THE MOTORS

March 4th, 2010 · Posted in Video Of The Week 226


Motoring down the rock’n’roll freeway

THE MOTORS ON BBC TV’S THE OLD GREY WHISTLE TEST 1978

Here are The Motors in action, one of the hottest bands of the Seventies and contemporaries of the Kursaal Flyers and Heavy Metal Kids. The group was fronted by Nick Garvey and Andy McMaster, who had met in the pub rock band Ducks Deluxe. After playing in various bands Nick was encouraged by his manager Richard Ogden to form his own group. Working began on assembling The Motors in January 1977 and Garvey and McMaster recruited Ricky Wernham (drums), and guitarist Bram Tchaikovsky. They made their debut at he Marquee Club, London in March 1977 and signed to Virgin.

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ALL THE YOUNG DUDES - WHEN GLAM ROCK RULED

February 24th, 2010 · Posted in Those Were The Days 223


Stack heels, long hair and lipstick, mirror balls, furs and peacock feather…yes we’re talking ’bout GLAM ROCK. What a fabulous era when Marc Bolan and David Bowie set the trends for a whole parade of Seventies pop idols. The early Seventies was supposedly dominated by heavy prog rockers from Led Zeppelin to ELP and Jethro Tull. But in a parallel universe, another wave of heroes dominated the pop charts, airwaves and TV channels.

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ALL THE WINNERS: CROYDON TESTING 123

February 23rd, 2010 · Posted in Showtime Live Reviews 224

Croydon’s annual talent contest Testing 123 focusing on the hottest unsigned local music acts, was another great success with a variety bands, singers and composers battling it out for honours and prizes. There were three heats, commencing on February 16 with Singer/Songwriters night, followed by Hip Hop/R&B (17th) and Bands (18th), climaxing with the Grand Final on Friday 19th.

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TECHNOPIA: SONJA KRISTINA’S ELECTRONICA FUTURE

February 18th, 2010 · Posted in Hot New Repertoire Releases 221


Sonja Kristina, singing star with classic rock group Curved Air has teamed up with composer and multi-instrumentalist Marvin Ayres to create a new work by their joint musical collaboration, MASK. Their long awaited second album ‘Technopia’ is due to be released on Repertoire’s r.a.r.e. label and the music will also form the basis of an exciting multi-media stage show to be launched in April 2010.

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Rock journalist Chris Welch has been a member of the Repertoire team for twenty years. He has written hundreds of CD liner notes for a huge range of album releases since joining the company in 1988. His comprehensive knowledge of the rock and pop world is based on a career that began in the Swinging Sixties.

As Features Editor on Melody Maker he wrote about all the major rock and pop groups including The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Cream, The Who, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin. Each week he reported on rising stars such as Jimi Hendrix, Tom Jones, Scott Walker, Marc Bolan, David Bowie, Rod Stewart, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel and Jiving K.Boots.

After 40 years Chris is still writing about pop and rock and playing the drums. His current favourite group is Kings of Leon. Each fortnight Chris reminisces about his adventures as a music journalist and reports on the latest news ('Elvis To Tour Shock'), in CHRIS’ CORNER.