The Korgis offer Shoreham gig

The Korgis featuring James Warren are heading to Shoreham’s Ropetackle on April 6 – at last in touring form.
The KorgisThe Korgis
The Korgis

Spokesman Dave Hill said: “Finally, for the first time ever, there is a touring version of The Korgis! Performing all the hits and the most-loved album tracks of The Korgis along with wonderful new songs, the band strike out in the UK, with a line-up featuring John Baker and Al Steele from the 1990s Korgis, Glen Tommey from Stackridge, drummer Paul Smith and trio Born To Win on backing vocals.

“In the beginning there was Stackridge, formed by Andy Davis, James Warren and a few other eccentric Bristol-based chums in 1969. Unclassifiable and unashamedly eclectic, this constantly evolving musical collective ploughed their own highly-original furrow through the self-indulgent heyday of progressive rock.

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“Too diverse and unconventional to attract mainstream recognition Stackridge did however notch up one very notable achievement: they impressed legendary Beatles producer George Martin enough for him to record their finest album, The Man in The Bowler Hat (1973).

“Even though the band followed this brush with stardom by performing at Wembley stadium with Elton John and The Eagles in 1974, two years later disillusionment had set in and Stackridge officially threw in the towel.

“James and Andy remained in touch though, occasionally posting each other cassette tapes of their latest creations, until finally deciding in the summer of 1978 to actually get together in Bath to record a demo.

“Recorded in the top-floor apartment of classical composer David Lord, the four new songs attracted the attention of Nick and Tim Heath, sons of the celebrated 1940s bandleader Ted Heath, who had recently left EMI. to set up their own publishing company. Nick and Tim were especially convinced that one tune had great radio-friendly potential, If I Had You.

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“Andy and James were given the green light to get to work on an album’s worth of new material and after five months of intensive writing and recording released their debut as The Korgis in 1979

“The critics loved it, BBC Radio One D.J. Tony Blackburn played'If I Had You'to death and before they knew it, after ten years of trying to make it in the music biz, Andy and James suddenly found they had a top-20 hit.

“The Korgis never really secured a strong profile and despite the global success that was just around the corner, didn’t make that all important connection with the record-buying public. That global success came in the form of the modern-day classic Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime from the second Korgis album, 1980’s Dumb Waiters – again written and recorded in Bath with producer David Lord.