Before the Fabulous Swampsnakes were the JB Band and before that were the Johnny Black Blues Band. The combo is formed from experienced musicians with a recording and extensive touring background. The name got shortened partly because the Band play more than just blues and partly because of the departure of founding member, John Fretwell, whizzo guitarist and musical arranger par excellence. John can sometimes be seen at Swampsnakes gigs motivating and encouraging the troops. He has even been know to drum!!
As time goes by, I lose track of what happened when, so in an attempt to jot something down before I lose it completely, here is a short history of the band.
The band formed sometime in 1999-2000, I think. Originally a four piece comprising John, Mick, Phil and Ian, they had tried a succession of singers and had decided to give up and gig as a four piece, when out of the blue, dressed in white and riding on a white charger, along came Andrew!
I think the band did its first demo in late 2000 and its first gig in December 2000 at Halley's Comet in Milton Keynes
The band got gigging in earnest in 2001. The set lost some of its dependency on Dr. Feelgood and introduced some of the more rocky stuff; Free, Bad Company etc.
The year was rounded off with a gig at Zak's in Wolverton, which is one of the top gigs in the area.
The five-piece was in top gear and wowing audiences from Woodley to Luton, Hitchin, Buckingham, Daventry and goodness knows where.
One of the highlights was an open-air gig at a sports club in Loughton, Milton Keynes. When our globe-trotting drummer was jetting off somewhere, his stool was occupied mainly by Nick Davey from Andrew's old band Nemo and on a couple of occasions, Andy Gedeke, who had previously played with John and Mick.
The year was rounded off with an occasion of very mixed emotions. The band were asked back to Zak's for a second consecutive New Years Eve gig, which was a high honour, but it was also to be John's last gig with the band. John hadn't been happy for some while and decided he needed a rest from a band environment, so following a few months of deliberation, John bowed out gracefully and still on friendly terms with everyone else.
What would happen to the band? Would there be life after John? To find out, read on........
Andrew had always played guitar on a couple of numbers and in his previous band Nemo had been lead guitarist as well as vocalist. Though not up to John's standards, the band decided it was worth a go and between Andrew polishing up his old licks, Micky rising to the occasion and some sweeping changes to the set list, the JB Band rose from the ashes of the Johnny Black Blues Band, so to speak!
The band played a mixture of old and new venues, one of the weirdest being supporting a blue comedian in Letchworth. Takes all sorts, I suppose. New Year's Eve was spent gigging in Bedford at the Ship Inn. That was a bit of a funny one as well, but we can't go into details on a family website!
We're still here, we're still gigging and still making history (if you can call this history!). It's about time that the band got back into the studios and did another demo, although the number of bootleg tapes that Alan keeps recording when he's drumming, could fill a Virgin Megastore. Don't know what he does with them.........
In the Autumn, we finally did the photo shoot and studio thing up at Beck Studios in Wellingborough, with the very able Pete behind the camera AND the mixing desk, and have got a stonking demo to show for it (that's stOnking, not stinking!!). Hopefully, it will pull in a few gigs. Watch this space.....
Alan and his good lady Ruth came to see the regular line-up at the Potterspury gig in December and videoed the proceedings, which really pleased my family. Why watch all those block-buster movies over Xmas when you could watch two hours worth of Dad giving it his all down at the Sports and Social Club? No contest!
Alan then stood in for us for the New Year's Eve gig and presented us with not one but two CDs crammed with the best bits from all those gigs he recorded - two action-packed hours' worth. You should have seen the look of joy on my Children's faces when I told them. There were tears in their eyes.
Brand new and fresh for 2005, our superb product has been re-branded as the Fabulous Swampsnakes. Who wants a Marathon when you can have a Snickers? Who wants Jiff when you can have Ciff? Alright, those probably weren't very good examples, but what I'm here to tell you is that the name is new and funky and really "now" and the music just gets better and better.
The gigs have been less numerous this year due in part to other committments getting in the way (little things like jobs, holidays, weddings etc). Andrew is currently putting together an "un-plugged" solo set for when the other guys are busy, so keep a look out for further announcements on that front!
New Year's Eve was spent at the Doctor's Tonic in Welwyn Garden City. For a full pictorial "Hello-style" puff piece, this is the link - New Year's Eve.
Amazingly, as we draw to the end of 2005 and the gigs are starting to come in for 2006, the band has now been in existence for 5 years, in one form or another. How many X Factor wannabees have come and gone in that period, I wonder?
The band go on, just like Celine Dion and Titanic.
It has been a funny old year. Mr. Wohlman has mostly been around - with only a couple of absences! This all means that Andrew's solo career is once again on hold, although he has been setting up a website with some demos, which can be found at: www.blues4jesus.info, where you may find something to your liking.
We have had quite a lot of cancellations and rearrangements this year, for some reason - or probably for lots of different reasons. It has also been the year when we nearly recorded another session, which is long overdue. The constant stream of Andrew's gear changes has also slowed down a bit, which has helped the bank balance, if not the Ebay feedback score! A US Fender Strat and faithful Lil' Laney LC15 dropped into a 1 X 12 cab are really doing the business. The bookings have started coming in for 2007, if Our Lord tarries, so long live rock and roll!
Why not come and see us at a gig, or email us to say hello! Cheers for now!
This year has been quite busy, so I am not waiting until the end to augment the chronicles.
We started the year with a stonking gig at the King Billy in Northampton. Its weird being approached by kids my son's age telling me how great it is to hear to "old skool" rock from people who can actually play their instruments! At least I know what we play now - Old Skool! Sadly, right at the end of the gig, by beloved li'l Laney, melted, basically. Despite a new transformer, attempts to resurrect it were fruitless, so I have invested in an Ashton 30 watt 1X12 valve combo, which has so far proved very reliable and goes well with the white USA Strat.
We've had a couple of new venues this year which is always good, but we would have to rate the Walnut Tree Inn at Blissworth, up with the very best. We have just done Nutstock, their beer and music festival which, despite the rain, was packed to the rafters. Three times, we had laydeeze, falling over into the band and four times at least, I had the microphone rammed into my face by over-enthusiastic dancers pogo-ing into me. Add to that an absentee soundman and it could have been a disaster, but on the contrary, we had a great night and can't wait to go back. "Nutstock City Limits" was well-received and could find a regular place in our set.
New Year's Eve saw the band at The George, in Maulden, near Ampthill which happens to be Alan Hussie's local, so he was wedged between the drums and a red hot radiator all night. The place was packed with a very enthusiastic crowd of all ages. Hopefully, photographic evidence will be forthcoming.
We've just hit February and on the 16th, we recorded a "live" session in the church at the Open University at Milton Keynes. We hope that this will soon be transformed into a CD for release in the near future - so watch this space!
June - are you still watching this space? So are we. "Micky-The-Mix" is hard at work but there is someway to go, apparently. Perhaps it will be in the shops in time for Christmas? :o)
We have enjoyed going to the New Inn at Buckingham as much as just about anywhere. There is always a good atmosphere, never any trouble and the landlord, Michael is a real music lover, which is probably what makes it so good. Sadly, when we visited in June, Michael told us that he was selling the pub. We hope the new owners, whoever they may be, will continue the long tradition of music in the pub and we wish Michael all the best in his new ventures, whatever they turn out to be.
Nutstock this year was even better than last time and the audience were fantastic. Plenty of pogo-ing in the mosh pit, but nobody fell into the monitors this time. It is a pity that a few people the worse for wear decided to have a punch-up outside afterwards. But it did not detract too much from what was a stupendous gig.
Ian is a globe-trotting kind of person; always people to see (in Seff Effrika usually), deals to close, meetings to manage, blah, blah, blah. When he's jet-setting, clocking up those frequent flyer air-miles, we sometimes need to draft in a rock'n'roll mercenary to fill Ian's shoes (with any substance they have to hand). This has given us an almost Spinal Tap-esque dimension to the band, although so far, none of them have spontaneously combusted or choked on someone else's vomit! Over the years, they have included:
In 2005/6, the elusive one is moving his country seat a little further way, although he assures me that this will not affect his ability to show up occasionally!! :o)
If you want to get in touch, Email us at swampy@swampsnakes.cjb.net nd we will keep you up to date with all our goings-on!