Bands

The Bands who will be playing at Phoenix Rising on 20th September 2003 are:

Pride

Pride was formed by ex-Balance of Power keyboard player Ivan Gunn with vocalist Matt Mitchell. They quickly recruited guitarist Chris Green and the three worked together on a bunch of demos. Adding bass player Simon Farmery, drummer Rick Eade and second guitarist Adrian 'Noddy' Johnson Pride were ready to record their debut album ‘Far From The Edge’. The recording took 15 days in Liverpool and produced stunning results.

'It is by far the best debut album to be released by a UK act in the last five years, in fact it is one of the best albums of the past five years....period.' Kieran Dagan (loud 1)

‘Ask me again in a years time, but right here, right now I personally think 'Far From The Edge' is the best melodic rock album ever to be written by a British melodic rock band!' Aron Radford (Powerplay)

After touring with Lost Weekend and Deadline in the early part of 2003 and an impressive performance at the Gods Pride return with a new album ‘Signs Of Purity’.

We are delighted to have this very talented bunch of guys playing at Phoenix Rising.

Deadline

After three and a half years together and two demo CD's, Deadline are finally getting the notice and respect they deserve.

The individual members very unique blend of musical influences coupled with superb stage craft leads to some very entertaining and powerful live sets of very strong melodic rock songs.

2003 is proving to be the greatest year ever for Deadline with Primed III being a fantastic sell-out success, a return to the GODS, a second UK tour, a support for Bob Catley, and the recording of a professionally produced CD to take place in August - proving that Deadline are going places!

As ‘veterans’ of two previous Phoenix Rising events we are looking forward to seeing Deadline back on stage in Manchester!

The Strangedays

The Strangedays are a four piece rock band from South Manchester .The Strangedays were formed by lead singer and guitarist Chris Blow and bass player Adam Frost in September 1999 after a jam at a local music venue went so well they thought it was about time more people heard their music. Lee Charlton is the lead guitarist in the band. Lee had been playing at a family get together with Adam and Chris when they asked him to join. His fretwork has been described as 'astonishing' by some people. Drummer Mark Hamnett is a recent edition to the band, after being watch by the band at various gigs around the city. Long term fan of the band Mark jumped at the chance to join up with the band and has adapted to his roll with ease. The band now feel they have created their own sound to great effect, and playing many gigs throughout the country they have perfected their live performance. 

Having seen The Strangedays several time since their last appearance at a Phoenix Rising event you will be pleased to hear they have continued to develop their impressive stage show and have now a considerable repertoire of songs. If you like a bluesy set of hard-hitting rock songs than you will really enjoy The Strangedays new material!

China Doll

To encapsulate the China Doll story we need to wind back to February 2001 when all that existed of the band was two like-minded musicians from the Nottingham area - Matt Rowley (guitar) and Simon Henshaw (Drums – formerly of TALLON). Their goal, to inject a new lease of life into the dying melodic rock genre by writing energetic, melodic, catchy and fun-time tunes with enough passion and musicianship to give the band that crucial edge to make an impact on the scene. With the arrival of Rob Wylde (ex-INSIDE OUT) performing Lead vocal and Bass guitar duties and Sascha Bergant (ex-SNOOPY) on Keys, the band soon found their feet and began “doing their thing”. 2002 started with disaster as for personal reasons, Matt left the band. Although saddened by this, China Doll went on to quickly recruit Rich “Cherd” Housechild as new lead guitarist to complete the band as it is today.

The band saw the arrival of a new member as an ideal time to record. Since the 2002 release of their self-financed and produced EP titled “Better Late Than Never” the band have gigged extensively nationwide and on the strength of the EP and live performances have signed a two album record deal with TB Records – recording will begin late in 2003. Recently the band supported US rock giants Danger Danger in their 2003 Summer UK tour and received an outstanding reception. 

Click here to go to the official CHINA DOLL web site