Since You Been mucked about with

If you are not a fan of the MCU films then this may have passed you by, the trailer for the third Guardians of The Galaxy movie. These days companies put a huge amount of effort into their online trailers and this one is no exception. And as much work goes into just the right soundtrack. Here the producers decided that what would fit the bill best was Rainbow’s 1979 smash Since You Been Gone!

In common with many other vintage rock tunes chosen for this purpose the producers also decided to beef it up to fit the loud cinema soundtrack systems. Here though that beefing up has largely meant chucking most of it away altogether! Graham Bonnet’s amazing vocal remains, a fair bit of guitar, after which we start to struggle to recognise much. Cozy has left the room. Roger and Don likewise as far as we can tell.
And as for being a ‘nice little earner’ we mustn’t forget it was a cover version originally anyway (Russ Ballard 1976). Still it may well drive traffic to the Rainbow version (the trailer aired during a recent big American sports final) and fractions of cents will wing their way to somebody as a result. It is often the case that the music used for trailers does not make it across into the movie so we’ll have to see. But given DTB are big fans of the first two Guardian films they will report back when it hits cinemas in May.
And no, Ritchie hasn’t undergone a Madonna like transformation above, that’s Russ playing with Candice and co. in 2017. Thanks to the ever vigilant Tim Summers for pointing us to the story.

Bonnet biography on sale

The publishers are now taking pre-orders for Steve Wright’s exhaustive  Graham Bonnet biography The Story Behind The Shades, with a September delivery date confirmed. Anyone who orders ahead of then from here gets a bit of a discount too.  There is a regular softback, 176 pages (plus 160 rare photos and 170 items of memorabilia!), and also a signed copy in a deluxe slipcase with a laminate which is exclusive to the publisher’s online store. Details of the editions on their site.  The Rainbow saga is included, and there is a nice forward from Purple’s Don Airey too.

Graham’s band have a new drummer (who actually joined for the UK tour late last year) and a new guitarist, but did bring in three members of his original 1967 group for the one-off encore at Skegness last month.  There is a new studio album in progress, a live set from 2016 in Italy out on CD and DVD, and he will be guesting with Michael Schenker in the UK later this year. Incredibly Graham got to see Deep Purple for the first time ever the other night and met up with his old mates Roger and Don afterwards (first time in 37 years!), posting a selfie we’ll show below.

Purple People

A wedge of Glenn Hughes back-catalogue is appearing through the new Purple label run via Cherry Red.  Some offer no extras over and above what has been out before, but Feel gains a bonus disc of live material from Holland, Germany and Japan recorded in 1994.  Source is not known, the shows have all appeared as bootlegs but they may have gone looking for original tapes.  Addiction, one of my faves from the man, has a live show from Holland in 1995 as a bonus disc. Again this has appeared as a decent bootleg before (one of the boot sleeves is shown above.)  Thanks to Mark Maddock.
(A few people keep asking but this is nothing to do with the Purple label as run by Simon which was closed a few years ago now after Tony Edwards died.)
Also busy on the archive front is Graham Bonnet, with a new Anthology CD/DVD combo any time and there is a more recent CD/DVD set taken from a festival slot in Italy in 2016 also on the way.  His biography is in the very final stages of production and is expected to be in print during June. Check the publisher’s site for more info or to register for early details.  Thanks to Stephen Hines for the info (and owner of one of the best email names I’ve seen so far!).

Glenn ‘n Graham

Glenn Hughes has been added to the bill at the Ramblin’ Man Fair in Maidstone, playing on the Saturday bill, July 29th.  The event also has a Friday evening bill, which sees Graham Bonnet Band supporting Saxon.  All this according to the ad. on the back page of this month’s issue of Viz!  Naturally given the source I went to the festival site to double check…

Brisk

Graham Bonnet is touring the UK in February 2016.  To save my fingers, I’ll attach the official flyer.  It’s wrap-up warm time, especially if you opt for the Skegness homecoming show.  I’ve been there in the winter and it’s biting!  I missed his last UK tour as I was stuck in frozen Cheshire on the afternoon of the Sheffield gig.
Graham is also doing eight shows in Australia in April which might be warmer, I might as well add that flyer as well. This is with his new band, and a studio album is in the works for Frontier Records, which will have a bonus disc of reworked oldies apparently.

  
His biography is nearly wrapped up and will be out early 2016.  There may now be a limited edition in a hardback cover designed by Graham himself.  You can read more about this and see some spreads at the publisher’s site.

one voice to rule them all

Simon has just finished editing author Steve Wright’s Graham Bonnet text and this has now gone out for proofing (hello Tom and John!).  “As I came to Graham mainly through the Rainbow connection (and having seen him live a couple of times in recent years) one thing which did strike me was just how many guitarists Graham has worked with over the last 35 years. How about this for a list? Ritchie Blackmore, Michael Schenker, Yngwie Malmsteen, Chris Impelliteri, Steve Vai, Taz Taylor, Ray Fenwick, Micky Moody, Jan Akkerman, Mario Parga, Slash, Bob Kulick, Danny Johnson, Viv Campbell, Dario Mollo, Axel Rudi Pell, Uli Jon Roth, and Gary Moore!  I wonder if any other singer can match that? But I have to say reading it through has inspired me to go looking for a few bits of his later catalogue which I missed at the time, and to me that’s always the sign of a good book.”  Anyhow, the book is now into the design stage so anyone interested who has yet to join the mailing list for this is urged to do so, and get early details of any pre-launch offers, etc.

The Skyliners

A few days away from the laptop and we get back to find the site awash with speculation about our mystery guitar player from an earlier posting here. So without further ado…
David Coverdale was indeed in a band called The Skyliners from November 1968 for a few months (until they changed their name to The Government). The Skyliners we showed is a different (and older) outfit, which featured Graham Bonnet on guitar and vocals (and there were a number of people who did guess correctly), Bill Gardner on drums, Alan Vickers on brass, with band leader Peter Tomlinson on keyboards. Incredibly Graham was still at school when he joined them in 1963, and stayed with the outfit for around 18 months, playing hotels, clubs, Butlin’s, and coffee bars in Skegness and Lincolnshire. “We did all the songs you could imagine. ‘Take Five’, ‘San Francisco’, ‘Go Away Little Girl’, Sinatra tunes, Tony Bennett etc. and all the awful pop tunes that were around at the time. It was all mum’s and dad’s type songs. Lots of instrumentals, Joe Loss type things and jazz stuff.” Graham finally moved on to form a more contemporary pop group in 1964. The Skyliner’s photo (check here if you missed it) came from the forthcoming Graham Bonnet Biography, written by Steve Wright – who used to run Graham’s fanzine Under The Bonnet which older DTB people will remember I’m sure. As Steve says, it is not intended to be a dirt digging exercise, he’s more interested in properly documenting Graham’s career, but the singer has been very open and honest about his ups and downs in the rock business in a series of interviews over the last few years. Due out towards the end of this year, I’ve really enjoyed reading the story as it does provide a real insight into Graham’s background and upbringing. It will be published by Easy On The Eye books, and you can read more on their website. Format will be similar to the recent Wait for The Ricochet title, with lots of memorabilia and pics, and there should be an opportunity to get a limited version signed by GB as well. The publishers have opened an information service for anyone who would like to be kept up to date and get early news of publication, and also allowed us to reprint their publicity information on DTB in the book section.
Thanks to Steve and Easy On The Eye Books for the advance information. Steve has collected a lot of material for the book but if any DTB people have photographs or memorabilia which might be suitable, send me an email and I’ll put you in touch.

Let there be drums

One of Cozy Powell‘s custom Yamaha kits had an outing on the recent Graham Bonnet tour.  Very strange to hear the sound after so many years, but unmistakable even so.  Details of the Wakefield show (where the kit above was pictured a few days ago) and a couple more photos on the site (plus early details of an upcoming biography of the singer) here.  Photo © Simon Robinson.