The Quireboys
are an English hard rock band formed in 1984 in London, England, with strong ties to Newcastle. [1] When the band formed they were originally known as the London Quireboys
[2] in the United States.
The band were successful during the late 1980s and early 1990s, with their debut album "A Bit of What You Fancy
" reaching #2 on the UK charts. Their highest charting single for the band was with the song "Hey You
", it reached #14.
In 1993, the Quireboys broke up but briefly reformed live in 1995 with different members. A more permanent reformation came in 2001 when front man Spike, guitarist Guy Griffin and bassist Nigel Mogg put together a new line-up. The band is still active, recording new material and playing live.
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THE QUIREBOYS TICKETS
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History
A vocalist named
Jonathan Gray (commonly referred to as just "Spike") moved from
Newcastle upon Tyne to London when he was just 17 years old.
[3] Spike met
guitarist Guy Bailey in a bar, through his older sister Julie, the two moved in together as flat mates, but didn't even discuss playing music until a year later when a friend brought a guitar round and they began playing
Chuck Berry songs.
By the mid-1980s the two decided to form a rock and roll band, the name chosen for the group was originally
The Choirboys taken from the 1977 movie of the same name, but they soon changed it to the Queerboys. Gray and Bailey were joined by bassist Nigel Mogg (nephew of
UFO's
Phil Mogg [4]), Chris Johnstone on
piano and Paul Hornby who had previously played drums with
Pete Burns in the
Liverpool group Nightmares in Wax.
The Queerboys started to build up a following, playing at the
Marquee Club. The band's drummer Paul Hornby soon left to form
Dogs D'Amour, which contained future friends of the Queerboys, he was replaced by Nick Connell (known as Cozy). Connell, Bailey and Johnstone were old friends, having grown up together and attended Alleynes School in Stone, Staffordshire in the '70s. By 1987 the band's controversial name was starting to hinder them, it caused some of the gigs on their tour with
Andy McCoy's band to be cancelled. They were also booked to play
Reading Festival on the understanding that they would change their name.
Thus they changed it to the Quireboys and have kept the name ever since. They released two singles via Survival Records, entitled "
Mayfair
" and "
There She Goes Again
". Another musician from Newcastle was brought in on rhythm guitar, he was named
Ginger and made his performing debut at the
Hammersmith Odeon where the band were supporting
Guns N' Roses. At the end of 1989, the band released the single "
7 O'Clock
", which entered the
UK Top 40 chart.
A Bit of What You Fancy
Sharon Osbourne was appointed as manager and The Quireboys were signed to
EMI for the release of their debut album, which was entitled "
A Bit of What You Fancy
". By 1990, the Quireboys had fired Ginger (who went on to form
The Wildhearts) who they replaced with former Cradle Snatchers guitarist Guy Griffin, for the debut album Cozy was substituted by
Ian Wallace who played with
Bob Dylan [5].
The debut album was produced by a school friend of the band's Andrew Witham, and entered the
UK Charts at number 2. "
A Bit of What You Fancy
" drew positive reviews and was compared favourably to legendary British rock groups such as
Rod Stewart and the
Faces, the album was even recorded with Stewart's guitarist
Jim Cregan.
In support of the debut, the Quireboys toured relentlessly for the next year. They played with a vast variety of bands in different settings in the
United States, from
L.A. Guns to
Soundgarden to
The Cramps to
Iggy Pop. After the tour, they also played some high key gigs in the United Kingdom; in Spike's hometown of Newcastle they were asked to support
The Rolling Stones at
St James' Park. Two months after the Stones show, they played in front of 72,000 people at
Monsters of Rock at Donington with Whitesnake,
Aerosmith and Poison.
The long touring schedule was finished off with a gig in
Japan at the
Tokyo Dome on
New Years Eve in front of 50,000 people. A live album was released following this long touring, capturing their live performance, it was named "
Recorded Around the World
".
Bitter Sweet & Twisted
With a new full-member drummer in tow,
Rudy Richman, they began working on the follow-up, "
Bitter Sweet & Twisted", which was released in 1993; but the birth of
Grunge changed the music scene and they were left apart.
Axl Rose even asked them personally to join the "Use Your Illusion Tour" with
Guns N' Roses and they followed the band for a while during their 1993 summer European tour, but they felt their music was out of style and decided to abandon the scene.
Reformation
The band reformed for a number of low key gigs in the mid 1990s and found themselves with a loyal following. A new line up recorded and released "
This Is Rock'N'Roll" in 2002 and followed it with the moderately successful "
Well Oiled" in 2004. Ex producer, Andrew Witham, stated that the reformed Quireboys band "will be as good as new if they play their cards right."
Andrew Witham has now also quoted that Spike has been in talks with both himself and Bobby Dall of Poison, in producing a new album. However, Spike hasn't contacted either Andrew or Bobby since first mentioning this.
On May 12, 2008 The Quireboys released their long awaited album "Homewreckers & Heartbreakers" on the Jerkin Crocus label.
Talking about the inspiration for the new album, Paul Guerin said "It's a funny story. We were in Malmö, Sweden in the dressing room. It was just before the show and we'd had a few frothy quenchers. We were trying to come up with album titles, and everyone was laughing at the suggestions. A certain member of the band was regaling a story about something he'd done, and another member of the band said "you're just a home wrecker," and someone else said "yeah, and a heartbreaker". We were just having a laugh, and bang, there it was. It was as simple as that."
[6]
Members
- Spike - vocals
- Guy Griffin - guitar
- Paul Guerin - guitar
- Keith Weir - keyboards
- Phil Martini - drums
Former members
- Nigel Mogg - bass
- Guy Bailey - guitar
- Paul Hornby - drums
- Chris Johnstone - bass, piano
- Nick "Cozy" Connell - drums
- Ginger - guitar
- Rudy Richman - drums
- Tim Bewlay - live bass
- Simon Hanson - live drums
- Luke Bossendorfer - guitar
- Martin Henderson - drums
- Kevin Savigar - keyboards
- Mark Sweetmore - lead guitar
- Bill Coyne - drums
- Thomas Golzen - guitar
- Pip Mailing - drums
- Jimmi Crutchley - bass
Discography
Albums
- A Bit of What You Fancy
(EMI - 1990) UK #2
- Bitter Sweet & Twisted
(EMI - 1993) UK #31
- A Bit of What You Fancy/Bitter Sweet & Twisted
(EMI - 1997)
- This Is Rock'N'Roll
(Sanctuary - 2001)
- Well Oiled
(SPV - 2004)
- Homewreckers & Heartbreakers
(Jerkin Crocus - 12 May 2008)
[7]
Live albums
- Live Compact Disc-(Recorded Around The World)
(EMI - 1990)
- Lost In Space-Live
(Snapper-2000)
- 100% Live-2002
(Demolition-2002)
- Quireboys Live
(EMI-2006)
Compilation albums
- From Tooting to Barking
(Griffin-1995)
- Rock Champions 2001
(EMI-2001)
- Masters of Rock
(EMI-2002)
- Best Of The Quireboys
(EMI-2008)
Singles
Song Title
| Year of Release
| UK Singles Chart
|
"Mayfair"
| 1987
| -
|
"There She Goes Again"
| 1988
| -
|
"7 O'Clock"
| 1989
| 36
|
"Hey You"
| 1989
| 14
|
"I Don't Love You Anymore"
| 1990
| 24
|
"There She Goes Again" / "Misled"
| 37
|
"Tramps and Thieves"
| 1992
| 41
|
"Brother Louie"
| 31
|
"Last Time" (Japan only release)
| -
|
"Tears in Heaven"
| 2005
| -
|
Videography
- Live at the Mean Fiddler
(2007)
a bit of what you fancy video 1990
References
- TicketMaster.com
- http://www.quireboys.com/quireboys_past.htm
- DaBelly.com
- Strangers-In-The-Night.com
- Dmme.net
- Komodo Rock Talks With Paul Guerin
- British Hit Singles & Albums