Mike Gibbins - Archeology (re-re-post)

Mike Gibbins - Archeology - 2002

By Jason Ankeny & Bruce Eder from AMG

Mike Gibbins spent a decade, from 1965 through 1975, as the drummer for the Iveys and their better-known successor group, Badfinger - that alone made him one of the more visible musicians to emerge from what might be called the British Invasion's "third wave," out of the orbit of the Beatles' Apple Records. He was one of two members of the group left behind following a pair of tragic suicides, and he led reorganized versions of "Badfinger" into the 1980s and beyond, often in competition with fellow surviving member Joey Molland. Born Michael George Gibbins in Swansea, Wales, in 1949, he grew up in a crowded household that included six older sisters - he later claimed he took up drumming just so he could be heard. Actually, he was a natural drummer, responding to rhythms and generating them on anything that came into his hands, enough so that his father got him his first drum kit when Mike was 14. He passed through various local groups, including the Planets, the Club Four, and the Misfits, over the next few years. 

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01. Heavy Weather (Gibbins)
02. To The River (Gibbins)
03. Listen To Me (Gibbins)
04. Sad The Clown (Gibbins)
05. Dead Ratz (Warsing/Chapman/Gibbins)
06. The Golden One (Gibbins)
07. Dream Harder (Gibbins)
08. Love Is Lookin' Over Me (Gibbins)

Mike Gibbins - Vocals, Drums, Piano
Paul Chapman - Guitar (5, 7)
Rick Warsing - Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Bass
Rick Weidley - Electric Violin (1, 3)
Ron Griffiths - Lead Vocal (4)





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Mike Gibbins - In The Meantime

Mike Gibbins - In The Meantime - 2003

Michael George Gibbins (12 March 1949 – 4 October 2005) was born in Swansea, Wales. He began playing drum when he was fourteen. He played in local Swansea bands The Planet, The Club Four, and The Misfits before joining The Iveys in 1965 at the age of 16. A year later, The Iveys had moved to London and were touring the U.K. with David Garrick. Garrick had just had a hit with his cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Lady Jane” and needed a touring band and The Iveys got the gig. Another year later and The Iveys were the first artist signed to The Beatles Apple Records. By the end of the decade, The Iveys had become Badfinger.

Mike would quit Badfinger twice due to personalty conflicts with Tommy Evans. Badfinger had to replace Mike with Rob Stawinsky from the band Sky for one U.S. tour. Mike returned to Wales and recorded some solo demos in 1972 before being coaxed back to Badfinger.

After Pete Ham’s suicide in 1974, Mike returned to Wales and the Swansea music scene. In 1976, he joined Martin Ace’s band The Flying Aces and toured the U.K. In 1977, Mike would play drums for Bonnie Tyler’s hit song and album “It’s a Heartache”. Tyler and her band, including Mike, would tour the U.K. and Europe. Other sessions would follow for acts such as Digby Richards and David Tipton until Joey Molland and Tommy Evans called and asked him if he wanted to fly out to California and take over the drum responsibilities for the reformed Badfinger. As soon as Mike arrived he was thrown into the studio. The band was already behind in studio time due to delays with the previous drummer. Mike immediately butted heads with producer David Malloy and after a couple of days he was dismissed.

In the early 1980s, Mike would relocate to Michigan. He took part in a couple of Badfinger tours with Tommy Evans, including a disastrous episode where the band was stranded in Milwaukee for two months. In 1984, he did a Badfinger tour with Joey Molland. In 1986, Mike and Joey put together a new Badfinger band. Mike would tour off and on with this Badfinger band until 1990 when he would retire from touring.

In the mid 1980s, Mike would move to Florida; longing for warmth and sunshine. Mike was fairly inactive musically in the early ’90s. By the mid ’90s, Mike had a home studio built and had became acquainted with Rick Warsing, a guitarist who used to be a member of the touring version of The Archies. Mike and Rick would record Mike’s fist solo album, A Place In Time, which was released on Forbidden Records in 1997. Mike would follow up that album with several independently released discs; More Annoying Songs in 2000, Archeology in 2002, and In The Meantime in 2003.

On October 4 2005, Mike passed away in his sleep from a brain aneurysm. He was survived by wife Ellie and their sons Adam and David and son Owen from his first wife Gaynor.

01. In The Meantime
02. Band of Hope
03. Guillotine
04. Lean On Me
05. Tonite
06. Toadstool (Drum Solo)
07. Grace Under Fire
08. Heaven Knows
09. Come And Get It
10. Beat You On The Draw




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Jason & The Scorchers - Halcyon Times

Jason & The Scorchers - Halcyon Times - 2010

from vintageguitar

It’s an unlikely story that cow-punk pioneers Jason and the Scorchers would be releasing an album in 2010. It’s even more unlikely, so early in the year, to say it may end up being one of the year’s best records.

Original members Jason Ringenberg and Warner E. Hodges are the lynchpins for the great music on Halcyon Times. Joined by Pontus Snibb on drums and Al Collins on bass, along with numerous friends including ex-Georgia Satellite Dan Baird (on acoustic guitar and vocals), they give JATS fans a healthy dose of the stuff they have long loved about the band, including scorching lead guitar from Hodges. From the first track, “Moonshine Boy/Releasing Celtic Prisoners,” it’s evident that no prisoners will be taken in this stomper with frantic guitar that toes the line between rock and country and has a funny biographical lyric.

Hodges’ strengths as a guitarist are many. He manages to stay completely in control even while his solos sound set to careen. If a song calls for an unearthly country bend, it’s there. If a soaring melodic solo is in order, it appears. If chugging, Keith Richards-style rhythms are needed (as on “Deep Holy Water”) it carries the song. While the rhythm guitar forms the basis for that song, his short solo is an amazing mix of single lines, country bends, banjo rolls, and everything-in-between that manages to encapsulate a lot of what his playing is about.

Singer/guitarist Ringenberg is, of course, the voice of the band. His vocals, while every-man in nature, are as distinctive as the band’s sound. He wraps himself around lyrics about working-class problems to the intricacies of the music industry and can cover whatever style the band adopts, including the frenetic mix of country and rock JATS is often credited with helping create, or a simple country-folk tune. There’s no mistaking who’s singing the song.

01. Moonshine Guy / Releasing Celtic Prisoners    
02. Beat On The Mountain    
03. Mona Lee    
04. Fear Not Gear Rot    
05. Mother Of Greed    
06. Getting Nowhere Fast    
07. Land Of The Free    
08. Golden Days    
09. Deep Holy Water    
10. Twang Town Blues    
11. Days Of Wine And Roses    
12. Better Than This    
13. When Did It Get So Easy (To Lie To Me)    
14. We've Got It Goin' On





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Velvert Turner Group - Velvert Turner Group

Velvert Turner Group - Velvert Turner Group - 1972

Born on October 12, 1951 and raised in Brooklyn, NY, Turner befriended Hendrix during the mid- to late '60s — and Turner would show what Hendrix was teaching him to another guitarist friend of his, future Television member Richard Lloyd. After Hendrix's passing, Turner formed the Velvert Turner Group, with bassist Prescott Niles, keyboardist Christopher Robinson, and drummer Tim McGovern, and in 1972, issued a self-titled debut album. Highly derivative of his mentor — both musically and even in the song titles, as evidenced by "Madonna (Of the Seven Moons)," "'Xcuse Me, Gentlemen (The Fall of Atlantis)," and "(Love Rides)...

The Slowly Swirling Seas." Heck, there was even a cover of a Hendrix tune, "Freedom," that closed the album. Although the album didn't set the charts alight, it has become a sought-after cult item amongst Hendrix fanatics over the years.

And that was all that many heard from Velvert, although he did appear on a self-titled release by Arthur Lee in 1977, and in the mid-'80s, was involved in a Jimi Hendrix instructional guitar video, which strangely, only featured Turner narrating it and not showing the viewer the tricks of the trade that Hendrix had taught him (the guitar parts are played by Andy Aledort). Subsequently, the other members of the Velvert Turner Group would reappear in the Knack (Niles), the Motels (McGovern), and the New York Dolls (Robinson).

Sadly, on December 11, 2000, it was reported in the New York Times that Turner had passed away at his Brooklyn home. In the article, fans learned that in recent years Turner had been employed by Samaritan Village in Brooklyn, where he worked with those battling substance addiction. Four years after his passing, a snippet of Turner playing some Hendrixian guitar, titled "Going Home," was included on the star-studded tribute, Power of Soul: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix. In 2009, Turner's old friend, Lloyd, recorded an album of Hendrix covers, titled The Jamie Neverts Story, whose title came from a code name that Turner and Lloyd used for Hendrix, when they would go visit him (to keep their visits "secret" from kids in the neighborhood). The album was also dedicated to Turner, and features altered album covert art based on Turner's Velvert Turner Group from over three decades prior.

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01. Madonna (Of The Seven Moons)
02. Talkin' 'Bout My Baby
03. Country Chicken
04. Strangely Neww
05. Scarlet Warrior
06. Three O'clock Train
07. Just Look And See
08. 'xcuse Me, Gentlemen (Fall Of Atlantis)
09. (Love Rides...) The Slow Swirling Seas
10. Freedom






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