“What’s this then, Ian? ANOTHER tribute band you’ve joined?? You band slag!! Can’t you do something original for a change????”
“Erm…well, I’ve recorded 3 solo albums and will be starting recording on a 4th one soon…?”
“Oh…right…yeah, but no but yeah but no but…” etc etc ad nauseam
The stigma around being a “mere” tribute band musician is still very much there, if not more amplified than it was in the late 90’s when I took my first tentative steps into the genre with New Jersey, Ian The Goat Sings Black Sabbath and Dizzy Lizzy. The accusation remains that, by being in such a band, your live bookings are denying original bands a chance to perform at the venues you play.
Cold hard facts here, then, before we go any further: Good tribute bands draw a crowd that helps venues sell beer and stay in the black (sabbath) financially. I’ll qualify that by saying ‘some’ tributes do that. Some bands have tributes of them that appear ill-conceived or a mere cash grab by individuals with no real love for the band they represent, rather knowing what revenues can be generated by exploiting that artist. Or they choose to pay tribute to a band with a wretchedly small body of work that allows so little wiggle room in terms of a set list that it’s almost laughable…my mind drifts back to a Travis tribute I heard rehearsing in a studio in Brum in the late 90’s, when all Travis really had at the time was the marvellous “The Man Who” LP and one other song off their debut. Not the hardest set list to put together, I’d imagine.
And let’s not forget the years I spent in KISS tributes playing in the UK and Europe - now that band was definitely NOT about a cash grab. That was - and still is - 4 guys who love KISS and put a costly show together with authentic costumes, musical instruments, pyrotechnics and other stage effects to pay homage to a band with over 40 years of recorded music to pick from and a legendary stage show that is damn hard to recreate convincingly in a club venue!
Since Leather & Lace stopped touring in 2024 - we’re all still very close friends by the way - I’ve been at a loose end musically speaking and did play some solo gigs with my own material and band last year which was richly enjoyable. But, prior to my bass buddy Gary Piears-Banton and me even getting L&L off the ground 12 years ago, he had designs on a more general AOR-based tribute show and had worked with a lead singer Jimi Anderson, whose name I’d known for many years without ever crossing paths. Keyboard player Andy Stewart & guitarist Mike Nolan were also involved in that embryonic band which, in the end, didn’t make it to the concert stage. Andy was also going to be L&L’s keyboard player at that band’s inception, but then the Cats In Space project he was in started gathering pace, meaning he’d be too busy to stick with us. But we always stayed in touch.
Fast forward to last year and Gary contacted me having himself spoken to Jimi about something Jimi had wanted to do for some considerable time but had not yet achieved - namely, a top quality tribute to Journey…yes, the ‘Don’t Stop Believing” guys! Evidently, he’d made an aborted start on such a band with other musicians but wanted other bandmates to work with. Andy Stewart was on board and so was Gary, who had then recommended me to fill the drum stool. Which was all rather lovely in principle. Even though I had never met Jimi nor seen him live over the years, the footage I’d seen of him singing Journey songs was plenty evidence enough that he was as ‘Steve Perry’ as can be. Faithfully so, you might say…
Finding a guitarist who could shred like Neal Schon and also play the subtle melodic lines we all know was going to be a very tough ask, though. Thankfully, as it turned out, the answer was right under our noses in the aforementioned Mike Nolan. He was an old band mate of Andy’s from original band times and had depped superbly for Leather And Lace on guitar when required. However, he had ostensibly hung up his guitar and stepped away from the lighted stage. Thing is, though, he was always a Schon devotee and the opportunity to play his licks along with us lot coaxed him out of early retirement to join us, and the line up was set.
Now - to rehearse!! With four band members in the South of England & one oop North, logistics had to be carefully considered. As rehearsals would not be frequent for so many reasons (our collective work schedules made get togethers something that required careful planning) a lot of work needed to be done by all five of us ahead of time in terms of learning our individual parts.
I’ve mentioned in a previous L&L-related blog about the importance of the drummer - more than anyone else - getting his or her parts correct and authentic. Yes, people come to hear the songs sung accurately and the guitar solos played the way they remember and wouldn’t necessarily care consciously about the drum parts. But in any tribute, getting the basic bed tracks right are essential. You start putting bass drum beats where they don’t belong (or leave them out in places where they SHOULD go) and you are not setting the tone for accuracy across all instruments.
Of course, the problem for ME in a Journey tribute, specifically, is that I’m having to recreate Steve Smith’s parts, or Deen Castrovono’s more recent interpretations of them in the ‘real’ Journey. Those 2 guys are monster players - utter monsters. And very different approaches to the instrument too…Smith comes from a jazz/big band background playing traditional grip whilst Castronovo is all about the Rock and hard hitting. So for me, the important thing was to try and strike a balance between the finesse of one with the power of the other. Something as simple as the little offbeats I put into the outro of ‘Who’s Crying Now’ are very much a Castronovo thing, but I feel they should go in along with Smith’s original parts because they’re a great addition to the song in its more modern arrangement.
And I can’t deny that my Natal purple acrylic drum set (aka “The Vimto Kit”) aides with the whole ‘power’ thing. Without question it’s the loudest kit I’ve ever owned, not to mention the sexiest. The snare drum alone is getting a reputation amongst my bandmates as being, shall we say, right in your face. I’ve recently reconfigured the tom-tom set up too to give a more pleasing symmetrical look to the kit onstage - I now have 2 rack toms either side of the bass drum and the height of those toms have been deliberately lowered to make the sort of fills that Steve Smith in particular executed somewhat easier for me to replicate. There’s one fill in ‘Mother/Father’ alone that is a complete bastard. I’ll let you guess which one.
Our first live performance was to be at the annual Legends Of Rock festival in Great Yarmouth at the Vauxhall Holiday Park. It’s festival that runs for 3 and a half days giving both tribute acts and original bands the chance to strut their stuff across 2 stages. Just to add to the stress of ‘first gig nerves’ for yours truly, not only was I playing the main stage with Raised On Journey (that’s our name, don’t wear it out) Friday early evening, but I’d also been roped in by Gary to dep on drums for his other tribute not long launched called The Doobie Experience playing…well, you know…
This meant a very early arrival on site on the Friday for Gary and me. Prior to my Doobies debut I had rehearsed with Gary and guitarist/singer Lee Small, a lovely man who many of you may know sang most of the lead vocals on my debut solo album. That practice went well, but I hadn’t met the other band members until we were setting up onstage mid-Friday morning.
I was using the ‘house kit’ as all bands were for this event, to help save time with changeover times between bands, as once the levels are set for bass drum, toms etc, mic levels don’t have to be adjusted too much from band to band. You as drummer are expected to bring what’s known as your ‘breakables’ - snare drum, cymbals, bass drum pedals and any extra cymbal stands you need based on knowledge of how many stand the house kit itself has. House kits can be utterly appalling as I know from years of experience - this one was lovely. Tuned well and great sounding without need for excessive sound dampening on the toms…always a good sign.
You don’t get a traditional soundcheck at events like these, even if you are the first band of the day. Instead you just get a ‘line check’ to make sure all the microphones and inputs for the backline of instruments and vocalists are working ok, whilst the monitor engineer sat at the side of the stage does come over to each band member to ask what they wish to hear in their stage monitors, regardless of what the audience hears out front. For me, I always typically ask for them to out my bass drum, toms and a wash of all instruments and vocals around me with my vocal about 10% above the other singers so I can pitch correctly. This is the case whether I’m using in-ear monitors or, as with this gig, just a monitor speaker just next to my kit. I far prefer using IEM’s these days, but it does take time and patience to set those up to their optimum, so on a gig like this to prevent faffing, I’ll forego them.
I didn’t have long between line check and our allotted stage time at 1230-ish to crap myself about playing Doobies songs with a band without proper rehearsal. Probably just as well not to have the nerves build over a long period of time and I was nervous enough about getting the Journey thing nailed 5 hours later. Luckily the Doobies show went really well and I was happy with how I played and interacted with these guys I’d first shook hands with not 2 hours beforehand.
Doobie Brothers stuff isn’t wildly complicated on drums but there are lots of stops and starts to remember plus other intricacies that need attention as with so many bands of that ‘yacht rock’ genre, but the copious notes I’d made beforehand did come in handy when required on the odd occasion. So, set one complete, set two incoming - oddly enough, the Raised On Journey set was going to be neatly sandwiched in between 2 tributes I’d played drums for many times…one of which I’d helped to form!!
Hotter Than Hell was the KISS tribute put together in 2003 by my old guitarist friend Trevor and I was the original drummer. I left to join Dressed To Kill 2 years later and Trev left before me, but Marty the ‘Paul Stanley’ is the one original member still in HTH and it’s always nice to see him and practice my shoddy Northern Ireland accent in front of him. Bram the ‘Ace Frehley’ is someone I’d met just over a year ago when depping for the band on drums for a New Year’s Eve show in Bradford, but I hadn’t met their new bass player, nor their new ‘Peter Criss’ on the drums, JB, who was lovely and I was happy to help him out by setting up his cymbals, snare etc before their performance so he could put the finishing touches to his cat whiskers and that.
They then went out and delivered a terrific set of KISS Klassics whilst the rest of Raised On Journey had arrived to get their gear backstage and prepare to wheel it all out once Hotter Than Hell were done. This is where I should pay huge credit to the stage manager and his team at LOR who have a system of getting bands on and off the stage that is incredibly efficient and time-saving. As a result, getting my drum bits back on the house kit and the rest of the lads getting amps, pedalboards and the rest sorted meant we started our set bang on time, just like everybody else across the whole weekend as I understand it. Chapeau.
From chapeau to beret and I donned my black stage hat and Castronovo-esque cut off denim top took my place at stage rear for the 2nd time in 5 hours to officially launch Raised On Journey to a packed audience. It was a great way to kick things off despite Mike having some early tuning issues that were quickly sorted out. Jimi truly does nail these incredibly tough Steve Perry melodies - indeed all 5 of us saw our hard work pay off in recreating some of the most iconic songs in AOR history. All too soon, it was over and I was quickly moving snare and cymbals off the stage to allow Matt from another tribute I’ve played for many times, namely Whitesnake UK, to get his stuff onstage along with the rest of his band, most of whom I’d not caught up with for donkeys! So again it was heartening to catch up with them all, albeit for far too brief a moment as they had work to do to get ready for their hour long set.
Next thing I know, my drum bits and stuff were in the boot of my car and I was heading back to my hotel ahead of my talkSPORT 2 commentary the next day not too far down the road at Ipswich Town as luck would have it, geographically speaking. Raised ON Journey have since made our official debut as a headline act at The Diamond in Sutton-In-Ashfield, Notts, where Gary and me had played Dressed To Kill shows aplenty down the years. And that show went even better than the Legends Of Rock one…we’ll be gigging sporadically for the rest of 2026 around the country with designs on making the show bigger and better as we go, plying the classic and a sprinkling of deeper cuts for diehard fans of Journey.
Keep a lookout on Facebook for Raised On Journey please - that’ll be the best way for now to keep abreast of where you can see us. It’s a night of proper “Escape-ism” I promise you!!