The Shadowers (featuring ALAN JONES) performing in Usk

[d jones]

Hi Kitty many thanks for the youtube link and as you say they are good!!!
all the best
Dave

[MeBHank]

Thanks all. Dave, it'll be good to see you.

Anyone attending may be able to make use of the post code of the Memorial Hall, which is NP15 1AD.

We're looking forward to Friday. It's gonna be a good night, and we're gonna have a lot of fun.

J

[Dave54]

To quote Kitty, "And yes, they are good" What a great evening, I'm glad they came to a venue near me, but after such a wonderful show you wouldn't be disappointed if you had to travel.

Thanks JUSTIN & THE SHADOWERS for recreating 'that sound'.


Dave

[flingelbunt]

What a thoroughly enjoyable evening of Shadows music!! I went along to the show with my wife Paulene and from the other side of the footlights (well, a couple of flourescent tubes- 30w!!) for a change and immersed ourselves in some great music.
What was enjoyable was the varied programme including some lesser played numbers such as 'Theme from Missing', 'Going Home', 'Mountains of t'Moon' plus 'Cosy' etc. Alan Jones was his usual self, playing bass harmonics where harmonics shouldn't be allowed (!), calling for a 'Taxi!!' and generally just being Alan! It was good to see a fine young drummer and a talented keyboard player who both played with a maturity beyond their years and gave the necessary drive and 'lift' to proceedings, ably abetted by Steve Longdon on rhythm guitar whose playing I have always admired- his use of acoustic guitar adds that depth to some of the older material, and he does it supremely well! The lead guitar was in the mitts of our Justin and his playing was superb- controlled, with great feel and the Meazzi certainly grabs hold of the vintage sound in particular in spades.... great stuff!! Good to meet up and chat with Phil Kelly and Alan Jones again and talk 'shop' and have a good laugh pre and post show- great night; keep the strings to the front guys!!

Maurice- Lord Flingel of Buntshire

[Bojan]

What a great report!! Thanks! Congratulations to Justin and the boys! I only wish I lived at least a thousand kilometers closer to where the action is !!

[MeBHank]

You're right Bojan, what a great report! Thanks Maurice, and thanks Dave, it was good to see you both and we're glad you enjoyed the night. We loved it, and it was so good to relax into our first full length concert as a band. We feel that we're starting to settle and we're enjoying playing together more and more. Many thanks to the organizer, Richard Fry, Phil Kelly (who did a great job with the sound, amongst other things), and Monty and Guinevere Daish (aka: my parents, who are now well seasoned in the roles of roadies and many more jobs besides). It seems that we'll be back in Monmouthshire again in the not too distant future.

Just less than six weeks to go before we do it all again in Dorset and Somerset for the first two "That Sound" concerts with Licorice.

J

[Iain Purdon]

And to pedro I would just like to say.......

........ yes, in an ideal world someone else would write all this up - or maybe you'd employ a publicist. But when you're starting out you have to start the ball rolling somehow. The fact that other people have enthusiastically joined in with their own spontaneous praise is enough to convince me that the lads dun good. I'll certainly go see them when their world tour hits my home town!!

Iain

[phil kelly]

Just to reiterate what has already been said really,
I was glad i went along last friday to see The Shadowers at Usk,
Maurice has already commented on the set list and i totally agree what a very good choice of material we were given, some favourites for everyone.
The band sounded excellent, nice and tight and controlled and each band member gave it their very best and worked hard to give us a great evenings music.
One thing that springs to mind is how well the band gel and play so collectively as a tight unit having only been together such a short time,i think a combination of the love of the music and the hard work that has been put in contribute to this.
Justins playing and sound was simply excellent, for someone so young what we were treated to with his playing is not the norm, he really is becoming so masterful of the guitar style of Mr Marvin , and to look at, visually this could be Hank on stage ,this was the old Meazzi Shadows sound we were hearing, all made easy for him due to the excellent backing provided by Steve Longdon( great acoustic / electric tones ) Matt Green ,( so accomplished on keys, true talent ) Nigel ( great guy on the kit with solid timing and sound to match ) and of course the best of the best " my dear old mate Jonesy on bass, simply flawless.
I recommend anyone go if you can and check out this great band, you will be knocked out, i was ! keep it up guys, heres to your next show,
Phil.

[Pedro]

And to pedro I would just like to say.......

........ yes, in an ideal world someone else would write all this up - or maybe you'd employ a publicist. But when you're starting out you have to start the ball rolling somehow. The fact that other people have enthusiastically joined in with their own spontaneous praise is enough to convince me that the lads dun good. I'll certainly go see them when their world tour hits my home town!!

Iain

And to ian I would say.....

I would not employ a publicist. I would leave the the recommendations for others, that way there is some credibility in them. From what I am reading this player has an ego rarely found elsewhere. The fact is he is not HBM and never will be. A good playeer ....sure and what is wrong in being happy with that.
There was much criticism of the band 'The Fabulous Shadows' and rightly so. The Shadowers is just as close but somehow gets under the radar. I have only seen one of these tribute bands and that was at a Jet Harris concert some years ago at the Floral Pavilion, New Brighton. I thought Jet was embarassing but the backing band, The Rapiers were very good...that's all leave it like that. I find it difficult to comprehend why anyone would want to morph into someone they are not in the visual sense. Play the music. Don't expect the same response as the REAL thing because NOBODY will be another HBM.

[MeBHank]

And to ian I would say.....

I would not employ a publicist. I would leave the the recommendations for others, that way there is some credibility in them. From what I am reading this player has an ego rarely found elsewhere. The fact is he is not HBM and never will be. A good playeer ....sure and what is wrong in being happy with that.
There was much criticism of the band 'The Fabulous Shadows' and rightly so. The Shadowers is just as close but somehow gets under the radar. I have only seen one of these tribute bands and that was at a Jet Harris concert some years ago at the Floral Pavilion, New Brighton. I thought Jet was embarassing but the backing band, The Rapiers were very good...that's all leave it like that. I find it difficult to comprehend why anyone would want to morph into someone they are not in the visual sense. Play the music. Don't expect the same response as the REAL thing because NOBODY will be another HBM.

William, I sent you a well-natured PM a few days ago, to which I received no response. I will answer some of your current challenges, though.

Firstly, when choosing the band's name, I personally asked Bruce if we could use the name Shadowers as we thought it could be too close to Shadows. He gave me his permission with almost a raised eyebrow of surprise, as though he thought it unnecessary for me to ask him such a question. Therefore, we had our band name. We thought - and still do believe - that it was a good choice of name, as it tells the public we are a Shadows band, but also that we are "Shadowing" them - in other words, following in their footsteps or paying tribute. From the comments you have made on this forum up till now, it would seem that until you have seen them play, you have a vendetta against any Shads tribute group. That is, apart from the one band you have seen! Does that not tell you that you maybe haven't seen enough bands? There are a lot of great groups out there. You should check out a few more of them.

Next, where have we said we expect the same response as the real thing? In fact, all we want to do is perform music to people who share our love of the Shads. Thankfully, the vast majority of people within the Shadows community don't share your negativity or read so much between the lines as you. Most will gladly enjoy a night of Shads music, even if it's not being performed by the actual Shadows.

Also, what a strange idea of marketing you have! If, in your eyes, band members should not publicize their own performances themselves nor employ a publicist, how the hoojie are people supposed to hear about the gigs?! I'm very glad that the people who help our band function don't share your concept of how to run a successful business!

Lastly, you and I have never met and therefore you really have no idea of what I am like as a person. I'll ask you to kindly not make public judgments of my character. As I said to you in my PM, all I want to do is play music to like-minded people (which, unfortunately for you, means publicizing shows!) and to enjoy the camaraderie of the Shadows Family.

Moving on, thanks Phil, for some wonderful words and for your continued support.

Iain, thank you for your support and kind words. It'll be great to see you whenever you can make it to a show. I'm sure we'll be seeing eachother before that time, though, and I look forward to our next chat (maybe at Lakeside?).

Cheers...

J