Hank B Marvin, Bruce Welch, Brian Bennett, Jet Harris, Tony Meehan, Liquorice Locking and John Rostill – who all complemented to a unique collection of records under the Shadows banner in the 1960s – carved a unique place in the annals of British popular music and will forever be associated with the band that has become a byword for perfection. If you had to pick an adjective to describe the Shads, ‘impeccable’ would certainly be near the top of the list, admirably describing both their recorded work and their immaculate stage appearance.
Shadows fans have been left a fantastic legacy of treasured recordings, and occasionally, new studio releases do come along. These, however, are more likely than not to have been recorded with members of the group each laying down individual tracks at a different time…and often in a different continent. It’s all so unlike the days when they gathered together in Studio 2 at Abbey Road, and, under the avuncular gaze of Norrie Paramour, knocked off a hit single and two or three self-penned album tracks within a couple of hours.
Live performances these days are also few and far between, and if you do get a rare chance to see the boys it’s invariably in some vast concert arena – never an ideal venue for the intimate Shadows’ sound.
So what do you do if you want to hear Shadows music played live…and at a distance which doesn’t require a telescope to see the performer? Well, that’s where we come in.
The Bootleg Shadows were formed in 2004 with the sole intention of bringing Shadows music back to the fore. All members of the group have impressive track records (precious few of the plastic variety) in show business, which proves invaluable in allowing us to create the unmistakeable Shadows’ sound.
It is not our intention to convince ourselves or anyone else that we are The Shadows or that we are in any way attempting to cash in on their career – although this is a quite legitimate argument applicable to all tribute acts.
What we do say is that we are four reasonably
talented musicians (plus a drummer) who adore
performing Shadows music and enjoy nothing
more than sharing our enjoyment with other
Shadows devotees.
Our show is not a copy of a Shadows concert, it is
a concert that never has been and never will be.
It is a Shadows concert we would like to see the
Shadows perform.
Hank and Bruce would be pretty uncomfortable
slipping into their old 1960s suits today, but of
course we have no such inhibitions or fashion
constraints. Our idea of being cool is to switch
on a fan! By wearing suits and using the Fender
Strats, it is our sole intention to take the audience
back to the heyday of The Shadows when Hank,
Bruce, Brian, Tony, Liquorice and John (impeccably)
stepped into our lives, and into pop immortality…
