CD LINER NOTES
SUPERCHARGE '84 by BOB HARDY
Early in 1982, I organized a rhythm and blues band in
Liverpool, and called it Juke. It featured Mickey Kearns
on tenor and baritone saxophones, guitar, and vocals; Allen 'Gaz'
Gaskell on tenor saxophone, guitar, blues-harp, and vocals; Pat
Chambers on guitar and vocals; Bob Hardy on keyboards and
vocals; Graham Price on bass; and Stephen Grant Hardy
on drums (he used the stage-name Steve Grant).
Juke quickly established itself on the live scene
in Liverpool, and by the middle of 1982 we were doing three or four
gigs every week, performing a wide cross-section of rhythm and blues
'covers'.
Tenor saxophonist Albie Donnelly formed his first
version of Supercharge in the early '70s. For more complete
information about the band, visit their website at www.superchargeonline.de
and see also below.
Albie Donnelly and I had been friends since 1965,
when he was seventeen and I was twenty-two. This was the year that
he began playing professionally, and also when he joined The Fix,
a band I had formed the previous year. We went on to work together
at the Star Club in Hamburg during February of 1966, and it
would be exactly eighteen years later - in February of 1984- that
we would once again be playing together in Germany. But this time
in Albie's band, Supercharge '84.
In mid-1983 I told Albie that Juke would be very interested
in working with him if he ever needed to form a new band. He said
he'd think about it, and a few weeks later telephoned me from Europe
to say he liked the idea. I quickly worked out a deal with both him
and his German manager, Memo Rhein. The three of us agreed
that Juke and Albie would work together for the whole
of 1984 (in fact we stayed together until April of 1985) - and that's
how Supercharge '84 got started.
Juke rehearsed some new material for Supercharge '84
in Liverpool during the last few months of 1983, and when Albie
came off the road for a few days, (which was every few weeks or so)
he would join us on gigs to 'work over' the material. Much of what
we were to do was already part of Juke's repertoire, however
Albie told us that he wanted to feature more alto saxophone,
so we included 'Harlem Nocturne,' and 'Person To Person'.
Our first gig was at the Palma Rock in Majorca in the first week of
February 1984, and the night before we were due to leave Liverpool;
Juke played a 'live rehearsal' with Albie at the Cumberland
Tavern in down-town Liverpool. After the gig our two roadies loaded-out
the back-line equipment and came back inside for us. We finished our
drinks and made our way to the bus only to discover that it had been
completely 'cleaned-out' and all the gear had been stolen. Luckily
though, Albie, Gaz, and Mick, had kept their
saxophones with them inside the gig. This proved to be the first of
what turned out to be a steady stream of bizarre incidents during
the period that we worked together.
During that first gig in Majorca we arranged to tape
the shows in order to check the arrangements of the band's material,
and four numbers from this very first Supercharge '84 gig are
to be found on this CD. This previously unreleased material contains
the very first performance by Albie Donnelly of what was to
become a huge crowd pleaser for him - Harlem Nocturne. Mention must
also be made of the last title on this CD, Nobodies Blues, as this
is another of those bizarre Supercharge '84 stories. We had
been pestered all night by some of the local musicians to let one
of their friends, Raphael, sing with us. Against our better judgment
we reluctantly agreed. "Do you know 'Stormy Monday Blues?"
we asked him, "Sure," he said. However, as you can hear
from the recording, we were soon in the middle of a musical nightmare
- as he obviously didn't know the song at all, and when he eventually
did attempt to sing it, the results were unbelievably bad! To make
matters worse, when we tried to 'play him off ' at the end of this
number, he somehow managed to stay up on stage and attempted to 'sing'
once more! It is presented here in its entirety!
In keeping with the way things were going, when we finished
the gig at Palma Rock the owner of the club. Richard Jeffries, took
us to the local airport in his vintage Rolls Royce car, but dropped
us of some distance away and declined to come to see us off at the
airline check-in desk. We soon found out that it was because he still
owed them the money for our tickets!
During the fifteen or so months that Supercharge
'84 were together, we clocked up over 300 gigs. These included
two tours of Communist Germany, pubs, clubs, festivals, and private
parties including several gigs for legendary German playboy and one-time
husband of Brigitte Bardot, Gunther Sachs, at his Dracula Club in
St. Moritz. The last gig of 1984 was at a New Years Eve Party at Adnam
Kashoggi's place in Marbella - in what appeared to be the biggest
tent in the world! During that year we sometimes did two gigs in one
night, and often travelled 500 kilometres between jobs for days at
a time.
Special mention should be made here of Albie's
manager, Memo Rhein whose knack of conjuring up gigs out of
thin-air was matched only by his ability to keep up with Albie's
legendary drinking schedule. He was one of the most extraordinary
people that I have ever met - although I felt he always viewed me
with some suspicion. But, for the record, I believe he could do more
wheeling and dealing in one day than any other German could do in
a month.
Only one commercial recording was ever produced of the band, and that
was, Live At Maxim's At Tina Onassis' Wedding. I am proud to say that
the concept for this album was entirely mine, and I can still remember
'selling it' to Albie and Memo over a coffee in a small
café in Munich.
We got the Onasis gig while we were working at the Atlantis in Basel,
Switzerland for a few nights during the Fascnacht carnival. Someone
phoned Memo while we were on stage and he cut the deal on the
spot.
When we arrived in Paris, our two roadies, John and
Nigel, managed to smuggle Harry Demster (a reporter from the Sunday
Express) into Maxim's as a band roadie - and that's how we got the
photos of the gig. He owed us a big favour because he wasn't supposed
to be there - as the magazine Paris-Match had an 'exclusive' on the
event.
The Maître d' was panicking before we even started,
and it was obvious that he thought not only would we be too loud,
but that we were also totally unsuitable for such a prestigious occasion.
As a consequence of his moaning we began our first set with the volume
of the PA so low that the band could hardly be heard. To make matters
worse, one or two of the wedding guests began requesting all kinds
of stupid songs. Added to this, every so often the Maître d'
would come by the small stage and tell us to, "Turn it down."
Albie was becoming increasingly annoyed by all
this and eventually took matters firmly in his own hands, instructing
us to, "Just do what we always did … because that's presumably
why they booked us!" So up went the volume, and pretty soon the
wedding guests were jigging about and generally going crazy.
At some point during the proceedings Mickey jumped
on the dining tables, to be immediately followed by Gaz and
Albie. The wedding guests loved it, Tina Onasis was ecstatic,
and the Maître d' looked like he was about to commit suicide.
Becoming bolder by the minute, the three horn players formed a line
and invited the guests to join them. Eventually they all made their
way to the entrance of Maxims. Opening the door, they danced through
it only to find themselves up against a crash barrier and surrounded
by hundreds of sightseers and paparazzi. Needless to say, by the end
of the gig Tina Onasis was on stage thanking us all personally, and
Albie was soundly kissed by the bride. I believe at this point
additional money may have changed hands!
When we came off-stage, the Maître d' was delighted
and said that we could have anything we wanted to drink. Albie,
who is something of a connoisseur of fine wines, was licking his lips
in anticipation, and busy thinking up some outrageously expensive
rare vintage for us all to sample. Unfortunately he was beaten to
the punch by Pat Chambers, who shouted for a bottle of Johnny
Walker. And that's what the Maître d' gave us - a bottle of
Johnny Walker! (Albie was inconsolable for days after).
During the whole of the Supercharge '84 period'
only two changes were made to the band. When Graham Price,
Juke's bass-player left, Mickey and I went looking for
a new one. One night we went to a blues gig at the Liverpool Philharmonic
Pub and saw a great blues guitar player by the name of Dave Sheppley.
We had a long talk with him and convinced him to join Juke
as our bass player! Later on Pat Chambers left the band to
be replaced by Dave Vasco.
Supercharge 84 became a legendary live band.
So much so, that number of years after we had parted company (which
was in the spring of 1985) fans were still asking us at Juke
concerts if we were ever going to get back together again.
The whole Supercharge '84 period was, for me at least, the
most extraordinary and enjoyable time I have ever had on the road
- although there were some weird problems booking Juke in Germany
when we eventually returned there nine months later. But that's another
story!
BOB HARDY
FOR MORE INFORMATION - SEE 'BETWEEN MUSIC AND MADNESS'
- SUPERCHARGE'S FIRST RECORDING IN 1974 ON JJ RECORDS JJ001. ALSO
'SUPERCHARGE, THE EARLY 80'S - VOLUMES I & II' ON JJ RECORDS JJ002
and JJ003.
