Punk Flashback

 Todays Punk Flashback Stage B

Stage B were formed by Dessie Potter and Colin Fletcher after the demise of the punk band the Batteries, the band had played one gig, subjecting the audience to their versions of various punk classics and split up after the gig which had been given some bad reviews. They were now more influenced by the likes of the early Adam and the Ants and Siouxsie and the Banshees than three chord punk. The name Stage B was taken from the stage signs that were clearly visible each week when bands played live on the tv rock show the Old Grey Whistle Test .

New members were brought in Owen Howell replacing Karl Scott on drums and Charlie Reily was now lead vocals replacing original singer John Perfect a Sid Vicious lookalike and an occasional dj in the back room of the Harp bar, and the founding members Dessie Potter (guitar) and Colin Fletcher (bass) completed the line up. The music they now played had a new atmospheric swirling darker sound . They had a different look and sound to most of the other Belfast bands involved in the punk scene. They were offered studio time by Outlet records in the summer of 79 and they recorded a 4 track demo featuring the tracks the Viper , Numbers, Lizzie Borden and Self Portrait minus Colin who was in London at the time. Their one and only single Recall to life / Light On The Hillside was recorded later in 79 .

A support slot to Siouxsie and the Banshees and the Cure on their first N.I. visit 5.9. 79 at the Ulster hall on the Join Hands tour was cancelled due to various Banshee members / equipment problems which meant the gig was going to start late if at all , I remember standing about outside the venue for hours with a lot of angry punks , in the end I got pissed off and went home and needless to say the gig went ahead with a makeshift Banshees performance later on . An industrial strike at the BBC also scuppered their TV debut on the local music show Green Rock . Colin Fletcher left the band in 1980 which had also seen the release of the debut single on the Shock Rock label. A number of temporary bassists were recruited to fill in , including Greg Cowan from the Outcasts for at least one gig at the Harp that I was at . They eventually supported the Banshees on their next visit to the Ulster hall 16 / 10 / 80 on the Kaleidoscope tour and they also played a couple of times on different tours as support to Toyah one of which 8 / 4 / 81 was filmed by the BBC . The band folded a while later .

Anyone who witnessed the band live especially the opening number Darkness on which Dessie took the lead vocals, if you could call them that and I use the term vocals loosely, as he just screamed and howled to the stark musical backdrop, twisting and contorting himself into all sorts of shapes and prowling around the stage as flashing strobe lights slowed his movements left you in no doubt that this was no ordinary punk band. My own personal favourite song of theirs, Open Up, was never recorded. Someone got Charlie to dedicate it to me from the stage at the Future Legend gig and I had a tape of it for a long time but it has disappeared over the years like a lot of other bits. So if you've got any copies out there in cyber world of their gigs let me know.

Hardcore Flashback

 Todays Hardcore Flashback Crucial Unit

Crucial Unit were a hardcore/thrash band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. They were influenced by bands like Hellnation, Dropdead, Charles Bronson, D.R.I., Minor Threat, Iron Maiden and Cryptic Slaughter

Crucial Unit have appeared on numerous punk compilations including Hope Records' "Go Down Fighting Come Up Smiling" CD, XMike FitzgeraldX Records' "Death To Hardcore Death To Reagan" LP and Six Weeks Records' "Super Sabado" LP.

Classic Flashback

 Todays Classic Flashback Screaming Lord Sutch

David Edward Sutch (10 November 1940 – 16 June 1999), also known as "Screaming Lord Sutch", "3rd Earl of Harrow", or simply "Lord Sutch", was a musician from the United Kingdom. He was the founder of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party and served as its leader from 1983 to 1999, during which time he stood in numerous parliamentary elections.

Screaming Lord Sutch was born in North London. His father, a war reserve policeman, was killed in an accident when his son was 10 months old. His mother - to whom he was devoted - was a fan of Dickens; she christened him David after David Copperfield. For most of the next fifteen years they shared a flat and poverty in what he called a dead-end street in Kilburn, while she worked as a cleaner and shop assistant. Entertainment was Saturday morning pictures and the Metropolitan Music Hall, Edgeware Road. In 1956, after David had left school, they moved to South Harrow, where he became a window cleaner.

It was the birth of British rock music; a time when the young and desperate could pursue a new escape route. What he called his 'wild man of Borneo look' got Screaming Lord Sutch a spot singing at the Two I's coffee bar in Soho. His style evolved, or lurched, out of that slurry of music hall (he was a Max Miller fan), horror movies, Grand Guignol, pulp comics, slapstick and transatlantic pop. Thus did the black American rhythm & blues singer Screaming Jay Hawkins provide a name, and the basis of an act.

In 1961 he was spotted by the curious and doomed independent record producer Joe Meek. "I was doing the horror", said Sutch, "screaming and yelling. I had 18 inches of hair and I was running around in buffalo horns and my auntie's leopardskin coat. The scout said 'You've got a different approach. You want to make a record?'". Screaming Lord Sutch made records, and recorded with a clutch of (later) distinguished British rock musicians. The early subject matter focused on disembowelment and graveyards - on one occasion Meek posed Screaming Lord Sutch as Jack the Ripper in Whitechapel at night. Both men, observed Sutch, were intrigued by horror films. But he had no real hits. Indeed, by 1963 his career had been swamped by the Mersey boom.

It was then that he went to Stratford, campaigning for commercial radio, votes at 18, abolition of dog licences and his share of the spotlight, with the mix of native wit and puerility that marked his aimless - or dadaist - media courtship. The live act around Europe, and playing small halls and pubs, provided an income.

His last political hurrah was in the 1995 Littleborough and Saddleworth byelection (the OMRLP didn't have the money to run in the last European elections). But more than finances, it was perhaps the times that had finally run out.

R.I.P.

 13 Years Ago Today We Lost Kevin Dubrow

Kevin Mark Dubrow (October 29, 1955 − ≈ November 19, 2007) was an American heavy metal singer, best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Quiet Riot from 1975 until 1987, and again from 1990 until his death in 2007.

R.I.P.

 17 Years Ago Today We Lost Greg Ridley

Alfred Gregory "Greg" Ridley (23 October 1947 – 19 November 2003) was an English rock bassist and a founding member of Humble Pie.

Ridley was born in Carlisle, Cumberland, England. Early in his career he played under the name Dino as guitarist for "Dino & the Danubes" before joining bands such as the Ramrods. Ridley and Mike Harrison formed The V.I.P.'s in 1963, playing blues based music. The band added guitarist Luther Grosvenor and organist/pianist Keith Emerson, who stayed for a brief period of time before leaving and forming The Nice. After they changed their name to Art and published an album Supernatural Fairy Tales, and then to Spooky Tooth[2] in 1968. Spooky Tooth signed to Island and recorded two albums It's All About (1968) and Spooky Two (1969).

In January 1969 Ridley was approached by Steve Marriott from the Small Faces - who was forming a new band, called Humble Pie. The line up also included guitarist Peter Frampton from The Herd and drummer Jerry Shirley. Humble Pie's first album As Safe As Yesterday Is was released and a second album Town and Country was also released in the same year. A contract with A&M Records and a re-working of their sound into a harder brand of music, coupled with extensive touring of United States followed. A double album Performance Rockin' the Fillmore, featuring a now historic recording of a raw performance of rare quality, catapulted Humble Pie into rock history. Ridley's powerful bass playing anchored the band's performance and was at the centre of their sound. Together, Ridley and drummer Jerry Shirley comprised one of the most respected rhythm sections in Rock music during this period. Although Ridley rarely sang lead vocals, his deep baritone was frequently used to provide contrast with the higher tenors of Marriott and Frampton. Ridley made several songwriting contributions, including "Sucking on the Sweet Vine" on Humble Pie, "The Light of Love" on Town and Country, and "Big George" on Rock On.

This incarnation of Humble Pie continued until 1975 and Ridley left the music business, after finishing an unreleased album with Marriott and abortive attempts with bands such as Mike Patto and Ollie Halsall's band Boxer. Ridley moved to Gloucestershire and lived in a stone cottage in the Forest of Dean with his girlfriend. He found the peace and quiet of country life a pleasant and refreshing change to touring and recording. He became involved in the antique furniture business and throughout the 80's he was a low-key antique trader and he stripped pine furniture for other traders as a business.

On 14 April 2001 he appeared with Jerry Shirley, Peter Frampton and Clem Clempson, billed as a one off Humble Pie re-union, at a Steve Marriott Tribute Concert.[4] Earlier that year, he had also become involved with a Humble Pie project initiated by Jerry Shirley's reactivation of the group. and the enlisting of another former Humble Pie guitarist and vocalist Bobby Tench. This resulted in the album Back on Track, released by Sanctuary in 2002 and a short tour of Germany with Company of Snakes during the early part of 2003. The project was cut short when Ridley became ill.

On 19 November 2003, Ridley died in Alicante, Spain, of pneumonia and resulting complications. He was 56. His funeral was paid for by a concert organised by harmonica player Dave Hunt.

Happy Birthday

 Happy Birthday Matthew Brunson

Matthew Moses Brunson (born November 19, 1981) is the lead guitarist for sludge metal band Crowbar, replacing Steve Gibb, and bass player for Kingdom of Sorrow. He is from Metairie in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana and formerly played guitar in Shedding Old Skin. He attended East Jefferson High School in Metairie

Happy Birthday

 Happy Birthday Monte Pittman

Monte Lee Pittman (born November 19, 1975) is an American musician, songwriter and studio musician, based out of Los Angeles, known largely as Madonna's long-time guitarist and for playing with Prong. He has also appeared in the documentary "Who The F**K Is Arthur Fogel?" Pittman also professionally teaches guitar lessons and exclusively uses the Jamplay Teaching App.

Prong

Bass (2002-?)

Ministry

Guitars (2014-2015)