Hand of Latham

This December I finally got to see ‘the’ Hoax, Including original bass player Robin Davey (who was absent last year which led to myself standing in). The opportunity came through a couple of support slots in Holland.  It was a pleasure to open up for these guys, they played great! The set included a Beatles cover in the form of ‘Come Together’ along with other Hoax penned classics, Dont Shake my hand, 20 ton weight. Needless to say the Dutch crowds went home happy. I think with whispers of more dates for the summer festival season!

They all seemed to enjoy the experience of playing together again, the Hoax dynamic that I had seen on video was even more apparent in a live situation. I managed to get a few pictures with my iPhone while we were touring with them. They are not really up to much but thought I would throw a few up here for the hell of it.

Scott has just posted this video on youtube, so I thought I would throw it up here

I just got back from another trip to Holland with Scott McKeon, this time to open up for Johnny Winter. It was cool to open up for him again, the last time being July 08 in Spain. Johnny is still a creature of habit, he still likes to sit in his RV before a show with a few tunes on just chilling before he makes his way to the stage. Apparently he never deviates from US time no matter where he is in the world and always has Taco Bell flown out to him while he is on tour!

I think the guy has the right to do what he wants though! After all, he is a legend, producing what is arguably the best electric blues album ever recorded, playing at Woodstock, being nominated for several Grammys.

Johnny has been playing to audiences all over the world and is still making a habit of it today.

Check out Johnny Winter here
Photo by DutchSimba

A recent trip to Holland with Scott McKeon involved a special surprise guest appearance from the Dutch X-Factor winner 2009 Lisa Lois. Lisa and her family had made the trip along to the gig and with a little persuasion from Scott and the crowd she reluctantly made her way to the stage and sang on Scotts own track ‘Cant Take No More’ I had met Lisa 18months ago(at a previous SM gig), but never heard her sing. I was quite unprepared for the shear power of her voice! Winning the X-factor does not seem to have inflated her ego though, she seems very down to earth.

You can check Lisa out here, her new album Smoke is due for release on Sony, November 27th.

It was great to play with Scott again after a few months off. Im looking forward to the next few gigs before now and the new year. Below are a few more shots from the Eindhoven gig.

The Stage @ the Paradiso

I have just got hold of a live clip recorded a couple of weeks ago at one of our shows with George Thorogood in Europe.

This was (I think) taken from the Amsterdam show on the 17th of May 2009.

Thought I would write a few words about the George Thorogood dates the Scott McKeon band opened in Europe recently. George is quite a character, he walked into our dressing room on the first date and announced that there were only two rules. 1. You can play better than me, and 2. But you cant look better than me! We did not see much of him after that, but when we did he informed us of a meeting he had with Jeff Beck after a show and how Jimi Hendrix gave him a pair of sunglasses. I guess some people are entertaining on or off stage.  

Brussels

Our first date with George was in Brussels, this was my first gig in Belgium and I was looking forward to it, the fact that I got stopped for speeding earlier in the day was not going to stop me having a good gig! By the time we got to the venue that was a distant memory and we were all in good spirits.

Paradiso

Bourbon St.

Our second gig led us to Amsterdam and a venue called the Paradiso. This was the second time I have played here, I have fond memories of the first time when we opened for Joe Bonamasssa and it was a real pleasure to be back. After the gig we had time to grab a beer in the bourbon St. Blues bar that I have also played a couple of times with Sean. It was nice to visit the place as a regular punter and enjoy the music.

Our third and final gig was in Eindhoven, at the Effenaar. A first for me! Was a good show, but we did not have time to hang around afterwards as we had a train to catch at 1.30am. But unknown to us at the time we were to be delayed by road works in Belgium and miss our connection. This added another two hours onto the journey, but the dream team assured me they would keep me company for the drive home and not fall asleep.

The Dream Team

Check George out here

During a tour of Holland with Sean Webster one of our scheduled stops was at the Giethoorn Blues Festival in northern Holland. As luck would have it this stop coincided with a gig the HandmeDowns had planned. There is no easy way to negotiate your way around this place unless you own a boat! There are waterways connecting everything including the main stage! All of our equipment had to be loaded into a ferry boat.  The Handmedowns were due on the main (floating stage)at around 9 followed by Sean on another stage a mile away! I managed to secure the help of a friendly Dutch boatman who agreed to ferry me and my equipment to the other stage for my gig with Sean! 

This was the best journey to a gig I have ever had! Still buzzing from the gig with the HandmeDowns I loaded my stuff and myself into the boat, bid my farewells and sped across the lake to another venue with just enough time to place my amp on the stage, plug in and play!

We had a string of dates opening up for Johnny Winter in Spain. It seems Johnny is a stickler for habit and likes to go on at a set time every night. As the Spanish like to do things a little later than some other nations and Johnny never shifts from US time, it led to us going on after the main act! So we ended up playing after Johnny Winter? It turned out to be a really fun gig. the crowd were really up for it even though the weather was not the best. We hung out with Johnny’s band a little bit, they were cool guys. They told us a few tales from the road, Johnny meeting Clapton at the Crossroads Festival and mistaking him for a golfer!

For those of you who don’t know the Hoax, they are a High energy blues band from the south of england. They consist of Hugh Coltman- Vocals Jon Amor – Guitar Jesse Davey – Robin Davey – Bass and Mark Barrett – Drums. At their hight they were signed to East West Records a Division of Warner.

I was asked by Jesse Davey to stand in for Robin Davey on the Hoax re-union tour. It was an amazing experience to walk out on stage each night with those guys, they all have a huge energy. I had been a fan of the Hoax but never got to see them play live so it was a great pleasure to play these dates with them.

An excerpt from a review of the UK date of the tour.

“You never say never in rock and roll. And so it came to pass that after nearly 9 years away from it all The Hoax made an unexpected reunion on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the release of their ‘Humdinger’ album and the final night of the Chiddingfold Club.

In fact it wasn’t quite The Hoax as bass player Robin Davey was missing apparently stuck in the States and his place was admirably taken by the former Melt and current Scott McKeon bass man Tom Latham who formed a formidable partnership alongside the redoubtable Mark Barrett on drums.”

Link to full review here.

Check the Hoax out here: http://www.myspace.com/thehoaxband