Description
Vamp! are a South Yorkshire based band who play all over the north of England, they formed in 2003 The lineup has been re-Vamped a few times over the years; Steve and Ian (guitarist) are the only remaining members from the original lineup. After a few bass players including; Mark (Hutch) and Kate, Jayne joined the band in 2009. After parting ways with their former drummer, Ian (Jock) joined the band in 2009… making the lineup as follows:
Steve: Lead Vocals / Guitar: Steve cites his main guitar influences as Eric Clapton, Peter green and American blues guitarist John Campbell. His favourite vocalist is legendary Free/Bad Company singer Paul Rodgers.
Steve’s own career kicked off in 1970, when he was part of SOB, (the band that eventually became Saxon). Steve left SOB in 1975 to concentrate on his love of the blues, with his own project Mulesweat. This lasted right up to 2003/2004 when he joined Vamp??????
Steve favours Fender Strats and Telecasters cranked up through a 30watt valve combo.
Ian: Lead Guitar / Backing Vocals: Ian was inspired to play the guitar at an early age by artists such as The Beatles, The Shadows and The Rolling Stones as well as the instrumental acts of the day like Duane Eddy, Jet Harris and The Ventures. Of course it starts with inspiration and then develops and evolves with other influences, such as Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Jimi Hendrix and Paul Kossoff. Guitars have always been Strats, Les Pauls and such like, with the minimum of pedals into Valve amps… LOUD!!
Ian has played all sorts of music in various bands over the years from heavy rock to cabaret to blues and back again, with a bit of bluegrass and folk thrown in for good measure. Bands include: Asylum, Hole in the head gang, Johnny Calendar band, Back Street Band, Strongheart/Back Street Band, and he was in a couple of duo’s, then took some time out of the music scene for family stuff: Kids, work, various motorcycle accident recoveries, that sort of thing… Then in 2003… a couple of ‘Jam nights’ turned into Vamp!
Jayne: Bass / Backing Vocals: Jayne joined her first band, ‘Rhythm Method’, aged 16 - a covers band influenced by various artists such as: Bad Company, Bad Finger, Cream, Free, The Stones, The Beatles & Fleetwood Mac. She did backing (and some lead) vocals and ‘percussion’ (“tambourine and an old pan cos we didn’t have a cow bell!”). She then went on to do various jam sessions and songwriter’s nights for a few years before… “Picking up a bass guitar about five years ago – and have never looked back!”
The first band Jayne played bass in was ‘Hindu Kush’ - Original band doing indie/rock. Next came bass and backing (and some lead) vocals with ‘The Outfit’ covering a lot of Nine Below Zero and Dr. Feelgood.
Jayne says: “I learned how to play bass by watching Gerry McAvoy live with Nine Below Zero and with Rory Gallagher.... although I’m still learning now - mainly from John Entwistle (The Who) and Andy Fraser (Free).
Then one fateful night in 2009 Jayne says she… “fell lucky and joined the bestest band ever! Vamp are awesome!”
Ian: Drums: Ian started playing drums at age 11. He went to Music College at 16 and joined ‘the shakes’ (later and currently named ‘The Jives’) at 17/18, playing up beat melodic pop heavily influenced by the Beatles. The Jives then started playing WMC and such like playing 50s/60s rock and roll.
He joined Vamp around June 2010 and says he is “thoroughly enjoying it!”
He shares his time and talent between The Jives and Vamp gigging all over the country “hoping to be discovered”
Ian says: “Playing drums is a passion for me and I’m not going to stop as long as my body allows me to do it!”
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Sheffield Time
