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.

Graham Day & The Gaolers with The Galileo 7 at Damaged Goods Records 30th Anniversary, The Lexington

Graham Day & The Gaolers - Photo copyight Retro Man Blog

In an early episode of Retrosonic Podcast, we were picking tracks by our favourite bands and artists and the question came up, whatever happened to Graham Day...? There had been no news on the former Prisoners singer/songwriter since Graham Day & The Gaolers had split up a few years earlier. Graham formed The Gaolers by recruiting drummer Dan Eletxro and bassist Buzz Hagstrom from The Woggles, one of his favourite bands and in 2007 they released a stunning debut album “Soundtrack To The Daily Grind”. Buzz was later replaced by Jon Barker from The Daggermen (currently with Graham in The Senior Service) and they released the superb follow up “Triple Distilled” a year later. “Triple Distilled” was one of those rare classic albums where everything just clicks. Right through from the stunning cover art to the blistering production to the mind-blowing collection of top quality songs within, it was faultless. Sadly, The Gaolers were a short-lived affair and things suddenly went very quiet. Then out of the blue came the announcement of a Prime Movers reunion when Graham, Allan Crockford and Wolf Howard were lured back to play some shows thanks to an offer from a German record label. This would eventually lead to Graham Day & The Forefathers when the trio had the idea to play a selection of ‘hits’ from all the Graham fronted bands, not only the Prime Movers but The Prisoners, The SolarFlares and The Gaolers too. They were a “tribute band to himself” as Graham told us in our Forefathers special Retrosonic Podcast. 

Graham Day & The Gaolers - Photo copyight Retro Man Blog

Dan & Jon, The Gaolers - Photo copyight Retro Man Blog

When I heard the news about The Forefathers, I leapt at the chance to offer them a gig at one of my Retro Man Blog Nights at The Half Moon in Putney. The opportunity to work with one of my musical heroes and make our old Podcast wish to see Graham play live again come true, was too good to miss. We would go on to put on three memorable shows with The Forefathers, in particular one on Graham’s birthday, which included an extra special surprise when they dusted down the legendary Prisoners Star Trek stage outfits. I have to admit I had a lump in my throat when I went backstage before that show and saw the tunics hanging up behind the door as it took me back to the very first time I saw The Prisoners on CH4’s The Tube in 1984. Some of my personal highlights from The Forefathers set were actually tracks by The Gaolers and I had a cunning plan to see if Graham would consider re-forming the band. I knew he had a soft spot for them too and it was discussed in a roundabout way but the timings didn’t quite work out. It did however sow the seeds for our two sold-out SolarFlares reunion gigs at The Water Rats in Kings Cross - by coincidence, the same venue (although then known as The Pindar of Wakefield) where The Tube filmed The Prisoners in their Strar Trek outfits all those years ago. Then we also put on the debut single launch party by Graham’s instrumental outfit, The Senior Service at The Half Moon but deep down, I still harboured ambitions to put on a Gaolers reunion show one day. 

Graham Day & The Gaolers - Photo copyight Retro Man Blog

Graham Day & The Gaolers - Photo copyight Retro Man Blog

So I must admit to having mixed emotions when it was announced earlier this year that The Gaolers would indeed be getting back but only for a one-off appearance as part of the Damaged Goods Records 30th anniversary celebrations at The Lexington. Part of me was disappointed but at least it meant I could be there, down the front, purely as a fan without all the pressure and responsibility of promoting the gig. Anyway, who can compete with or begrudge Damaged Goods Records, they did release The Gaolers albums after all and I knew label boss Ian was a huge fan, as he explained in our Damaged Goods Records special Podcast here. The band take the stage, looking good in their matching black military style tunics with red piping – Graham picks up his cool Gretsch guitar, Dan with his trademark cap is behind the drums and Jon Barker is on bass. There is a real sense of anticipation as they launch into the first number “Glad I’m Not Young” and the roof is nearly lifted off The Lexington with the sheer power of it. It really is a great song, with lyrics harking back to the violence between the youth cults that many of us had to deal with as teenagers and it is refreshing to hear something that’s not all rose-tinted nostalgia. Another plus side of getting older is finally being able to say what you mean and this is perfectly captured in the next song “Better Man”. 

Graham Day & The Gaolers - Photo copyight Retro Man Blog

Of course, the negative experiences are also dealt with in the brutally frank “Part Time Dad” which is a loud and raucous stunner. Although Graham professes to dislike writing lyrics, I think his work with The Gaolers is up there with the best. Both Gaolers albums feature searingly honest songs touching on the issues of a man coming to terms with impending middle age. They are often shot through with a self-deprecating humour though, in particular “Something About You Girl” which is an evocative vignette of a guy getting slightly more than he bargained for from his date. However, I don’t want to look too deeply into the meaning of the lyrics, as Graham is on hand to admonish any such pretensions in the all too modest “Just a Song”. After all, as he sings, these are “not words to analyse or scrutinise”. Graham hands around a bottle of Jim Beam to his two colleagues and to his grateful mates standing side of stage before slamming into a great version of “Pass That Whiskey”. The swirling “Lost Without My Dignity” slows the pace a little and allows for a quick breather and chance to reflect that actually, I do wish I was young. We were treated to the added bonus of two excellent brand new songs “Just a Little” and “I’m Not The Only One” and they were both soulful with memorable catchy guitar riffs. The good news is that the band have recently been in Ranscombe Studios with Jim Riley and have recorded them for a future Damaged Goods Records single. It is a relief to those of us who have been patiently waiting for some new Graham Day material and I guess they might well find their way into a Forefathers set in the near future. 

Graham Day & The Gaolers - Photo copyight Retro Man Blog

Dan of The Gaolers - Photo copyight Retro Man Blog

An explosive “The Most Expensive Sleep” is followed by their classic debut single “Get Off My Track” which is a vitriolic burst of energy and the set draws to a close all too quickly. Of course, there are demands for an encore and “Wanna Smoke”, that fist waving singalong rant at political correctness goes down a storm. A Graham Day show would not be complete without an instrumental tune, after all The Gaolers were responsible for one of his best in “Sitar Spangled Banner”. Tonight though it’s a slight case of sitar-mangled banner and the three bandmates trade sheepish grins as they stumble a bit half way through. Anyway, we didn’t really care whether all the right notes were being played in the right order or not as we were having way too much fun to worry. The band are called back for a well-deserved second encore and play a crunching “Begging You” which ends the show perfectly and they lap up the heartfelt applause. With the new single coming out soon I’m sincerely hoping there may be the possibility of more Gaolers gigs to promote it next time Dan is over in the U.K. and I’m certainly going to be first in the queue with an offer!     

The Galileo 7 - Photo copyight Retro Man Blog

The Galileo 7 opened the show and put in one of their best performances to date. I mean, I was blown away by their set supporting Ebbot Lundberg at the Retro Man Blog Night back in October but this was even better. Allan Crockford certainly seems to have grown in confidence as both a frontman and vocalist, attacking his guitar and leaping around, trying to avoid being injured by Paul Moss, the bouncing bassist to his left, who only stands still when he has to deliver some backing vocals. They are becoming a great visual live act nowadays with Allan and Paul vying for space as drummer Mole kicks up a Tasmanian devil storm behind them. Then there is Viv swaying along behind her keyboard, managing to play with one hand whilst keeping the beat with her tambourine in the other. The band kick off with the powerful “One Lie at a Time” and tonight, the set concentrates on their current album “Tear Your Mind Wide Open”, taking in the superb title track and the melodic Power Pop of “Live For Yesterday”. 

The Galileo 7 - Photo copyight Retro Man Blog

However, it’s “The Mask” that is a real highlight, cramming mind-bending twists and turns into a song that some might call a mini-opera. It’s as if The Who had condensed the whole of “A Quick One” into a three and a half-minute masterpiece. The stunning quick-fire ending sees people standing there open-mouthed watching Mole in awe. He certainly rose to the added pressure of being watched by some mighty fine drummers as I spot Lois from The Embrooks, Wolf Howard and Johnny Symons from The Prisoners in the crowd enjoying a night off. There is a dip into the band’s debut album for the crowd favourite “Orangery Lane”, a classic piece of Syd Barrett inspired Psych Pop, which segued into a cracking version of Pink Floyd’s “Astronomy Domine”. At least they are not shy of acknowledging their influences. The band know how to plan a set-list too; the dynamics are always perfectly plotted and live, the vocal backing harmonies of Mole, Paul and Viv really lift the songs to another level. Viv handles lead vocals on a promising new unreleased track “Too Late” and despite “Tear Your Mind Wide Open” only being a year old, there is a good chunk of the new LP already written. The band seem to be fizzing with a creative energy and have been dropping in some more impressive teasers into their set recently, including the brilliant “Everything Is Everything Else”. This is a classic piece of melodic Garage Pop, which surely must be nailed on as a future 7” single release. 

The Galileo 7 - Photo copyight Retro Man Blog

I can feel there is an impatience to keep moving on, to keep improving and the new songs I have heard are catchy and concise and slot in perfectly among the more familiar material. Just like their gigs, the albums have been getting progressively better too so I am already impatient to hear what is coming next. They end the set with an oldie “Are We Having Fun Yet?” and when Allan sings those words in the chorus we all reply with the cynical response “no, I don’t think so”, but don’t worry, we certainly don’t mean it…! There was a real buzz in the crowd after their set and the talk centred on just how much The Galileo 7 are improving with each passing show. I am hoping that if they can get some more decent high profile gigs such as this one, they are sure to be converting a lot more people to the cause. The band are keen to play more shows so any promoters out there please do get in touch. I must also mention DJ Lee Grimshaw from the Spinout Show who was on hand to keep us entertained between the live music and as usual, his eclectic mix went down a storm. So, a great night out to celebrate Damaged Goods Records 30th birthday and long may they continue!

For more photos of the night please visit the Retro Man Blog Facebook page here and you can find some videos of both bands over at our Retro Man Blog YouTube channel here. Please click the highlighted links throughout the feature to check out further information. 

Retro Man Blog's Top 20 Gigs of 2017

Retro Man Blog's Top 20 Gigs of 2017...

01. Hipsville A-Go-Go Weekender: The Rezillos, Viv & The Sect, Los Sustos etc.

02. The SolarFlares, Fallen Leaves, Embrooks, & King Mojo at Water Rats (Retro Man Blog Night)

03. Nymphet Noodlers at Uppsala Konsert & Kongress

 

04. Las Aspiradoras & The No-Things at Weirdsville

05. Oh! Gunquit at Windsor Firestation & Weirdsville

06. The Skids & The Vapors at The Roundhouse

07. The Stompin' Riff Raffs at Club 3, Tokyo

08. Michael Head at The Social

09. The Blue Aeroplanes & Ian McNabb at Islington Academy

10. Sparks at Shepherd's Bush Empire

11. The Len Price 3 at Water Rats (Retro Man Blog Night)

12. The Stranglers and Ruts DC at G-Live Guildford

13. Papa-san & Friends, Tokyo

14. Tonbruket at The Vortex Jazz Club

15. Robert Forster at Shaw Theatre

16. Jane Birkin at The Barbican

17. The Len Price 3, Galileo 7 & The Embrooks at Nambucca

18. The Fallen Leaves & The SD5 at The Hope & Anchor

19. The Moot, Trees & The Slipway & Andy Hepburn at the Cabbage Patch Twickenham

20. Stag & Jon Auer at The Islington

For features, reviews, photos and videos please click on the highlighted links above. All photos copyright Retro Man Blog and Paul Slattery.

The SolarFlares 13th and 14th October at The Water Rats with Special Guests The Fallen Leaves, King Mojo, The Embrooks and DJ Lee Grimshaw

The SolarFlares photographed by Paul Slattery

I'd like to thank everyone that came along to our Retro Man Blog presents The SolarFlares reunion shows at The Water Rats, I really appreciate all the fantastic feedback and comments which goes to show you all seemed to enjoy it as much as we did! Amy Kilroy-Buck kindly contributed her thoughts on the weekend. "When the tickets have sold out before the poster is even printed, you know it's going to be a bit of a special gig. Originally a one off to coincide with the vinyl reissue of three albums on Damaged Goods, the gig quickly became a two off in order to meet the apparently insatiable demand of fans and tickets flew out at a pace that makes this Retro Man Blog's fastest selling event so far. I went to both nights (as one does) and it really was pretty spectacular. Friday night began with an excellent set from DJ Lee Grimshaw before The Fallen Leaves took to the stage. The Fallen Leaves ('no jeans, no t-shirts, no cover versions') are always a joy to watch, with their punchy, catchy songs and unashamedly theatrical delivery. You'll find no wasted notes or excessive noodling here, just good, old fashioned, tweed clad garage punk.

The Fallen Leaves photographed by Paul Slattery

Rob Symmons of The Fallen Leaves photographed by Paul Slattery

I've never seen The Solarflares live before (I was 18 when they split up and only just starting to develop any kind of taste in music), but I've been a regular at Forefathers gigs for quite some time now and, like many of the audience, I was interested to see just how different an all SF's set would be, and if the addition of the Hammond really made much difference overall. Right from the first song it became apparent that it really, really does. The squirly, wailing chords add another layer of sound to an already powerful mix, and it also meant we got treated to the instrumentals Lunar Girl, Moonshine of Your Love, Angel Interceptor, and my absolute favourite, Girl in a Briefcase. With an extensive back catalogue to choose from, the choice of songs on Friday night veered from the poignant (Mary) to the witty (Feet the Wrong Way Round) through to the downright groovy instrumentals via the occasional audience singalong (Miles Away).

Allan Crockford of The SolarFlares photographed by Paul Slattery

Graham Day & Wolf Howard of The SolarFlares photographed by Paul Slattery

The Solarflares really do have something for everyone, and the multiple encores on Friday night definitely gave the impression that the band were enjoying themselves too. One gig down, one to go, or, as Allan joked, 'thank you for coming to our rehearsal for tomorrow'. I've never been to see the same band in the same venue on two consecutive nights before, but on Saturday we shook off our hangovers and piled back into the Water Rats, ready for some more. Saturday's line up gave us two support bands, the first of whom, King Mojo, had made the 500 mile round trip from the frozen north beyond the wall (all right, Middlesbrough) to kick things off for a second night of music. I've seen King Mojo before on their home turf, and as a live band they really are dynamite, combining sharp, spiky song writing with class musicianship. Their EP Ironstoned is on my 'to be reviewed' stack, so more on them soon. Definitely ones to watch, and a great start to the night.

King Mojo - Photo Copyright Retro Man Blog

The Embrooks - Photo Copyright Retro Man Blog

My nearest and dearest will be well acquainted with my tendency to keep banging on about how much I love The Embrooks, but I can honestly say that this band alone would be worth the trip down to London, and if you haven't seen them yet, I urge you to do so. Their stage performances have a manic energy that make them captivating to watch, and their songs will rattle around in your head long after the gig is over. Saturday was already off to a great start, and it was time for more Solarflares. With one or two small changes to the set the band seemed a little more relaxed than the previous night, and soon got into their stride. The Water Rats is a fairly cosy venue, but I decided to fight my way down to the front, and it was well worth the effort.

Wolf Howard of The SolarFlares photographed by Paul Slattery

As on the previous night the sound was full and vibrant, but there was an extra veneer of confidence there and definitely no clues that this was a band that hadn't played together for a long time. The long established team of Graham Day, Allan Crockford and Wolf Howard seem to have a collective sixth sense that we're used to seeing with The Forefathers, but the addition of Parsley on Hammond organ really did elevate this band to something pretty extraordinary. His playing is subtle and empathetic, and supports the guitar rather than fighting it. He's a snappy dresser too, and I hope we see him on stage again at another Retroman night in the future.

Parsley of The SolarFlares photographed by Paul Slattery

The Solarflares always talk about their band with great fondness, and Saturday's gig really did have the feel of a group of friends who were having a great time. The songs still sound new and fresh, and there's obviously some real affection from the audience. As the band came to the end of their final song, Graham leant his Gretsch Black Panther against his Vox and left the stage to a fanfare of self induced feedback. Allan dutifully switched off the amp as the band exited stage right to riotous cheers. The final encore of Father's Name Is Dad marked the end of a triumphant reformation for The Solarflares, and whether they do it again, or it remains a two off, it was a spectacular couple of nights for a few hundred people in Kings Cross." - AKB October 2017

Graham Day of The SolarFlares photographed by Paul Slattery

With thanks to Amy for the great review and to Paul Slattery for his superb photos as always. You can see more photos of all the bands over the two nights at the Retro Man Blog Facebook page here and some videos over at our YouTube channel here. There's also a great review of the Friday night show over on the always excellent Monkey Picks Blog which can be found here.