The UK's foremost tribute to the music of the band Cheap Trick.
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This band has no past. Literally. We can tell you some things-a little of this and a bit of that-but CHEAT TRICK is, in fact, a band without a history.
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Ken, CHEAT TRICK's lead guitarist (and when we say lead, we're not kidding: he's got at least three guitars) and John, the band's bassist, have spent fifty plus of the last... fifty plus years in the UK. Having formed the band on Big Ginger Gits, they stayed at home in the UK where they haven't even played together yet. 'We never went away' says Ken, 'because we like the musical climate.' With them they have brought a melting pot of ideas and experiences from thoughout the North East. 'The UK thing and being from the North East,' continues Ken, 'brought us together as CHEAT TRICK and because of our lack of travels, we were opened up to a limited number of musical styles, namely CHEAP TRICK!'
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Ken was born in Blyth, but certainly spent little time there. He met John, who was born in Alnwick and raised somewhere in the hinterlands of Northumberland, under somewhat mysterious circumstances. Together in search of adventure and new faces to peer at, they zoomed into BGG wandering throughout Newcastle, Durham, Sunderland and Blyth, blowing wind with astonishing frequency. They finally came to roost in the South of Northumberland amidst a cool damp clime, nubile bodies and a plethora of Geordie musicians who, having heard of Ken and John's brilliant but joyously sanitised reputations, were continually clamoring to play with them.
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There they met the remaining two members of the band, so that to Kens hyperthyroid Donald Sutherland and Johns warmth and charm were added Martin Henderson's decidedly average good looks and Geordys avuncular charm. Martin, the thin man with two voicessome say he is related to Dom Jollywas born in either Morpeth or Bedlington, depending on which day you approach him.
Geordy, short for George E, hails from Dunroamin where he learned his drumming and where his father was a Road Sweep moving around Tyne and Wear. His family was instrumental in the building of the Bella Heap to which Geordy, who is fluent in gibberish, comments, Twas was a long time ago.
While in the South East of Northumberland, Cheat Trick came together, but that is not all. John ran into Ainsley Wills in a debauched internet forum one day. They had known each other in Newcastle and when John told Ainsley about the group, the latter, being a guitarist and forum moderator on BGG invited the band to Hadaway. To John, it seemed the least likely thing to do. So he did it.
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Despite the fact that John and the band are highly conventional, and despite the fact that John himself has been described by some who are most certainly lacking in a brain as a high risk in the business, CHEAT TRICKs wealth is their plagiarism.
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Songs, songs, songs. The band has so many top notch songs to choose from that they will be doing two/three separate sets a night of completely different songs. Theyve obviously had to cut it down and the fact is that they have 27 albums to choose from. The band just hasnt any B material. CHEAP TRICK songs such as Taxman, Mr. Thief, I want you to want me, The Flame and Oh Candy put pure musicalityrichly varied melodies, lyrics of both thought and heartback into rocknroll.
What you will be listening to is only one-half of the story because CHEAT TRICK is that rarest of entities, a tribute band, aware that the concert and the gig are the same thing. On stage, their lack of spectacular showmanship combines mystically with their musicianship to create a total event. Youll be able to see them soon because the band plays 2-3 dates a year, taking their music to the streets. And, after all, thats what rocknroll is all about.