Two weeks and counting.

Where has the time gone.

It is now 26th November !

Merv was taken ill on the 15th of October with flu and then a chest infection. It has taken until now for him to shake it off, but it has left him with a damn cough.
In the meantime the rest of the band have also systematically taken the time off to be ill. The perils of growing older, which means that there is just one rehearsal before the party on the 7th of December.

Finger crossed that everyone is fighting fit for then !

7th December and more

The 8th November my god where has the last month gone. Merv dropped ill on the 15th October and to date is still recovering.

The Doc has now given him a course of steroids to aid the healing process, so fingers crossed he will be up and singing very very very soon.

While we have been inactive, we have been offered what could turn out to be the very very last "Friday Night Presents" gig at The Royal Naval Association Club House in Bellmans Yard Newport Shropshire (home to the famed Newport Open Mic evenings that are held there every Tuesday)

Through whatever reason and I think it may be a lack of promotion the "One Friday a month" live band nights have generally not been well attended and have been losing money for the promoter. Another reason could be that there is no pattern to "The Friday Night" ie one month it may be on the 2nd or 3rd Friday while the next month it may be on the 4th Friday. Either way the figures have been disappointingly dropping, despite the quality of the bands that have played there.

Bang To Rights are to play what may result in the very last Live Band night on 7th December. Yes folks the 7th December.  Despite our 3hour set, we have elected to ask Jack Green if he will do us the honour of supporting us on what is sure to be a very emotional night.

Jack is a singer songwriter with amazing talent and voice, who has recorded his own album and is now busy promoting it by gigging up and down the entire country.  Merv who has known Jack's family personally for many many years has seen this young musician grow as an artiste and we are really chuffed to bits that he agreed to take a break from his heavy gigging load, in order to help us out on the 7th December.

So why not come along on the 7th December and see what all the fuss is about, lets see if we can't change the promoters mind and continue with the "Friday Night Presents Live Band night", throughout 2013.

Good cheap beer, a great atmosphere and LIVE music by Newport's premier classic rock and blues band Bang To Rights.

Remember folks when its gone its gone so Keep Music Live and support the "Friday Night Presents" Live band evenings.

See you there.

Mark, Steve, Pete and Merv.

October gone already !!!

November Nights are running towards us full steam ahead.

Merv's been out of action for nearly three weeks, first with a bout of flu and now with a chest infection. He tells us he is on the mend, thank god for that, the sooner the better, as we have to get back in the studio, to finish off some ongoing projects.

Mark is busy writing some new songs, and we are really looking forward to showcasing the new tunes in early 2013.

For more up to date news keep your eyes on the bands twitter feed @btrukband or for the ramblings of Mark or Merv then @themarkster1956 or @modalconfusion respectively.

The aftermath

Here we are a week further down the line but for the btr lads a time to take it easy this weekend.

A great gig last week at the rock4shock gig at Stafford rangers club which earned the band some extra gigs.

With the total raised now over £2700.00 it was a good result for Sue Wyke the rock4shock organiser.

Rock4Shock

Well here we are September 14th, and Rock4Shock is tomorrow night.

Merv is feeling a lot better, but can't really lift or do anything to manual, still tomorrow we will all be at Stafford Rangers Football Club, setting up and blasting out some great rock songs come 9.30pm.

Have you got a ticket for this great show. I hope so as there are no more left on sale.

See you there.

If it isn't Merv's ribs it is something else!!

Bassist and groove-meister Steve has found himself a new contract. Steve who heads an IT company and untill recently had a IT contract with the Brittania Building Society, has gone and got himself a new contract with the Nationwide but alas ... based in Swindon.

What does this mean for the band???....

Sweet FA ... it just means we will change our rehearsal plans!!!

So for all you Bang To Rights fans we will be playing a venue near you very soon, but just not on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.

Happy headbanging guys.

What The Hell !!

Here we are at the end of August. August the 30th to be precise, what a damn day.

With two weeks to go until the Rock4Shock gig, Merv has fell in a pit and fractured two ribs.

Hopefully the pain will subside within two weeks, he's just gotta take it easy until then to help the healing process.

A sell out show at Stafford Rangers Football Club is looming, the 15th September is around two weeks away so fingers crossed that he will be ready.

Have you bought your ticket??  If not I'm afraid you have missed the bus.

We have everything crossed here at Band Camp.

Well how time flies. August has been one of those months when for one reason and another (mostly holidays) the band has not been very active.

It's now creeping up to the last weekend of the month, and things are beginning to take shape for the next big gig.

Stafford Rangers Football Club is being taken over by Mrs Sue Wyke  for the day. The day my friends is the 15th September 2012 for an event that Sue has named as Rock4Shock.

You can read about Sue's cardiac arrest and recovery here,  http://www.justgiving.com/Sue-Wyke

Give it a read and see if there is some way in which you can help out either on the day or perhaps a raffle prize or donation of some sort.

Catch up with you soon.

Pete (The Engine) Barton

Ahhh......Mr Peter Barton a drummers drummer.

Pete like Steve grew up in the sixties but was born into a musical family.

Pete's dad was a professional musician, playing his Double Bass and Bass guitar in the London Philharmonic Orchestra,  as well as a popular Jazz Quartet, Show-Bands and playing live music in bands that would provide music for the popular TV shows of the era. His mother is a professional pianist. Was it any wonder then that the two Barton boys, Gary and Pete, turned out to be professional musicians.

His elder brother Gary is still to this day a professional Bass player in London, while Pete with his drumming skills left school at 16 and made a commitment in the seventies to a local band that went on to national recognition and adulation.

Touring the length and breadth of Britain in a transit van, playing large University Halls, Theatre's, both all over the UK and in Europe. Growing up  "on the road" was an excitng time for Pete, hard work yes, but exciting nonetheless.

As the band's popularity grew and the band started playing festivals and auditoriums the schedule slowly took it's toll on Pete, touring and then sharing recording studios with the likes of Paul Weller, The Clash and quite a few other popular artists of the age, then touring again was never ending, and although exciting at first, Rock and Roll was slowly draining Pete of his lifeline.

A change of scenery was needed, After the passing of Pete's dad, Pete's mum had moved to sleepy Newport in Shropshire, and it was here that Pete would come for some respite from his full on rock and roll lifestyle.

It was during one of those visits that Pete met Collete his future wife. A long distance relationship was not what Pete wanted, Rock n Roll had lost it's shine and so it was that he left the band and turned his hand to learning a trade.

Marriage, children came next and then a chance meeting with his old mate Mr Bebee Smith got the Pete  the job of drummer with the semi pro outfit "The Boogeymen".


Bebee had become the drummer for a short while in Merv's old band "Stonefly" and so it was that When Stonefly and then Dry Dog Nose went their separate ways and The Boogeymen followed suit a short time later, Pete was Merv's obvious choice of drummer, and finally "Bang To Rights",  was complete.

Steve "The Gentle Giant" Smith

Mr Steve Smith or "The Schist"  is a man of many talents. His weapon of choice in this band, is the 5 string Overwater Hand Made Bass Guitar.

By day he is a IT guru, but by night the Jaguar driving giant of a man becomes the groove laden partner of our drummer Pete Barton.

A master of instruments as diverse as Piano, Oboe, Drums and his beloved hand made Bass Guitar, this guy is a real rock maestro, and is the oil in the engine of this magnificent Rock & Blues band, that are "Bang To Rights".

Steve started life way back in the late sixties and having started playing piano at an early age he quickly moved on to the Oboe and then the Drums. Playing in school bands, Steve's talent was soon recognised at secondary school by his teachers. Steve, became a regular member of the school band, playing at all sorts of events, and even playing at The Royal Albert Hall.

Time was moving on, and so was Steve. Now In his mid teens, Punk had been and gone and the new romantics ruled the airways, and Mark King was the Bass player of choice.

Steve was captivated by Mark King and his mastery of the Bass guitar. He persuaded his parents to lend him the money to buy one, and with the promise of paying them back he visited his local music shop, and bought himself a Fender Precision Bass guitar, albeit a copy.

With his talent for reading music Steve practised endlessly until after 12months of making his fingers bleed he was offered the job of playing bass in a little known band called The Envoy. 

The Envoy got themselves known on the local Pub scene and became very popular, and most weekends could be seen playing all around  bars and clubs in The Black Country, and had secured themselves a recording contract with a national record label. Steve was at a crossroads in his life, to either try to become a professional Bass player or learn a trade in the fast growing IT industry.

Unfortunately for the music industry Steve chose the IT route and for the next twenty years worked hard at becoming one of the best, and most sought after IT Consultants in Britain, but damn it !! music just wouldn't go away.

In the late Nineties Steve began promoting Live music in his spare time, in and around the Telford area, and once again he began to pick up his Bass guitar. It would be around late 2004 early 2005 that Steve first met Merv at a open mic night and they quickly became friends, and formed the band Cladh Hallan. By now Steve had splashed out some hard earned cash on new equipment and was really getting "In The Groove".

Cladh Hallan was short-lived, recording only a couple of songs and playing only a handful of gigs, but their friendship continued and so it was that after that fateful day that Merv and Mark met, it became clear to Merv that Steve was the obvious choice to take on the role of Bass Guitarist,

And Bang To Rights were nearly there.

Weapons of choice: Ashdown Amplification, Handmade Bespoke Overwater Bass Guitars.

Merv (The Badger) Williams

Merv has been a music lover all of his life.

Born in 1952 to a farm worker, money was tight. His very first single record was bought after saving up the money he earned, chopping logs for his neighbour.

The record was Diamonds, an instrumental by ex shadows members Jet Harris and Tony Meehan it was played until he wore the record out on his dad's old Dansette record player.

A Rolling Stones fan rather than the fashionable Beatles he explored bands of that genre. This led him to discover The Yardbirds, which in turn led him to John Mayall and Alexis Korner, which in turn led him to the origin of what he thought was most exciting music he had ever heard.

Howling Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, Son House and of course Robert Johnson were regulars on the record player. Records that at that time had to be ordered in by the local record shop.

As an older teenager the likes of Cream, Led Zeppelin, Mountain, Taste, and many others of that ilk made for am impressive record collection. And in all that time never once did he think that he would be able to play in a band.

With a growing family and with all the commitments that go with that, the seventies and eighties saw Merv concentrating on providing all the necessary things that families need. Fast forward and call it what you will, be it a little later mid-life crisis, or just the desire to have a go, Merv went out and bought his first guitar, in around 1997.

After fumbling around with it until the year 2000, his old friend Pat Briscoe, (he had been best man at her wedding), suggested that they attempt to learn the instrument together. Pat had known a few chords from way back when, and so they practiced these chords until they had got three or four "cover" songs put together.

Armed with these songs it was down to the Bridge Inn pub in Newport to "have a go" at the new local Open Mic.

Singing through a PA system gave Merv such a buzz, so much so that he went out and bought one. It was also here that he met up with local musician Ken Evans. Soon to become mates the pair created the band Stonefly, and after recruiting Diddy Evans on Drums, Merv's nephew Chris on guitar, Simon Bishop on Lead guitar with Ken on Bass and Pat and Merv on Vocals and guitar. the band went gigging.

The toll of gigging soon became too much of a commitment for Chris, Pat, and Ken and so it was that Stonefly mk2 was born. Simon on Lead Guitar, Diddy Evans on Bass Guitar, Bebee Smith on Drums and Merv on vocals and Rhythm guitar. Merv often commenting that the only reason he sang was because nobody else would. This band was different, with both Diddy and Bebee providing backing vocals.

Following Bebee and Diddy's departure from the band, Merv and Simon recruited the services of one Alan Vincent on Bass Guitar, and Tim Cartwright on Drums. New members, new name, and so "Dry Dog Nose" was born.

After a three year stint the band decided that they would pack it in, as once again heavy gigging was taking it's toll on family life.

And so it was that after meeting up with Mark, the seeds of "Bang To Rights" were sown, and with Merv's old mate's Pete Barton on Drums and Steve Smith on Bass The band became a reality.

Weapons of choice: Marshall Amps, My wonderful Yamaha 1820 in Vintage White, Gibson Jimmy Page Les Paul, Gibson Black  SG, and Cherry Red Dot 335, a SRV Stratocaster and various other fender strats,  a Hohner SE 335 and Peavey Professional and one or two other lovely bits of wood.

Mark (Fast Fingers) Langford

Mark from a very early age showed massive potential.

At school he excelled in music, and from as early as six years old was getting to grips with the piano. 

Born into a household that loved the popular tunes of the day his parents encouraged Mark to play music on the piano and were happy for him to play the tunes he had made up and were laying dormant in his head.

It was that time !! With Bill Haley been and gone, Gene Vincent all in leather, The Shadows with their cool guitars and moves, and then The Beatles, there was only one thing to do, buy a guitar. 

With his cap in hand, he approached his parents and asked them if they would consider buying him a guitar. He knew they wanted him to continue playing piano, with the promise that he would continue his piano studies and that he would pay his parents back, from his meagre paper round money, they agreed.

Now at Secondary Grammar School in Stafford Mark was in the starting blocks and away.

All around him were people with similar interests, POP music. It didn't take him long to team up with one of his friends and at the age of 12 he formed a duo and was playing his own songs to anyone that would listen. Music Folk music nights were popular in the late sixties, and it was here that Mark honed his newly found talent at writing and performing his own songs.

This new experience of playing to an audience was to set the scene for the next few years. He formed a band with friends from school called Axis, and started to play larger and more diverse venues. Pubs, Clubs, Village Halls and Parties and Studio work kept this by now, accomplished songwriter and guitarist very busy in the early Seventies, he was by now the guitarist of choice for the many bands in Staffordshire, until that fateful day when that thing called Love took over.

Although music was never far away it would be a few years later when with the children more grown up it was decided to move house to one a little larger.

It was here that Mark met his then new neighbour, Steve Renyard. 

Like Mark, Steve was also a keen keyboard and guitar player, and it was that common interest in music that started them off on the journey of playing and performing once more.  The pair performed at Parties, Pubs, Open Mic nights and just about anywhere that a music starved audience could be found. The word soon spread that this new duo were a forced to be reckoned with. Their own produced backing tracks filling out the sound, but something was missing a drummer and a bass player.

With the word out that this talented duo were looking for band members it wasn't long before the band Urban Dreamer materialised. These very accomplished musicians performed all around Shropshire, Staffordshire and The West Midlands, and always got the return gig. Gigging as well as the time taken practicing new material can take it's toll however and so it was that business and working hard to earn money to put food on the table, left Mark at a loose end.

Mark continued with his own music and grabbed himself a publishing deal with Vertigo films, but it was his love of performing that was missing from his life.

It was a fateful day in 2009 that at a loose end Mark attended the Newport Open Mic evening and after a chat with Merv Williams the band that is now Newport Super-group  Bang To Rights was created.

Mark continues to write and record own material in his home studio.

His weapons of choice are:-

A Pink Fender Stratocaster,  A lovely Green Yamaha SG,  A Hohner L59, A immaculate Hohner L90 Goldtop, 1972 Epiphone acoustic, and a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe amp.

 

A bloody cold this week has left Merv a little worse for wear, but no doubt he will be up and at it pretty soon.

We're in the process of putting some new cover tunes together as well as some new Tunes from our guitarist Mark. Songs from Wheatus, Guns and Roses are in the pipeline as well as some more songs by The Rolling Stones and Tom Petty.

Both Steve and Pete are working hard at these soon to be familiar songs.

Mark? hey he has them under his fingers already!!

In the meantime check out one of Merv's guitars. A Gibson 335 Cherry Dot.

A sheer thing of beauty, .. unlike Merv.

Let's Get It On

And so it was that we started to look at some new tunes.

T. Rex my god who'd of thought it, but hey, it seems to work and folk do know it, and love to dance to it. With Mark on main vocal, it sounds good so in it goes.

Aerosmith, haha that's more like it, and a quick run through of "Sweet Emotion" brings us right up to speed. Bring it on.

Next week hmm let's put some more Stones into the set.

4th June 2012

Booked for the Jubilee Celebrations at the village of Sambrook.


 The first time we had used the full PA in what seemed an age. But no problems it all went together well and in no time we had carried out a sound check.

With a good three hours of music we were well equipped and away we went.

About 8.30pm we cranked it up and had the local villagers dancing along to the music.


Hits from Thin Lizzy, AC/DC, Queen, The Eagles and many many more, had a full hall up, dancing and singing along.






As loud as ever our ears could stand the revellers loved every minute  of it,  no one seemed to care and kept crying out for more, until around 11.30 when the order of the day at that time was "just one more" and this was it.

And then it was over, and time for a Rock n Roll cup of tea to finish off. Thank god for Typoo!!

Until the next time.

xx

Newport Carnival 2012

2nd June

We rolled up at around 11am not knowing what to expect.

What we found was a nice covered stage area and a nice PA system once more provided by the excellent Stage Services. A good job well done by the guys.

From about 1am we began playing, but from there it was stop start all afternoon, playing between the other acts including fire eaters and balancing acts that were performing in the main ring.

A great shame the weather didn't hold out it was cold and threatened rain all morning. And so it was that as the time approached 3.30pm the crowds started to disperse and by 4pm it was all over for another year.

Well done the guys who form the Carnival committee see you in 2013.

A Few Newfest 2012 Pictures

Newfest 2012

Newfest 2012 has been and gone, but what a fantastic day it had turned out to be. There were approximately 3000 people basking in fabulous hot sunshine. It was a glorious day. 

We came on stage around 2.15pm and played our well rehearsed set which lasted a little longer than we had anticipated, but we were ready for that having rehearsed a couple of extra songs "just in case".

It was simply the best organised one day festival that we have played to date. Everything went to plan and was like a well tuned and oiled machine.

Congratulations to Lawrence Gale and all of his team, and a quick mention for Stage Services who supplied all of the PA and the sound engineer.

Here's hoping that they make this into an annual event.

Having been chosen to play the NewFest 2012, we are busy preparing a new set list, which is to include the Black Country Communion song "Smokestack Woman" and a few other new additions.

Great times are to be had.