ROCK the BORDER + Band in London, EN

SEEKING

ABOUT

ROCK the BORDER are a New Function / Party Band comprising mature highly experienced ex-pro’ musicians.

We have party GIGS already coming in!

SEEKING:
A good Rock Lead Vocalist (male or female)
A Drummer and …
A Keyboard Player

London / Essex / Hertfordshire / Kent / Berkshire

This is a new band being formed by Noel and Tom, who are both seasoned musicians in their 60s with a lifetime of experience in a variety of excellent bands.

ABOUT TOM:
Tom is an outstanding lead guitar player. Currently he is lead guitar for the UK’s leading Spandau Ballet tribute band (who appear in the real Spandau’s Television Mocumentary!).

However as a young man he crafted his playing by replicating the artists who are still his favourites today: Jimi Page, Paul Kossof, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Rory Gallagher et al.

ABOUT ME (Noel):
I’m Noel (bass guitar) and for the past 7 years I was running ‘Below the Border’ … a successful 1970s party band comprising ex pro old-git musicians like myself! (See videos here and gig lists / reviews at our old website).

150 years ago, in the mid 70s, I was playing the Birmingham circuit underage in Spellbound (see vid/audio here) including Brum’s famous ‘Railway’.

In the 90s I was touring an Album with The Lizards; did little bit of TV and we were played on John Peel!

ABOUT THIS NEW BAND:
The band is for fun. We will go out for between £450 and £1,000, appearing mainly at party gigs around London, Essex, Hertfordshire and Kent.

We aim to gig no more than about once a month.

ABOUT YOU:
Finding the right type of people to join the band is as important to us as your ability. (We are easy-going and friendly with a liberal worldview. No egos, no issues. Each of us are now retired following professional careers outside music).

You should be a very good player and used to learning your part for each song properly from the record, prior to rehearsals.

That said, our philosophy is to cover songs our own way, so that the band develops its own recognisable sound and groove.

ABOUT MATERIAL:
The set will comprise well-known hits from the 60s through the 80s which make audiences (young and old) HAVE to get up and dance. A mix of rhythm & blues, rock and pop hits:-

Free, Steely Dan, David Bowie, Led Zepplin, The Rolling Stones, T-Rex, The Beatles, Rory Gallagher, Slade, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Steve Miller, Eric Clapton, JJ Cale, Steppenwolf, AC-DC, etc …. you get the picture!

We will have just one rule (which we stole from the Beatles): if anybody doesn’t want to do something, be it a song they don’t care for, a particular booking request, or anything at all, then without ANY further discussion, we don’t do it. All for one and all that.

Thank you for reading our page.

Noel

~ ~ ~

Screen name:

ROCK the BORDER

Member since:

Jul 20 2016

Active within 24 hours

Level of commitment:

Committed

Years together:

7

Gigs played:

Over 100

Age:

66 years

Influences

MATERIAL:

We will use this section of the profile to talk about proposed material, with a few YouTube examples.

So, as described above we’ll be playing covers of the famous rock chart hits of the 60s & 70s and possibly one or two later songs.

The final choice songs will be dependent upon the lead singer who joins us. A band’s tightness is very much tied up with the little subconscious signals that come from the lead vocalist’s natural phrasing.

So choosing the right songs from the myriad of available 60s and 70s hits will come down to just three things:

1. Most importantly, does the song fit well for the lead vocalist?

2. Do we instantly play it brilliantly as a band, having learnt our individual parts?

3. Will it make party audiences want to leap onto the dance floor? (With the previous incarnation of this band, Below the Border, we were used to party audiences, largely of an older generation, dancing the night away and cheering at the end of each number).

Younger lead vocalists looking at this profile, who were not there at the time, may not be familiar with all of what the genre has to offer; so we provide a few BOROAD examples here.

The band will be able to play stuff like this spot on (we did before - see the Below the Bordet SHOWREEL video in here).

If you don’t know these, copy & paste the YouTube links below each:

Free - Alright Now

https://youtu.be/qjjs4thy-R

Twist & Shout (The Beatles but here a brill performance by Beverly Knight at Abbey Road)

https://youtu.be/dN-Toers5k

Sepencer Davis Group (Steve Winwood) - Keep on Runnin’
https://youtu.be/H6LVI1gDswg

Led Zepplin - Good Times Bad Times
https://youtu.be/g-FR3L1jS5Q

Clapton - Knock on Wood (for those of you our age … spot now Erics’s now usual pickers, Andy Fairweaather Lowe on signature riffs and Gary Brooker on organ)

https://youtu.be/TEFEhLA8BBM

T Rex - Get it on

https://youtu.be/wZkTh_T75QY

The above is NOT a list of must-do’s; but merely a taste of the breadth of the genre for any younger lead vocalists unfamiliar with the era.

Obviously the band will be experienced enough to play songs like these exactly like the originals, and transpose to any key to suit the lead singer.

Thanks for watching.

EQUIPMENT

Fender, Gibson, Rickenbacker, Hofner
Marshall, Orange, Markbass, Sure SM58 mikes,

MUSIC