In recent weeks I have made it to a few gigs at The Craufurd Arms in Wolverton, Milton Keynes. It was great to be able to do something ‘normal’ if you like. Prior to these events, I hadn’t been to The Craufurd, or to any other gig since March 2020.
The first outing on 17th November was to see Girlschool and Alcatrazz and the second on 7th December was to see British Lion.
I am not going to write gig reviews as such, but rather make some general observations about my experiences.
Girlschool/Alcatrazz
Girlschool has been going since the late seventies and was part of the scene known as the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM). Girlschool was frequently associated with Motorhead because Lemmy collaborated with the girls on a number of occasions.
Alcatrazz was formed in the early eighties and, despite being old school rockers, are American, so can’t be labelled NWOBHM.
The bands were on an equal footing for this gig, double headliners if you like.
Having seen neither of the groups before, I thought I would buy a ticket because, frankly, no one is getting any younger. If you want to see these bands, you need to do it while you still can. The passage of time is going to be a key theme of this piece.
For any band that has been going for 40 years, original members are going to be pensioners or rapidly approaching retirement anyway. That’s not to say that musical skills will have been impacted, but these rockers are not going to look young anymore.
For Girlschool, you can therefore dismiss any thoughts of St. Trinians and instead start thinking more along the lines of the W.I. When the ladies took to the stage, it was clear that they have all aged in the same way that I, and pretty much all of the audience at the gig, have. Singer, Kim McAuliffe, 62; guitarist Jackie Chambers, 57; Tracey Lamb, bass, 58; Denise Dufort, drummer, 63.
The average age of the gig goers must have been fifty something, which I guess is no real surprise because folks in their twenties/thirties perhaps wouldn’t have even heard of the band/s.
With Alcatrazz the experience was similar, but the band was/is all blokes. Doogie White, singer 61; Gary Shea on bass 70; Jimmy Waldo, keyboards, 62; Joe Stump, guitar, 61 etc.
Whilst the girls and boys rocked, and were clearly having fun, it was a little bit like watching your parents, or your old school teachers (well perhaps aside from Jackie Chambers, who can still get away with the tight PVC).
A good gig though and worth the Covid risk to see the bands. I’d happily go and see either again.
British Lion
This band is not old school, it doesn’t have the heritage of Girlschool or Alcatrazz. but what is lacks in history, it makes up for by having Steve Harris as its bass player. Steve ‘Arry’ Harris is a legend, a heavy metal icon, headbanger royalty and the galloping rhythm behind the monsters of metal, Iron Maiden.
I’ll be honest, I am not a fan of British Lion - I was going to abbreviate to BL, but that makes me think of British Leyland … and so I won’t. I was not even particularly familiar with the band’s music.
When The Craufurd Arms dropped me a line to state that Arry was visiting Milton Keynes, I bought a ticket immediately. The chance to be six feet away from a fella that used to hang on my bedroom wall was not to be missed. I have seen Iron Maiden (and therefore Arry) a number of times since 1988 but never in such a small, intimate venue.
Spotify helped me catch up with British Lion’s back catalogue.
British Lion was supported by a band called Airforce. I was not familiar with the group at all, but when the quartet took to the stage, it was clear that three quarters of the outfit were of an age. The singer, a much younger chap called Flavio Lino, announced that the band were part of the MWOBHM movement, I thought that he was fibbing because he was/is too young, or that I had missed a trick somewhere.
Subsequent research proved that Airforce, established in the late eighties, was primarily a touring band rather than a studio band … and I had simply never come across Airforce on the gig circuit.
Bearing in mind that British Lion features Steve Harris, it was interesting to note that Airforce drummer Doug Sampson (64) was part of Iron Maiden in its early days. On top of that Lino sings in a way that bears a lot of similarity to Bruce Dickinson.
The Iron Maiden thing was a big deal in the audience too, Maiden shirts in evidence throughout the hall, which was packed with punters.
Airforce turned out to be quite good. My only gripe was that Flavio was too obsequious towards British Lion.
Arry
When British Lion took to the stage, Arry was directly in front of me, less than six feet away. I thought I might be a bit star struck but I wasn’t at all; to me he was just an ordinary person, no more exciting than anyone else on the stage around him, smaller than most of them too.
I actually found myself thinking that he was looking old and then, perhaps worse, I started getting distracted by wondering why his hair wasn’t grey. Clearly his long locks are being dyed to keep them their brown colour. I then started wondering why he felt the need to dye his hair instead of letting it be grey. Perhaps he doesn’t like looking like his 65 years. Bizarrely though, the brown hair was the thing that drew me to thinking about his 65 years.
As you have already worked out, I was more interested in my thoughts around one of my idols than I was in British Lion’s music. Some tunes sounded a bit Maiden like, others just washed over me without having any impact at all.
At one point when Arry was to the front of the stage on the left side, there was some wince inducing distortion from his bass that ruined one of the tunes and took my mind off on a tangent about whether heavy metal/hard rock should be the preserve of the young.
I decided ‘absolutely not’ because the age of the musicians has no impact at all on the music … and I am not going to stop loving heavy metal just because I am getting on a bit. But I do think that age probably ought to have an impact on the way the musicians dress, keep their hair and how hard they try to be cool.
Chop Pitman, Tony Hatton and Doug Sampson from Airforce made no effort to hide their ages or keep their hair long and they looked more authentic/better for it.
And that sentiment pretty much brings me to the end of the post because I thought that Airforce was better than British Lion. Steve Harris, a legend though he is, was not enough to make British Lion a standout act.
This gig posed a much greater Covid risk than the Girlschool outing because there were so many more people, no social distancing and very few masks evident. I took a chance and got away with it, but I wouldn’t have taken the risk if the event had been closer to Christmas. And British Lion wasn’t a good enough band to justify being ill/isolated afterwards.
I have a ticket to see some other aging rockers at the Craufurd in late January. The Diamond Head gig has been cancelled twice already because of Covid. Thanks to the Omicron strain, I bet that the next few weeks will see gig going becoming less and less palatable/justifiable and I have no idea if the date will get changed again.
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The first outing on 17th November was to see Girlschool and Alcatrazz and the second on 7th December was to see British Lion.
I am not going to write gig reviews as such, but rather make some general observations about my experiences.
Girlschool/Alcatrazz
Girlschool has been going since the late seventies and was part of the scene known as the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM). Girlschool was frequently associated with Motorhead because Lemmy collaborated with the girls on a number of occasions.
Alcatrazz was formed in the early eighties and, despite being old school rockers, are American, so can’t be labelled NWOBHM.
The bands were on an equal footing for this gig, double headliners if you like.
Having seen neither of the groups before, I thought I would buy a ticket because, frankly, no one is getting any younger. If you want to see these bands, you need to do it while you still can. The passage of time is going to be a key theme of this piece.
For any band that has been going for 40 years, original members are going to be pensioners or rapidly approaching retirement anyway. That’s not to say that musical skills will have been impacted, but these rockers are not going to look young anymore.
For Girlschool, you can therefore dismiss any thoughts of St. Trinians and instead start thinking more along the lines of the W.I. When the ladies took to the stage, it was clear that they have all aged in the same way that I, and pretty much all of the audience at the gig, have. Singer, Kim McAuliffe, 62; guitarist Jackie Chambers, 57; Tracey Lamb, bass, 58; Denise Dufort, drummer, 63.
The average age of the gig goers must have been fifty something, which I guess is no real surprise because folks in their twenties/thirties perhaps wouldn’t have even heard of the band/s.
With Alcatrazz the experience was similar, but the band was/is all blokes. Doogie White, singer 61; Gary Shea on bass 70; Jimmy Waldo, keyboards, 62; Joe Stump, guitar, 61 etc.
Whilst the girls and boys rocked, and were clearly having fun, it was a little bit like watching your parents, or your old school teachers (well perhaps aside from Jackie Chambers, who can still get away with the tight PVC).
A good gig though and worth the Covid risk to see the bands. I’d happily go and see either again.
British Lion
This band is not old school, it doesn’t have the heritage of Girlschool or Alcatrazz. but what is lacks in history, it makes up for by having Steve Harris as its bass player. Steve ‘Arry’ Harris is a legend, a heavy metal icon, headbanger royalty and the galloping rhythm behind the monsters of metal, Iron Maiden.
I’ll be honest, I am not a fan of British Lion - I was going to abbreviate to BL, but that makes me think of British Leyland … and so I won’t. I was not even particularly familiar with the band’s music.
When The Craufurd Arms dropped me a line to state that Arry was visiting Milton Keynes, I bought a ticket immediately. The chance to be six feet away from a fella that used to hang on my bedroom wall was not to be missed. I have seen Iron Maiden (and therefore Arry) a number of times since 1988 but never in such a small, intimate venue.
Spotify helped me catch up with British Lion’s back catalogue.
British Lion was supported by a band called Airforce. I was not familiar with the group at all, but when the quartet took to the stage, it was clear that three quarters of the outfit were of an age. The singer, a much younger chap called Flavio Lino, announced that the band were part of the MWOBHM movement, I thought that he was fibbing because he was/is too young, or that I had missed a trick somewhere.
Subsequent research proved that Airforce, established in the late eighties, was primarily a touring band rather than a studio band … and I had simply never come across Airforce on the gig circuit.
Bearing in mind that British Lion features Steve Harris, it was interesting to note that Airforce drummer Doug Sampson (64) was part of Iron Maiden in its early days. On top of that Lino sings in a way that bears a lot of similarity to Bruce Dickinson.
The Iron Maiden thing was a big deal in the audience too, Maiden shirts in evidence throughout the hall, which was packed with punters.
Airforce turned out to be quite good. My only gripe was that Flavio was too obsequious towards British Lion.
Arry
When British Lion took to the stage, Arry was directly in front of me, less than six feet away. I thought I might be a bit star struck but I wasn’t at all; to me he was just an ordinary person, no more exciting than anyone else on the stage around him, smaller than most of them too.
I actually found myself thinking that he was looking old and then, perhaps worse, I started getting distracted by wondering why his hair wasn’t grey. Clearly his long locks are being dyed to keep them their brown colour. I then started wondering why he felt the need to dye his hair instead of letting it be grey. Perhaps he doesn’t like looking like his 65 years. Bizarrely though, the brown hair was the thing that drew me to thinking about his 65 years.
As you have already worked out, I was more interested in my thoughts around one of my idols than I was in British Lion’s music. Some tunes sounded a bit Maiden like, others just washed over me without having any impact at all.
At one point when Arry was to the front of the stage on the left side, there was some wince inducing distortion from his bass that ruined one of the tunes and took my mind off on a tangent about whether heavy metal/hard rock should be the preserve of the young.
I decided ‘absolutely not’ because the age of the musicians has no impact at all on the music … and I am not going to stop loving heavy metal just because I am getting on a bit. But I do think that age probably ought to have an impact on the way the musicians dress, keep their hair and how hard they try to be cool.
Chop Pitman, Tony Hatton and Doug Sampson from Airforce made no effort to hide their ages or keep their hair long and they looked more authentic/better for it.
And that sentiment pretty much brings me to the end of the post because I thought that Airforce was better than British Lion. Steve Harris, a legend though he is, was not enough to make British Lion a standout act.
This gig posed a much greater Covid risk than the Girlschool outing because there were so many more people, no social distancing and very few masks evident. I took a chance and got away with it, but I wouldn’t have taken the risk if the event had been closer to Christmas. And British Lion wasn’t a good enough band to justify being ill/isolated afterwards.
I have a ticket to see some other aging rockers at the Craufurd in late January. The Diamond Head gig has been cancelled twice already because of Covid. Thanks to the Omicron strain, I bet that the next few weeks will see gig going becoming less and less palatable/justifiable and I have no idea if the date will get changed again.
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