The Prisoners at King's Hall Herne Bay, Saturday 28th February 2026

Band reunions can be hit and miss affairs – some acts resist the temptation all together in the hope of not tarnishing a legendary reputation such as The Clash, The Smiths and Talking Heads, for example. Some bands you think have reunited have never actually gone away, they just evolve over the years – dealing with various bust-ups, court cases, serious illnesses, and of course untimely deaths along the way by replacing key members. Kind of like a football team, you still support them despite them selling your star striker, sacking a favourite manager and dropping down to the lower leagues, occasionally to rise again like a phoenix. The Stranglers were totally reinvigorated when they reverted to the traditional four-piece and moved Baz Warne up front and are now selling out huge venues like the Royal Albert Hall again. The Undertones with Paul McLoone now fully grown into his role as frontman, are probably playing more gigs now than they have in years. Then at the other end of the spectrum are some bands who are more like Trigger’s broom and really should know better, somehow continuing without any original members in the line-up at all. Some misjudge it completely and get in totally inappropriate replacements so that you wonder who is actually advising them. There are some bands who tread the cabaret circuit, happy to get together for the occasional festival, play the hits and collect a big pay cheque. 

 

Then there’s the rare case where some reunions really work, such as Pixies – which hit to a completely new generation of kids and some like Wire, who still produce superb new and vital music. So, what happens when it’s one of your really ‘special’ favourite bands, and it’s no secret that The Prisoners are one of mine. Thankfully, like The Soundtrack of Our Lives, another act who mean so much to me that the announcement of a reunion a few years ago stirred up mixed emotions. On one hand it’s ‘please god, let it be good, don’t tarnish the many happy memories, don’t let yourselves down’ and on the other, there’s the excitement that you’d get to see them play again. Thankfully in both cases, neither band let me down in the end. Of course, The Prisoners did get back together for some shows and a so-so single “Shine On Me” in 1997, but that didn’t last long, it was over pretty soon. Once it was clear The Prisoners reunion wasn’t a long term prospect, Graham and Allan followed up on the Prime Movers with the superb Solarflares, a three-piece that  eventually reverted to the classic Prisoners style line-up by adding Parsley on the organ. Then Graham recruited The Woggles’ rhythm section for Graham Day & The Gaolers and released two brilliant albums with material that matched the quality of The Prisoners. After a hiatus, the news was out that Graham had got the three-piece Solarflares line-up back under the guise of Graham Day & The Forefathers - “we’re basically a tribute band to ourselves” he told me in our Retrosonic Podcast special. There was no talk of new material – just a set of stripped back versions of classics from the back catalogue – The Prisoners, Solarflares, Gaolers and Prime Movers. They went down a storm and released a raw, live in the studio album of choice cuts called “Good Things”. 

 

Fed up with the pressures of fronting a band, Graham then started The Senior Service where he could indulge in his love of Barry Gray’s wonderful themes to Gerry Anderson TV shows such as Thunderbirds and Fireball XL5 and John Barry and Ennio Morricone’s evocative Spaghetti Western and Spy movie theme tunes. Of course, this aspect was nothing new, The Prisoners and Solarflares in particular would often include at least one or two instrumentals on their albums and in their live shows. Graham seems to have a love/hate relationship with both singing and fronting a band and with the Hammond organ. He sometimes needs a break from both. He once told me his dream was to just play guitar in one of those groovy bands you saw in a 1960’s hippie exploitation movie, where assorted spaced out kids dance away under psychedelic liquid lights. Either that or just playing guitar in The Woggles, his favourite band, would have been cool. The opportunity for this wish did occur, although in rather sad circumstances, when The Woggles guitarist Jeff Walls passed away in 2019 and they needed a replacement. So, Graham ended up touring the States, Europe, the UK (you can see a feature on The Woggles brilliant 100 Club gig here) and even Japan, where Graham, that icon of cool, was enjoying himself so much that he even performed in fancy dress costumes such as lederhosen or karate monkey suits! But the pull of The Prisoners was strong, and circumstances conspired to facilitate the latest and long-awaited reunion. The Prisoners had that something special, that all important chemistry and a hugely dedicated fanbase, as shown in the brilliant book “A Taste of Ink! The Prisoners Sentenced By Their Fans”. Plus, they had James Taylor on the Hammond organ. James had gone onto forge a respected career in Jazz, Soul and Funk with The James Taylor Quartet and it didn’t seem likely that he would be interested in revisiting The Prisoners given his success. Wrong! The news filtered through that the original line-up was getting back together, initially incognito at a friend’s party at the Billabong Club in Rochester in 2021. 

 

Then came the announcement of a show at the Royal Function Rooms in Rochester (check out our feature here), in early December 2022 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their debut album “A Taste of Pink”. Due to the demand, it ended up as a four-night stand from November 30th – 3rd December 2022 and it was also live streamed on-line. It was emotional, it couldn’t end there could it? Thankfully no, there were shows in Herne Bay in December 2023 and the fantastic news of a brand new album, “Morning Star” followed by a gig in May 2024 at the legendary Roundhouse in London’s Chalk Farm (read all about it here), actually the band’s biggest show to date. But “Morning Star” was superb, the sound of a band having fun, embracing their influences, although sometimes sailing a bit close to the wind in the shades of The Who, Ramones, Small Faces and Hendrix, which coloured the songs, but who cared. The quality of the songs was what mattered and there were some that easily stood up to the classics, in particular “Winter In June” and “Something Better”. Everyone was on top form, with James Taylor in particular shining out with some superb Hammond. Then came the feeling that was it, all over again. In some ways it would have been a fitting way to draw a line under it all, to go out on a high, but it seemed a fire had been lit. This year came the announcement of a new single “Autumn Skies” and live shows at King’s Hall in Herne Bay, an impressive Edwardian Pavillion on the sea front where they would celebrate three albums over three nights. On the Friday night it would be 1983’s “The Wisermiserdemelza” (and my entry point to the band back in the day), Saturday would be the classic “The Last Fourfathers” from 1985 and then Sunday it would be 1986’s “In From The Cold”, where they would be joined by the James Taylor Quartet’s sometime Brass section. 

The venue was great, and in some ways better than the Roundhouse, where the sound can sometimes get a bit lost in that cavernous building. It was packed out on the Saturday night, sadly the only night I could attend and there were so many eager, happy and familiar faces in attendance, many of whom I’d got to know through my Retro Man Blog  gigs with Graham Day & The Forefathers and The Solarflares. Kicking off proceedings were Lord Rochester, featuring Russ Wilkins, formerly of The Milkshakes, Saskia Holling on bass and vocals and Lois Tozer from The Embrooks on drums and maracas. Their Bo Diddley influenced rhythms went down really well and they were the perfect opening act. My personal favourite was the Crampsian rumble of “Transcontinental” and the insanely catchy “Chicken Salt” and Russ closed the set by announcing “This is for the Mods… and the Punks” and they launched into a cracking version of “What’cha Gonna Do About It”. Next up the always reliable Masonics, aided and abetted by Ludella Black, entertained the crowd and played my favourite track “Silently By Night”, so I was happy. DJ Wendy May was spinning some mighty fine tunes, putting everyone in an even better mood and you could feel the atmosphere start to build.

 

 

Then The Prisoners took to the stage, looking great and starting strongly with “I Am The Fisherman”, the crowd went mental, you can’t get much better than this. They play a good chunk of “The Last Fourfathers” including “The Drowning” and “Take You For a Ride”, ending the section with a powerful version of “Night of The Nazgul”, one of their best instrumentals. Then we get “This Road is Too Long” and “Save Me” from the current album and in between there’s the new single “Autumn Skies” before a nice surprise from their debut album, “Til The Morning Light”. They then flit between the “Last Fourfathers” and “Morning Star” albums including a great version of “Whenever I’m Gone” and I see that Eddie Piller, who released the single on his Countdown label back in 1986, is in the crowd. The James Taylor written and sung  “Go To Him” is a highlight as it channels the way the Ramones took those Phil Spector, Shangri-La’s melodies and married them with fast Rock ‘n’ Roll, plus it has a classic “Blitzkrieg Bop” style call and response section of “just go, just go, just go with him!” Considering Johnny Symons isn’t regularly playing like his bandmates, his drumming is superb throughout and Allan’s impressive bass riffs and backing vocals complement Graham perfectly, who is in mighty fine voice. When he’s not singing, Graham stalks the front of the stage, guitar pointing out to the adoring crowd. There’s a really nice chemistry fizzing between all four of them, from Allan with his deadpan between song banter to James’s cheerleading and encouraging the crowd to sing along, they look like they are having as much fun as we are. They always did carry a reputation for being ‘surly’ and ‘difficult’, but it’s certainly not been evident at any of the reunion shows. After all, all four members spent a long time afterwards signing the new single  and chatting to fans at the impressive merch table stocked by our favourite record label Spinout Nuggets and Sound Is Colour clothing.

Someone posted a nice photo in The Prisoners forum from one of the Herne Bay nights of Allan and Graham smiling at each other, one wag commented “must be A.I.” and Allan himself replied “Fake News!” The set draws to a close with the Prisoners very own Garage Rock classic “Melanie” and then “Reaching My Head” the song which started it all for me and quite obviously The Charlatans too as they nicked the bassline and made a career out of it. A stunningly emotional “Thinking Of You (Broken Pieces)” nearly has me welling up, something in my eye! Then “I Drink The Ocean” segues into a fantastic version of Deep Purple’s “Hush” and sadly, that’s it, all over. An absolutely momentous night, we got twenty three superb songs from a band that despite starting over forty years ago, strangely seem to be at the top of their game. Maybe it’s the impressive back catalogue, the lessons that have been learned, of getting older and wanting to do things right. Maybe it’s the huge wave of respect and affection that the crowd shows towards the band, that special bond, I don’t know what it is but all I do know is that I don’t want it to end, again. I’m hopeful that there will be more to come from The Prisoners in the future so let’s hope it becomes more permanent so that we can finally stop labelling it all as just another reunion.

 

You can read all about how I first got into the band and my experiences of putting on shows for the Forefathers, Solarflares and Senior Service, in my feature on The Prisoners Roundhouse gig here. Our thoroughly entertaining Forefathers Retrosonic Podcast with Graham, Allan and Wolf Howard is still available in our archive here. You can listen to them discussing and playing a pick of their favourite songs from all aspects of their musical careers. 

Retrosonic Podcast · Graham Day & The Forefathers

 

Unfortunately, the brilliant book “A Taste of Ink!” is now sold out, but if you are interested, then please contact them here and register your interest as I’m sure they will consider a re-print if there is a big enough demand. However, don’t despair if you did miss out on “A Taste of Ink!” as a new book has just been announced. “Graham Day - 45 Years of Music”, originally a limited edition book in Italian by Antonio Bacciocchi and Luca Frazzi, has now been translated, expanded and revised by Thomas Buch and Les O’Hare and will be available to order on 20th March. Please check out their Facebook page here for details on how to get hold of this promising looking book.

 

For more videos from the gig, please head on over to our Retro Man Blog YouTube channel and subscribe for free here. All Photos and Videos copyright Retro Man Blog 2026.

The Return of The Prisoners - New Book "A Taste of Ink", New Album "Morning Star" and Reunion Gig at The Roundhouse in London...

It's certainly a good time to be a fan of The Prisoners - this week sees their biggest gig since the band's reunion - a huge show at London's legendary Roundhouse on Friday May 24th featuring the original line-up of Graham Day, James Taylor, Allan Crockford and Johnny Symons with support from Inspiral Carpets and DJ Steve Lamacq. Talking of huge... there's been a loud thud on the doormats of many households around the world in the past few days (orders have been received from Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, UK and USA) as the Postman has been delivering the fantastic new book "A Taste of Ink: The Prisoners Sentenced By Their Fans" lovingly compiled and edited by Elinor Crockford, Jeremy Stride, Michael Langer and Thomas Buch. I've just received my huge hardback labour of love and all 385 pages are bursting with every scrap of information you could wish for on the history of the Medway Garage Rock legends. It's mainly a chronological collection of various fan's experiences with the band over the years right up to the recent reunion shows but along the way, there are also hundreds of flyers, adverts, posters, press cuttings, fanzine features, fan's own original photos, illustrations and official promo pics crammed into each page.

There's also a comprehensive gig list and a timeline with a family tree showing the many branches to have sprouted from The Prisoners - the various side projects and new bands that the members of the band embarked on after the initial split. I have an extensive music book library and I can honestly say that I haven't seen many better books on a band than "A Taste of Ink", what with it's wealth of archive material and first hand experiences - it's a fan's dream, and that's basically because it's been compiled by and contributed to by the fans themselves. A fantastic effort and well done to all involved, they must be very proud of the work of art they have produced. I know, I'm very honoured to have some of my photos included and it's great to see them alongside so many familiar names and faces from fellow Prisoners fans that I have got to meet and know since my first Graham Day & The Forefathers Retro Man Blog Night some ten years ago now. 

The Prisoners reunion in Rochester December 2022

 

 

 

My old Ramones Gig Ticket - The Prisoners as support

My first recollection of seeing The Prisoners was on the classic TV music show The Tube in 1984 and I was hooked ever since - however due to geographical difficulties, I only saw them play live a couple of times back in the day at the much-missed Hammersmith Clarendon and supporting Ramones at the Hammersmith Palais. Fast forward some 30 years and I must admit to having a lump in my throat when I walked backstage at the Half Moon Putney before one of my shows for Graham Day & The Forefathers, and saw the Star Trek outfits hanging up in the dressing room. It made a special event even more special than I could have imagined and I'll never forget it.

Photos above Graham Day & The Forefathers at Retro Man Blog Night

I would go on to put on gigs for The Solarflares, Senior Service and The Galileo 7 and then was in the crowd to finally witness a superb Prisoners reunion show in Rochester in 2022 (which you can read about here), something I never thought would happen. But not only is there the upcoming Prisoners gig at The Roundhouse to look forward to, there's also the superb new album "Morning Star" which is out now on Own Up Records and is a remarkably strong set of brand new material that distills all of those trademark Prisoners elements you love. The stomping Motown beats, immense Hammond organ, fuzzed up guitars, melodic bass lines and instantly memorable, bittersweet harmonies. There's also one of the very best Gerry Anderson TV show instrumental themes that never was in "The Green Meteor" and nods to all the band's influences along the way, some more unsuspecting than you might think such as The Who on "Going Back" and Ramones and Phil Spector on "Go To Him" (I hope they play this on Friday...), it's a surefire classic that will live up to all your expectations.

 You can order "A Taste of Ink" via the book's own official Facebook page here.

The Playn Jayn - "New" Single from much-missed 80's Psychedelic Popsters to be released by Circle Records

If people ask me which was the best live band I ever saw, I can say at the drop of a hat that The Playn Jayn were definitely one of them. Sadly, the most common response to my answer is "who?" On one hand, it's disappointing that this most special of bands never really "made it" and certainly never received the acclaim they truly deserved. However, on the other hand I can allow myself a wry smile and bask in the knowledge that I was lucky enough to witness The Playn Jayn in their glorious prime. I remember clearly being blown away by the unusual spectacle of two live-wire lead singers and frontmen which added an air of unpredictability to their gigs. The chemistry between Craig Lindsey and Mike Jones and their vocal harmonies were a joy to behold. Behind them, the band featuring Nick Jones on guitars, Erol Suleyman on bass and Clive Francis on the drums were tight, powerful and stripped back, allowing the immense melodies and ringing riffs to shine. They were rooted in the Psychedelic 60's but had that Garage Punk intensity that meant they appealed to a wide cross section of music fans of all the varied underground genres at the time. At the much-missed Hammersmith Clarendon they shared the stage with many diverse bands from The Prisoners and The Adicts to Sunglasses After Dark, The Long Ryders and Twenty Flight Rockers and went down equally well with all of their respective audiences. I can clearly remember one night at the Lyceum where they played with Lords of The New Church and Wall of Voodoo and that still remains one of my favourite all-time gigs to this day.

But I suppose The Playn Jayn will forever be associated with the Marquee, mainly due to their classic 1984 debut album "Friday The 13th at The Marquee Club" which was released by the major label A&M, who took the unusual step of releasing a live album for the band's debut. Unusual yes, but actually this was a smart move as the brilliant production by Vic Maille captured all the band's live energy perfectly - very rare with official live releases. It also meant that the album sounds immense today, fresh and exciting, bursting from the speakers and completely free of all the terrible studio gimmicks and over production of the early to mid-80's that ruined so many great records of the time. This was unfortunately to come next, as the follow up studio album "Five Good Evils" disappointed me after the raw excellence of "Friday The 13th" and I felt that the songs were half-buried under a weak production. A&M obviously didn't have a clue what to do with the band and the album was put out on their "Indie" subsidiary ABC records. 

They released a couple of singles including the excellent "Juliette" but the band sadly called it a day not long after. The Jones brothers continuing as The Jayn and Erol joined The Jazz Butcher. Mike then sang with The Other Side but by the early 90's all of the members had pretty much disappeared from the music scene. They never resurfaced, there was certainly no reunion and then the terribly sad news filtered through a few years ago that Craig had passed away. For a band that blazed such a short lived trail they certainly made a significant impact on those of us lucky enough to have seen them play live - or even those who had just heard the records. The memory of the band has been kept going by the enthusiasm of fans such as Desmond Behan and Julian Leusby and those at the Playn Jayn fan's group on Facebook, which can be found here. 

But the good news is that long-standing devotion has now been rewarded as Peter Wild at Circle Records has pulled off a remarkable coup by releasing this gem of a 'new' single that will not only be welcomed with open arms by existing fans but will also prove to new listeners just what a special band The Playn Jayn were. The 7" vinyl single will be released on 16th September as a limited edition of 375 individually hand-numbered copies and contains two previously unreleased songs by the group, the last recordings they ever made. There's usually a reason why songs remain unreleased and that is they are generally not good enough, so it's very rare that these two tracks from 37 years ago could well be among the finest the band have recorded and I was blown away by the quality of the songs and the sound of the single. So, a bit of background to the single from Circle Records - The Playn Jayn went into RMS studios in London with producer Andy Le Vien in April 1985 and recorded  two songs for a possible single to hopefully drum up interest following their departure from A&M. They chose the regular show-opener "Cardinal Charlotte's Memorial School" and the slightly newer "It's Not Me". Unreleased after 37 years, rescued by Desmond Behan and mixed by Satch Norton who did live engineering and studio work for the band including the "Friday The 13th" album and the rare white label 7" single "Chamber Door". There's more good news, Circle Records are also looking into the possibility of compiling a selection of rare demos and live recordings for future release, it's not sure yet on which format this will be so I'd recommend subscribing to Circle Records on their social media for updates. Of course, we'll also keep you informed as soon as we have news. To enquire about the new single, please message Circle Records for more information on how to order or check for updates at their eBay page. Otherwise why not drop by and say hello at the Playn Jayn Facebook group here.

Retrosonic Podcast Lockdown Lowdown Episode 1 with Brett "Buddy" Ascott from The Chords & The Fallen Leaves

Photo by Retro Man Blog

Brett "Buddy" Ascott, drummer with The Chords and The Fallen Leaves (and many more besides...) is our first special guest in a new series of Retrosonic Podcasts entitled "Lockdown Lowdown". Buddy tells us of his earliest musical awakenings, the first record he ever bought, his first gig and what event changed him from innocent fan of Pop music to the dark side of Rock & Roll. Along the way we hear who inspired him to pick up the drumsticks, some of his own memorable experiences as a musician and the favourite tracks from his own recordings. Buddy tells us of his favourite albums and singles and most treasured item of music related memorabilia. The episode is soundtracked by songs by David Bowie, The Kinks, Sex Pistols, The Who, Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers, The Undertones, That Petrol Emotion, The Auteurs, Dodgy, Lightning Seeds, The Thrills, Arcade Fire, The Clash and of course The Chords and his current band, The Fallen Leaves.

Full Track-Listing:

David Bowie "Jean Genie"

The Kinks "Dead End Street"

Sex Pistols "Problems"

The Clash "Garageland"

The Who "Doctor Jimmy"

That Petrol Emotion "Sensitize"

The Thrills "Found My Rosebud"

The Lightning Seeds "Pure"

The Kinks "Days"

The Who "Baby, Don't You Do It" 

The Chords "I'm Not Sure"

The Chords "What Are We Gonna Do Now?"

The Undertones "Get Over You"

The Auteurs "New French Girlfriend"

The Fallen Leaves "So Much More"

Arcade Fire "Modern Man"

Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers "Born To Lose"

Dodgy "In a Room"

You can order The Chords box-set "Re-Chordings 1979-1982" here. For more information on the forthcoming book "Remembering The Chords" by Ray Butler, please check out the link here. Details on how to donate and bid for the signed drum-skin can be found at the Roll Out The Barrel Trust web-site here. The Retrosonic Podcast special featuring the full story of Buddy Ascott's musical journey is still available to download/stream at our Retrosonic Podcast Soundcloud archive here.

Subscribe to Retrosonic Podcast on iTunes for free or download/stream at Soundcloud below:

Retrosonic Podcast · Lockdown Lowdown Episode 1: Buddy Ascott (The Chords/The Fallen Leaves)

The Fay Hallam Group - Photos & Videos from the "Propellor" LP Launch Party at Water Rats April 27th 2019

The Fay Hallam Group at Water Rats - photo by Retro Man Blog

Fay Hallam celebrated the release of her excellent new album "Propellor" with a Suit Yourself Music Culture release party at the Water Rats in Kings Cross last Saturday night. Fay and her superb seven piece band were on top form as they treated us to a set that included plenty of new songs alongside classics from Makin' Time, Phaze and her collaborations with The Bongolian and Magnus Carlson. "Propellor" is out now on vinyl, CD and download from Well Suspect Records, order it here. Here's some photos and a couple of videos from the show.

The Fay Hallam Group at Water Rats - photo by Retro Man Blog

The Fay Hallam Group at Water Rats - photo by Retro Man Blog

The Fay Hallam Group at Water Rats - photo by Retro Man Blog

Thanks to Alan at Suit Yourself Music & Culture. More photos can be found at the Retro Man Blog Facebook page here and there are more videos over at our YouTube channel here. You can also check out a feature on our last ever Retro Man Blog Night featuring The Fay Hallam Group here.

The Fay Hallam Group + King Mojo + DJ Lee Grimshaw - Retro Man Blog Night at The Half Moon Putney Sat Feb 9th

Following the success of October's show for Ebbot Lundberg & The Indigo Children, I'm very pleased to announce the next Retro Man Blog Night at The Half Moon Putney will be on Saturday February 9th and features The Fay Hallam Group with special guests King Mojo and DJ Lee Grimshaw from the Spinout Show. Advance tickets are now available from the Half Moon at the link below. Fay Hallam is a hugely respected Hammond organist, singer and songwriter, with over 10 albums to her credit. She first came to prominence in Wolverhampton Mod-popsters, Makin' Time, in the early 1980's, along with a pre-Charlatans Martin Blunt. Fay and Martin, along with drummer John Brookes and ex-Prisoners frontman, Graham Day, then went on to form The Gift Horses, which were the embryonic beginnings of The Charlatans.

Fay Hallam at The 100 Club - Photo by Retro Man Blog

Fay then joined Graham Day again, along with Prisoners bassist Allan Crockford and fellow Medway stalwart and ex-Daggermen drummer Simon (Wolf) Howard, to form The Prime Movers. This took on a rockier more progressive sound, including the 'Earth Church' LP, which was hailed by Sounds Music Weekly, as LP of the year Afer this, Fay went on to make over 10 albums as Phaze, The Fay Hallam Trinity and then as a solo artist initially on the Blow Up label, with her 2015 album release "Corona". Her second solo album release, "House Of Now" was released on Well Suspect Records in October 2016, received rave reviews, and gained airplay on BBC 6 Music and BBC London. Always with one eye on keeping things fresh, and developing her ever-evolving sound, Fay's current incarnation, The Fay Hallam Group, comprising of Paul Weller collaborator Andy Lewis on bass, her son Josh Day on piano, Kieran McAleer on drums, Jim Bishop on guitar, and the brand new brass section of Angus Law on sax and Kenneth Yarham on trumpet, have just completed their latest album, "Propeller", which is due for release in Spring 2019. Fay's current live set features songs from her entire back-catalogue, from classic Makin' Time favourites, right up to the present day.

For more info on The Fay Hallam Group please keep an eye on their recently updated official web-site here, or you can check out their Facebook page here. You can read our feature on Fay's excellent gig at the 100 Club which featured special guests French Boutik and Magnus Carlson in the Blog archive here. There are also some videos from the show at the Retro Man Blog YouTube channel which you can find in the archive here.

You can book your tickets in advance from the Half Moon Putney event page here.  

Thanks to Steve Rowland from Frank Phantom Design for the poster.

The Fay Hallam Band at The 100 Club with Special Guests Magnus Carlson, French Boutik & DJ David Edwards

Fay Hallam and bassist Andy Lewis at the 100 Club - Photo copyright Retro Man Blog

What a great feelgood Friday night down at the legendary 100 Club with a superb line-up...The Fay Hallam Band featuring a very special guest appearance from Swedish Soul star and frontman of Weeping Willows, Magnus Carlson along with support from our good friends French Boutik and then there was DJ Dave Edwards from the Sidewinder club night too. French Boutik played a superb set, bravely introducing a few brand new numbers which went down really well. After all the band have a knack of writing instantly memorable and catchy songs, so even though they might start out as unfamiliar, by the last chord the melodies are already stuck in your head for good.

French Boutik at the 100 Club - Photo copyright Retro Man Blog

French Boutik at the 100 Club - Photo copyright Retro Man Blog

Tonight we were treated to the full line-up of the band with vocalist Gabriela, guitarist Serge, drummer Zelda and bassist Jean-Marc augmented by Olivier Popincourt on keyboards and Graham Lentz on percussion and acoustic guitar. They started off with their recently recorded version of The Jam's "The Place I Love" as a happy 60th birthday tribute to Paul Weller and ended up with a well deserved encore and a Punky run through of a cover of "Beta Gamma" by Henri Salvador. Highlights for me included a storming "Je Regarde Les Tigres" and "Mieux Comme Ca" with Serge on lead vocals and new song "Loin de Moi" which sounded like it could become a future crowd favourite. The band are on fire at the moment and I'd recommend catching them play live whenever you get the chance.

French Boutik at the 100 Club - Photo copyright Retro Man Blog

Fay Hallam and her excellent seven piece band kicked off their set with a great version of the "Dave Allen at Large" theme tune which had many of us old nostalgics looking round for a cigarette and glass of whisky and checking that they still had their fingers intact! We were then treated to an uplifting and uptempo set that touched on most aspects of her career stretching right back to a couple of Makin' Time numbers including the classic "Feels Like It's Love". We were brought right up to date with some really promising new tracks "Magic Potion" and "Lie Detector" which featured Fay's son Josh taking on lead vocals and he did a great job, such a talented family!

Fay Hallam Band at the 100 Club - Photo copyright Retro Man Blog

Fay Hallam & Magnus Carlson - Photo copyright Retro Man Blog

I particularly enjoyed "Do You Know How To Love Me?" taken from the latest album "House of Now" which was produced by Andy Lewis who I'm pleased to see is adding his considerable bass playing talents to the line-up tonight. Two tracks from the excellent "Lost In Sound" album with The Bongolian, "Dancing" and a fantastic "Freefall" in particular highlight how good a drummer Kieran McAleer is and they get a warm reaction from the appreciative crowd. There's a couple of cover versions included, a faithful run through of The Flirtations classic "Nothing But a Heartache" and a perfect take on Dusty Springfield's version of "Spooky". Magnus Carlson is invited on stage to join the band for a great run through of Nolan Porter's "If I Could Only Be Sure" on which the excellent guitarist Jim Bishop tackles that great melancholy riff perfectly.

Fay Hallam Band at the 100 Club - Photo copyright Retro Man Blog

Fay Hallam & Magnus Carlson - Photo copyright Retro Man Blog

There is a sparkling chemistry between Magnus and Fay, they look like they are having as much fun as we are and their voices work perfectly together. I understand that Fay will join the line-up of his band on an upcoming tour of Sweden to promote his new LP "A Nordic Soul" on Cosmos Music. In fact the main reason that Magnus is here tonight is because he just released a stunning new single "Now That It's Over" featuring Fay on vocals and organ. It's a stomping slice of classic Soul and it was definitely one of the highlights of the night, almost lifting the roof off of the 100 Club. Magnus says his goodbyes and the band are called back for an encore and end with a great version of "Greenhouse" from The Prime Movers early 90's album "Earth Church" which was a nice surprise. Great night out, great music and great people - you just can't beat it.

Magnus Carlson at the 100 Club - Photo copyright Retro Man Blog

Fay Hallam Band at the 100 Club - Photo copyright Retro Man Blog

French Boutik are currently finishing off work on a new LP so please check out their Facebook page here for more details. You can pledge your support at their IndieGoGo campaign here. For more news and information on The Fay Hallam Band please check out their web-site here. Information on Magnus Carlson and his upcoming album "A Nordic Soul" along with his collaboration with Fay can be found at his web-site here or over at the Cosmos Music site here. There are more photos from the night at our Retro Man Facebook page here and videos of both bands over at our YouTube channel here. Here's a sample of what you will find...

The Len Price 3 "Kentish Longtails" - Amy Kilroy-Buck reports on the band's fifth album for Retro Man Blog

In the build up to Retro Man Blog's sold out "Kentish Longtails" album launch party Amy Kilroy-Buck gives her verdict on The Len Price 3's fifth album, which promises to be their best so far. 

Medway based Power Pop Garage Rock three-piece The Len Price 3 have been making waves on the live music scene since the release of their first album “Chinese Burn” back in 2003. 14 years later the blazer-wearing trio (although not so much these days) are still playing sold-out London venues and album number five is just about to be released. Ask any LP3 fan what they like about the band and the answers are likely to be much the same; catchy riffs, snarling vocals from front-man Glenn Page, witty, acerbic lyrics and slick, swaggering performances that translate just as well on stage as in the studio. Five albums is a lot, and the quality has been consistently high but the question on my lips before I listened to their latest offering, “Kentish Longtails” was 'is this going to be more of the same?' I should mention that that is in no way intended as a criticism, 'more of the same' would still make for a great album of blistering tunes, but “Kentish Longtails” actually goes way beyond anything we've heard from The Lennies before, and is a pretty extraordinary record. 

The Len Price 3 photographed by Paul Slattery

Before you start to worry that they've deserted their traditional sound and started dabbling in Prog-Rock concept albums or any other silliness, don't; there is plenty here to keep the most die-hard fan happy; “Nothing I Want”, “Ride on Coat Tails” and “Saturday Morning Film Show” are all classic, riffy LP3 and would sit happily in amongst the current set. The same can also be said about “Childish Words”, a not very thinly veiled dig at Billy Childish. There's clearly a bit of history there, about which I shan't speculate, but it's a storming song all the same. “Lisa Baker” is an LP3 classic in the making, full of wry humour and with a trademark singalong chorus. So far, so Len Price 3, but nestling in amongst these catchy little numbers are some absolute gems where Messrs Page, Huggins and Fromow have really thrown the rule book out of the window. The piano led “Pocketful of Watches” is utterly different to anything else I've ever heard from this band, but right from the first listen it's a captivating track. The lyrics are from a far more poetic LP3 than we're used to ('a box of rainbows waits for me' is a long way from “London Institute”) and the overall effect is a gloriously sunny pop song that may catch many existing fans off guard, but is impossible to dislike. 

The Len Price 3 photographed by Paul Slattery

“Telegraph Hill” similarly takes the band into previously uncharted love song territory, but with its Kinks-eque chorus and quietly wistful lyrics it's a sure-fire winner. The Len Price 3 are a band who have always done their own thing regardless of expectation and this has the feel of an album in which they haven't tried to cater to audience demands but have experimented with different styles, gone slightly off-piste and generally had fun. There are elements of Britpop in there, hints of psychedelia; comparisons with The Who are unavoidable on “Stop Start Lilly”, but throughout they still maintain their own very distinctive sound. This is the fifth album of a band who have no intention of picking the safe option, and I admire them for it. “Kentish Longtails” could have been 'more of the same', but it's turned out to be so much more than that. It's a fantastic album, go and buy it.

- Amy Kilroy-Buck, August 2017

The Len Price 3 photographed by Paul Slattery

Unfortunately, the new album launch party has completely sold out now and sorry but there will be NO tickets available on the night. For more information on future gigs and how to order "Kentish Longtails" then please head on over to The Len Price 3's official web-site here or check out their Facebook page here. Photos copyright Paul Slattery. With thanks to Amy for the review.