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SETLIST
I once totted up that we’d performed well in excess of two hundred
and fifty songs since the band began in late 1991.
That’s an awful
lot of crib sheets in my case, as I am in possession of a seriously faulty
memory for lyrics. Oh, and
phone numbers, names and recent events. It’s
the Alzheimer’s you know. I may not know what day it is, but I can
tell
you the titles of all Fairport Convention’s albums up to 1979.
Luckily, Suzie has no such problems and can memorise
a
new set of words in
about the same time as it takes me to write them out on a sheet of A3 in
1,000 point lettering!
When Drive North West got together my cunning plan was to give people in small venues the chance to see a band playing with the same dynamics as dead famous bands playing in big venues. Don’t you just get fed up seeing bands at your local gig playing the same nonsense, usually too loud and with the subtle touch of a kick in the genitalia? Hence our inclusion of acoustic guitars, keyboards, harmonies and percussion which you'll hear at one of our gigs. Mind you, if you stay to the end you may still find your ears bleeding as we can rock with the best of them!
Our current set is drawn from the following songs. We try to establish a balance between playing our own stuff and covers we like. After all, we’re trying to entertain as well as having fun playing and a lot of folks dislike being confronted by a bunch of songs they’ve never heard before.
For the most part we try to stay away from over familiar covers and try material which is well known but not often performed. So, if you come to see us any time soon, this is only some of what you’ll hear:
COME AS YOU ARE (Beverley Knight)
Lots of nice guitar and bass stuff, a seriously fab groove.
CATCH THE MOON (DNW)
One of the first songs we ever played, back in the set and sounding lusher than ever with Roman’s keyboards widening the aural picture.
OREO COOKIE (Lonnie Mack )
Fab blues song about the joys of cheap chocolate biscuits, sung with frightening intensity by Suzie.
RIDERS ON THE STORM (The Doors)
It’s all in the groove and the spaces. Lovely restrained playing by Gaf and Al in the rhythm section and authentic solo from Ro.
FIRING BLANKS (DNW)
Another original. The only reggae tune I know of to feature lyrics about undergoing a sperm count. I play the part of the patient, Suzie is the understanding G.P. and the problem is resolved with the aid of loose underwear and ice cubes.
BEHIND BLUE EYES (The Who)
Wonderful song. Limp Bizkit wrecked it. We steal it back for the ‘Orrible ‘Oo.
ROCKIN’ IN THE FREE WORLD (Neil Young)
Our version slows things down a bit and recreates the turmoil of conflict in a noise drenched middle section. I hope people listen to the words. They’re as relevant now as the day it was written, maybe even more so. Enough of my navel gazing…
UGLY (DNW) 
The song we thought would be our hit single had we ever been signed. But we weren’t and it wasn’t.
ABSENT FRIENDS (DNW)
A bouncy guitar romp, the Beach Boys meet Big Star with baffling lyrics.
ONE OF US (Joan Osbourne)
A great song, but whatever happened to Joan? The last I heard of her she was singing with what’s left of the Grateful Dead.
RADAR BITES BLACK SHOES (DNW)
More guitar nonsense about my elderly (and now deceased) dog. Feel free to join in the barking after the last chorus.
LONG TIME GONE (Crosby, Stills and Nash / Galleano)
We use this cerebral David Crosby song about one of the Kennedys as a platform for jamming, a really excellent funky groove which e ventually mutates into…
I’M A MAN (Spencer Davis Group)
Sung by Roman who gives his Hammondesque keyboard solo some serious attitude. All it misses are a few dancing girlies in bell bottoms and panda make up and POW! It’s Ready Steady Go all over again! Lots of great drumming from Gaf and some percussion required too, which means I don’t have to play guitar and can bounce about whacking a cow bell while Suzie shakes her moneymaker...
KNOCKIN’ ON HEAVENS DOOR (Bob Dylan)
We all take turns singing this one and it can last about ten minutes with a fair wind and the audience behind us.
ROCK ‘N’ ROLL (Led Zeppelin)
Suzie gives Robert Plant a run for his money! A great end of night rave up.
SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL (Rolling Stones)
At this point in the evening we get anybody up who can shake a maraca or bash a cowbell and have a major rave up as Roman attempts to pound his piano into the floor. Country Joe McDonald fell over our dog Tarn at Cropredy festival. I just thought you’d like to know that. I’ll avoid the potential for gratuitous jokes about tripping.
YOU OUGHT TO KNOW (Alannis Morrisette)
A great opportunity for Suzie to shout at blokes in general and to be seriously intimidating, which everybody seems to enjoy. Especially the females in the crowd, particularly when she uses rude words. Strange but true.
GLORIA (Them)
Three chords played very fast with lots of shouting. What more do you need?
I WISH (Stevie Wonder)
A fine groove and a great song. I?ve not heard anybody play any Stevie Wonder stuff apart from heavy handed versions of Superstition for years. Good opportunity for Ro to play brass parts on his keys.
TAKE YOUR MAMA OUT (Scissor Sisters)
Good grief, almost a current song?! OK, you may not think it?s your thing, but there?s some classy pop song writing going down here and some great blues licks.
WARMIN? UP THE BAND (Heads Ha nds and Feet)
Who? A bloody great band from the early seventies containing both monster country guitarist Albert Lee and Chas (of Chas and Dave fame) before he went all Rockney. You?ll find this on volume two of the Whistle Test archive stuff. It was a single and should have been a hit. Drooling is all owed in these circumstances.
NO MATTER WHAT (Badfinger)
A great Beatlesque rocker from the tragedy beset Welsh band. Ro sings it having become familiar with it on a Jellyfish album. Jellyfish! Now there?s a neglected band! Roman also arranged the cunning harmonies which, when we get them right, sound like Queen. A bit.
DON’T FEAR THE REAPER
The best song Blue Oyster Cult ever recorded. Some might say it was the only song they ever recorded….we include the mad middle section. Ro plays triplets against fours…don’t try counting, it hurts. The riff comes in on the second beat of the tenth bar. Luckily, Gaf can count.
EVERYBODY’S GONE TO WAR (Nerina Pallot)
A splendidly thoughtful rock song from an album released this century, unlike almost everything else we play. Just to prove we can be cutting edge. Well, sort of.
TEMPTED (Squeeze)
Nice groove thang from the Deptford Boys with Ro singing and abusing his organ, if you see what I mean.
BLOWIN’ FREE (Wishbone Ash)
Argus was a constant turntable botherer when I was an acne riddled kid, and this was the song all the local bands played. They played it wrong, w e play it right because Ro worked it out and he has great ears. Well, everybody else in the band plays it right, I just try to keep up.
GO YOUR OWN WAY (Fleetwood Mac)
Great mid period Fleetwood Mac Lindsey Buckingham song from the only Dinosaur album it was hip to own in the late seventies, even if it was a guilty pleasure. Our first drummer’s band once supported Peter Green’s Splinter Group and the Great Man signed a drum head for him. With the wrong end of the pen. Or so I’m told.
SUFFRAGETTE CITY (David Bowie)
Don’t expect external jockstraps tailored from Bacofoil. It isn’t going to happen. All together now, “HEY MAN!”
BOYS OF SUMMER (Don Henley)
A devastatingly splendid song with Suzie on keyboards. She also sings the lead line on the chorus. I can’t get that high, it’s my age you know. I could hit top C when I were a lad and it were all trees and fields round here.
THE ROAD IS MY MIDDLE NAME (Bonnie Rait)
A sweet blues from the ginger haired goddess of slide guitar. Suzie of course gives it her all, as ever.
See you at the gig then. Come and say hello and we may tr y to sell you a CD, but don’t let that put you off!
The band is:
Suzie Lowe: Singing
Roman Wieckowski: Guitar,
keyboards, singing
Gareth (Gaf) Makin: Drums,
percussion
Al Last: Bass
Dave Buckley: Rhythm guitar,
singing
...and welcome back... Trish Watt: Guitar, singing