Rhythm Guitarist Wanted For 7 Day Tour: London/Surrey

Video: 'Ready 4 U' by Weapon, featuring RTYD Member, Danny Hynes

Inspired by what they regarded as a "hip-hop dominated British chart", last year Weapon released their first single in 30 years as a digital download. The band, who were originally part of the NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) movement of the 1980s, features ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP member Danny Hynes and other original members: Jeff Summers, Gavin Cooper (Paul Di'Anno's Battlezone/Killers) and Ian Sweeting (The Risen, Stone Katz).

Judith Fisher at MetalTalk.net described the single, entitled Ready 4 U, as a "chunky slice of hard hitting, foot stomping rock, filled to the brim with chunky guitar riffs and melodies [and] driven along by pounding drums that is guaranteed to get fists pumping and heads shaking". And she knows here stuff.

The last WEAPON single, released in 1980, actually got namechecked in a book about Metallica, which is pretty cool. Here's the extract:

'Metallica opened its early live sets (and “Kill ‘Em All” album) with “Hit The Lights” a song that begins with a noisy two chord flourish meant to evoke the opening of a concert. However, in a further illustration of NWOBHM’s important role in Metallica’s musical direction, the opening chords – drum fills and all, seem to have been lifted directly from WEAPON’s “Set the Stage Alight” - the 1980 release from the influential fledgling NWOBHM band'  (Metallica Biography Damage Incorporated Pub. 2006)

You can download Ready 4 U on iTunes here.

Welcome bassist Andy Webb from Plymouth in Devon

Welcome to bass guitarist Andy Webb from Plymouth in Devon. That's his bass!

Andy is a hobbyist, but is looking for a songwriting partner, and either a heavy rock or a folk band. He has previously played in original heavy rock and metal bands, but now he particularly likes the idea of an AC/DC tribute band - and why not?! He even likes the idea of going on the road.

Andy has also been doing some home recording and would like to develop this interest. So if Andy sounds like someone you'd like to work with, get in touch with him through ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP.

Introducing new RTYD member Laird Ken Bates

Welcome to new ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP member Laird Ken Bates from south London.

Laird plays saxophone and harmonica, and sings. He currently plays saxophone for The Wickermen who are playing the Ivy Leaf in Dartford, Kent, on Saturday 4th February. He is also available for session work.

Here's a link to Laird's own website and more about the Wickermen.

Introducing new RTYD member Thomas Ferranti of California band Those Beasleys

Welcome to new ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP member Thomas Ferranti of Los Angeles California originals band, Those Beasleys.

Those Beasleys was active in the 90s and recorded three albums of original music that sadly never saw the light of day. Each of the three main members of the band were singer-songwriters and multi-instrumentalists, as well as visual artists, and were all public-access tv producers when they met.

The Beasleys were: Rev. Spike Beasley (Thomas Ferranti) Tex Beasley (Gary Wray) Sky Beasley (Mike Meadows) and sometimes Pancho Beasley (Dane Nelsen) Lovecraft Beasley (Andrew Schulsinger)

Welcome to Toby Nuttall of London band, The Beast

A ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP welcome to Toby Nuttall, frontman with London blues-rock band, The Beast. I have known Toby for a while now, and seen The Beast a few times. They rock hard - like a cross between AC/DC and Led Zep. They've even played a RTYD showcase or two - remember those! Watch this space for details of their next show.

Introducing new RTYD member, professional drummer, Ali Clark

Welcome to London-based professional drummer Ali Clark.

Ali is available for deps and sessions. He has worked in many bands, done pit work and taught both privately and as a workshop leader at a Performing Arts College. He says he's happy to play pubs if his diary's clear. He has his own kit, his own car and most of own teeth!

You can hear some of Ali's drumming and read more about him on his MySpace page here,

Welcome new RTYD member Mick from Ware in Hertfordshire

Welcome to Mick from Ware in Hertfordshire who plays in party covers band StarStreet.  Formed in 2004 by original 60s and 70s musicians, the band, which plays about 14 shows a year, is probably the only band in Hertfordshire from the good old days of sex, drugs and rock & roll - they've just given up the sex and drugs!

Thanks for joining, Mick!

Introducing new RTYD member Martin Butler

Welcome to new RTYD member Martin Butler from Newbury in Berkshire. By day Martin is a security consultant, and by night he plays guitar with latin/soul/funk/jazz/R&B originals act, Say What Sounds

Introducing South Yorkshire band, Nowhere:Fast

Welcome to ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP, to Sheffield, South Yorkshire-based originals band, Nowhere:Fast, that plays catchy powerpop with rock, punk and post-punk influences.

The band started life back in 2008 as a four-piece, under the name of These Black & White Flames, but after an album and two EPs they parted ways with their founder member Rick Moore. But before long they drafted in Matt Kay on vocals and renamed the band NOWHERE:FAST and set about writing for their their debut EP 'The Feel Good Movie Of The Year’ which is available via their website - and very good it is. Since then, they have added Ryan Smith (from Sheffield band, Pirouettes) on bass.

So keep an eye on RTYD for details of gigs and music releases, and watch as they - like other very good bands before them - go nowhere, fast.

Nowhere: Fast is:
Matt Kay - Guitars & Vocals
Andy Taylor - Guitars & effects abuse
Ryan Smith - Bass
Paul 'Semii' Holden - Drums

Introducing new RTYD member Andy Lawrence

Welcome to ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP, bass player Andy Lawrence, from Teignmouth in Devon.

He and a guitarist are currently looking for a singer and drummer for a band they are putting together to play rock/blues/R&B cover songs from the 60s and 70s. They would like dedicated musicians who are prepared to work hard and practice regularly.

Introducing new RTYD member, Essex-based, David J Frost

Welcome to ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP to David J. Frost, Canvey Island-based singer and guitarist with covers duo Monkies Wedding, who play a mixture of ska and pop/rock. David also deps for for a seven piece function band playing bass and singing, but he is looking for more opportunities to play bass. So if you have any leads for him, or need a bass player yourself, please get in touch with David through RTYD.

Introducing new RTYD member, Graham Endeacott

‎#RIP #RTYD Etta James

Legendary blues singer Etta James has died aged 73 after suffering from leukaemia: http://bit.ly/vZDppo

New Gig, New Material, New Grapefruit: 14CG play the Dublin Castle, Camden, 14th March

14 Carat Grapefruit have just announced they will be playing at The Dublin Castle in Camden on 14th March. Expect new material, and a new Grapefruit in the shape of yours truly. More about that soon.

Welcome! Groundhogs vocalist Joanna Deacon to ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP

Photograph: Laurence Harvey

ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP would like to welcome Groundhogs vocalist Joanna Deacon from the Groundhogs to the network. Joanna lives in Wellington in Shropshire and sings with the band, which continues to perform its classic original music, along with early blues material that influenced them.

For those who aren’t familiar with The Groundhogs, Joanna supplied these words about singer and guitarist Tony McPhee who named the band back in the early 60s after the John Lee Hooker song, Groundhog's Blues; as well as few words from Julian Cope's Head Heritage website on the band:

'Tony McPhee may be the godfather of grunge - ask Nirvana producer Jack Endino; he may have been playing with blues legends (Hooker, Dupree, Wolf) in the British Blues boom - check out BBC4's 'Blues Britannia' and 'Blues in Britain' footage;  he may have been voted 4th best British guitarist by Sounds magazine. He is certainly still featuring in Classic Rock, Mojo, Uncut & Music Maker magazines -  you will have to buy those to see; and yet he remains one of the business’s more enigmatic guitar legends, choosing to just get on and play rather than jump on the music biz bandwagon.'

And this, from Julian Cope:

‘In the very early 1970s, the Groundhogs were an ultra-hip, Utopian musical force playing their Top 10 album songs on Top of the Pops and recording alongside Can, Hawkwind and Amon Düül 2 for Andrew Lauder’s groundbreaking Liberty/United Artists record label. The Groundhogs’ albums were housed in supercool gatefolds or triple-gatefolds or even 12” x 15” unfolding comic books which portrayed the individual group members as superheroes. The Groundhogs referred to themselves as ‘Men of Destiny with secret thoughts of saving the world’, and gave their albums titles such as Thank Christ for the Bomb, Split and Who Will Save the World? The Mighty Groundhogs!

...the Groundhogs music was something else entirely. It was a frantic and unresolved post-blues played at breakneck speed with a hard non-hippy idealism and drumming that sounded as though the god Thor was using the gasworks as tom-toms… Their frantic songs of alienation would piledrive along only to disintegrate into whoops of feedback and sonic wah-distortion. As a 15-year-old, I’d sit in the living-room of local axe-hero and watch him mime ecstatically to the guitar freakout in which T.S. makes his Stratocaster sound like the flushing of an electric toilet!’

Dirk Thrust's second gig

I enjoyed my first four months in Plymouth. I’d finally left home. I was at Art School. In those days they gave you free money for being a student. My first grant cheque catapulted me straight down to Wants, a second–hand shop, where, for £30 I became the proud owner of a Burns La Vista short-scale jazz guitar. I’d left Guildford with a Gibson Discoverer Tremolo 20 watt amp and speaker combo, not to mention my Marshall Fuzz Face and Vox Wah Wah pedal. My flat-mate, fellow student, Bez, played violin and piano. We would smoke and Jam on occasion. We shared an enthusiasm for Jimmy Clitheroe and the Velvet Underground. Our classmate Jeff from Manchester’s Urmston [just behind the Holland Pie factory] played bass.

I met a non-student guitar player called Malcolm. Our occasional jams occasionally synchronised. He introduced me to Tim, another aspiring guitarist, whose girlfriend was one of three mates with proximate birthdays. They’d clubbed together and hired a waterfront nightclub for a party. A live band was required and thus opportunity knocked.

We would be The Mutley Plain Planet Munchers. Mutley Plain was a street on the way out of Plymouth. It was a good name…in Plymouth. Word spread, friends of friends were keen. By the night of the gig we had: - drums, bass, three guitars, keyboards, violin and flute. Our lack of material was not considered a problem.
We were by and large an Art School Band. This was the fag end of 1972 and we were going to improvise.

One other significant factor was that at least fifty per cent of the band ingested a little opium a couple of hours before the performance. This was my one and only acquaintance with the drug. We all muttered about Thomas de Quincey, though I doubt any of us had got beyond the front cover of The Confessions of An Opium Eater.

‘Ronnie’s’ was an upstairs nightclub in Plymouth’s Barbican - a waterfront area where the fishing fleet moored. The place was heaving as we all set up, some of us meeting up there for the very first time. After an interminable delay we were introduced. And off we went.

There was a huge locomotive roar, within which could be detected drumbeats and cymbals, bass rumbles, a tweeting flute, arpeggiating keyboard, piercing psycho violin, guitar chords and discords and twiddly fuzzed wahs but strictly no vocals. The overall effect was probably more industrial than psychedelic, less wall of sound more housing estate of noise.

I have no idea how long we played for. Time stood still. We were far too out of it and too far into it. We were an eight-piece paradox. It can’t have been easy to listen to. It was impossible to dance to.

Eventually after what probably felt like a month for the audience. A long-haired blond John Lennon look-a-bit-alike singled me out as the ringleader. He came slowly, gently and inexorably up to my non-fretboard side, pushed his pointy nose into my right ear and yelled in that soft Plymouth accent the unforgettable words, ‘I THINK PEOPLE WOULD QUITE LIKE IT IF YOU STOPPED NOW.’ Easier said than done. Eight out-of-it aspiring rock stars on full volume fulfilling their fantasies. We were like a Runaway Train going downhill. It took forever. I stopped but nobody else did so I started again. Then I managed to get half of us to stop, but seeing the other half was still going. Sod it we started up again. This happened three or four times until eventually, all brake shoes burnt to a cinder, we ground to a halt like a shot up Lancaster running out of runway after a heavy night over Hamburg. Next time we would have a song.

(Originally posted 20.01.2010) © Dirk Thrust 2010

Rory Protest leaves the Family

News has just come over that multi-instrumentalist, Rory Protest, one of the founder members of Steve White and the Protest Family, has officially called it a day. The announcement came today (maybe it was yesterday?) via the video (below), which carried with it a simple statement from the band that read, 'He was far too young and good looking, anyway'.

Word is that the band will be continuing to folkily punk along with other musicians from the Extended Protest Family. The band also asked me to point out - 'cos they're very proud of themselves, and rightly so - that the video also features their biggest hit to date, 'Right To Strike', which got to about No.1,000 in the Amazon download chart. Very good, indeed!

Oh, and it's still bubbling under at No.543,440!

Introducing new RTYD member, Tasmanian musician, Rod Fritz

Welcome to new ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP member, musician Rod Fritz, who is based in Hobart, Tasmania.

His band 'Fritz' is having an impressive impact on the global music scene, with well over 200,000 listens on the internet and it is No.1 on the rock charts in Hobart on ReverbNation!

The 'boys' are back in town: Toby Burton talks to the Dipsticks

If you're into your rock music, you'll know that whenever you browse a gig guide these days in the press, there's always at least one band, long gone and sometimes even forgotten, that has decided to reform, often for some anniversary or other. Recent reformations include Magazine, The Specials, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Ultravox, and of course Spandau Ballet. In most cases, I'm sure it has at least as much to do with money as it has to do with nostalgia and the band members missing the fun of playing and hanging out their old buddies, turned nemeses.

But you don't have to have been in a famous band to reform it. It will just have absolutely nothing to do with money, when you do. As London band The Dipsticks will tell you. Instead its about history, loyalty, and wait for it.. a desire to ‘rock 'til you drop’. When bass player Mark McKendrick contacted me back at the beginning of 2009 to tell me that he and (in his words) ‘lyricist extraordinaire’ Patrick Begley - had put their old band (established 1978) back together, I was all ears, and keen to include them on the bill of the next RTYD gig, which happened to be at the Dublin Castle. Their reunion went down a storm.

Tonight, I've invited McKendrick out for a drink to find out more about the vicissitudes of the Dipsticks history. The bonus is that Begley, singer, guitar player, pen pusher and ambulance driver, is making an apparently rare social appearance. I am delighted.

The Dipsticks came into being about 1978. Having met briefly in the early '70s in Plymouth where Begley was studying art, Begley and McKendrick came across each other once again in another twist of fate in the infamous squat community on Carol Street in Camden, North London. Segregated from the junkie end of the street and differentiating themselves by their need to make things happen, they ended up playing their part in organising a street party for which they of course needed live music. Begley and McKendrick stepped up to the plate and put a band together especially for the event, which went down like a junkie's house on fire. There followed a number of invitations to entertain elsewhere, and before they knew it the Dipsticks were an established band on the local scene.

It wasn't long before either before they had acquired a Saturday night residency at The Royal Exchange pub off Chalk Farm Road (now the karaoke bar The Fake Club) and fans were queuing around the corner to get in to enjoy 90 minutes of Dipsticks' originals and cover songs.

But the late-70s the live music scene was of course dominated by punk and new wave bands and despite their live success and some record company interest, the band, with ages through late teens to mid twenties, had trouble 'fitting in'. The result was that they called it a day. After an ill-fated reformation as a three piece in the '90s, the Dipsticks called it a day until last year when they once again got together as a three piece drafting in Angie Ierodiaconos on drums.

Begley, as it turns out spent a large part of his youth growing up near Godalming in Surrey, where I too misspent my youth. He reminisces about working on the door at the Gin Mill club at the Angel pub in Godalming around '67, "I saw Free play their second gig there" he says enthusiastically, "and I saw Fleetwood Mac there a few times. I even remember stopping Danny Kirwan from getting in on one of the nights Fleetwood Mac played. It was one of the first gigs he played with them, and he claimed to be 'with the band' but I didn't believe him ‘cos he just looked too young..".


McKendrick came down to London, on and off from about '72, mostly to work 'on the road'. He was also ‘carting’ for a number of bands associated with the erstwhile Island Artistes company and he went on to manage pub music venues, not long before the dawn of The Dipsticks. "I was very transient in my youth, man", he says, "I grew up in Manchester. My family was musical, and I used to sing in the choir, but when I heard the Beatles, man, that was it, I just went with it all". For a moment I am so envious of this memory and experience; of McKendrick having been witness to this cultural epiphany. Because, as we know, not only was McKendrick changed for ever, so was popular music, culture and fashion. What a thing to have lived through.

These 'boys' are in their mid to late fifties. They are essentially bluesmen, with a healthy injection of late-60s psychedelia. Now, I ain't got the blues like these guys; as well as being over ten years their junior, I am part of the post-Bowie/Roxy/Bolan generation. "Those bands just seemed so superficial to us. They were on Top of the Pops and they made singles. The bands we loved like Pink Floyd and Zeppelin, made albums. We were in our mid-20s when punk broke, man, we felt too old to be at those gigs. And besides, they didn't want us there, anyway" explains McKendrick.

"It's about the electric guitar, you see", pipes up Begley. "When you've been there at the time to hear what bands like the Shadows, The Chantays, the Beatles and Jimi Hendrix were doing with guitars that sticks with you. That passion, musicianship and virtuosity never stops guiding you and inspiring you"

Among a host of great gigs that Begley has been to over the years, he saw Led Zeppelin at the Royal Albert Hall in '69, Jimi Hendrix play twice, once at Woburn Abbey with the Experience, and also at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970, where he also saw The Doors (lucky git!), and Emerson Lake & Palmer, the latter debuting the Moog synthesizer there. "We could believe our ears when we heard this thing" explains Begley" Our jaws just dropped open - I only wish I'd stayed awake for Captain Beefheart"

Far from merely their being ‘has-been’ fans, however, both Begley and McKendrick have their respective contemporary muses; Begley is a big fan of Sonny Landreth and James McMurtry; and McKendrick, who has been a long time soul fan, discovered the Allman Brothers Band through brother Duane’s collaborations with the likes of Wilson Pickett and Aretha. For a number of years now, he has made the annual pilgrimage to New York’s Beacon Theatre to catch the contemporary Allman Brothers in their regular March stand and this year put a forty year Jones to bed when Eric Clapton guested at the Brothers’ 40th Anniversary event.

It's a pleasure to talk to these two guys. They remind me what RTYD is all about. I also relate to their musical relationship. Their loyalty. I'm sure they have their differences, but they are not on display tonight. They are a band tonight, just as they have been as young men and will continue to be, as long as they physically can. I feel the same way about my life-long friend and bass player. Whatever happens, you always have this musical history together. You feel the same passion about music, the same pain. The same frustration and joy. You are brothers in music. What a shame not to keep that going.

It's just how? These days the live music scene is very different to the one Dipsticks played on back in the late 70s. A lot of the old pub venues have closed down, and Camden is sewn-up by promoters putting on band after band, night after night, playing thirty minute sets at most. A residency is a thing of the past. Two forty-five minutes sets, which I'm sure these guys would love to play, are almost unheard of.

But they will persevere, because they seem to have no choice. It defines them. Maybe they don't always agree with each other, but tonight they sit patiently listening to each other's versions of their own rock history. Their enthusiasm and passion is at odds with their ages. They are both still young men at heart. What a lovely evening. Once their pints are finished though, they are done, they've said their piece. They may not be able to drink like they used to, but you know they can make music just like they once did. Better.

Toby Burton
(Originally published 06.10.2009)

My first gig by Dirk Thrust

My first electric guitar cost £4. It was home made. I bought it in a junk shop. I took it home and painted black and white swirly patterns all over its body. For eight quid I bought a knackered Watkins Dominator combo. After less than five minutes on full whack the Dominator made a noise like a demented donkey that you could only kill with feedback. Best feedback resulted from sticking the head of the guitar against the speaker, the guitar’s arse into my groin and basically humping the amp to vary the pitch of the scream. Psychedelically enhanced, this felt fierce and mighty.

I wanted to be original, so I resolutely refused to learn anything. That’s how smart I was. I twiddled and diddled. I bought a Marshall Fuzz Face and a Vox Wah Wah pedal. I fuzzed and wahed my twiddly diddlings.

After a year or so I met another guy called Dirk. We jammed. He would play A and E minor and I would twiddle and diddle.

Obviously the next step was a gig. I knew a chap called Ambrose who was putting on a benefit at Guildford Youth Centre. I blagged a slot. This was 1970. These were Acid Days. I may not have been able to play the guitar but I was more than able to talk. I knew a drummer called The Black Shadow. He looked like King Charles the Second. He knew a white South African who claimed to play the bass. We called him The Immigrant. They were both up for it. None of us had any gear. No matter. We would borrow. I called us ‘Scorched Earth’.

I invited Stephen Stills to come and jam with us at the gig. I’d never met him, but I knew where he lived. He’d bought the house that Peter Sellers had sold to Ringo Starr. It was three miles from Guildford.

I wrote him a very trippy illustrated invitation, which not only explained several of his own song lyrics to him, but also suggested he bring his friend Eric Clapton to our gig. I delivered it by hand. This was 1970. Security hadn’t been invented yet. I walked into Stephen Stills’ kitchen and handed the invite to a very beautiful young American woman. She assured me she’d pass it on to Stephen. I told the promoter. We got a mention in ‘The Raver’ column in Melody Maker.

At the last minute the other Dirk pulled out. His girlfriend went into labour. This was a serious setback. His A and E minor had been intrinsic. He did however lend me his claret coloured velvet doublet. It had puff sleeves and old-gold frog fasteners. He’d bought it in Amsterdam so it had to be cool. It went perfectly with skin-tight white needle-cord wranglers tucked into knee-length, ox-blood, Cuban-heeled Anello and Davide boots. Shoulder-length John Peel haircut complete with wispy teenage beard. No set, no rehearsal, but I looked great.

We arrived punctually, but Black Shadow and The Immigrant were not getting on. They were snarling at each other like a pair of rottweilers with too-tight nut-sacks. It was a struggle to keep them apart whilst attempting to explain to Ambrose, the promoter, my vision for the gig.

My plan was to be actually playing before anyone even arrived. It was going to be a hypersensitive organic psychedelic jam session. The vibe of the arriving audience would totally govern the music. In fact I told Ambrose it was an experiment in Anti-Music. With hindsight this may have been a mistake.

Ambrose did not share my enthusiasm. If anything there was a definite flicker of panic in his eyes. He told us he’d prefer to start off with a few records. I was a little bit disappointed. But he was adamant. So much for my cunning plan. First no rhythm guitar, and now, not only the bass and drums at each others throats, but my artistic improvisational brainchild aborted by the promoter’s short-sighted lack of faith.

‘Well be back later,’ I murmured through clenched teeth. I turned on my Cuban heels and strode off, Black Shadow to the left of me Immigrant to the right of me.

We went round to visit Christopher Robin. He was a vegetarian butcher: a troubled soul with a heart of gold. He lived just a few streets away. He had a big bag of weed. It helped calm down The Black Shadow and The Immigrant. It took the edge off. They stopped snarling at each other. After an hour or so we staggered back to the Youth Centre to see what was happening. We were well wasted.

The Youth Centre was now half full. Between fifty and a hundred people sat around looking bored and mildly pissed off. Ambrose rushed up. He now seemed even more panic-stricken than when we’d left.

‘Quick. You’re on. Now.’

Too stoned to argue, we stumbled onstage. I had a great deal of trouble plugging in my fuzz box and wah-wah pedal. Some kindly hippie assisted me but I was still too out of it to stand up. It was a big stage. We were surrounded by equipment belonging to the several other bands on the bill. Someone got me a stool. I sat down and we started.

I diddled and twiddled. The Black Shadow triple-flammed and paradiddled. The Immigrant pumped out some deep mumbling bass lines. I fuzzed and I wahed. It didn’t take long for me to get through my entire repertoire of three or four riffs by which time I managed to hoist myself upright and line myself up with a microphone. We seemed to have somehow slipped into a twelve bar blues which was a surprise. I’d never played one before. Hell, I couldn’t even play a scale. I sang some kind of ‘Just a Country Boy’ lyrics.

I noticed a pretty girl smiling. ‘Hey, this is fantastic,’ I thought. Then I spotted a bloke yawning. ‘Oh no it must be shit,’ I thought. I then turned my improvised lyrics into ‘hey lets all have a jam, everyone.’ A couple of guys got up on stage at my invitation, but they were halted by representatives of all the other bands. No Way was anyone going to play any of their gear, Jose. That was final, non-negotiable and totally immune to all my ‘Aw c’mon, mans’.

None of these supposed hip musos seemed to understand the hippie ethic. ‘I’ll bloody show them,’ I snarled to myself. I handed my guitar to the nearest of the two onstage volunteers, exited stage left and left them to it.

It would be two years before my next gig. It would also be two hundred miles from Guildford.

Dirk Thrust

ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP!! Happy Birthday David Bowie. He is 65 today.

ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP!! Happy Birthday David Bowie. He is 65 today. 

Introducing new RTYD member, photographer/videographer, Willie Nash

New RTYD Member, Willie Nash, is a London-based photographer and videographer, and is available for music videos and band photos. He can accommodate most budgets. This is one of his portraits. He photographs bands, too; and you can check out more of his portrait work here - and some of his video work, here.

Introducing Coventry-based Songwriter/Guitarist Al Collins

New RTYD member, Al Collins, grew up in the 1960s and started playing the guitar when he was 15 years old. He joined his first band at 16 and taught himself to play by watching other musicians. He then met the woman of his dreams, got married, had 5 children, and got a career - he now has 3 grandchildren, and is married to his second wife!

Over the years Al continued to play the guitar and to write songs for fun, but in the last 3 years he has been taking it all more seriously again - you know what it's like!

You can hear the results of this period of earnest music making on Alan's album Journey of a Lifetime here.

Welcome to new RTYD member, guitarist Monyo Baba, from Sszékelyudvarhely, Transylvania

Welcome to new RTYD member, guitarist Monyo Baba, from Sszékelyudvarhely in Transylvania.

Monyo's band's name is Monyo Project. They have 9 albums, that they have recorded and promoted in Hungary and Romania. In February, he and his singer are heading to London for a few months, and they want to play music a few gigs. They’ll need a bass player and drummer to play with them, so get in touch if you are interested. Here’s a link to Monyo Project’s website, and a video (below).

Introducing new RTYD Member: Canadian guitarist, MrRocknRoll

Welcome new ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP member, Calgary-based, Canadian guitarist, MrRocknRoll. MrRocknRoll is looking to network with musicians in the Calgary area, and connect with others worldwide. He’s especially keen to find a writing partner.

By day he works in IT Support, and he’s been a casual guitar player for a long time, but in the last few years he has become more serious about playing and improving his skills. He made his stage debut on 1st May 2011 at the Kings Head Pub in Calgary, Alberta, playing lead guitar with the Dastardly Dudes. It’s never to late to start rock ‘n’ rolling!

When you do finally 'drops’ - which won’t be for a very long time I hope - he wants Megadeth’s A Tout Le Monde played at his funeral! He also has a fan page on Facebook, so check that out, too.

A wave of leading artists will reach their 65th birthday this year, first among them David Bowie: http://ping.fm/QX5CO glam punk 60s