Bands

Bands who played at Phoenix Rising - 'FEED THE FIRE'

Bob Catley
Bob Catley's own credentials as one of Britain's leading Rock voices are indisputable. He is a true British Rock legend, having been the frontman for Magnum for over 20 years, capturing with them top 40 album success six times. After Magnum's demise Bob continued recording and touring with  Magnum's songwriter/guitarist Tony Clarkin in the Hard Rain project which saw a big departure from the classic epic and pompish sound of the biggest Magnum days.

At the beginning of 1998, after headlining "The Gods" Festival 1997 with Hard Rain, Bob Catley joined forces with producer/songwriter/singer Gary Hughes, of Ten fame, in order to start a solo career that could have been the logical follow up to   Magnum's glorious heydays. The result was "The Tower", one of the biggest critical and commercial successes of 1998.  The album was  followed by an equally successful live appearance at "The Gods" Festival in November 1998 and by a  British tour at the beginning of 1999 in which Bob was backed by Paul Hodson of Hard Rain on keyboards, Vinny Burns of Ten on lead guitar (at The Gods only) and by the Canadian band Emerald Rain on all other instruments.

After one year and the very difficult and emotional decision to leave Hard Rain in order to be able to pursue his solo career, Bob Catley comes back with his new cd "Legends". The album is once again completely written and produced by Ten main man Gary Hughes and features Gary himself on keyboards and backing vocals, Vinny Burns on guitar, Jon Cooksey (Dante Fox) on drums and Steve McKenna (Ten) on bass guitar. The song lyrics are inspired by myths and legends: "The Pain" for instance is based on Elvis Presley's life, while "Shelter From The Night" is based on Bram Stoker's Dracula. "Medusa" and "Hydra" are created upon the old Greek mythology, whereas "Tender Is The Night" is dedicated to the myth of Marilyn Monroe.

"Legends", was officially launched at "The Gods 99" festival in Wigan, which  took place over 2 days in November. Bob Catley, who was again backed by Paul Hodson on keyboards from Hard Rain and Canadian band Emerald Rain  headlined the first night of the festival. During 2000 Bob will be touring extensively around the UK and Europe before playing his first ever Japanese show.  Two videos are also in the pipeline and everything is gearing up to making "Legends" into the perfect way for this incredibly popular and talented artist to start the new millennium.


Lost Weekend
Yorkshire based quintet Lost Weekend were formed in January 1990 to play at a party for the keyboard player's father. They never did play at the party but since then have racked up almost 400 shows all over the UK. Prior to forming Lost Weekend David Thompson had been the guiding light
behind NWOBHM act Rhabstallion from '77 till '84, writing the bulk of their material. After that he went down to London to join the band put together by the legendary NWOBHM DJ Neil Kay, Venture, the band did a Friday Rock Show session for the BBC Radio 1 but David soon left to pursue session work for the likes of Nina Hagen, Steve Howe and Trevor Horn.

Still missing the band situation he returned North to join AOR band Voyager UK who created a lot of interest in the late 8O's with their single "Runaway Heart", a Friday Rock Show session and tracks on the Bailey Brothers "Vinyl Frontiers" compilation album of the best unsigned
AOR acts. When Voyager UK fell apart David set about putting Lost Weekend together and began by recruiting Jack Himsworth, whom he had worked with previously in Rhabstallion, and Robin Patchett, who had been in Voyager UK. Despite having no experience, Richard Smith slotted right into the band and with the acquisition of ex Jan Cyrka vocalist Paul Uttley the band was complete.

Enter Yorkshire specialist record store Vinyl Tap, who had been responsible for the issuing of the Rhabstallion material on CD. Having made the contact with David and found out that he was now involved in a new act, they suggested the recording of a four song EP. The results
were better than anyone had hoped for and so Vinyl Tap agreed to fund the recording and pressing of a limited album. An initial pressing of 500 copies to be sold at the bands' shows went quickly, but not before a copy had been sent to Now & Then Records. Upon hearing and liking the material a deal was struck for the album to gain a wider release. To introduce the band Lost Weekend were given the unenviable job of opening Now & Then's showcase event The Gods 96. They rose to the task and their wealth of experience held them in good stead. The audience reaction was very favourable and Lost Weekend were on their way. With the album now
remastered and repackaged things are moving apace. Not wishing to waste any more time Lost Weekend are already well into the writing of their second album. In the meantime the band will keep playing live as much as possible and continue to build up a strong following wherever they appear.

Hard Roxx gave "Lost Weekend" 7/10, called it "classic 80s AOR", "a worthy debut" and "very encouraging". Burrn! gave it 83/100. SFK gave it a B rating. Powersurge called "Lost Weekend" "a wonderful collection of hugeky catchy anthem like songs" and said the band "would have no trouble competing with the likes of FM and Dare".

The band are currently recording their follow up album in STARTRACKS STUDIOS with a view to a late Spring / early Summer release.

Down Boys
Tony Pierce – Lead Vocals
Steve Braughton– Lead/Rhythm Guitar & Vocals
Mark Baker – Bass Guitar & Vocals
Marcus Williams – Percussion & vocals
E-mail – Downboys@020.co.uk

Formed a little over a year ago by members – Marcus and Mark.

Marcus – As time went on members would come and go but, myself and Mark always struggled on. We’ve now been playing together just over ten years and we’ve built up a good relationship on and off stage. After the last band split we though that we should try and put our own band together and get in the people that we wanted. People with equal ability and will to succeed that we have. This time we vowed to go for it seriously, all or nothing.

With that in mind the lads set out to find a guitarist of the same caliber.

Steve – Marcus contacted me and asked me to an audition, so I though why not I was currently playing with anyone. I heard that they’d been around a while and were pretty hot players.  They asked me to return the following week for another session, which I was happy to do and I’ve never looked back since.

Mark – We jammed for around three months before considering a vocalist. We worked really hard, had eight songs finished musically plus rough drafts of all the lyrics. After we had all the songs really tight and we were working well as a group we set about finding the last piece of the puzzle.

Marcus – We placed Ads in all the musical magazine’s and papers, hung posters in all the major towns, cites, shops, bars and night clubs. Although this didn’t seem to do us much good as there were only a few responses. We continued with the music and by this time we had fourteen songs and we were itching to get out and perform.

Steve – We’d auditioned numerous vocalists but none were what we were looking for. The ones that could actually sing either didn’t have their own equipment or didn’t have transport. Then after months of not being able to find anyone we considered good enough Marcus suggested we contact Tony a vocalist that both Marcus and Mark had worked with previously and considered very good. He was currently working with a tribute band, which was the reason for them parting company in the first place as the financial rewards were to great for Tony to turn down. We invited him down to see if he would be interested. After we played through are current line up of songs he was so impressed with what we had achieved that he agreed to join us. This added the final piece to the puzzle and took us to new hight's. Creating what is now the Downboys sound.

Tony – You could see they were already a great band. Having worked with Marcus and Mark before I understood what it was they were trying to achieve. We all hit it off straight away. There’s a definite chemistry.

Marcus – From the moment Tony joined things have really taken off our first Album will be out in April and people have really started to take an interest. The only thing left is for us to do what we do best, performing live taking the music out to the people and rockin’ Downboys style.

Airbag

'Airbag' is a five piece Rock/Indie band from the Midlands whose unique combination of explosive raw edged rock, and melodic harmonies has captured the attention of audiences across the country.

In the two years the lads have been together they have played to some large crowds, recently headlining at the 'Malvern Classic', an annual event with an attendance of 6000+. Other large crowd pullers include venues in Birmingham, Shifnal, Derby, Crewe, and of course London.

'Airbag' has a wealth of their own material, and having already recorded their first 4 track EP are
looking forward to recording their first album later in the year. Having access to a local recording
studio, the band have been fortunate enough to have recorded, mixed, and mastered all of their own music.

Thanks to an influencial brother, Ade Morris (Vocalist) was introduced to Rock music from an early age, and claims influences to be Bob Catley, Ozzy Osbourne and Bon Jovi.

Before joining Airbag, Ade has done several Solo gigs at various venues across the country and abroad. Ade said about the other members, "I count myself lucky to be able to sing with such talented, innovative and emotional players. The standard they set is very high, and even if we don't make it commercially, then I'll know we've created something of high quality....and
that means a lot to me".

Airbag are actively seeking a record contract so that they can pursue a career in the music industry, and get the recognition some may say, is long overdue.

Native Cain
Native Cain are an exciting new band from the heart of England. This is a quartet who have everything. Built on classic rock foundations, their songs have a very modern finish. This fresh sound is provided by the solid rhythm partnership of Dez Wootton and John Hayward while innovative guitarist/vocalist Connor Emms and guitarist Chris Walton complete the band. In short, Native Cain are set to re-invigorate the UK rock scene.

Native Cain released their debut album 'The Primitive Soul' in September 1999 with Hard Rain members Paul Hodson (who has played live with the band) and Sue McCloskey contributing keyboards and backing vocals respectively. Vocalist Lee Small, who is featured on the album, left the band in late 1999 due to his reluctance to play smaller venues. As a result Chris Walton has joined the band and Connor Emms has taken over on vocals.

The album's tracklisting is as follows: 'In Motion', 'Burning', 'Reflections', 'Middleman', 'The Primitive Soul', 'Messiah', 'Mary (Awaken Part One)', 'The Holy', 'The Ghost In You', 'Awaken (Part Two)' and 'Truth'.