Flashback

Introducing you to Flashback, a three-piece from York in the style of the old "beat groups!"

Flashback is a hard-hitting band whose act is a totally live, uncompromising replication of the sights and sounds of the early beat groups of Hamburg and Liverpool's Cavern Club. It's all here - Vox amplification, vintage guitars and drums, leather jackets, winklepickers, Chelsea boots and lots of cheeky banter - just how it used to be. Oh, and if the venue is large enough, a full-size back drop of the stage wall of The Cavern to complete the illusion!

Although songs by The Beatles are included in the set, there is also a mix of well-known songs from many of the other bands who were rubbing shoulders with the Fab Four at the time. What you will NOT hear are songs by The Shadows, The Everly Brothers, or other more middle of the road acts of the time!

Regular performers at The Cavern Club themselves, Flashback feel that it is important that people should still be able to hear the music which changed the world, and sparked hysteria in many of those who heard it, recreated as authentically as possible on stage. People who were actually there at the time regularly come up and say "that's just how it used to sound!" Just as pleasing, though, is the interest shown by young people, from teens to twenties - the raw energy, excitement and edginess of the beat groups is the ancestor to the hard-driven guitar-based music of so many of today's successful young bands.

Recent engagements have included Weddings, Hotels, Galas, sixties weekends, and, last but not least, the main open-air stage at last year's Beatle Week in Liverpool.

January 2007 saw them playing at the invitation-only 50th Anniversary party of the Cavern Club, in front of people such as Mike McCartney and Beatles promoter Sam Leach, and in April they were on the bill at the party to mark 45 years of The Star Club in Hamburg, covered by German national TV.

In August 2007 they appeared once again at Liverpool's International Beatle Week, receiving rave reviews from the organisers, and also found time to release a 12 track CD of their material.

Everything they do is great to dance to, and doesn't have to be loud - remember bands played through 30 watt amps in the early sixties!

If you want to hear what everyone was raving about in 1962, come along and sample the music of that period at its raw, earthy best - and not a backing tape in sight!

Equipment

The most important factor in recreating that early 1960s Beat Group sound is Flashback's choice of equipment. Using authentic period guitars and amplification, the sounds of Liverpool and Hamburg are brought to life once more.

1958 Hofner Club 40

Identical to the Club 40 that John Lennon bought from Hessy's music store in Liverpool on 28th August 1959. John's Aunt Mimi paid a £17 deposit there and then, and the balance of £13/9/- in irregular instalments, the last one being on July 31st, 1960. It was this guitar that John took with him for The Beatles' first engagement in Hamburg, in August 1960, the formative period that saw them becoming a force to be reckoned with.

This instrument was bought in Ellesmere Port, near Liverpool, still with its original case. In fact, the guitar is 100% original, right down to the "dog lead" strap clips and leather fittings. The single, black bar pickup is more than enough to provide the driving R&B sound that would have been so familiar to regulars of Hamburg's Kaiserkeller club in 1960.

1965 Vox Phantom XII

This Vox Phantom 12-string guitar, commonly known as the "Teardrop" was rescued from destruction by Pete, who was at a friend's house when he noticed the body in the fireplace. On asking, he was told that the owner was going to chop it up for firewood! Needless to say Pete left the house with the piece of ex-firewood.

A few days later a mutual acquaintance tapped him on the shoulder and said that he knew where the neck was if he was interested! Along with the neck, Pete acquired a box of parts which were enough to get the guitar into playing shape, and, since the addition of a vintage pickup, it forms an integral part of Flashback's set, sounding exactly like the 12-string Rickenbackers owned by the Byrds and The Beatles.

1959 Hofner 500/5 bass

Late in 1959 Stuart Sutcliffe, an Art College friend of John Lennons, sold one of his paintings for £65. Instead of using the money to further his career in art, he was persuaded to buy a bass to use with The Quarrymen. On January 21st 1960, at Frank Hessy's music store he put a £15 deposit on a Hofner 500/5 bass, serial number 199, and his place in the newly re-named Beatals was secure.

The 500/5 bass used by Flashback is serial number 272, placing it firmly in the exact same period as Sutcliffe's. In fact, Kev also owns bass number 266 - almost twins! Bought in Lancashire from an ex-dance band musician who bought the bass second-hand in 1961 to cater for the trend in dance-bands to play more contemporary music, requiring more than the traditional double bass, the instrument needed a fair bit of work to bring it back to near-original condition. One pickup had been moved to the bridge position and glued in place, the other pickup was empty of all electrics! Add to that a bowed neck that needed 4 months in a steam oven, and the restoration is nearly complete, some general filling and a new scratch plate being the next steps on the list.

For an instrument well over 40 years old, it produces a warm, deep tone that puts many modern instruments to shame!

Vox AC30 TB

If you want to re-create the sound of the 'sixties, what else are you going to use but the ubiquitous Vox AC30? This particular amp is one of over twenty that Pete has owned over the years, and is certainly well-used and battle scarred!

Many people can't believe that this English-made amp is only 30 Watts! Along with a WEM Copycat echo unit, (which was discovered on a tip,) it's all that is needed to produce the raw Mersey Beat sound guaranteed to evoke nostalgia in anyone old enough to remember those times.

VOX Foundation Bass

Although this bass amplifier is the more reliable, transistor version made in 1969, the 18" speaker cabinet is from 1965, and was reputedly owned by flower power band The Move.

Put them together and you have the ingredients for the solid bass beat which was such an important part of that Cavern Sound which so many of our more "mature" Liverpudlian friends have said Flashback reproduce so well.

Slingerland Drum Kit

This 1972 Slingerland kit in marine pearl has a 24" bass drum and 14" maple snare. Completed by Zildjian cymbals throughout, this particular kit's claim to fame is that it was originally owned by the great Buddy Rich, and imported from the States in the early 'seventies by Mungo Jerry's drummer!

Complete with early 'sixties style fluorescent drum head logo, drummer's name included, it is heard to best effect when Phil is "doing a Keith Moon."

Boyer and Stagg microphones

The vocal microphones and stands complete the vintage effect, and are often the items of equipment that people comment on the most. Although the Stagg is a modern reproduction of a 1950s original, the Boyer is completely authentic, a French-made 1950s microphone which was rescued from the store room of a Parisian nightclub!

Tracks

• Some Other Guy
• Long Tall Sally
• I Should Have Known Better
• I Like It
• Mr Tambourine Man

More...

• Set List (pdf)
• Flashback at the Cavern Club Feature (pdf)

To find out more about Flashback call Alan 07721 634181 or