Bush and Paul Rodgers plus a whole host of blues artists male and female. Bobby has actually met some of his heroes, such as Peter Green, Jimmy Page, Rory Gallagher, The Stranglers and Jimmy Webb but sadly only in his capacity of as a professional photographer. “ I’m very much looking forward to the band’s future and at the moment it’s turning into a exciting journey and there are new surprises every day”, says Bobby.
STEVE SPALL, lead guitarist, singer songwriter, musical facilitator and survival instructor large family and rides a Harley. Steve is a brilliant guitarist and very modest with it too. Clever song writing with his roots firmly entwined in rock and the blues with a taste for country. He plays in three other bands, called, Medicine Tree, Dr. Zak, and Broken Arrow all based in Suffolk. What follows is Steve’s musical history in his own words. ‘ My name is Steve Spall and I’ve owned a guitar since I was fifteen. I worked for my dad (a tree surgeon) for a week to earn the £40 it cost to buy the Hondo 2, Les Paul copy. I took it home and looked at it for years. At eighteen I was living on the road, on motorcycles with a friend, who gave me his only possession, a beat up classical guitar. This became my only possession and I vowed to teach myself to play it. I drove everyone nuts for years afterwards with my constant plinking. At forty one, I’m still on the road and lucky enough to have played, toured or shot the breeze with some good people, like; The Honeycombs, Bert Jansch, Wilco Johnson, various Pink Floyd connections, The Tornado’s, Billy Davies, Cliff Bennet and the Rebel Rousers, Mike Berry as well as a hugely talented pool of studio engineers, producers, musicians and writers. I have been in bands since well before I could play and have been gigging even before that as a solo “artist”. I find it difficult to list influences as I love and hate examples in every genre of music that I’ve heard, but love the effect of music from around the world and through time, on my own writing and recording. This has allowed me to push myself into learning as many instruments as possible, although I enjoy the pioneering aspect of being self-taught. Bad technique, possibly but it does grow a definite individual style. I am also a survival instructor teaching military and civilian courses. I am a qualified music facilitator and teacher. I also build ancient bows, long bows etc., as well as bow-strings and arrows including the fletching and the arrow heads. I was trained in flint knapping by one of the worlds leading flint knappers and weapons experts, John Lord. I am one of four organisers of The Fordham Music Festival, which is in its fourth year and is a totally non profit making event raising money and awareness for Cam-mind, the mental health charity. I am a director of M.A.D.S. Promotions, 2 dogs, 1 cat, 6 children and 1 very unique and understanding wife.
BARRY DAY, bassist, vocalist, hard working and dedicated. Barry currently plays bass for another band called ‘Broken Arrow’. What follows is Barry's musical history in his own words. " Although I started playing late in life, I have always had a connection with the music business. I worked on a land based pirate radio station known as Radio Rainbow, 102.3 FM, putting out classic rock programmes a couple times a week such as you hear on Planet Rock today. Being the eldest of a bunch of hopeful musicians, I was the won with the van! But they didn't and nor did I! I always found myself picking out the bass and the keyboards side of music as the type of thing I listen to as ELP, Yes/Rick Wakeman and assistant editor to be, "Bassist" magazine. Why did I start playing bass guitar? Because it had four strings and not six and at my age I didn't have time to start learning chords, of which there are supposedly 500 but I'm sure Steve Vai could find one more! My first opportunity to play was with a '50's/'60's era Rock 'n' Roll band called 'Revamp'. This was when I first met Pete Knightly who drums with us today. He moved on after a few months to join 'The Smokin' Blues Band' but I carried on playing around our local for a year or so until, after so much 3 chord, 12 bar stuff, I moved on to seek something more interesting This turned up in the form of 'Oakenshield' who were re-grouping after a split and looking for a bass player. This was a good break for me as these guys were good musicians and I was learning from people much better than myself. Still covering '60's music American West Coast stuff that I hadn't heard much of previously like The Byrds, America, C.S.& N. and three part harmonies. The band played a lot of gigs and gained a good following and two or three of the original members still do an odd gig here and there to this day. These guys had been playing the same music for about twenty years and didn't really want any change but personally I wanted to bring in other material and cover new ground, so time to move on (known in the trade as musical differences!). At this time, the day job was getting in the way of things and I didn't get fully involved with anything for some time, just the odd jammin' or stand in session to include times with the front man of the 'The Honeycombes' ('Have I the right'....etc., - yeah, you know the rest!) When he had a pub blues band. Sometime later with more time to spare I started going to a weekly jam session in a South Cambridgeshire pub subsquently took up with a bunch blokes who had learnt to play something but never gigged. We started rehearsing round Richie Blackmore's house, yes, that's his real name, the other one's a temperamental guitarist! We did the whole mix of songs with everyone's input and went out as 'The Fluted Gussets', just a fun pub band which lasted a couple of years. Towards the end of this period I met up with singer/semi acoustic guitarist Alan Thompson, who was interested in forming a duo and shares similar tastes in music ie., all the C.S.N.& Y collaborations and again the American West coast stuff emerged. We agreed on the name of 'Broken Arrow' from the title of a Neil Young song and also a song by Robbie Robertson of 'the Band of which Alan is a great fan. Alan's penchant is for Bob Dylan, some of which was incorporated into the set and in April of this year we did a Bob Dylan tribute night in Cambridge which went well and we hope to take it further. Working as a duo is easier to deal with , less gear to set up, less phone calls to make and can play places where a full band can't. However, I still like the idea of playing in a full, noisy rock band which came in the form of 'Bridge 2 Far', this was full of problems from the start. We went through three drummers and spent far too long rehearsing before the singer went off with a 'Queen' tribute band ---- finished! A new venue was found for the jam night, a pub just outside Haverhill where Pete the drummer used to drink and this is where we met Bobby Ray and his friend Mark Rowden from Cambridge. After a few jams together, Bob asked Pete and I to join them and 'POONTANG' was formed. A few months later on, Mark quit the band and our old friend Steve Spall came in on lead guitar. I'd played with Steve in the past at jam nights when he'd stepped in as second guitartist in 'The Fluted Gussets' or 'Broken Arrow'. So things have almost gone full circle, again playing with Pete and Steve, still doing the West Coast stuff but with our American front man, we're moving into producing our own material. Things are going well and if you wanna know more about 'POONTANG' see Bob's blog 'cos I'm bored now! Ta-ra".
PETE KNIGHTLY, drummer, vocals, is hard working and dedicated. Pete started playing the drums as a teenager during the sixties and like all young aspiring musicians cut his teeth joining various bands hoping to emulate their heroes such as the ‘Stones and The Beatles’ Then eventually Pete teamed up with some fellow novices and formed ‘John’s Original 4’ within this combination there was an obvious chemistry that seemed to click. They went on to perform a lot of ‘Stax/Volt’ stuff all around London. Soul music could be heard on the radio at the time and it was the perfect music to play. Pete became acquainted with The Dave Clark Five and Dave donated to Pete’s band The Vox keyboard, which was originally used to record ‘Glad All Over’. “It was Dave, a good bloke who helped us get started in Tottenham”, says Pete. Before long, Pete and his companions were performing at big gigs and supporting the likes of Chris Farlowe & The Thunderbirds at venues such as The Bruce Grove Ballroom, Tottenham. The band even ended up on the same circuit as, ‘Spencer Davis, Alexis Corner and Geno Washington’. The years passed by and members of the band went their separate ways and for Pete he got married and moved out of London and spent his energies on a job and raising a family. But Pete has a restless spirit, and in 1991 he began playing again and to improve his technique, took up professional drumming tuition from the great Paul Francis, drummer with ‘Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel’. Pete was once again bitten and has been playing ever since. Today, Pete currently plays the drums for, Dr. Zak , Broken Arrow, and now PoonTang.
Contacts: ‘POONTANG’ is under the umbrella of M.A.D.’S. Productions
www.poon-tang.net