Mark's Blog

Timeline, another day in a life.
April 2010

I always wonder whether its worth going out the night before travelling away to Europe. I decided correctly to stay in and go to bed early on the evening of Thursday the 15th of this month instead. I shouldn't have bothered really as i couldn't sleep anyway...

01;00 hours, drifted off to sleep
03,30 hours, Alarm call.
04,25 hours, I wait outside my apartment in the dark looking down the very long dark road where I live to hopefully see the headlights of Dennis` trusty Saab. I could have been blind and still know it was him coming, for in the still of the night, I am familiar with the engine tone of the automatic Saab, as he has often picked me up in the middle of the night over the three decades of working together.
04,30 Dennis arrives.
05,15 arrive BAA short-term car park Gatwick,
05,45 my harmonica case is scrutinised by security staff at Gatwick and sets tongues wagging as I get the customary "give us a tune then"!
06,00am into the bar as Dennis seems to have developed a taste of late for a quick Jack Daniel's livener, to calm his well known edgy nervous system that I am now fully familiar with.
07,15 Take off, Gatwick-Milan Malpensa.
10,00 Arrive Milan Malpensana
10,15am and a one hour drive to the Vineyard we are staying,.. Only our Italian driver gets lost, as his sat-nav is faulty.
11,20 arrive at the vineyard in Lombardia, south east of Milan.
12,00 noon we are driven to the local pizza restaurant for lunch,
13,45pm we are back to the Vineyard hotel for sleep,.. Unfortunately I have left the bathroom window open and the mosquitoes have invaded the room,
14,45 fall asleep, with the distant tone of builders doing refurb work on the farmhouse.
17,00 pm, up and showered and out for soundcheck.
1800 arrive venue.
19,00 soundcheck over.
19,45 photoshoot outside the venue with the Italian press
20,15 a quick pasta and salad and back the vineyard for a second shower and refresh
21,30 leave the vineyard to be driven back the venue, for a supposed showtime of 22,30.
22,45 finally get onstage
00,15 get offstage to two encores, fantastic show, meet and greet afterwards
01,30 get back to the vineyard.
04,30, Alarm call, up, shower
05,15 leave vineyard and dive to Milan /Malpensa airport
06,00 Arrive airport,
06,30, Through customs and buy perfumes and cheap watches
07,30 TAKE OFF!
07,45 fly directly over Mont Blanc in the cool of the morning sun
08,30  local time, arrive back at Gatwick.
09,00 short term car park and the Saab.
09,50 arrive home and back at the apartment.
 
As Charlie Watts of the Rolling stones said  "30 years in the business, and 25 of them sitting around waiting"
 
Thank you for listening, Mark Feltham. April 2010.

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Dublin Up!
Guest Blog, April 2010

Many thanks to Mark for allowing me the guest blog spot !

I noticed on the website in September last year that the band were planning some dates in Ireland with Glenn Tilbrook in March and as we are fans of both and it was around my birthday weekend we decided to plan one of our annual faraway NBZ excursions. The original plan was to travel to Cork but a revised tour schedule meant that our destination was the fair city of Dublin.

With the children safely at their grandparents we headed off to Stansted and the delights of Ryanair (I drove past a hairdressers in Victoria the other day called Ryan Hair – inspired!!) We had the usual safety announcement on this Irish airline carried out in a very strong Eastern European accent, a good flight and safe landing in the Emerald Isle. Our brush with the Irish continued with a taxi driver from Stamford, Linconshire and then a check in to our hotel by a young Asian lad !

We told the taxi driver that we were staying in Harcourt Street “Oh that’s the really noisy street with all the night clubs” he said. Imagine our delight to find that the largest of these was right outside our bedroom window, the bedroom being smaller than most broom cupboards. It was now 10 O’clock at night so drastic measures were called for to save us from the situation. Suzanne decided the best course of action was to repair to the nearest hostelry and have a few pints of the blackstuff. I obviously told her this was a completely foolish plan... er... anyway we relaxed in a fine pub for an hour or so, then walked back to the hotel. For those of you who have not been to Dublin I should explain what a great city it is at night, it does not have the underlying menace found in many of England’s big cities but always seems to us to have a friendly edge.

Back at the hotel the young Asian lad tried his best to tell me the hotel was full but shortly after we found ourselves in a glorious suite with a gallery bedroom.

After a very tasty Irish breakfast in the morning we set off to meet our friends who flew out on Saturday morning. We have been lucky enough to travel to Dublin many times so have done much of the tourist sights. Dublin is a wonderful city steeped in history and culture which is well worth a visit. We decided to head to the Jameson Distillery for the guided tour. This was very interesting and finished up with the sampling part. One drink on offer was Jameson and cranberry juice with ice. Suzanne highly recommends this to ladies for a hot summer afternoon. We then went and sampled some great cuisine, Beef and Guinness pies with champ and a huge Irish stew for me. The afternoon was spent wandering along the Liffey River, in Temple Bar and taking in the atmosphere in Grafton Street and St. Stephens Green.

We headed off to the venue in the evening. The Village was a great venue, clean, friendly with excellent acoustics.
I have been lucky to see Glenn and Dennis perform a couple of times of the past few years and recently saw Glenn at one of his free gigs at his local pub. Seeing the Squeeze back catalogue and some Tilbrook solo stuff performed totally on keyboards Kraftwork style on “Electronic Night” was one of the most interesting musical nights I have attended in a long time. Together with requests from the audience “The Model”, “Don’t You Want Me” etc. etc.

I was still interested to see how this gig would work – we were not disappointed. Glenn started with an acoustic version of “One Day I’ll Fly Away” – a great opener. His voice is always so soulful and powerful. He was shortly joined by his drummer Simon Hansen for a rousing “Up The Junction”. Glenn then invited NBZ to join them on stage and they kicked off with a fantastic “I’m So Alone” Glenn played the original bass line on guitar which gave the song a great feel. To have two great guitarists on stage really enhanced the new NBZ songs which Glenn worked on.

All through the gig it could be seen the mutual respect from all the musicians as they performed each others music. Dennis, Glenn and Mark trading licks the whole way through. We had many tracks from “It’s Never Too Late” – including the title track, songs from Glenns excellent “Pandemonium Ensues” – the audience participation “Best of Times” was great, timeless gems from the Squeeze back catalogue “Labelled With Love”, “Pulling Mussels” etc. etc., Chuck Berrys “Let It Rock” plus a new joint track “Larry on the Chat Line” (? ?). The encore of “Albatross” was inspired.

It will be very interesting to see the results of the current joint recording project.

The gig ended all too soon but left us some time to sample a few more pints of Dublin Guinness. As we left we felt hungry and decided on some Anglo / Mediterranean fusion cuisine... A large doner and chips (Great kebab shop seen in Dublin – Abrakebabra )

We left in the morning with the tiring joys of British Summer Time. For the return journey we had a great local taxi driver, my mate, Mark, asked him, then wished he hadn’t, what the new monument in O’Connell Street was – The driver then delivered a hilarious 5 minute word perfect tour guide monologue about it !!

We flew home on the same flight as the Greaves family and Mark. We had the club class seats – the club being the one that bashed your ears as the cabin crew did their best to relentlessly convince you to buy drinks from the bar, snacks from the bar, hot food, magazines, scratchcards, duty free goods and fake cigarettes (Please let me know if I’ve missed anything !)

We are now safely back home after a fantastic weekend and already looking forward to next year’s birthday excursion,

Phil & Suzanne

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Winterland
March 2010

My apologies once more folks for being "snail like" in my blog delivery to you.

Those of you who follow the bands tour dates will be well aware that basically we have not stopped since early January this year, ploughing through a bitterly cold and biting German, Danish, Swiss and Slovenian winter.

I have a particularly nice story to tell you... When the guys and i played Rome a couple of years ago the amplifier that was hired to me by the local promoters hire company made me gasp with fear and doubt as it was covered in dust, had obviously seen better days and was of dubious quality and as it sat on stage looking and me, it looked as interesting as a rainy weekend away. I hooked up my microphone into the said amplifier and was blown away by the fantastic sound that came out of this sad looking little fellow. I wanted it, I just had to have it!, i immediately asked the hire boss to sell the amplifier to me, he flatly refused telling me that a local musician used it on a weekly hire basis in a club residency in Rome and all then seemed lost, as it was a fairly rare Fender made amplifier, I took model no's, made multiple enquiries about the model, rang music shops when i came home to the UK, all to be told that i would never find one as most of them were now probably propping up table tops.

Moving on three years, i couldn't believe my eyes when i saw what looked like a beauty on E-Bay UK, the same model that sat on that stage in Rome. I made a bid, and to my delight won the bid and the amplifier was mine. The guy who was selling it lived in Bournemouth and recognized my e bay user name, and asked me if i was a pro musician,..I said yes, a blues musician. He then recognized my surname and told me that he was thrilled i had won the bid because his father, Danny Broomfield, a local semi pro musician for thirty years had been a massive fan of NBZ and taken his Son Chris who dealt with the sale to see us many times down in that area. Its a particularly sad yet happy story as Chris Sadly lost his dad early to Motor Neurone disease but told me that dad would have been extremely happy for it to end up with me.  All i can say is that i will cherish it, call it Danny and look after it, Thank you Chris.
 
Moving on, we headed out to Bahrain a fortnight ago again for a couple of shows for our wonderful host Stan and his lovely wife Grace.  Gerry, Dennis and Brendan were taken to the F1 circuit and given a wonderful custom drive around the empty circuit by our host Rodney, in his Hummer truck  as they prepare for the season to start. The guys told me it was an experience that was breathtaking and that i was a wally for missing out. I spent my day visiting an out of town Bazzar where i risked getting parts of my anatomy chopped off all in the pursuit of a cheap watch or two.

The shows in Bahrain went superbly and we thank yet again our kind hosts for allowing us into their home and hearts.
I squeezed a Tom Jones session in for his new record to be released in the summer while on the precious day off we had back home. The sessions took place near to Frome in Somerset, and i drove down to be greeted by Producer Ethan Johns when i arrived, Now Ethan, son of legendary Glyn Johns has produced the first three Kings of Leon and Razorlight records and he is a multi talented musician, writer, producer and engineer who is now in demand worldwide. His father Glyn produced our don't point your finger record nearly thirty years ago and Ethan told me a charming story of the time when we were making that record that he sat as a young boy with me on the studio floor passing me different harmonicas as we were in record with the studio red light on. Thank you Ethan for your lovely easy manner and making me very welcome into your home.

Pushing on, we headed out to Savona via Milan last Wednesday for a whirlwind club tour that took us east to west across Italy in four days, we ate like Billy Bunters the very best Italian cuisine, drank some lovely reds and generally had an experience that only Italy can provide.

Lastly Den and I met up with Jools Holland and his big band last week and chatted informally and played with his band, this interview etc can be listened to on BBC radio 2, next Monday the 8th of march.
 
I thank you all for taking time out of your busy lives if you made it thus far down the blog,
 
God bless, Feltham.

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Flutter by Butterfly. Tales from an English summer.
Sept 09

Hello Folks,

Sorry for the delay with the blog, but much has been happening during the weekdays of the last six weeks or so with us gathering together a promotion team in readiness for the launch of our new record, and this is easier said than done.

We would like to point out for those of you who were worried re Brendan’s non-appearance on the last three shows that in fact Brendan flew out to Verbier in Switzerland to give his eldest daughter Gillian away and we all wish her the very best luck in her marriage.

Dennis and I had worked at Christmas with a fine young drummer on a junior Wells tribute show in London by the name of Wayne Procter.

We knew he would fit in nicely to the set up with Gerry, Den and myself and had no hesitation in asking him to join us for a warm up show in Broughton in Furness and main shows in Siloth in Cumbria in addition to Wilbarston, Northamptonshire.
We always stay with our dear friends Tina and Alan in Seathwaite. They run a delightful guest house/b&b up there and the front door of the guesthouse is 50 metres from the local watering hole (The Newfield inn). Unfortunately for us, the rehearsing of our new temp drummer had to take priority and three days of long hard rehearsal days in a hastily arranged old country church (Ask Dennis the age of the church, as he is the bands self proclaimed historian)... anyway, it was a delightful setting amidst the glorious remote winding country lane that separates Seathwaite village and the Northern lake district.

All credit as this stage must go to the charming and talented Mr Wayne Proctor for delivering the goods come the warm up gig at the High Cross Inn on the Thursday.

The Highcross show went to perfection actually and the hastily and locally sourced PA system held up nicely, thank you in part to Tina’s lovely husband Alan’s tool kit and expertise.

After the show we drove back to the wilderness of Seathwaite (8 miles) with no mobile phone reception when back at the guest house.

The next morning saw magnificent weather and Alan brought out his spotting telescope for me to try glimpse the Peregrine falcons and buzzards as well as sparrow hawks than often dart around in the hills afoot of Alan and Tina’s garden. I also monitored the BA jumbos en route to Heathrow on the inbound flight path from the US.

Dennis seems less than impressed at looking at Falcons than I do, in fact everyone seemed to not bother either. Miserable B*****DS.

A 90 minute drive up to Siloth for the festival on Friday went without a hitch but the return journey over the mountains in the pitch darkness with massive cows and bulls as well as sheep in the road looming out of the shadows was a nightmare to anyone suffering from motion sickness.

It was with regret that we had to say goodbye to Tina and Alan and especially Tina’s culinary skills. Thank you to you both, and head down south to Northamptonshire and the Wilbarston show. Gerry and I had a top of the range flying machine Volvo and Dennis in his adored Saab, Wayne came down the night before with his lovely girlfriend who's name escapes me for the moment. We had a great show on Sunday and it was with sadness that we had to say goodbye to such a nice man, Wayne. Wayne actually pointed out to me that it is unbelievable that in all the years you guys have been together, you have never used a dep drummer.

Dennis and I drove through the night back to London, Gerry to Stansted and the flight home to France and Wayne to Nottingham.
We would like to thank all those people who made the week run smoothly. For those of you who may want to see the area where we were, google the town of Seathwaite (Images) as well as the Newfield Inn (Website) and the Highcross inn (website).

God bless, Feltham.

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Guest blog by Dave Crockwell

Nine Below Zero and the Fabulous Thunderbirds
Castel San Pietro Terme, Italy. – 31st May 2009

Nine Below Zero and the Fabulous Thunderbirds on the same bill, and in Italy. It just had to be done. So for a small fee, Ryanair laid on a plane for my wife and I to fly to Bologna, we then used Italy’s very efficient rail system to arrive in the beautiful town of Castel San Pietro Terme just in time for lunch on the Friday. Whilst we had a couple of relaxing days in prospect, the Nine Below boys had a much busier time of it. Their Friday evening was spent in a place we Londoners call, ‘up north’ and then on the Saturday it was Devon in the South West. Straight from there to Gatwick for breakfast and a morning flight to Bologna.

Sunday’s weather did not get off to the best of starts, with drizzling rain and generally overcast, it was not looking good for the gig that was due to take place that evening in the town’s charming Piazza. The stage was all set and the seats were there waiting to be filled by many an Italian bottom. Later in the day I watched the band sound check, by which time the rain had stopped and all the seats had dried out. The sound check was a mini gig in itself and the sound and set-up were superb.

The band came on around 8.30, by which time the Piazza was pretty much full and the band did a very up-tempo set, including, in no particular order, Homework, Rocket 88, Don’t Point your Finger, L&N, Can’t Please All the People and Woolly Bully. The only slower number was ‘Stormy Monday’ which was perhaps tempting fate a little given the dark and menacing sky. The Italian crowd were very appreciative but very laid back, waiting until the final numbers before getting off their seats to boogie. The band were deservedly called back for an encore, and they played ‘Hit the Ground Running’ from their soon to be released long player, which sounded excellent.

I bought my first Fabulous Thunderbirds album around 1979/80, I also saw them about that time at London Dingwall’s club and The Venue. I still listen to Thunderbirds albums as well as Jimmy Vaughn and Kim Wilson’s later solo work (Memphis Barbecue sessions being a real favourite). Before the gig I had the extreme pleasure of meeting Kim Wilson, shaking his hand and having a picture taken with him, he then insisted my wife join us in the photo and passed the camera on to Mark ‘David Bailey’ Feltham to take the shot (great picture by the way, thanks Mark) So, a real pleasure to meet such a charming, generous and gracious man. Having said all that, I did feel the Thunderbirds set was ‘busnesslike’ and I would describe it as Kim Wilson with a backing band. Which is still pretty damn good but, as professional and excellent as they were, it just didn’t have the vibe I had hoped for. It pains me to say such things about a man who has been a hero of mine for many years, and of course it is just my opinion, so please disagree. I’m sure many others at the gig will have very different take on things. Dennis and Mark joined the T.Birds on stage for an encore, the rain held off, and everybody went home happy.

A big thank you to the band for their generosity, and letting me join them for a post gig glass of wine. I had a real problem switching the bathroom light off when I got back to my room, but I’m blaming Italian electricity rather than the beer and Sambucca.

Dave Crockwell

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Studio Blues. Tales from the Thames barrier.
Jan 2009

Hello folks,
I have just been given a nice cup of tea by Dennis here in the 45rpm recording studio in Charlton, London. I can assure you that this is an extremely rare situation as its usually the other way around, in fact, i almost feel like the tea boy here sometimes, ferrying tea and biscuits back and forth from the studio kitchen to the studio control room.
As i write, Dennis is actually recording a vocal on one of the new songs, Hit the ground running. We are in here for two weeks, starting around 10.30am and normally finishing around 9pm. We have had many guests come and go into the studio this week and the wine normally starts to flow around 5pm, well it does for the guys as i have to drive Gerry back to my home as he is staying with me and flying home to France at the weekend only to return on Monday to resume recording.
It feels very odd in my apartment in the morning when i wake up and Gerry and i are walking around in bed robes,..God knows what the old girls in the block are thinking this week?
On a slightly more serious note, Brendan and i actually did a double lead vocal on a song written by myself and Dennis yesterday called The Killing of Nathan John. Brendan actually has a sweet voice and it compliments the harmonies perfectly when we are all in the booth together.
The many people that have come and gone to visit us during the making of this new record have included Steve Martin, production manager for Kylie Minogue, Il Divo, Leona Lewis. Steve actually worked for us many years ago as on-stage tech in the early eighties and has now gone on to heady heights with the afore mentioned artists. Another wonderful suprise was Mr Mick Lister turning up last night to help edit/arrange some things around for us. Mick worked with Dennis when Dennis formed the Truth in 1983, and has now gone on to be a very respected writer/arranger/producer in his own right. Dennis' old pal Terry Rawlings turned up at tea time to help guzzle our supplies of French red and white wine
Our local cafe normally beckons around 4pm for a sandwich etc and the late finishing every night means i make last orders in my local in kent.
We have almost finished most of the fourteen or so backing tracks now and as i write Dennis is preparing to put some electric guitar on Hit the ground running.
Gerry is now putting finishing touches to a song he has been writing for a couple of months entitled Little by little, bit by bit, and that looks like being the last song on the session this week to be recorded.
Glen Tilbrook of Squeeze will be looking in on Monday hopefully, that is if he is not too Jet-lagged from his flight back from Japan.

Ok, will get back to you very soon friends at completion when things become a little clearer.

Feltham.

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