Old Friends & Past Band Members...             Band Members

Time passes, people move on but life, change and music link us all...

Meet the people who have been an important part of the F2B story and what they said about it at the time...

... and this is how we used to sound...a trip down memory lane   Texas Strut   Baby what you want me to do

 

Catherine                 (F2B January 2011-January 2012)


  

                                                          

Hey there!

I’m Catherine, one of Fade2Blacks newest recruits.
Hand on heart, I never had any interests in the blues until Fade2Black entered my young world. My musical interests lay with newly formed pop/rock and indie bands for most of my life, though I did always enjoy jazz and Motown.

When you’re young, all you really want to be is famous, to have someone know you and that was no different for me! Luckily for me a group of friends asked me to join their band and my singing adventures began.

I’ve dabbled in three other bands, none of which were blues...or quite as established as Fade2Black. As enjoyable as some of them were, looking back I can’t say I was ever truly that confident with my voice.

I moved to Sheffield in the September of 2010, I had stop walking my path to becoming famous, instead I followed the path to being a lawyer. A change of circumstances at the beginning of 2011 led me to drive for a new focus and who else was to come to my rescue but Mr Practical himself, Andy Smith!

My blues path may only be short, but I intend to walk many miles upon it and hope that I’m walking it with Fade2Black.

 

Frazer                   (F2B January 2011-January 2012)                                 


  

"(Sounds like) The Blues are composed of
feeling, finesse, and fear"
Billy Gibbons                                                        

Hello,

I'm Frazer, the new guitar and harp player with Fade2Black....................

 Strange musical beginnings, playing as a member of a dance band around the USAF Bases of Cambridgeshire during my late teens (a while ago now, but the matching satin shirts will be forever in my memory!), and an uneasy alliance with Music O Level and Grade 6 French Horn, ( a grand instrument, I still feel).

 A three piece R & B combo followed which lasted for several years, culminating in a residency at the much missed Scottgate Club in Stamford, representing also my introduction to the Blues Harp. There followed a musical wilderness, unfulfilling excursions into the field of 'Classic Rock; spent largely trying to persuade fellow players of the Spritual Benefits benefits of The Bluesbreakers 'Beano' and Fleetwood Mac's 'Dog and Dustbin' albums, (with little success as I recall.)

 My influences, in terms of players can be absolutely anyone, form Sister Rosetta Tharpe to Johnny Marr and probably all the usual stopping off points in between. As BB King said, 'We don't steal, but we do all Borrow'

 And now a huge opportunity in the form of Fade2Black, joining a long established and successful band presents its own challenges, new relationships, new attitudes, new values, but above all a huge opportunity, composed, as the man said of 'feeling, finesse and fear'.

 

Amelia Carter                         (F2B April 2007 -July 2011)

                       

 

"...I was looking back to see,

if he was looking back at me,

to see if I was looking back at...

him"   

Hi, I’m Amelia and I’m the rhythm guitarist / vocalist / violinist with Fade2Black.

My musical influences are firmly rooted in the 1960’s and 70’s, having been brought up listening to the family collection of vinyl LP’s of such bands as The Who, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Deep Purple and many others. 

Later on I discovered Janis Joplin and through listening to her music, Bessie Smith and other blues artists such as Robert Johnson, John Lee Hooker and Howlin’ Wolf.

I’ve been playing violin since I was eight and guitar since I was twelve. After I left college, I joined the blues and rock and roll band Green Onions, and continue to play with them to the present day. In addition to this, I sing and play violin in a jazz duo, covering the swing era jazz standards of Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra among others.  I have also played violin and guitar in an eight-piece salsa band.

 

John "Willow" Wilson         (F2B April 2007 -December 2009)                                                

 

Born under a good sign (Scorpio) on the cusp of Mercury rising in Uranus, I was obviously destined to enter the world of the blues at some stage in my life, albeit later. 

My early musical memories revolve around the early 70's and in particular one Mr David Bowie as well as all other things Glam Rock based. From there, I moved on to punk and then into classic rock and a stint with a local rock band named RIFF RAFF playing stuff from the likes of Paul Rogers / Free, Deep Purple, Thin Lizzy and others.

I enjoyed this time immensely but was also in the early stages of work with THE BIG HEAT so something had to give, namely RIFF RAFF.

My introduction to the blues came relatively late in the form of my last band, the rippin', stompin' THE BIG HEAT who introduced me to the joys of what was mainly jump blues a la Lois Jordan, Big Joe Turner, Amos Milburn etc, etc. From hearing the first bars of tunes by these musical giants I was hooked!

Unfortunately and due to nothing other than a natural progression, THE BIG HEAT became to laborious to continue, hence the next chapter.

My previous introduction to the blues obviously opened my ears to the joys of other blues masters from more recent times in the form of Johnny Winter, SRV, Clapton etc, etc, hence my latest incarnation as singer with Fade2Black. It may be a different type of blues, but I'm enjoying it just as much.

Sparks, Skins and The Doc have made the transition period easier with their laid back approach and despite having to learn a ridiculous amount of songs in two weeks, I feel things are coming along nicely. Only you can be the Judge of that!

Long may it continue!

 Willow - April 2009

"To be honest, I'm struggling to remember (it's an age thang!) how long I've been with F2B, and I know it's a cliché but time really does fly when you're enjoying yourself.

 
Who'd have thought that I'd get on so well with a small but perfectly packaged Bass player, a mad "Luthierian Doctor of Ophthalmology", the "Daughter of Darkness" and a undercover cop look-a- like called Steggsy? But, unashamedly, I have to admit I do!
 
Maybe it's because they're are all a bit left of centre that I can relate to them? Who knows and who cares as long as it continues?
 
Joking aside, I'm loving the F2B experience to date.
 
I more than most perhaps, want us to spread our wings a bit more in terms of different gigs and songs but I realise that it's not an overnight thing to experience both so have to reign myself in from time to time (or be reigned in by The Doc!).

That said, I'd like to think that I have influenced both of the above when you look at the places we have and are playing and the songs we've introduced and are, at the time of writing, introducing.

 
A special thanks to the small but perfectly packaged one for introducing us to "Steggsy" Palin our new drummer who seems like he's always been with us. It did concern me when Tony left that we'd suffer as a band. However, I have to say that Steve P has been a tremendous addition to our sound.
 
So ??? years on and musically life is good. I don't know where I'd be without it and the band to be honest.
 

Redders  (F2b 2001- April 2007)                                    

Hi I’m Redders, my job’s easy,

I just love to sing.

 

Although I have only been involved in bands for the last three or four years I have been involved with music all my life.

It doesn’t matter what style the music is whether it’s classical or rock, instrumental or choral what’s important to me is that it is good.

What turns me on about the blues is that it’s not just about playing songs its about being the music.  You just get lost inside each song and make it your own.

For me there is no greater thrill than being part of a live show, whether in the audience or on stage. 

Enjoy!

 

Pops Callaghan (F2b 2001- October 2006)

...Forever Young....

  

At midday sometime in the mid 1950's, a young man, maybe sixteen or so, returns home after spending all morning rummaging through the many pawn shops that traded on Sheffield's grimy industrial northside - back in those bad old good old days.

The outing had been a success, he's found what he has been looking for...

He lays out the new acquisition on the kitchen table, carefully opens the case and lifts out the contents. Wow! What a rod! Rod? Yep, I did say rod, and you guessed it, this guy is a budding young angler.

After a swift lunch, it is time to give the rod a workout on the back lawn, the reel's fitted, the tip is slightly weighted, we're away - swish - swoosh - swish - crack - oh 'sh....t'!

After inspection it becomes clear that the rod had previously been broken and then carefully repaired (bodged up!) rendering the thing completely useless - time to return to the old hock shop.

Having been told a refund was out of the question (b...'s), an exchange deal is negotiated and the younster walks out with his second choice....... 
.......a guitar. Yes, a Hoyer 6 string acoustic (made in Scandinavia I think) complete with soft case and chord book. It weighs a ton, but it's almost new and after a string change actually plays.....well it strums.

Six months later, and after weeks of just hanging on the bedroom door as 'decor' the guitar is finally relegated to the the dark eerie place in every teenagers bedroom....

.....until maternal complaints over dumping and health & safety hazards forces its removal and relocation to a new dumpsite.

And so, adhering to the general practice of elder siblings, namely, if you need to get rid of something totally useless - trade it for cash - to an equally useless younger brother..... me!.........I got my first guitar.

It was love at first sight....or more accurately.... love at first touch - a love affair that has endured for nearly fifty years.

I spent the first few years learning the basics, chords, their inversions and progressions, scales, modes and all that...... 

......and then I heard "that sound"...... for the very first time, pulsating out over the radio. Wow! What the 'fxxx' was that!!

I had discovered the Blues.

Over the years I have owned many guitars, ventured into many different styles of music - yet one thing has always remained, burnt deep into my soul, influencing everything I have ever played - that sound.. the BLUES

Pops Callaghan (4 years later in 2005)

Well, WOW!! ... what can I say, except it's been a real pleasure performing for all you folks out there in bluesville; it's been about 4 years now since the band formed, but thanks to your support, it seems like 4 minutes - doesn't time fly when you are enjoying your having fun.

As I am sure you can imagine, the ups and downs of some band situations can be a bit of a roller coaster ride, but being with F2B has been more like a 'merry-go-round', in the nicest sense - a real joy ride.

My time with F2B has also been a merry-go-around in the sense of bringing me back full circle to my first love - the blues - and it is at this point I would like to say "Thanks, Steve, Rich, Andy and Tony, it is a privilege and a joy working with you". I'm sure those of you who have seen F2B will agree that these guys really do the business.