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Apache Show Band
When asked to describe the band in a few paragraphs I thought no problem, I sat at the word processor with fingers poised over the keys and my mind going into overdrive as sagas of the past 25 years came flooding back, and I suddenly realised how difficult it would be trying to summarize the last quarter of a century!! We’ve had a
magnificent journey, we ’ve seen a lot places and made a lot of friends, it was like being paid for a hobby and I can’t think of a nicer way to earn a living. We began our musical career under the name Old Gold, music of the 50s and 60s has been our major influence, so the name seemed appropriate, at the same time we were experimenting with the guitar hits of the Shadows where we discovered we were able to mimic their distinctive sound earning us the nickname “The Shepway Shadows”, Shepway being the parish in which we were living.
The 1959 hit “Apache” became our trademark and complete with the famous “Shadows Walk” it became one of our most requested tracks at gigs and eventually it was decided that this would be a good name for the band.
If asked about our musical influences each member will have their own individual artistes to quote but ultimately the biggest influence on the group was the 1979 movie The Buddy Holly Story and we watched it almost every weekend where the concept of being a group appealed.
During the early 80’s we were one of the only groups who wore a recognized stage costume, our older sister being a talented seamstress meant we could have bespoke costumes at a fraction of the cost and I imagine we were the only group on the Kent circuit who wore fancy jackets festooned with sparkling sequins which made us more visual than most of the other groups, this attracted larger audiences and when we began to pack the pubs our diary began to fill.
Of course it wasn’t just because we were dressed in such flamboyant style that attracted the crowds but the mix of music and the way in which we were playing were other factors, at the time we were the only true rock and roll band in Kent, these days thanks to the nostalgia revival there are many dozens of similar bands working the circuit, but we were amongst the first specialist tribute bands.
Dad was our manager in the early days, he’d write letters and make phone calls and he’d knock on doors to get the gigs, in those days we were hitting the circuit at £40 a night, we were the cheapest in the area so that may also be one of the reasons that we seemed to be getting most of the gigs.
We continued on the local network until the mid 80s when Rick passed one of our demo tapes to an agent he had met whilst working as a security guard at a local hotel, the agent booked us for a spot at the hotel and the success of that early show resulted in our first management deal which launched us onto a competitive market.
In those early years we continued to hold down day jobs whilst doing the night gigs and we’d often arrive home at six in the morning where we would change and head off for work, it was tough going but the benefit of youth was on our side so we could survive on little sleep, these days that trend has reversed quite dramatically…!!!
After three years of doing one night slots around the South East our popularity began to spread and it wasn’t long before we were discovered by a bigger agent who signed us to a sponsorship with Bass Breweries taking us across the UK on a nationwide tour, it enabled us to resign our day jobs and become professional musicians.
Success in the entertainment world is down to experience, talent, and a measure of luck, our luck came in 1992 when we were approached by one of the UK ’s top booking agents who signed us to a personal management contract and secured us on the prime market of holiday sites, theatres and cruise lines.
Between 1995 and 1998 we spent most of our time on the international circuit where we headlined at venues across Europe .
Our experience on the famous Butlins stage during 1998 exposed us to the national media and in May of that year we took part in the “Showcall Showcase” in the Midlands and became officially recognized as the finest showgroup in the UK .
In 2000 we embarked on what was to become known as the most gruelling schedule of any other act in that year touring over 200 towns in six months covering many thousands of miles .
We retired from the professional circuit in 2002 as we wanted to spend more time with our families but we realised we didn’t want to leave the business altogether so we decided to reform as a trio and returned to the local network of pubs and clubs concentrating on weekend work.
Rick has worked hard on this site but we realise that it can only just scratch the surface of what has been a fantastic career, I have a volume of scrapbooks containing photographs and newspaper clippings documenting the last 25-years and through the years I have commented on writing a book because I feel that such a biography would entertain and would ultimately expose some of the many incidents which we’ve encountered along the way, maybe I’ll get it done some day…in the meantime, enjoy the site.
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http://www.onstageregister.com