The Phoenix, Cavandish Square, London, 10th April 2008. Former members of Graham Barnel's band RED ROAD had a fund raising gig with their respective current bands. Graham is raising money for life saving Leukaemia treatment in the States (www.adonorforgraham.com)
The EHB and entourage arrived a little late and did a few laps of the square trying to get to the front door (one way systems!). Lots of help (thanks Lindsay, Sarah, Cath, Iain, Mark, Tim etc.) on hand to unload our bulging van.-PA, Amps, Drums, Guitars you name it. Down the stairs to a large room with a very small stage. 3am's Tim had also brought his PA system so we used our mackie speakers as monitors and it worked very well I thought. Lovemycrime's drummer helped get the kit set up while Helen (3am) and friends manned the door.
3AM kicked off their set at 8.15pm-good going considering how late we got there. They were down to a four piece (sometimes there's 6!) but still rocked up some blues classics and a couple of their own tunes. Guitarist Tim was on bass tonight and confessed he had not picked up the Rickenbaker in over 20 years. One bass solo later he was beaming and looked very happy in his new (temporary) role. Andy coped well with the "tarzan style" drum kit, sounding very tight. Iain seemed pleased with my amp set up and with Helen's powerful singing and presence the whole band got things of to a good start.
EHB were next up, starting with Thin Lizzy's Jailbreak. Luckily nothing broke, the sound was OK and we rushed through our short set...Wild flower, No one Knows, The Seeker, Times like These, ending with Highway Star. Two or three people were filming and taking pictures at the front and what with lights etc. I didn't really get to see peoples reaction much but there was plenty of cheering at the end of songs-hopefully people liked us. We left out one song (Sin City) being aware of how things were already running late. Kev (drums) and Pete (bass) did a great job and we were just getting warmed up when we finished-it's not often we play only a 25 min set and it made a nice change!
LOVEMYCRIME played a good set of original songs. Line up of guitar,bass, drums and a female lead singer. RED ROAD's Mark Coles was using his new white Gibson Thunderbird through his own Ampeg rig and as usual had a great sound-big but not too boomy. The rest of the band sang and played well, their style being different to both EHB and 3AM- more indy, rock and punk influences and less of the blues.
After a while setting up CHARIOT were on stage. Their drummer Jeff was in RED ROAD with Graham (10 years ago) and none of his power had diminshed over the years. Despite problems with the sound balance for the first couple of songs (Singer Pete Franklin's guitar was inaudible) they carried on regardless. Proper Heavy Metal. When the other guitarist in the band gave up one of his two Roland amps for Pete to use, their sound tightened up and "Behind the Wire " sounded awesome. After some good old fashioned head banging and forays into the crowd Pete started winning over any doubters. This guy has a lot of charm and charisma and his enthusiasm is infectious. Lead guitarist Paul played effortlessly and blindingly with John on bass providing solid, driving bass and excellent backing vocals.
There had been talk of a end of night "jam" with RED ROAD and others but after four bands and a long night it seemed a bit too much. People had all been very generous and supportive of the bands and were now starting to drift off to catch trains etc. It was time to go home after a successful night so we packed away and headed home.
Thanks to everyone who came and donated so generously, we raised £1063 for www.adonorforgraham.com . Thanks to all the bands, a great chance to get together with old friends once more-best wishes to you all in the future!
Ed.