Jerry wrote:
I remember seeing the original incarnation of Mad Hatter at The Parrot (before it became a block of flats!) back in the early '90s.
That's the one, I wasn't around for that, I joined for the '2.0' stage, but we did play a gig effectively playing an old Mad Hatter set list down in Plymouth a while back, for a birthday treat for an old friend of Pig's!
Behind-the-Gulls wrote: 27 Sep 2013, 09:52
The news that members/former members of Wishbone Ash were in dispute over copyright issues got me thinking about other bands/musicians from Torbay who had made it big in the past-or currently. Unfortunately there seems to be very few-despite Muse(Teignmouth),Ben Howard(Totnes),and Joseph Mount/Metronomy(Totnes),doing so well in recent times.There's a fair few who've had a good go at being successful-but none ever seem to quite make the big-time.The Nightporters for instance,are very successful abroad,but not so popular in this country(though they have a solid following),but are now splitting anyway, going the way it seems of a lot of other local bands who can't make a real break through after showing the potential to do so.
Best prospects at the moment seem to be Those Reigning Days,who I've seen a couple of times and seem to me to have what it takes to make it.
There's a few others as well and a half decent local music scene at present with a few venues offering the chance for local bands to make a name for themselves and build a following. To many venues though mainly put on so-called "tribute bands";few of whom are very good, and who of course rely completely on old material, rehashed -rather than original song-writing.
Hopefully Torbay will one day find a Muse or Coldplay though-it would be great for the area and long overdue!
WHG wrote: 22 Aug 2018, 07:54
Not everyone's cup of tea but folk band Wildwood Kin are originally from Torquay.
Very talented family as their brother plays for Exeter
They also featured on a Seth Lakeman album too, one of my favourite folk artists.
Serge Pizzornio from Kasabian is from Newton Abbot.
John Jansson, a composer and conductor who has worked with Stephen Sondheim and is working on the new arrangement of La Bohéme, the very famous Opera, is from Torquay.
An interesting thread this one, which passed me by the first time round (probably because I wasn't a member of the forum at the time).
Just to correct some earlier postings, Martin Turner (bassist and vocalist, Wishbone Ash) was born and bred in Torquay and is still very active on the gig circuit with his own version of the band. The other Turner in the band - Ted - was NOT his brother and in fact hailed from Sheldon, Birmingham. The band used to practise at Martin Turner's home in Torquay in their early days.
The other version of Wishbone Ash is led by guitarist Andy Powell and are also still gigging actively, and will be appearing at the rock/blues festival here in Bude in November.
Really showing my age now, does anyone remember a band called Stool Pigeon who supported anybody and everybody at Torquay Town Hall back in the early 1970's? They were a local band with a strident female vocalist, and pretty good they were too. Also the KIm Turner Band who played regularly at the Shiphay Manor Club (Kim was Martin's brother!), again in the early 1970's. Great days!
) but the character Jemma Simmons from Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D is from Ashburton.
