THE BLUES ATTIC
How Banbury got the Blues
In 1968 five local musicians, who had formed a Blues Band the previous year, decided that instead of travelling around to see like minded musicians perform, they would bring blues musicians to Banbury. So on Thursday August 15th in a room above the Swan Inn in Banbury, The Colin James Blues Band started The Blues Attic. The band performed on the first night just to see what support they might get from local music lovers and then another local band from Brackley called Skinny Cat performed the following week. Skinny Cat was fronted by Bernie Marsden who later went on to be a member of the rock band Whitesnake. As attendance was good The Colin James Band played for one more week and then booked musicians from all over the UK and visiting N American blues musicians. The venue although small had a good following and attendance was normally high, every Thursday night from the 15th of August 1968 till November 20th 1969 the Blues Attic provided Banbury with live music, the only time the Attic closed during this period was for the annual Banbury Fair.
Since this time Banbury has always had a good following for any Blues Music events that have been arranged and this has mainly been due to two people. Dave Gardener (Deb) was the bass guitarist with the Colin James band and the main instigator for the Blues Attic. Dave found the agents and contacted bands to book the various musicians for the Blues Attic. When the Colin James Band decided to stop playing Dave went on to promote Blues music events around the Banbury area at various venues during the 70s and 80s. Dave can be credited with bringing Chicken Shack, Joe Ann Kelly, Dave Kelly and the Groundhogs, Duster Bennett, Carey Bell, Armpit Jug Band, Lefty Dizz, Paul Lamb and Steve Marriott (Smallfaces) backed by the DTs to name but a few of British and N American musicians who came to Banbury to perform.
In the 90s Colin Willis (Crazy Cactus) started the Banbury Blues Festival at The Mill Arts Centre and this can be a yearly or twice yearly event and is held over three areas of the Mill (Theatre, Millers Bar and The Long Room) and features mainly bands and acoustic musicians of the blues genre but also roots and alternative music. This event continues to this day and is always sold out well before the date.
Over the last few years I started to wonder how many of those performers from the Blues Attic were still alive and playing (as you can guess I am no spring chicken myself).So I decided to see if it would be possible to get in contact with those performers who are still performing and maybe try to arrange a revival night, together with other performers who have played in Banbury over the years. Through the wonders of the Internet (I have only in the last few years become a silver surfer) I managed to trace and contact some of these performers and the response to my idea from them was encouraging as all said they would be interested in performing as they had good memories of the Blues Attic, and so was born BLUES ATTIC REVISITED.
How Banbury got the Blues
In 1968 five local musicians, who had formed a Blues Band the previous year, decided that instead of travelling around to see like minded musicians perform, they would bring blues musicians to Banbury. So on Thursday August 15th in a room above the Swan Inn in Banbury, The Colin James Blues Band started The Blues Attic. The band performed on the first night just to see what support they might get from local music lovers and then another local band from Brackley called Skinny Cat performed the following week. Skinny Cat was fronted by Bernie Marsden who later went on to be a member of the rock band Whitesnake. As attendance was good The Colin James Band played for one more week and then booked musicians from all over the UK and visiting N American blues musicians. The venue although small had a good following and attendance was normally high, every Thursday night from the 15th of August 1968 till November 20th 1969 the Blues Attic provided Banbury with live music, the only time the Attic closed during this period was for the annual Banbury Fair.
Since this time Banbury has always had a good following for any Blues Music events that have been arranged and this has mainly been due to two people. Dave Gardener (Deb) was the bass guitarist with the Colin James band and the main instigator for the Blues Attic. Dave found the agents and contacted bands to book the various musicians for the Blues Attic. When the Colin James Band decided to stop playing Dave went on to promote Blues music events around the Banbury area at various venues during the 70s and 80s. Dave can be credited with bringing Chicken Shack, Joe Ann Kelly, Dave Kelly and the Groundhogs, Duster Bennett, Carey Bell, Armpit Jug Band, Lefty Dizz, Paul Lamb and Steve Marriott (Smallfaces) backed by the DTs to name but a few of British and N American musicians who came to Banbury to perform.
In the 90s Colin Willis (Crazy Cactus) started the Banbury Blues Festival at The Mill Arts Centre and this can be a yearly or twice yearly event and is held over three areas of the Mill (Theatre, Millers Bar and The Long Room) and features mainly bands and acoustic musicians of the blues genre but also roots and alternative music. This event continues to this day and is always sold out well before the date.
Over the last few years I started to wonder how many of those performers from the Blues Attic were still alive and playing (as you can guess I am no spring chicken myself).So I decided to see if it would be possible to get in contact with those performers who are still performing and maybe try to arrange a revival night, together with other performers who have played in Banbury over the years. Through the wonders of the Internet (I have only in the last few years become a silver surfer) I managed to trace and contact some of these performers and the response to my idea from them was encouraging as all said they would be interested in performing as they had good memories of the Blues Attic, and so was born BLUES ATTIC REVISITED.
Blues Attic Banbury
List of performances. August 1968 - November 1969
DATE 1968 August 15th August 22nd August 29th September 5th September12th September 19th September 26th October 3rd October 10th October 17th October 24th November 7th November 14th November 21st November 28th December 5th December 12th December 19th 1969 January 9th January 16th January 23rd January 30th February 6th February 13th February 20th February 27th March 6th March 13th March 20th March 27th April 3rd April 10th April 17th April 24th May 1st May 8th May 15th May 22nd May 29th June 5th June12th June 19th June 26th July 3rd July 10th July 17th July 24th July 31st August 7th August 14th August 21st August 28th September 4th September 11th September 18th September 25th October 2nd October 9th October 16th October 23rd October 30th November 6th November 13th November 20th |
PERFORMERS - Colin James Blues Band Skinny Cat Colin James Blues Band Union Blues Skinny Cat Dynaflow Shakey Vick Blues Band Spike and Steve John Thomas Blues Band Closed for Banbury Fair Gordon Smith Union Blues Colin James Blues Band Dynaflow Mike Cooper Skinny Cat Curtis Jones Killing Floor - Exception Skinny Cat Shakey Vick Blues Band Union Blues Steve Miller Duster Bennett and Colin James Blues Band Smokey Rice John Thomas Blues Band Colin James Blues Band Skinny Cat Jerome Arnold Black Cat Bones Smokey Rice Shakey Vick Blues Band Killing Floor John Thomas Blues Band Union Blues Steamhammer Doc Ks Blues Band Mike Cooper and Smokey Rice Black Cat Bones Bakerloo Ashkan Shakey Vick Blues Band Pablo Joe Killing Floor Smokey Rice Pegasus Doc Ks Blues Band Jasper Steamhammer Jellybread Sam Apple Pie Jo-Ann Kelly and Bob Hall Skinny Cat Andy Fernbach Nighthawk Brett Marvin Shakey Vick Blues Band Bearfoot Closed for Banbury Fair Duster Bennett Shades Juke Boy Bonner Doc Ks Blues Band John Dummer Blues Band |