This Weekend – Playhouse 2, Shaw (near Oldham)!

Hello Genesis fans and all.

After a fairly long break, we’re back! This weekend, Saturday 12th May 2018, we’ll be appearing at The Playhouse 2 Theatre in Shaw, which is near Oldham. We’ve performed at this venue a number of time in the past and it always sells out. Right now, there are just a few tickets left so if you want some, head over to the box office and grab them.

Here’s the link to the online box office: www.ticketsource.co.uk

And if they’re sold out online, you could always try the high street box office which is located just around the corner from the theatre.

Details here: www.playhouse2.org

In other news, we have an interview with Dave, our bass player. Read on….

Mama Website: Hi Dave! How are things?

Dave Jones: Things are just fine thanks.

MW: Any Mama related news you can share with us?

DJ: The band will be back on the road soon with a show at The Playhouse, Shaw, Oldham in May and this could be – I say could be because you never know – our last show with Darren on guitar.

MW: Explain all!

DJ: I am sure readers will be aware that Darren decided to leave the band at the end of last year and we now have a new guitarist, Jon, but he isn’t free for the Oldham show and so Darren has kindly agreed to step in. After Oldham, Jon will be playing all our shows and we will be in Scotland in June plus Tribfest in August.

MW: Another Jon in the band? Could get confusing….

DJ: Yes and to simplify things, Tim and myself are changing our names to John. It will simplify band roll call!

MW: We know that you have introduced the double neck into the shows. How has that been working out?

DJ: It is heavy! I had the double neck built for me using some of the original specifications from Mike Rutherford’s Rickenbacker 12 string guitar and 4 string bass from the 1970’s. I’ve been playing it on the Duke’s Suite plus Los Endos, Dance on a Volcano and part of In The Cage medley. Without giving anything away, there is more to come!

MW: And what about the hair? We have to ask. You understand, right?

DJ: I vowed a long, long time ago that when I finally retired from full time teaching I would not get my hair cut and let it grow until it got back to how long it was when I started work in 1980. I have not had it cut for almost two years and it is well on the way to being something like it was in the 1970’s!

MW: Any other musical news to share with us?

DJ: As well as playing with Mama, I play with instrumental band Nerve Toy Trio. We are currently writing new material with a more jazz flavour. To that end I have returned to the double bass, which I played many years ago and I am finding it a very different instrument to get my fingers around.

MW: Plus I think your old band Plenty have an album coming out?

DJ: True. In the 1980’s I played with Tim Bowness and Brian Hulse in a band called Plenty. After we split up Tim went on to have a wonderful career in music, playing with Steven Wilson in No-Man and more recently having great success with his solo albums. In 2016, the three of us got back in touch and decided to re-record all the original songs we had produced in the 1980’s to see if the magic still worked. It did because as well as updating the old songs we wrote a new one. We secured a record deal with Karisma records. For a bass player in a Genesis tribute band you can guess how significant that was! Our album called, “It Could Be Home,” came out on the 27th April.

MW: Awesome! Any feedback so far?

DJ: We’ve had several print and on-line reviews in publications all over the world. Classic Pop gave the album 4 stars out of 5 and Prog Magazine said it was, “one of those rare occasions when someone’s old photograph album was fascinating.” We have two videos out on YouTube. Both have over a thousand plays. One is for “Strange Gods” and the other is for “Every Stranger’s Voice”, two tracks from the album. Oh and, the album is currently sat at number 16 in the official independent album chart.

MW: That’s great! Where can we buy the album?

DJ: It was released as a download, on CD, on vinyl and on limited edition blue vinyl. You never know, we might have some at a Mama merchandise stall in the future.

Buy the album from BurningShed here: www.burningshed.com

MW: We recently interviewed John Wilkinson and he said that a Mama album might also be in the pipeline. Is that true?

DJ: Maybe. We have started work on recording some original songs but it is very early days. But you never know there may be a Mama album out next year.

MW: Back to Genesis. Is it true that the band are planning a new set list for future shows?

DJ: That is true. With such a vast collection of great music available to us we are looking to make changes to our set. The problem is to put something different in you have to take something out. We have not played Invisible Touch for a long time so that may return. Plus we are looking at some songs we have never performed live and trying them out. I can’t give too much away but I think it is safe to say that there may be some dancing with a knight very soon.

MW: What aboutupcoming shows at Kinross and Tribfest? Are you looking forward to those dates?

DJ: Absolutely. With two nights at Kinross we can include some of the solo hits in each night, songs from Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins and Mike & The Mechanics. We will be playing some of those at Tribfest too.

MW: Thanks Dave for bringing us to speed with Mama. We hope the album does well!

DJ: You are welcome. I look forward to getting back on stage with the lads and doing our best to keep the music of Genesis alive.