THE STORY OF ECT (EPISODE 7) – LIVE HEAVY METAL ON CHANNEL 4
Ahh,
now this is more like it this week. Three out of the four bands I liked enough to go and
check them out at real live gigs following this show.
First
up, CANNES. Wow – star quality or what from the singer. All these years later I
remember him and his mike twirling antics. This is what you want from a wannabe
rock star – shame he didn’t make it. I did have the utterly bizarre experience
of tracking CANNES down to a pub gig near Richmond Upon Thames once, but that’s
a story for another day. Enjoy the microphone stand twirling and some decent
songs too…
LIONHEART
are the band I didn’t follow up on. Difficult to follow on after the star
quality of CANNES, but competent enough (dodgy 80s get up aside)…
And
then comes THE GRIP. Willie was an exploding ball of energy and THE GRIP were a
solid Glam outfit that probably deserved more success than they got. Coming off
the back of NWOBHM, the Brit audience was still coming to terms with the move
from denim’n’leather to poodle hair and make up. A few of us were there though
and at home I was applying my make up and trying on my bright red plastic
trousers ready for my visit to the ECT studios the following week (full story
coming soon!). Anyway, Willie Dowling has gone on to become a successful
performer, writer, producer etc and is highly thought of and involved in many
of Ginger Wildheart’s projects.
And
finally, PERSIAN RISK. A slick, professional band and also should have done
better than they did. I bought their EP on the back of this and was also seeing
them live a few weeks later.
Here
as a bonus is the song The Sky’s Falling Down which I think is a terrific
ballad….
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