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The
Bush House Band 1984
Dirk and Paul first played together in a BBC one-off
event fund raiser for The "Band
Aid Christmas", if you can remember that far back.
The band consisted
of BBC Studio Managers and was a bit of a mixture - certainly the only 15-piece
soul band ever to boast a pair of French Horns! |
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29
Ways 1987-1992
The Rhythm & Blues band had two front men in Paul
Long and Simon Humphries, and after a flirtation with
a horn section and the obligatory musical differences
the band continued for the last three years as a four
piece, based around the blues-funk songs written by
Paul.
Still the bonds continued through these years as Paul produced an album and many
recording sessions with The Red Hot Pokers. 29 Ways final gig was with The Pokers
at The Hornpipe in Portsmouth. |
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The
Big Something 1993-2002
Paul's next outing was with The Big Something, so called because they just
had too much of everything. Three guitarists, two keyboard players and for
a reason he can't remember now, three backing singers on this occasion. No
doubt who wanted to be centre stage though!
High points would be their 1997 album "Something
For The Weekend" and a memorable appearance at the 100
Club. |
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Ten
Point Five 1988-1991
Dirk and Mash met in 1989 in this band with
pals Les Otter(gtr), Pete Fisher(bass), Pat Tanter(vocals).
Pete departed after a few months due to work commitments
and Martin Ayling turned up - originally auditioning as a
singer/harmonica player.
But because he looked so unlike a bass player
he just had to play bass(when he remembered to bring it to
gigs!). This line-up played legendary venues like "La
Cage" in Havant and The Landmark in Portsmouth, before
it became The Contented Pig.
Much fun was had - but times move on... |
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The Red Hot Pokers,
v 1 1991-1993 Please welcome the fahhhbulous Alan Dominey
ladeez and gennulmen...Alan took over vocal duties from the
leather-lunged Pat. This line-up often appeared at The Wedgewood
Rooms when that venue was a showcase for local talent - and
before it had a proper stage! In 1993 Paul Waite joined on
keyboards but just a few months later the band lost Martin
- he fell down a crack in IBM's floorboards! He was a tough
act to follow but the band stumbled across Tony Purdue, a
monster bass player with a monster bass(a maple Rickenbacker).
Tony learned the sets almost overnight to come into the studio
to record The Pokers' album "She Don't Sleep At Night" -
produced by a certain Paul Long. |
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The Red Hot Pokers,
v 2 1993-1996 For about 18 months Gaynor Horton joined
the band to add her belting Welsh blues voice to Alan and
Mash's double-whammy. This was the Pokers' biggest ever line-up
- Mash, Alan, Gaye, Tony, Paul and Dirk - but was sadly shortlived
when Gaynor left to go to Wales, Home & Beauty, and Paul
moved on. However, in this time The Pokers(as the band was
known at this time) did get to play alongside the likes of
Snowy White & Denny Laine at the Titchfield Abbey Blues
Festival. |
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The
Red Hot Pokers, v 3 1997-2002 Back to being a four-piece again, and with
Mash laid low for a year with illness, it was hard to see
that these would be glory years for The Red Hot Pokers. But
when he came back to full fitness everything gelled like
never before, and 1997-2000 saw some of the Pokers' greatest
live moments, providing musical fireworks while supporting
bands like Paul Jones' Blues Band, Blues'n'Trouble, Sherman
Robertson's All-Americans, The Hoax and Ruthless Blues. |
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On top
of this the band were flown to Italy in April 1998 to play a function
in the mountains outside Rome, and in November of that year a gig
on Tower Bridge(the upstairs part) which sounded great 'til we
found the lifts were out of order!
Pretty much The Red Hot Pokers'
effective last bow was the gobsmacking night where they tore into
Portsmouth's biggest Real Ales & Blues Festival ever, Blues
At The Fort 2002, supporting, and energizing the whole night, for
Dr Feelgood.
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