Updated - Another guest added

Allrightnow Winter Superchat

' PLEASE NOTE TIME CHANGE '

Sunday 3rd December 2006

11am West coast time

2pm East Coast time

7pm UK Time

Special Guest

Hardy Lochow

 (School Friend of Paul Kossoff)

Hardy has given permission for his photographs of Paul Kossoff which

he took himself in Dussledorf Germany during a FREE gig in 1971

Photos will be posted on Allrightnow the day before the Superchat

+

Another guests will be stopping by

John Saxon

John Saxon

Friend of Paul Kossoff and the family  for many years.

Chat room

When signing up in chat room please state name and city

 where you are talking from

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From Atlanta Georgia

The beautiful Jasmine Rodgers

 Performance @ Vibe Bar, London Oct 23rd

Paul Rodgers - Vocals on tracks 2, 5, 6 and 8.
Jaz Lochrie - Bass.
Toss Panos - Drums & Percussion.

 

Tribute band

COMPLETELY FREE

Completely Free  formed in 2003 under the name 4 play free.

 Since that time the band has undergone radical line-up changes

in the constant pursuit of the perfect ‘Free’ sound.  

See latest video below

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Please see photo below

as you can see this is the original

 

 

UPDATED...

THE SELLER IS REMOVING IT ASAP

DO NOT BUY THIS SHIRT FROM EBAY

As most of you know it's my logo from my Allrightnow website

 and the photo is mine from 1970

Now Hats still availble here

RARE FOOTAGE OF PATTO from 1970

This band was my 2nd top band after Free

2nd clip

Some very sad news this time.  Boz Burrell passed away due to heart failure on September 21, 2006 at his home in Spain.  Some know him best as the bass player for Bad Company and, for a shorter period of time, King Crimson.  Boz was also a member of Dick and The Fireman, Hinkley's Heroes, Centipede, and Steve York's Camelo Pardalis, so his name is mentioned on many pages of this web site.  Boz was one of Mike Patto's closest friends and remained a good friend of the McCarthy family and the Halseys up until his passing.  I never had the pleasure to meet him but have heard great stories about him from friends that played with him.  He will be greatly missed by many.

Boz (upper left) at a Heroes rehearsal with Poli Palmer, Mitch Mitchell, Moreand Henry McCullough

More about Patto

And more here

kneeling).   Photo copyright John Halsey.

Reason 2 Rock photos

with the Jones Gang

SIMON Will be appearing at the next RRHF

*****************

The Rocktologists Press here to hear them

Simon Kirke Family Tree Part I
We split the show into two parts for our podcast listeners. Part I is the traditional show with music and talk-ups.

Simon Kirke Family Tree Part II

 We split the show into two parts for our podcast listeners. Part II is the hour-long interview only.
Podcast Date: Jun 18, 2006 10:59:00

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Music Review: Free - Live At The BBC

Blogcritics

Sid Smith

September 20, 2006

There's a story in Ken Garner's history of Radio 1 sessions (In Session Tonight) about when up and coming band, Free, had finished a recording for a John Peel programme in April 1970, a member of the group casually asked one of the engineers present what they thought of one the songs as a potential single.

Island, their record company, didn't rate it too highly. The band wanted a second opinion. The engineer, the story goes, rang label boss, Muff Winwood to tell them they should release the track immediately. This was just a few months before the release of Fire and Water and the song under discussion was "All Right Now".

Whether true or not, it illustrates the symbiotic relationship between the BBC and the bands of the day striding into studios with quaintly mythic names such as Aeolian Hall 1 and Maida Vale 5, in the hope of getting a leg-up the career ladder.

The first of these sessions (of which only one track now survives) was recorded just months after they'd formed, and only days after the 16th birthday of the bass player Andy Fraser, who even at such a tender age was already able to put ex-John Mayall's Bluesbreakers on his fledgling CV.

Free were frequent visitors to the BBC as they slogged around the clubs and halls hewing a solid live reputation as something of a good-time band. With Paul Kossoff's swaggering, attitude-laden guitar breaks, and the "lick-my-love-pump" innuendo from Paul Rodgers, the patron saint of the leather trouser industry, it's easy to why Free have been dismissed in some quarters as a bunch of cocky blues-rock bruisers looking to get their collective lemons squeezed.

The problem with this approach in concert was that some of the subtlety that infused Free's studio albums was set aside for Olympic-standard mike-stand twirling, brow-furrows and other crowd-pleasing tactics.

Yet these sessions demonstrate Free occupied a half-way house somewhere between brain and brawn when it came to the radio. Culled from a variety of sources that includes Paul Kossoff's personal archive, off-air recordings made by fans, and the regular BBC vaults, several make their appearance for the first time. Given this provenance, it's not surprising that some of the sonics, (the second disc in particular) are bootleg raw.

Perversely, this very coarseness lends the slower numbers a vintage patina, as though "Over The Green Hills" and the mournful "Free Me" have spilled out from the spools of an old Smithsonian field recording. When the performances are as good as these you happily take the rough with the smooth.

The real star is Andy Fraser, whose bass playing stalks every single moment of this 2 disc set with an inventive flair above and beyond the call of duty, beyond his years and beyond anything most of his contemporaries were managing.

There's a gratifying 'first to last' completeness about this release, spanning as it does their inaugural Top Gear session through to the triumphant finale for John Peel, when "All Right Now" shot them past the grasp of the producers in what must be (if you believe the old tale) something of an own goal for the engineer who made that fateful call.

Sid Smith is a freelance writer from the North-east of England. He's written sleeve notes for albums on major and independent record labels as well as contributing articles and reviews for national and local press in the UK. As well as copy-editing for publishers, he's the author of a critically acclaimed biography, In The Court of King Crimson (2001), and Northstars (2005), Granada TV's Royal Television Award winning series profiling musicians from the North-east of England. He's been blogging since 1999 about music, movies, books, art, kids, politics and life in general.

Simon Kirke talks about life on the road with Free

 Hear Interview     

TRIBUTE BAND

 FREEWAY

GIG LIST 2007

March 16th 2007 - The Springhead, Hull - Cover Charge - www.springheadpub.co.uk

March 17th 2007 - Murray's Bar, Scarborough - Cover Charge - www.murraysmusicbar.com

March 24th 2007 - The Customs House, South Shields - Tickets £11.50 / £10.50 
www.thecustomshouse.co.uk

June 15th 2007 - The Springhead, Hull - Cover Charge - www.springheadpub.co.uk

October 19th 2007 - The Springhead, Hull - Cover Charge - www.springheadpub.co.uk

Bucket & Co.

Dec 12 2006 20:00
32 - 36 Railway Street, Hertford, Hertfordshire,

Bucket & Co. unplugged

&

Bucket & Co.

Dec 14 2006 20:00
1-4 Tudor Square, Ware, Hertfordshire,

Bucket & Co. unplugged

Allrightnow Winter Superchat

Sunday 3rd December 2006

12 Noon West coast time

3pm East Coast time

8pm UK Time

Special Guest

Hardy Lochow

 (School Friend of Paul Kossoff)

Hardy has given permission for his photographs of Paul Kossoff which

he took himself in Dussledorf Germany during a FREE gig in 1971

Photos will be posted on Allrightnow the day before the Superchat

Chat room

When signing up in chat room please state name and city

 where you are talking from

Interview by Jo Rishton

Over the years I’ve had the honour of interviewing some of the biggest names in music for a fanzine I used to compile ‘The Beat Goes On And On’ fanzine.

Thought I’d share some of my favourite’s interviews with you. Enjoy.

Interview with Simon Kirke


Our second world classic drummer is a living legend as well as being an International rock star. We proudly introduce to you legendary sticks man, Simon Kirke.

Simon Kirke was the man behind the beat in two off the greatest rhythm and blues bands on the planet. Free, (during the late 60’s) and Bad Company (during the 70’s early 80’s) both bands achieved international superstardom as well as international chart success.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Simon Kirke, for taking part in our World Classic Drummers, and for sharing a few tips of the trade as well as memories of working in Free, and Bad Company. It’s an honour for me to bring you this interview, and Biography written by Simon Kirke (curtsey of Simon Kirke.com).

Biography

“I was born in London 8-30 in the morning on the 28th of July 1949. My mother’s name was Olive May and my Dad’s was Vivian Percy. They named me Simon Fredrick St. George Kirke. The St. George has been in our family for centuries. The Kirkes go back a long way but the Gibson Craig’s (my parental grandmothers family) go back to before records were kept. My dad had a string of jobs and we were pretty poor most of the time. I spent my first few years in London and Watford before being moved to the wilds of the Welsh border when I was 7”.

Family

“I have 2 brothers: Nicholas who is 4 years older than me and Miles who is 18 months younger. They live in Prague, Czechoslovakia and Bristol respectively. We lived in this remote part of Shropshire until I was 17. For the first seven years we lived in a primitive cottage...no electricity and no running water. Our rent was one pound a week. I love telling my own kids that...with today’s modern conveniences and gadgets which are taken for granted I wonder how they would find life with out them.”


School, and beyond


“ I went to Bishops Castle Grammar School some 6 miles from our house…..if I missed the bus I was made to walk….this instilled in me an obsession with punctually. Music didn’t feature much in our family before me…..all my ancestors were either in the military or the Church. I sang in the choir at school and learned the recorder (a wind instrument sort of like a cousin to the flute).

Every Christmas I sang the lead verse in’ “Once in Royal David’s City’ solo until my voice broke and then I was out of the choir. I didn’t mind because by then I had discovered the Beatles and drumming……and I pretty well knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

I got my first kit at the age of 15 and drummed alongside a guy who had a disco: playing all the hits of the day and yesterday. I guess it was from here that I got my sense of rhythm. From there I joined a band called the Maniacs. a real band. We played all over the area and won a talent contest. After I left that group I got a trio together called Heatwave in which I sung and played drums…way before Phil Collins……but this was not enough. I made a deal with my parents that if they gave me 2 years off between school and university then if I had not done anything by that time then I would abandon a career in music and knuckle down to college. So I caught a train to London and stayed with a distant relative.

Work

“But the big break of course, was seeing The Black Cat Bones at Nag’s Head in Battersea early in 1968. I was just a couple of months shy of the allotted time my parents had set. The clock was running out……I joined the Bones that week…..they were getting rid of their drummer the night that I saw them and collared Paul Kossoff at the bar. I was overjoyed at being in a real live professional Blues band. We did all the standards Rock me Baby, Killing Floor, Albert King’s, Cold Feet, Dust My Broom…and Koss was knocking me out every night. We had been together a few months when Koss took me aside and said he wanted to leave the Bones and team up with a great new singer he had found out about across town – Paul Rogers. We went to meet him but my heat dropped a bit when I saw that there was another drummer in the room and this guy was nuts hot…..Andy Borenius. Well, we all played and nothing was decided but I heard later that day that I was in…we were now 3.


“Alexis Korner was a great British/Greek blues man at that time. A great many people had passed through his band….Charlie and Mick from the Stones…a couple of Yardbirds…Long John Baldry and Alexis knew of this stunning young bass player named Andy Fraser who was just getting the elbow from John Mayalls Bluesbreakers. He was only 15 years old! We got together at the Nag’s Head (they should put a plaque on that place) and Free was born”……

Simon Kirke ©

The Interview

How long have you been performing the drums and what did you do to make your practice sessions as a child enjoyable?

Simon Kirke: I started playing the drums when I was 13 some 40- odd years ago. I was given a snare drum and a little splash cymbal on an arm coming from the stand. I can still see it clearly to this day….. I played along to the radio and then graduated to 45’s and LP’s as I got older. I still play along to the odd Stax song or James Brown….. anything with a good rhythm.

Do you need natural rhythm to become a drummer or does that come with practice?

Simon Kirke: I don’t think you need to be born with rhythm….. it can be acquired and nurtured. Practice just aids and speeds up the transition from decent to good to exceptional.

Can you talk us round your drum kit? And what equipment do you use?

Simon Kirke: I play a standard DW 4 drum setup. 22x14 bass drum, 12 x 10 rack and 16 x4 floor toms and a 14 x6 snare drum. Cymbals are by Paiste of Switzerland and sticks are American hickory by Pro Mark of Dallas.

What’s the secret of a perfect drum solo?

Simon Kirke: Involving the audience. There is nothing more annoying than a know-it-all drummer showing off his talent and leaving the people cold. Drums are meant to convey and inspire….I usually have a rhythmic pulse throughout the solo and start from a quiet place at the beginning to a crescendo…and always leave them wanting more.

I believe the drums are a noble art and sometimes feel as a fan of the drums that the drummers are often over-looked in bands in favour of say lead singers, guitarist, keyboardist do you feel this is true?

Simon Kirke: Drums are physically tiring and drummers have too often come over as thick-skinned yeomen who are a few strokes short of a Para-diddle…my take is this, everyone is equal in a band. I can’t do the job that the guitarist does, he can’t do mine, ditto the singer, ditto, the bass/keyboard player. by the way there are PLENTY of jokes about that lot anyway……’nuff said.

All drummers develop their own style and technique throughout the years, how do you know when you’ve reached that professional goal?

Simon Kirke: We all start of by copying from a group here, borrowing from a musician there….Keith Richards put it well: “we just pass it on”…..And that is what I did for a few years until the day comes when you emerge from the mass with a shiny new skin that is all your own. That happened to me around the time I was making Fire & Water with Free.

Describe what it’s like performing as a drummer of a professional rock band on stage? And what is the live experience like?

Simon Kirke: Well it’s quite incredible. There is no other feeling like it when all the band is playing as one and you are waving and interacting with each other. I think that happens every 3 or 4 gigs, the down side is that on a bad gig it’s truly an arduous experience….

Is a live performance more exciting for a drummer, rather than recording songs in the studio?

Simon Kirke: A live performance is generally more exciting than recording although that too can have its own unique rush in more subtle For starters there is always that huge roar when the lights go down and the roar goes up…and on a good night you can feel almost weightless, were you are actually flying, musically speaking. Recording is a much longer, protracted process but a good session can be just as rewarding… more so really as the finished song will live with you a lot longer than any gig……

Who in your opinion are the greatest drummers on the planet?

Simon Kirke: Living or dead? Dead: John Bonham, Keith Moon, Buddy Rich. Alive: Tico Torres, Adrian Young, Zach Alford, Nicko McBrain, Jim Capaldi.

How did you come about choosing the names for both bands: FREE/BADCOMPANY

How did you come about choosing the names for both bands: FREE/BADCOMPANY?

Simon Kirke: Alexis Korner had a band called Free at Last and when he saw us at the Nag’s head in Battersea after our first rehearsal he suggested that but we kind of whittled it down to Free. The name Bad Company was inspired from 2 angles…I remember Paul telling me a movie poster he had seen in Guilford about a Jeff Bridges western named Bad Company. Later Paul said in an interview that he had come up with the name from an old book from the Victorian era showing a bunch of Jack the Lads with the caption of Bad Company……

All Right Now (FREE) features one of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll fiffs ever did you know the minute you recorded that song it was going to be an instant hit?

Simon Kirke: We knew that All Right Now was going to be a summer goodtime hit but not this mega classic monster that it eventually became……..

What was your proudest moment behind the drums whilst performing in FREE/Bad Company

Simon Kirke: God there were so many. With Free, breaking the house record set by Bob Marley and the Wailers at the Lyceum in the Strand, any gig in the North East around ’70-71. With Bad Company, our first gold album presentation before going onstage in Boston for the final gig of our 1st American tour. First sold out gig at Madison Square Garden and riding in our own plane for the first time.

What does the future hold for Bad Company and is their any chance of a tour?

Simon Kirke: I would love to do another album and tour but Paul is the man to convince.

Which were your favourite albums and songs from FREE/Bad Company.

Simon Kirke: Favourite songs from Free: Alright Now, Wishing Well, Mover, Walk in my Shadow, Be my friend, Soon I will be gone, Love you so, soldier Boy...most of them, actually! Bad Company: Can’t Get Enough of Your Love (proud of my drumming on that one), Shooting Star, Good Loving Gone Bad, Wildefire Woman, Honey Child, Pack Weep no more, Ready For Love.

What did the 60’s & 70’s mean to you?

Simon Kirke: Mmmm a huge question in a few words: The 60's for me were a time of liberation and acquisition of knowledge. I left school in 66 after getting pretty decent A level results. I enjoyed school but music was becoming my passion and university was on hold for a while. Musically this era from 64 through to 71 was the most fertile ever...so many innovative groups. There will never be another time like it. Also the Vietnam War was at its height, Civil Rights was in its infancy...there was a massive groundswell of change happening through ought the Western World-particularly in America. The beginning of the 70's were, for me, a musical extension of the 60's...but the innovative bands were dying down and becoming almost establishment (hard to believe but the Stones had a job selling out arenas then)...glam rock was rearing its hair sprayed head and punk was just around the corner. Bad
Company was an antithesis to glam rock (the only great artist to come out of that period was David Bowie ). We were a natural extension to Free but without the vulnerability, charm and hang-ups. Punk and disco dealt a couple of body blows to rock in the middle of the 70's. Drum machines and computers were all the rage and suddenly synthetic music flourished but did well. There was still a demand for out sort of rock and we steamed in. But after 1981-2 we had run out of steam.

How did you cope with Fame at such a young age?

Simon Kirke: Well the short answer was not very well...as evidenced by our break up just 18 months after Alright Now was a hit. The trappings that came with fame were all one would imagine and we were well looked after by Island Records but we still went a bit over board...you know, new cars, country cottages and new stereos and of course lots of partying...but hey we were young and for the most part we had a ball.

What did you make of the British press and did they treat you right?

Simon Kirke: The music press were good to us while we were on the rise but as is their habit, tended to knock us once we were up there. I didn’t mind so much...after all they thrive on stirring things up..That’s what sells papers...I loved Chris Welch and Billy Carr. Karl Dallas was a champion of us as well as dear Penny Valentine...Nick Kent was a wanker by the way ....hey its all water under the bridge now....

To me BAD COMPANY is one of the greatest rock/blues out fits in the business, you put rock music back were it belonged during the 70’s which bands do you think you’ve inspired along the way?

Simon Kirke: I think bands like Foreigner, Boston, Skynyrd, Reef, Fuel and a host of other bands were influenced by us...but,hey, we are just passing it on....

If you had to describe both bands in the rock ‘n’ roll history books, how would you word it:

[b]Simon Kirke: Free were full of balls charm and loaded with raw talent…but our inexperience was our downfall. We got big too quick and at a frighteningly young age. But we are remembered with a lot off affection in England. Bad Company was a louder more experienced version for Free…minus some of the charm. We still had the same bluesy thread running through the music but we were a lot tougher. I will say in closing that both bands, when we were running on all four cylinders, were the best in the land.

I'd like to thank Simon Kirke for taking the time to talk to us at The Beat Goes On And On Fanzine.

Jo Rishton
With Simon Kirke


This Interview has been approved by Simon Kirke.

Lots of thanks goes to Lucy Piller for arranging the interview.

Please note all articles are (C) The Beat Goes On And On Fanzine.

News Exclusive from Allrightnow.com

SUNDAY 10th DECEMBER

ROCK CAFE 2000 - STOURBRIDGE West Midlands 

Tickets 01384 3909 18/833556

8pm

Robert Hart

Jaz Lochrie and Dave Colwell

A note from

PLANET ROCK

BAD COMPANY

October 2006

There have been many charts with the top albums you should have in your collection, various record or music stores and magazines have done these kinds of surveys or charts.  They are generally eclectic, featuring bands from all eras and musical styles.   

Planet Rock  - the UK’s classic rock station, is asking rock fans to vote for their favourite bands best album.  Who knows better about what albums to own than the fans themselves? 

With so many great classic rock bands and so many fantastic albums, which are the ones you should own?   What is the definitive or the most monumental album - the album that sums the band up? The albums that no collection should be without! So what is Pink Floyd’s ultimate album or Thin Lizzy’s high point or Deep Purple’s best one, there is a chance to finally find out what it is. 

Planet Rock has chosen 50 of the biggest or most influential or bands that have shaped and moulded classic rock music.

From the 1^st September 2006, Planet Rock’s website will feature three bands and their albums and invite listeners, fans of the bands to vote for the best album by each band.

In mid December, Planet Rock will announce the 50 definitive albums.

Bad Company will be featured on our website at www.planetrock.com starting 10^th  November 2006. Voting will be open for 2 weeks only.

See this link

Planet Rock can be heard on DAB digital radio, Sky channel 0110, cable channel 924 and www.planetrock.com

A prize for anyone who can tell me which launguage/s Borat speaks in

when travelling with his partner in the movie?

email [email protected]

Borat funny enough attended the same youth club as me in my young London years

TWO NEW PHOTOS OF PAUL KOSSOFF

Presenting

John Saxon Raw Blues

_____________________________________________________________

I  was born in Maidenhead, England in 1954 and had an early passion for American Rhythm & Blues from an early age, after hearing Ray Charles' "Hit The Road Jack".

Stop by and see whats happening

Check more dates and bands here

BRADY COLE'S NEW EP OUT NOW !!!!!!!!!!!!

Scroll down page for ordering on line

More Photos added from the

PAUL RODGERS UK TOUR

Support my band  from Gainsville GA

GRASSFOOT

DEBUT CD OUT NOW !!

BUY HERE   

GRASSFOOT is one of those truly unique musical groups, who combine beautiful harmonies with honest ,

heartfelt lyrics.Music that can take you from light acoustic ballads to scorching, driving,hard rocking songs.

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Check out LET IT ROCK -

Rock music and Journalism From  Dmitry M. Epstein seen here with Jethro Tull

BIOGRAPHY OF

JAKE SHIMABUKURO

Though many still have trouble pronouncing his last name and the instrument he plays, Jake Shimabukuro (she-ma-BOO- koo-row) is unquestionably regarded as one of the world's top ukulele (oo-koo-LAY-lay) musicians.

Renowned for lightning-fast fingers and revolutionary playing techniques, Jake views the ukulele as an “untapped source of music with unlimited potential.”

His virtuosity defies label or category. Playing jazz, blues, funk, classical, bluegrass, folk, flamenco, and rock, Jake's mission is to show everyone that the ukulele is capable of so much more than only the traditional Hawaiian music many associate it.

Listen + Watch

Myspace

March, 23 2007

The Jones Gang

Will be Appearing at

Shepherds Bush Empire 
 London,
Cost: 23.50

Press link to see

Mick Ralphs Photo Gallery

To view a full-sized picture, simply click on a thumbnail image in this gallery.

Backstage with Bad Company

One of Atlanta's top singer/songwriter

BRIAN WILTSEY

VIDEO

Please mark on your calendar....

HUGE ORIGINAL SHOW ------ SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 18th

CJ'S LANDING (BACKROOM CONCERT HALL)  Atlanta

 SHOW STARTS 9pm!!! READ MORE...

Don't miss it

Zed Head is a power blues rock, shuffle, boogie band from Canada

 They bring to the table a full resume of the big hits from the 60's through to the present.

All four of these guys major in excitement and stage presence!

Listen to tracks here

This Years

FREE CONVENTION

 proceeds are going to the Northern Brainwaves Appeal based at Newcastle General Hospital.

Fri 17th November 2006

The Alexandra Ballroom, Grangetown, Sunderland
7.15pm -12 midnight
Tix £8 in advance and £10 on the day
For more info go to

Bill Flynn
4 Mile End Close,

 Foulridge, Colne, Lancs, BB8 7LD
Tel 01282 868352
email : [email protected]

2 bands

First band 7.30pm  --  Heavy Load
Followed by 9.45pm  --Freeway

Signed Brian May/ Paul Rodgers Guitar charity Auction

It is to raise funds for the racehorse sanctuary,

The sanctuary homes retired racehorses and gets them ready

hopefully to be placed with caring new owners. This sanctuary needs as much money as possible to survive,without it

the horses suffer an uncertain future,you can read all about it by logging on to http://www.racehorsesanctuary.org/

And now back to the item.. A Brian May signature Guitar in soft case,this guitar is signed

by Brian May AND Paul Rodgers,the guitar is in excellent condition and comes complete

with a  soft case,it plays very well.

There is also a photograph of Brian with the guitar which is also included.

NOW SOLD

NEW BACKSTAGE PHOTOS NOW ADDED HERE

Blast from the Past

New Drum Clinic dates for Simon Kirke will be announced shortly

Also an appearences on VH 1 Classics +

More to come shortly

Blues Bash Interview:

No Questions Asked, They Are The Answer!