A Gillan Show - Recollections and a Reposting of the Western Front

We continue celebrating ten year of the Wild West and the Western Front. What follows was originally published back on December 12th, 2005 and focuses on some recollections of the a Gillan show from a long time ago that largely started all of this. 

Again, enjoy. . .

Gillan - featuring from left to right - Bernie Torme,
John McCoy, Ian Gillan, Colin Towns, and Mick Underwood

A continuation of the post from December 11th, exploring three shows, two from December of 1980 and the other happening on December 14 (2005) at Don Hills in New York.

This post looks at the show that took place on December 12th 1980. A show that took place at Emerald City in Cherry Hill NJ, right across from Philadelphia. The band was Gillan.

And if you don't have the patience to read all of this, just go to the music. . .Click here to check out a sample of the actual December 12th 1980 Gillan Show! (Sorry no longer available.)

Nothing like the crowd that Thin Lizzy brought in. A week ago we were part of crowd of 500. There was no room to move and we felt the surge of the crowd when Lizzy took the stage. The 12th was a cold and icy night, with maybe 100 people there, maybe. In place of the punk band we had a reggae band warming up. No hint from anywhere of what we were going to see, just a few more Michelobs as we waited.

We knew little of the material. There was no Gillan being played on the radio, and this was before MTV, much less the Headbangers Ball or anything else. A few songs were recognized during the set - Smoke on the Water, Lucille, and maybe Trouble. The rest were new to the small crowd.

Gillan was front and center, wild long hair, which he loved to whip around in between verses, but always a gentleman in between songs complete with a bit of English wit. And then you had the band-not your typical band. You had Colin Towns on keyboard. He seemed to be the musical leader, the conductor of the night’s festivities. Mick Underwood on the drums, a solid drummer.

The other two, however, were the more interesting, maybe a dash of menace, . First off, there was John McCoy, the bass player. He was and is a big man, with a shaved smooth head and a beard. Remember it was 1980 and aside from the drummer in Spirit, I can’t name many performers sporting that look back then. Maybe he had some shades on too.

Lastly, there was Bernie Torme, the guitar player in this long gray suit jacket. At least I think he was in that outfit. Many of the photos of him from that vintage have him in such a jacket and I think I recall it on him. Bernie himself has referenced it as something out of Dickens. He did definitely did have your shoulder length peroxide blond hair and his Stratocaster guitar. Keep in mind that everyone who came was thinking Deep Purple and all knew that Ritchie Blackmore was a player of such guitars. So the Strat was required, but by the end of the night I had forgotten such requirements.

The music was heavier than Deep Purple but with these melodic preludes. You had Towns’ keyboards, primarily piano and synthesizer, that would often start out the tunes, providing these musical interludes, and then the band would tear into high gear with these pounding rhythms provided by McCoy and Underwood. So you had the tension of those two extremes, and then Bernie with his Strat, which would compete with Town’s keyboards for the solos. But the thing that intrigued me was how he made up for the shared solo time with these amazing whammy bar fills all over the place. I have yet to see anyone abuse a Strat and its whammy bar like him, nor get the sounds out of it that he did. And on top of all this chaos you had Gillan with his amazing vibrato, He is one of the few singers in rock to use vibrato. And to turn to another show for a second, you will never hear Ozzy use vibrato in those opening verses of War Pigs! So Gillan could go from this flowery vibrato in his voice at times to his infamous screams. Gillan the singer and Gillan the band were all over the place!

Now you take this music and this band and you have them performing it on one stage - it was an amazing scene. You had Gillan front and center who would go from a little quiet conversation with the audience in between songs to screaming and truly just headbanging up there, to John McCoy who was working his bass and just had a certain sinister look, and Bernie, who was just wild with the peroxide blonde hair, the jacket, and the constant abuse of his Strat.

So that is what I recall. You have to figure, I have been hyping Mr. Torme for the past three years so who knows what is actually real. I am pretty sure that the above is accurate but it has been 25 years. Luckily, I was given awhile back a recording of this Gillan show at Emerald City, so no need to rely upon my fading memory. Check out the MP3 of Smoke on the Water complete with Bernie doing a lovely little intro right here - Click here to check it out! (Again not working. . .). Regarding the recording, it turns out that one of the folks next to me had smuggled a cassette recorder in and and recorded the show. Enjoy and we still have one more show to cover-that is happening on Wednesday, December 14 2005.

A little about how this came about. . . I was at dinner talking about how I came to this obsession with all of this, so I figured, let me put it down on paper. Also it is offered as I do wish that Bernie Torme was included on Ian Gillan's New CD set celebrating his solo work, which Mr. Torme did not contribute to.

Next-the third of the three shows. . .To be continued. . .

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Recollections on two shows and how the Wild West began. . .

Originally published back on December 10th, 2005. There has been ten years of various projects at the Wild West. Some successful, some not. Through the ups and downs of the Wild West, the Western Front has continued and now has 122 posts to its name! Tonight I share again two of those early posts that point to where this largely began. The first focusing on a Thin Lizzy show, which took place way back in December of 1980 in South Jersey. The second post, which we will also republish, focuses on a second show. That show also took place in the December of 1980 - the following week, at the same venue and featured the band Gillan. 

Hope you will consider and enjoy them both. . .

RGS

Twenty-five years ago this December 12th I was lucky enough to see a band called Gillan. It was a show that has haunted me ever since. Gillan was the project of Ian Gillan, who was on vocals-the man whose resume included playing Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar, who did the vocals on songs such as Child of Time, Highway Star, and of course Smoke On The Water; those with another band - Deep Purple.

I had little idea what to expect from Gillan. Gillan the man had left Deep Purple and then went on to form the Ian Gillan Band, which was a jazzy artsy project, a far stretch from songs such as Space Truckin and Fireball. And being a 17 year old rocker, I had little use for the project. He had an amazing voice and I did want to see, however, if lightning does strike twice at Emerald City, the venue he was playing.

You see the week before, on Saturday, December 6th at the same club, Emerald City, across the river from Philadelphia in Cherry Hill, Thin Lizzy had taken the stage. Thin Lizzy was and another band that I had idolized. And that Saturday night at Emerald City I had the pleasure of seeing, five or ten feet from the stage, Phil Lynott and Scott Gorham. Snowy White, who was at that time the second guitar, was on the other side of the stage.

I recall how Lynott’s bass with a shiny metallic pickguard that just reflected the spotlights that were on Phil and would blind us in the audience as he moved around the stage. I am sitting here as I write trying to recall if they had their keyboardist back then, Darren Wharton. I think he was in fact in the back, kind of hidden. Brian Downey was on drums. It was an amazing show complete with some Christmas Carols Phil had us singing at the end. Basically it was a Live and Dangerous type set with Killers on the Loose, Looking for an Alibi, Dear Miss Lonely Hearts, and Black Rose thrown in for good measure.

Add to this my personal history. Here I was seventeen, from a quiet town in central Jersey. This was a rock’n’roll club in the city, alright, outside of Philadelphia with Thin Lizzy on their marquee. And I was a Lizzy fanatic. Back then everybody else was hooked on AC/DC. Bon Scott was dead and Back in Black was out. It was the album of 1980, but I knew better. Chinatown was so much better! The challenge for myself in seeing Lizzy was that the venue was a club. The drinking age back then was 19 but I was 17. Out of the three of us intent on going, I was the one who could not find an ID. And the club did card everybody.

I still went down to the show with the two other guys, but I was sweating it. Lizzy was my band. I did not want to be sitting out in the car, hanging out in the Parking Lot. I suppose there is always the stage door, but I wanted to see them. I was saved when one of my buddies went in and then came back out to the parking lot for something, gave me his ID and got back inside pointing out he had already been inside. I waited a few minutes and then with an ID and a ticket in hand was in. I was in, drinking a few Michelobs, waiting for Lizzy, and suffering a lame punk band that was warming up.

So when I saw that Gillan was playing the next weekend, the whole event, the venue, the Lizzy show, finding the damn place, getting into the place, left me with the question: How do I get there for Gillan. Actually, it was not a question, but the conclusion that I would have to come back for Gillan.

To be continued. . .

One update:
A quick search of the web produced these two links:
http://www.thinlizzyguide.com/tours/year/1980.htm
http://www.thinlizzyguide.com/tours/dates/1980/801206.htm

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A Shout Out to Two Bands and a Friend and Musician. . .

I just wanted to give a nod to two bands that I have been following over the years. Both recently had some success. I am talking bout KillCode and Jane Lee Hooker and their recent signings with a record label or agency.

I first  saw Jane Lee Hooker back in 2011. They are basically playing a lot of classic blues in a very loud fashion. they have been at it for four years now. They just released their first album back in September, which was very cool. The record is good but their shows throughout this time have just been amazing. They just have the musicianship of the band at large, the dual guitars of Hightop and T-Bone, and Dana Danger on vocals, who is simply one of the most expressive singers I have seen or heard. Plus all those blues classics to work with. . .




So it was very cool to hear that they have signed with Ruf Records and that they will record their first album for the label in 2016. Further Ruf will be working with them on additional tours both in and outside the US. All very cool!

Killcode has likewise has signed with Coallier Entertainment. Unlike Jane Lee Hooker though, Killcode is a serious metal / rock act with a dash of southern hospitality. I remember seeing them in like 2009, and playing their first EP for my son, a serious metal head. It must have been as the Haunt in Yonkers was winding down. Again they do know how to command a stage. And Killcode, like JLH, features some amazing guitar work coming from Chaz and DC Gonzales. And they too have a solid frontman and singer in Tom Morrisey.



A bit about Coallier Entertainment. I have run into them a few times over the years. My fav of these was when they brought Thin Lizzy to the US in like 2003 or 2004. This was back when John Sykes was still in the band along with Scott Gorham. I grabbed my son, Phil, and we checked out the boys up at the Chance Theater in Poughkeepsie. I still remember Scott Gorham smiling at the fact that there was a kid and his dad rocking out to Lizzy. At least that was my read of it. . . That was a cool night and Phil and I both enjoyed. And it was very sweet that Lizzy popped up again the next week in Yonkers in some venue I never heard of before or after. It was down in the Irish part of town. Both were very good nights.

Coalier of course has routinely worked with Dee Snider, Twisted Sister, and the related group. . . Bent Brother. They have even signed Guy McCoy Torme (GMT), though they have yet to get that act over to the US. They work with a lot of established acts, which makes this more interesting in that KillCode is a newer act or band for them. Further, we know Killcode here in NYC, but audiences elsewhere not really, not yet. So Coalier has some work to do, and I cannot think of a better act for Coalier to work with, considering their focus on rock and metal.

I went back and forth about posting this. I just rarely see acts get signed by any labels today. Before this I kind of knew that the Sex Slaves were signed with Radical Records, and of course there have been a handful of acts that have come from NYC who I did not know about until they were signed. It just seems very rare these days that bands sign with a label and it perhaps is not celebrated like it was. I recall venues and others posting full-page ads in the Aquarian when Twister Sister was signed way back in the day. It is an achievement to sign a contract relating to one's artistic achievements and future works. It should be recognized.

Lastly, I just wanted to wish Karen Curios a Happy Birthday. I believe it is today. Great singer and songwriter, who if you have the chance to see, you should check out. Interestingly, she posted yesterday that she has finally arrived at the conclusion that her latest album "doesn't suck at all. . ." To which I respond, it is about time. A bit poppy - perhaps, sucky - no. I do not believe she has signed with a label, but still I will happily go see her perform any day anytime. I do wish I could get an mp3 of her current band, the Glorious Revolution doing her tune, the Rising Sun.

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