I had the pleasure of being the Master of Ceremonies (OK, Stage announcer!) at St. Peter's Club, Byker for the Newcastle Heat last Friday night. 6 great acts did their best and around 100 people enjoyed a night of great blues music.
The judges had a very hard job on their hands, but the eventual winners (and through to the London final in March) were Groovamatics featuring Johnny Whitehill. Although the video above only has audio on one channel, it gives a very good flavour of what the band can do. Johnny Whitehill on guitar played with the Paul Lamb and The Kingsnakes (thanks to Anon for correction!) for quite a while and was award winner for several years running in guitar magazine polls.
Singer/Sax/Harp Mick Cantwell has been a mainstay of many bands in the North East over several years. When I was playing in Blues Unlimited, Mick stood in as singer for a charity gig we did - I was highly impressed by his powerful voice and his great harp tone.
I wish the guys every success in the final in London, March 27th.
Runners up at the heat were Lee Bates & Billy Newton - former Blues Show guests of course - and How Askew - soon to be a Blues Show guest! The runners up will have the chance to get to the final by a viewer's vote, which I'll bring details of once they're finalised.
2 comments:
It was Paul Lamb & The Kingsnakes that Johnny Whitehill played for Gazza ...
Yes I knew that! I've been reading about Paul Rose lately so had him in my head! Thanks!
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