On This Day 28/09/1978 Wilko Johnson

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On this day, 28 September 1978, former Dr Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson played Cardiff University with his group Wilko Johnson’s Solid Senders.

As member of the pub rock/rhythm and blues band Dr. Feelgood in the 1970s. Johnson was known for his distinctive guitar playing style which he achieved by not using a guitar pick but playing fingerstyle. This enabled him to play rhythm guitar and riffs or solos at the same time creating a highly percussive guitar sound.

Johnson and Dr. Feelgood were an influence on the English punkmovement. Paul Weller said of Johnson: "Wilko may not be as famous as some other guitarists, but he's right up there. And there are a lot of people who'll say the same. I can hear Wilko in lots of places. It's some legacy."

In 1977, Johnson was a founding member of Solid Senders, with keyboardist John Potter, bassist Steve Lewins, and drummer Alan Platt. They signed to Virgin in 1978 and released the album, Solid Senders that year.

The Wilko Johnson Band played at the 'Front Row Festival', a three-week event at the Hope and Anchor, Islington in late November and early December 1977, featuring many early punk rock acts. This resulted in the inclusion of two tracks by The Wilko Johnson Band ("Dr. Feelgood" and "Twenty Yards Behind"), on a hit double album of recordings from the festival. The Hope & Anchor Front Row Festival compilation album (March 1978).

On This Day 27/09/2001 Echobelly

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On this day, 27 September 2001, rock band Echobelly played Cardiff’s Clwb Ifor Bach. The band had just released their Greatest Hits album I Can't Imagine the World Without Me. The album is heavily biased on the bands' first album Everyone's Got One, with 9 of the 18 songs coming from that album.

They were often compared to Blondie and The Smiths; Morrissey becoming a fan of the group.

The most prominent part of Echobelly's success formula was vocalist Sonya Madan, who was also the group's lyricist. Born in Delhi, India, before moving to England at the age of two, Madan had an atypical background for a pop star. Her upbringing made rock music an unusual choice for her as a youngster and she did not attend her first rock concert until she was in college.

In 1990 she met Glenn Johansson, a guitarist from Sweden. In a radio interview with Janice Long, on BBC Radio Wales, in December 2017, she admitted that her parents had initially found it hard to accept her choice of career.

On This Day 26/09/2006 McFly

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On this day, 26 September 2006, pop/rock band McFly played Cardiff International Arena on their Motion In The Ocean Tour.

Formed in London in 2003. The band took their name from the Back to the Future character Marty McFly. The band consists of Tom Fletcher (lead vocals, guitar, and piano), Danny Jones (lead vocals, harmonica, and guitar), Dougie Poynter (bass guitar, vocals) and Harry Judd (drums). They were signed to Island Records from their 2004 launch until December 2007, before creating their own label, Super Records.

McFly rose to fame after fellow band Busted, with whom they later formed McBusted, helped launch them by inviting them to tour in 2004. In 2005, they won the Brit Award for Best British Pop Act.

McFly's debut album Room on the 3rd Floor debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and is certified as double platinum; this led to them taking the record, in the Guinness Book of records, as being the youngest band ever to have an album debut at number one—a title taken from the Beatles.

A month after the album was released, the band had their first UK headlining tour.

Review - Wales Online

Tom Fletcher, at 21 the oldest member of McFly, reckons on the official website their current tour is 'gonna kick ass'. And, judging by last night's performance, he could be right.

On their second night in Cardiff, the boys came up with a good musical mix, including covers, their early music and their new single Star Girl, which is out next month.

They added a pyrotechnic blast to the fantastic atmosphere at Cardiff International Arena.

McFly covered Ghostbusters, Queen's Don't Stop Me Now and Fight For Your Right from the Beastie Boys.

Playing on a stage set out on a '50s beach theme, McFly played their own songs, from the first single Five Colours in Her Hair, at number one more than two years ago, Obviously, Unsaid Things and more.

Fletcher could easily have been a member of Busted, but was rejected after an audition as the new band was formed.

Instead, Fletcher and Co - Danny Jones, Dougie Poynter and Harry Judd - founded McFly, taking the name from his love of the science fiction film Back to the Future and leading character Marty McFly.

They leave Cardiff heading north to play Newcastle, Glasgow and more.

Setlist

Please, Please

I Wanna Hold You

I'll Be OK

We Are the Young

Surf Medley

Surfer Babe

Down by the Lake

That Girl

She Left Me

Star Girl

All About You

Sorry's Not Good Enough

Fight for Your Right

(Beastie Boys cover)

Not Alone

Room on the 3rd Floor

Ghostbusters

(Ray Parker Jr. cover)

Encore:

I've Got You

Obviously

Don't Stop Me Now

(Queen cover)

5 Colours in Her Hair

On This Day 23/09/1984 Difford & Tilbrook

On this day, 23 September 1984, Squeeze bandmates Chris Difford and Glen Tilbrook played Cardiff’s New Ocean Club. The duo had recently released their Difford and Tilbrook album.

Because Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook have always been the songwriters and only constant members of Squeeze, Difford & Tilbrook is often considered to be a Squeeze album in all but name.

Several remastered tracks from this album have been included on Squeeze compilations such as Piccadilly Collection and Excess Moderation (both released in 1996), and tracks "Hope Fell Down" and "Love's Crashing Waves" have regularly been included in Squeeze setlists since 2010. Tony Visconti produced the album, but A&M rejected his mix, and brought in Eric Thorngren to do a new mix.

On This Day 22/09/1958 Terry Dene

On this day, 22 September 1958, rock music singer Terry Dene played Cardiff’s New Theatre. Providing support for Terry Dene and his Dene-Aces was provided by, Edna Savage, Margo & June, Chas. McDevitt with Shirley Douglas, Dave Gray, Barry Anthony, Earl & Elgar and Eva May Wong.

In 1957, his first single, "A White Sport Coat", sold in excess of 350,000 copies in the first seven weeks and together with his own version of "Start Movin'" at number 14, put his records in the Top 20 of the UK Singles Chart twice in the same year, securing his name in the Guinness Book of Records.

His recording of "Stairway of Love" in 1958 remained in the chart for eight weeks. He toured Britain, was one of the first to appear in the BBC Television's first pop show, Six-Five Special in April 1957, and appeared in a film, The Golden Disc (1958).

After being arrested for public drunkenness and breaking a shop window in 1958, and ripping out a telephone box from the wall whilst claiming his passionate love for Edna Savage, Dene was branded as a 'bad apple' and the exemplifier of the 'evil of rock and roll' by the press, and was then conscripted into the Army for national service.

He was originally expected to report to Winchester Barracks, where he was due to join the King's Royal Rifle Corps on 7 July 1958, but his call-up was initially deferred until contractual commitments had been completed. When he finally did go in, it was so badly handled by the press (who filmed and publicised his arrival at the barracks) that after two months Dene had to be discharged on psychological grounds as his mental health had deteriorated considerably. By that time the press had almost ruined his career, and the Army offered him a pension as a form of compensation which Dene refused.

Dene later joined the Larry Parnes' stable of stars and toured with them around Britain.

On This Day 21/09/1964 Brian Poole & the Tremeloes

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On this day, 21 September 1964, beat group Brian Poole & the Tremeloes played Cardiff’s New Theatre headlining a Variety Package that featured, Tom, Dick & Harry (Your kind of folk), The Buckmaster Puppets (Modern puppetry), Anna-Lou & Maria (Sophisticated sorcery), Linda Lee (Television's "Think Of A Word"), Bobby Dennis (Who's crazy), June & Johnny (Novelty dancing entertainers) and Ray Bishop & His Orchestra.

Brian Poole and The Tremeloes) are an English beat group founded in 1958 in Dagenham, England. They initially found success in the British Invasion era with lead singer Brian Poole, scoring a UK chart-topper in 1963 with "Do You Love Me".

After Poole's departure in 1966, the band achieved further success as a four-piece with 13 top 40 hits on the UK Singles Chart between 1967 and 1971 including "Here Comes My Baby", "Even the Bad Times Are Good", "(Call Me) Number One", "Me and My Life" and their most successful single, "Silence Is Golden" (1967).

On This Day 20/09/1973 Savoy Brown

On this day 20 September 1973, Blues/Rock band Savoy Brown played Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre as support to Status Quo.

Formed in Battersea, south west London, in 1965. Part of the late 1960s blues rock movement, Savoy Brown primarily achieved success in the United States, where they promoted their albums with non-stop touring. Founder, guitarist and primary songwriter Kim Simmonds was the sole constant member of the band from its formation in 1965 until his death in 2022.

In June 1973 the band released their 10th album Jack The Toad.

The band was formed by guitarist Kim Simmonds and harmonica player John O'Leary, following a chance meeting at Transat Imports record shop in Lisle Street, Soho, in 1965. In naming themselves, the group put together two words that conveyed an interesting balance of opposite sentiments and approaches.

The word "Savoy" came from an American blues label, Savoy Records, as the members of the band thought the word "Savoy" sounded elegant. They added “Brown” because they thought it was an extremely plain word. Overall, the group called itself the Savoy Brown Blues Band to tell listeners that they played Chicago Blues-sounding music.

On This Day 19/09/1995 The Everly Brothers

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On this day, 19 September 1995, rock and pop legends The Everly Brothers played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall.

The American rock duo, known for steel-string acoustic guitar playing and close harmony singing. Consisting of Isaac Donald "Don" Everly and Phillip "Phil" Everly, the duo combined elements of rock and roll, country, and pop, becoming pioneers of country rock.

The duo was raised in a musical family in Central City, Kentucky, first appearing on radio singing with their father Ike Everly and mother Margaret Everly as "The Everly Family" in the 1940s. They gained the attention of Chet Atkins through Merle Travis and subsequently moved to Knoxville, Tennessee while still in high school. Nashville musicians like Atkins began to promote them for national attention.

They began writing and recording their own music in 1956, and their first hit song came in 1957, with "Bye Bye Love", written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant. The song hit No. 1 in the spring of 1957, and additional hits would follow through 1958, many of them written by the Bryants, including "Wake Up Little Susie", "All I Have to Do Is Dream", and "Problems". In 1960, they signed with the major label Warner Bros. Records and recorded "Cathy's Clown", written by the brothers themselves, which was their biggest selling single. The brothers enlisted in the United States Marine Corps Reserve in 1961, and their output dropped off, though additional hit singles continued through 1962, with "That's Old Fashioned (That's the Way Love Should Be)" being their last top-10 hit.

Long-simmering disputes with Wesley Rose, the CEO of Acuff-Rose Music, which managed the group, and a growing drug usage in the 1960s, as well as changing tastes in popular music, led to the group's decline in popularity in its native U.S., though the brothers continued to release hit singles in the U.K. and Canada and had many highly successful tours throughout the 1960s. In the early 1970s, the brothers began releasing solo recordings, and in 1973 they officially broke up. Starting in 1983, the brothers got back together and continued to perform periodically until Phil's death in 2014. Don died seven years later.

The group was highly influential with the music of the generation that followed it. Many of the top acts of the 1960s were heavily influenced by the close-harmony singing and acoustic guitar playing of the Everly Brothers, including the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Bee Gees, and Simon & Garfunkel. In 2015, Rolling Stone ranked the Everly Brothers No. 1 on its list of the 20 Greatest Duos of All Time.

South Wales Echo Review - 40 years on and still great

The career of Phil and Don Everly spans forty years since they first performed as children on radio shows in the fifties.

And it's this experience professionalism picked up along the way that had a packed audi. ence at St David's Hall eating out of their hands.

Mixing country, blues, and folk, they wasted no time in cracking out hit songs like Bye Bye Love, Wake Up Little Susie and Cathy's Clown and  whipped up a storm.

During ballads like Let It Be Me and Crying In The Rain, you could have heard a pin drop as the audience listened to the wonderful harmonies that have become the singers' trademark.

A little older and without a teenager in sight, the Everly Brothers certainly know how to put on a show - no fancy lighting or techno gimmicks, just good songs performed with enthusiasm.

Phil and Don benefited from having a excellent band of musicians which featured the brilliant guitar playing of Albert Lee.

Tony Woolway