Deep Purple rock Cardiff

Wednesday 25th April.

7pm Head into town to the Cardiff International Arena to catch Deep Purple. I've arranged to meet the band's bass player Roger Glover backstage to mull over a project I have in mind. My friend Andrew Pritchard comes along to take photos of the event and happenings backstage.

7-30pm -- Arrive at the CIA and pick up our guest passes. These take the form of a red laminated pass featuring the cover of Purple's last album Rapture Of The Deep on the front, along with the 3-d holographic trickery embedded to prevent fraud. On the back it simply reads GUEST : 25th April 2007 Cardiff.
There are two queues snaking into the arena. One for men and one for women. But most fans simply head for the nearest line ignoring this segregation-- promptling one aggressive, balding, burly bouncer to shout at any poor woman unfortunate enough to take the wrong line --- "Men Only!!!" He barks at them and gives them a menacing stare. Watching the ladies flinch and retreat, cowed, to the proper line gives him a satisfactory glow. Lets hope when Take That play here they put him on duty front stage as a punishment!!!!!!

7-45pm --- Andrew and I make our way backstage. We are taken on a rather lengthy, twisty route which seems to cover every floor. Ten minutes later and I can see how Spinal Tap once got lost backstage! This is a tricky business. The maze of corridors at the CIA all look alike but the band's Stage Manager, who is leading the way, remains unfazed ands seems to have no trouble homing in on the dressing rooms and soon we are backstage. There we wait with two security guards while another of the band's entourage goes to fetch Mr Glover. "Never heard of him" says the younger of the security guards. The old man tuts at his colleagues ignorance and says to me and Andrew "Never heard of Roger Glover! What's the world coming to?"
My attention strays to a notice posted on the wall by the dressing room.
TEAM BRIEFING - it announces proudly in bold ink. It details the start times of the three bands. Thin Lizzy at 7pm. Styx at 8pm and Deep Purple at 9-30pm. It lists the capacity (5,100) for tonight show and bizzarely has a section entitled AUDIENCE PROFILE: next to that heading it describes tonights crowd as "Old Rockers In Denim And Leather". Well. There's no need to be insulting now is there!!! Surely it should read "Streetwise Classic Rockers With A Sense of Style, High Intelligence, And Good Perspective Of The World Around!" Still no time to quibble.
Roger Glover suddenly comes through the doors beer in hand and cigarette in mouth. "Hi Guys. Can I get you a drink?" A charming and amiable man, we chat about the latest leg of the tour - his Welsh homecoming. Roger was born just down the down in Brecon. After 15 minutes or so, Roger departs to check out the stage -It's his his pre-gig ritual. "See you later" he says disappearing to watch the end of the Styx set.

9-30pm. Deep Purple burst onto stage and plough straight into Pictures of Home from the great Machinehead album. Ian Gillan - barefoot - stalks the stage belting out classic Purple tracks in a clear and strong voice. The stage show is also magnificent with a terrific lighting set-up. All too soon though its time for the encore. "This is a very old song" smiles Ian Gillan. "Very, very old. Its from 1968." The band launch into a superb version of Hush before ending the evening on a high with Black Night. With three of the classic Mark II line-up in Roger Glover, Ian Gillan and Ian Paice plus two superb new members in Rainbow, Whitesnake and Gary Moore keyboard player Don Airey and former Dixie Dregs and Kansas guitarist Steve Morse, this is a very tight, and talented line-up. The two newcomers add a vitality and energy to the band and the performance of the three long-time members is visibly lifted by the enthusiasm of their comrades on stage. The band seem to throughly enjoy themselves. At the end of an exhilarating 90 minutes --- which includes The battle Rages On and When A Blind Man Cries among the stand out moments -- Andrew and I reflect that it was worth the admission price alone (Ok we didn't pay but you know what I mean!!) just to watch this legendary band perform Smoke On The Water. Glorious!!!!
Lets hope they come around again soon. Deep Purple are far, far from a spent force.

JEFF COLLINS is the author of ROCK LEGENDS AT ROCKFIELD now available for pre-order from Amazon, Waterstones, Wal-mart and all good bookshops. IT's published on September 15th.

ROCK LEGENDS AT ROCKFIELD - Extract from chapter 4 - Hawkwind

ROCK LEGENDS AT ROCKFIELD by Jeff Collins Latest extract The book's out on sept 15th. Now available for pre-order.

-- Chapter 4 Hawkwind invent space rock.

These two extracts feature the opening section on the chapter with Hawkwind's naked girlfriends while the second extract focuses on the use of LSD to get band members to play better!!!!!


It’s a bright sunny day on the river Monnow in Monmouth in 1973. Just down the road from a busy Rockfield Studios, a group of girls are enjoying the summer sun. After a boozy picnic on the riverbank, they turn their attention to a big tree overhanging the water. Suspended from one branch is a giant tractor tire. Earlier in the day, the gang had taken turns swinging over the water in it.  Now, though, a new plan unfolds. Skirts, tops, knickers and shoes are all playfully discarded onto the grass as the girls decide to get naked and take a trip down the river in the tire.
The girls are reveling in their afternoon in the sun in the middle of this beautiful countryside and their laughter and infectious giggling goes almost unnoticed, as they career down the river clinging on to the huge tire.  But someway down, both the tire and the girls get stuck as the water narrows and heads into a weir. The girls are left thrashing about, naked in the water, desperately trying to get back to the riverbank. When they do, it’s a mad dash up the grass back to their clothes.  A few minutes later, a farmer pops into the Nags Head pub just down the road in Monmouth. Crossing a bridge above where the girls had been stranded, he’d witnessed their struggle to get to dry land.   ‘I’ve just seen a group of naked girls in the river,’ he announces to the bar full of locals relaxing after a days work.
‘Ahh’, reply’s one of them, without batting an eye, ‘That must have been Hawkwinds’ girlfriends then!’  And the bar descends into fits of laughter. The conversation is overheard by some of the band’s road crew who are also enjoying a refreshing post-work drink. Hawkwind are well known by the locals of Monmouth. Rockfield studios has become the band’s second home. Hawkwind were one of a number of high-profile groups to ‘adopt’ the studio. Since the early 70’s, the band has made more than 20 albums there...................................................................................... ‘The first album I made with the band,’ recalls Lemmy, ‘was Doremi Fasol Latido. It was their third one. And it was a revelation making it at Rockfield. The place was a blast!’ The band spent September and October of ’72 there and initially found the beauty of the surrounding Welsh countryside a distraction. Dave Brock remembers some of the early difficulties they had simply trying to get everyone in the group into the studio to record at the same time.  ‘It was a great place. A place were time would stand still. It was all very tranquil. As a result people would just wander off. They’d be in the middle of recording and simply disappear. The producers would go nuts. They’d be yelling “Where’s that idiot musician gone now? For Christ sake, just go and get him.” It was very disruptive and would hamper recording, but we had plenty of time. We were staying there and we weren’t going anywhere. Well, apart from the odd wander.’   But eventually Brock marshalled the band together and soon the momentum of recording was almost unstoppable. Though he starts to shake his head as he remembers the difficulties the band’s sax player Nick Turner was having with one track called Brainstorm.  ‘He just wasn’t getting it. So to help him out, we decided to spike his drink with LSD in the hope that it would sort out the problem. But somehow Nick got wise to our plans. He kept avoiding any food or drink we put his way. “I’m not touching that” he’d shout and then storm out.  In the end, we had to get some of the road crew to help. One of them spiked Nick’s yoghurt with LSD. And you know what? It worked. Nick played the piece really well and Brainstorm was completed. He played it much better under the influence of drugs.’

ROCK LEGENDS AT ROCKFIELD goes behind the scenes of the making of some of rock's greatest albums -- and features bands such as Rush, Motorhead, Black Sabbath, Queen, Robert Plant, Oasis, Judas Priest, Budgie, The Darkness, Kasabian, Tokyo Dragonsand many more.

Available for pre-order now from www.amazon.com (plus amazon in the Uk, France, Germany, Japan and Canada), WHSmith, Walmart and Waterstones among others.

Hope you enjoyed the extract.


Jeff

Rock LEGENDS AT ROCKFIELD - Latest extract - Budgie

ROCK LEGENDS AT ROCKFIELD......to be published Sept 15th 2007.

Hi everyone. Here's the latest extract from my book on Rock Legends at Rockfield. Last time out in chapter two featured Black Sabbath. Also there at the same time were heavy rockers Budgie. With a similar sound to their Midland counterparts, Budgie recorded most of their albums at the Monmouth Studio. These two extracts look at Budgies big break -- when they had an audition at Rockfield with Sabbath producer Rodger Bain and then looks at the pressure the band found themselves under sometimes when producing themselves:

CHAPTER THREE excerpt --- Welsh Rockers Budgie Influence Metal Greats.


 After two years of gigging, and writing songs, the Budgie's big break was just around the corner. One day in 1969 when they visited their agent to pay her, she told them about an audition taking place at Rockfield Studios - just down the road from Cardiff in Monmouth. A producer there, Rodger Bain, was looking to sign a rock band and was auditioning a few acts from across the UK.  Singer and bass player Burke Shelley laughs, though, when he remembers the agent’s warning to them as they left her office that day. ‘Our agent, Mrs England, I think her was name, took on a very stern face and told us, “Don’t you dare play any of your own stuff !” He giggles at the memory. ‘You’ve got to laugh, haven’t you? We were playing a few well known tunes by other bands to get gigs, but half our set was our own material and although she warned us not to play that stuff - and I’d reassured her that we wouldn’t - as soon as we got outside I said to the guys “Forget that. We’re doing our own songs” and it worked.’ The band, armed with songs like All Night Petrol, Guts and Rape of The Locks, impressed the veteran music producer.  He told them he was keen to sign them, despite the fact he’d already given a contract to one other budding young band. The group in question was Black Sabbath, a band that Budgie would frequently be compared to over the coming years. Before that deal could happen, the band had to play another audition in London for representatives from some of the major record companies.
Ray Phillips was baffled that they didn’t hold the second audition at Rockfield, but instead at a small recording studio in London.
‘As we set up our equipment, we noticed two guys there. One was from a company called Bell Records and the other was called, David Howells, from MCA Records. I’d always thought that if a record company heard us play, then they’d sign us straight away. Dave Howells was Welsh as well. He was Merthyr born and bred, so we had an affinity with each other. Anyway he loved us and we signed a major deal with MCA records just a few weeks later. I was quite proud of the fact that Budgie had only been playing for 4 or 5 years, before we signed a major worldwide deal. That was fast work, because most guys had been in bands for 10 years before they got a deal. But we’d practiced and rehearsed non-stop. We wanted to be the best.’
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The band was now (1973) getting used to the way Rockfield operated. Burke Shelley would make sure most of the songs were in reasonable shape before heading out to the studios. ‘We used to go up there with most of the album written. But you’d often get up to Rockfield and something wouldn’t work out, or would sound weak, so you’d have to rewrite it. Luckily the atmosphere at Rockfield is extremely conducive to writing.  I found that was especially true with acoustic numbers. It would be great sitting outside in the summer, with a bit of straw in your mouth, laying back watching the birds fly by and trying to think of something. I did actually write a few of the tracks up there. I remember one, Black Velvet Stallion, was written at Rockfield as you can imagine.’
Budgie was now in the groove. They were successfully balancing playing live against the pressures of recording. Though, occasionally, it didn’t always go as smoothly as hoped, and Budgie’s front man would find himself up against it, when mixing the band’s very next release.
‘I remember being at Rockfield on one album. It was one of our most popular ones called In For The Kill. We were always on a tight schedule, but I remember being in the studio finishing the mix on this particular record, when right outside the Coach House studio was the tour bus, revving up and waiting to take us to the ferry. We had to be in Germany to tour, but I was still trying to mix the album. The rest of the band were calling out “Burkey, hurry up. Come on, man!” and I was shouting back at them that I was going as quickly as I could. In a panic and short of time, I’d turn to the studio engineer and ask him “Can you bring the guitar up a little bit?”  Then I start to leave the control room, but I’d get to the door when suddenly, I’d remember something else. “Hang on a minute.” I’d say. “Can you adjust the bass a little?” So I was trying to hand over the track to the engineer while the band was in a frenzy and screaming for me to leave.  It was that tight! It was night and I can remember driving in the pitch black to head off for Germany and Holland. We were really tight on time sometimes.’
Despite those pressures, In For The Kill was eventually finished and was released in 1974. By then Budgie had secured a bigger following, and the album was well received both critically and by the music buying public.
The group also set off on tour with a new band, which was starting to make waves of their own: Judas Priest. Burke Shelley remembers they took Priest on tour as their support act as a favour to their Midlands based agent, who looked after both bands.
‘We toured with Judas Priest to give them a break.  The Birmingham connection was via our agent at the time.  He was doing Judas Priest.’ Burke now mimics his former agent’s thick Brummie accent as he continues with story, ‘I want to give them some work, like. I’ll get you the work, right, but you’ve got to have them on the bill with you, like.’
He laughs. ‘It was a top time though. We did a load of great tours with Priest. We used to crash on the floor at their flat in Birmingham. Bands didn’t stay in hotels in those days. If you stayed in a hotel, you were rich. It was usually “Can I crash at your pad, man?” And there’d be 3 or 4 people crammed on the floor in sleeping bags.’ 
During that tour in ’74, Judas Priest often joined Budgie on stage for the Welsh band’s encore with both bands jamming a version of Running From My Soul from that year’s release In For The Kill.


ROCK LEGENDS AT ROCKFIELD is now available on pre-order from www.amazon.co.uk and www.amazon.com (plus the Amazon websites in France, Germany, Canada and Japan) It's also available from the websites of WHSmith and Waterstones as well as the University of Wales press iet (www.uwp.co.uk) and the Welsh book site www.gwales.com.

Hope you enjoyed the extract. More to come in a fortnight --- It's Hawkwind to be followed by Motorhead!!!

Cheers


Jeff Collins

Tokyo Dragons

Thursday March 29th 11am
I'm off to watch the wonderful Tokyo Dragons playing at the 100 Club in Oxford Street in London. So having bought British Rail's Advanced Super Flexy Bumper Bargain Mega Saver (still more expensive than a penthouse apartment in Dubai!!!) I'm up and running. Despite reserving a seat, it's still very crowded and I have to fight off a bunch of student teachers on the piss, a left-wing demo heading for parliament (or the nearest pub in Westminster more likely) and a large extended family with what seems like 17 children and 20 grandparents in tow. I finally relax in my seat to enjoy the two hour journey from Wales to London. Well enjoy is a strong word but....I have my Ipod on and I am blissfully zoned out listening to Glyder, Grand Funk Railroad (Live), Neal Morse's new CD and Within Temptation's new one.
1-30pm- Arrive at London Paddington. Take the scenic route to my hotel. Accidently!!!!! Bah!!! Still the walk will do me good.

4-00pm -- Meet up with my friend Andrew Pritchard. He'll be taking photos of the Tokyo Dragons in Rehearsal and in concert tonight. Buy a beer each in the hotel bar for the price of small carribean island and then head off to oxford street.

5pm -- Enter the 100 Club. The main door is open and there is no one in the reception area. So we go in and head down the stairs and into the main room. I thought post 9/11 everyone in London was paranoid about security - but obviously not at famous old Jazz Clubs!! If we'd been renegade Country-music terrorists on a mission to wipe out rock - we'd have taken out most of the block before anyone had noticed we were there. Luckily we weren't Country-music terrorists !!! Thankfully they are a rare breed.
Once inside we're greeeted by the band. Mal Bruk (guitar) stops stringing his guitar and waves hello. The drummer, Phil Martini, breaks off from his sound-check to shout 'Hello Jeff. How's it going?" while Steve Lomax (singer and guitarist) also raises a hand and says hi. Steve and Phil are on stage going through the first sound-check. Bassist Mattias Stady is ambling around nearby. (See rehearsal and live shots of band above by Andrew)

The band run through their full sound check playing two new tracks Killing Everybody You Meet (which features some stunning harmonies) and Rambling Jack (which is marked by some excellent guitar work). The band look pleased and so they should be -- they are sounding on top form.

The 100 Club is a strange venue. The stage is to the left of the hall, which a dancefloor in the middle, including three large columns which obscure large parts of the stage. Just above the stage is a huge sign spelling out the numbers 100. The walls are painted a stark blood red. These walls are covered in photos of bands and musicians who've played the 100 club down the years.
There's a shot of the Rolling Stones on stage with Pete Townsend from February 1986. Alongside that is a blurry black and white shot of the Archie Crane River Jazz band from 1950. Whilst only 36 years apart, the photos look like they are from different centuries. The clean cut innocent looking Jazz combo seem a million miles away from the all-out rock and roll shots of The Stones. I'm joined by Phil Martini who is fascinated by another of the many pictures decorating the walls. This one shows a very very youthful looking Metallica from August 1984. Metallica played here!!! wow!

6pm -- Meet up with Andrews friend Brendan in the pub The Green Man just across the road from the 100 Club. Later we're joined by my friend David Silito, the BBC's arts correspondent for his sins. Tonight he's mastering the art of drinking. Something we all achieve with style.

8pm -- Back to the 100 club. The support act The Dirty Feel are on. These guys are fantastic. The crowd are won over by their infectious riffs. The threesome sound like early Grand Funk Railroad!! They rock. Check out their myspace page.

9-30pm. The Tokyo Dragons take to the stage. Its a very theatrical entrance with flashing lights and the song Blinded By The Light pumping out of the speakers.
They start with a new song On Your Marks before playing a crowd favourite from the first album, Get Em Off. Next up is another new song. This one really captivates the crowd. Its called Keeping the Wolf From The Door. As its followed by the mesmerising guitar work on Killing Everybody... it soon becomes apparant that the Dragons forthcoming second album is going to be something special.

Full setlist
On Your Marks
Get Em Off
Keeping The Wolf...
Killing Everybody You Meet
Come On Baby
If I Run...
Ramblin' Jack
Slade Alive
Rock My Boat
Rocking The Stew
ENCORES
Teenage Screamers
On Fuel

The band play two encores Teenage Screamers from their first album and On Fuel (which is a favourite of mine since i heard the band play it in Cardiff on The School Of Rock Tour with The Answer back in October 2005). The place is positively bouncing. After a very successful set, The Dragons join their fans for a few beers at the bar, sparing a few minutes for anyone who wants a chat or an autograph.
The new albums due out in May and should be a big success. If you like good old style 70's rock in the vein of Thin Lizzy, AC/DC or Motorhead, you'll love the Tokyo Dragons. Go out and by their first record if you don't have it and place you order for the new one!! It's gonna be a scream.


Jeff Collins

The Tokyo Dragons feature in my new book ROCK LEGENDS AT ROCKFIELD. It's out on sept 15th on University of Wales Press. It's available for pre-order now on any on the Amazon websites.

ROCK LEGENDS AT ROCKFIELD - where to get it

ROCK LEGENDS AT ROCKFIELD --- by Jeff Collins -- out Sept 15th 2007

Now available on pre-order from
all the main Amazon sites
www.amazon.co.uk (UK)
www.amazon.com (USA)
www.amazon.de (Germany)
www.amazon.ca (Canada)
www.amazon.jp (Japan)

also the Welsh book site
www.gwales.com

and The University of Wales website
www.uwp.co.uk
(soon to be available from the University of Chicago website)

This books looks at the hysterical behind-the-scene antics of rock icons at the world famous Rockfield Studios in Wales. ROCK LEGENDS AT ROCKFIELD features MOTORHEAD, BLACK SABBATH, ROBERT PLANT, JUDAS PRIEST, RUSH, QUEEN, THE DARKNESS, IAN GILLAN, THE STONE ROSES, OASIS, THE TOKYO DRAGONS, BUDGIE, HAWKWIND and many more.
Rockfield is a working farm, which was converted into the world’s first ever residential studio and has been graced by some of the world's most famous names.
This book has the stories behind some of the best songs and records ever made, to show how a little farm in rural Wales became home to rock legends!
Read about Music, drugs, drink and farmyard animals!!! You laugh! You'll cry!!! You'll probably cry again with laughter. Access all areas with ROCK LEGENDS AT ROCKFIELD.


QUOTES:

"Of Course PHIL COLLINS had fun recording with us. How could he not, after being in Genesis!" --- ROBERT PLANT gives his views on life with GENESIS.
"It's all quite hazy but I remember smoking dope with BLACK SABBATH on a sofa at the accomodation block in Rockfield"--- DAVE BROCK, Hawkwind
“Liam Gallacher began to play our singer, Darius, rough mixes of Oasis' new album “What’s The Story Morning Glory”. After a couple of songs Darius asked him, “Why do you always rip off the Beatles?” which obviously didn’t go down too well....Liam then lost it and threw Darius out the front door and then punched him in the face!” NEIL COOPER, former drummer with Cable.

ROCK LEGENDS AT ROCKFIELD is out on Sept 15th 2007.

Enjoy

Jeff

read

New Rock Legends book -- now for pre-order in US, Canada and Japan

ROCK LEGENDS AT ROCKFIELD --- by Jeff Collins

*******Now available for Pre-order in the US on www.amazon.com. Also now in Canada on www.amazon.ca and Japan on www.amazon.jp


This books looks at the hysterical behind-the-scene antics of rock icons at the world famous Rockfield Studios in Wales. ROCK LEGENDS AT ROCKFIELD features MOTORHEAD, BLACK SABBATH, ROBERT PLANT, JUDAS PRIEST, RUSH, QUEEN, THE DARKNESS, IAN GILLAN, THE STONE ROSES, OASIS, THE TOKYO DRAGONS, BUDGIE, HAWKWIND and many more.
Rockfield is a working farm, which was converted into the world’s first ever residential studio and has been graced by some of the world's most famous names.
This book has the stories behind some of the best songs and records ever made, to show how a little farm in rural Wales became home to rock legends!
Read about Music, drugs, drink and farmyard animals!!! You laugh! You'll cry!!! You'll probably cry again with laughter. Access all areas with ROCK LEGENDS AT ROCKFIELD.


QUOTES:

"Of Course PHIL COLLINS had fun recording with us. How could he not, after being in Genesis!" --- ROBERT PLANT gives his views on life with GENESIS.
"It's all quite hazy but I remember smoking dope with BLACK SABBATH on a sofa at the accomodation block in Rockfield"--- DAVE BROCK, Hawkwind
“Liam Gallacher began to play our singer, Darius, rough mixes of Oasis' new album “What’s The Story Morning Glory”. After a couple of songs Darius asked him, “Why do you always rip off the Beatles?” which obviously didn’t go down too well....Liam then lost it and threw Darius out the front door and then punched him in the face!” NEIL COOPER, former drummer with Cable.

ROCK LEGENDS AT ROCKFIELD is out on Sept 15th 2007.
Also available for pre-order on
www.amazon.co.uk
www.amazon.de