DEBUT ALBUM "TAXI FOR ONE" NOW AVAILABLE
Formed in 2002 the nucleus of lightning jack has remained the same since it's conception. comprised of welsh bluesman [professor] lester lloyd-reason [small hours, two let loose] aging rocker phil utting-brown [the axeband, samurai, pagan billy] and classically trained cliff ward - a singer/songwriter in his own write [jeff, the blueberries, troubador] following the recent departure of mark hannington [mark, an irishman, leaving on st george's day! we should have seen that one coming!]. the band have been fortunate to stumble across chris mayes-wright on the drum stool. mark takes with him our warm thanks and our best wishes for whatever the future has in store for him. maybe it was rocket science, after all.
Early lightning jack shows featured and amalgam of each members musical backgrounds featuring music by lowell george, the waterboys, the levellers, bruce springstein and led zeppelin. the band's first demo included songs by the pogues, john hiatt and steve earle but as the band has evolved original lightning jack material has begun to dominate their most recent shows and the current demo, cunningly dubbed "lightning jack 2" features songs written by the band [of the band, for the band blah blah]
Work on the band's first album [working title:taxi for one] begins in febuary aiming themselves loosely at the festival circuit [we like beer tents and free tickets] lightning jack make occasional appearances in cambridgeshire pubs - playing, sometimes - and last year performed at ely folk festival (http://www.elyfolk.co.uk/), cromer folk festival and the rockinbeerfest as well as at ely and cambridge folk clubs. this year's itinerary is still takng shape [check the gig diary] but expect to see lightning jack in 2006 somewhere near you. possibly, a little too near you!
19th december update: lightning jack's unfortunate relationship with percussionists continues apace, chris mayes-wright being the latest incumbent to spin towards the door marked "exit". chris was with us for seven months - almost a veteran by our standards - and we are grateful for his input and his tremendous work on the album.
30th january 2007 update: we are delighted to announce the triumphant return of mr ian turner on percussion - queue fanfare. ian was our original drummer and having been involved with a number of projects in the interim, including a sojourn with the legendary peter green, he agreed to bail us out of our immediate drummer crisis by deputising at our recent unicorn gig. on what was a great gig and an emotional night we all agreed to make the the liason a permanent one. i can tell you that we are as pleased as a very pleased band that's very, very pleased.