BLUES TRAIN (IN ASSOCIATION WITH SHADES OF SOUL LTD)

Climax Blues Band

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Last Show: Sunday 24 th September 2023

PizzaExpress Jazz Club (Soho)

Climax Blues Band were formed in 1968 by Colin Cooper who led the band with Pete Haycock through great success and recognition through the 1970s and 1980s, with huge selling albums like FM Live and Gold Plated, hit singles Couldn’t Get It Right and I Love You. George Glover joined the band on keyboards in 1981, Haycock left in 1984 and Lester Hunt came into the re-vamped Climax in 1985, Roy Adams joined in 1987 and Neil Simpson in the early 1990s. Colin Cooper was leading the band with a return to the kind of blues that got the band started before his untimely death in 2008. His wish was the for the band to continue and the recruitment of Graham Dee and Chris BeebeAldridge was made with a view to broadening the Climax sound again and take on new musical influences, move forward creatively which was the Climax Blues Band trademark, rather than rely on the past glories.

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".....congratulating Climax on a great gig at Leicester on Sunday night. I’d not seen Climax Blues Band play before but they were definitely the best band of the night. Energy, musicianship, beautiful sound balance and original songs made it for me. Well done guys!!"

Andy Taylor, ‘Leicester Blues’

The live album Security Alert was released in 2015 and reflected this move forward and the fact that Climax were delighting old and new fans alike throughout the UK and Europe. Roy Wood of ELO and Wizzard fame mixed the live album.

2019 saw the release of the album HANDS OF TIME, the first studio album of original songs since Drastic Steps in 1987.

Hands Of Time went straight to the top of Amazon downloads and to No. 3 in the iTunes Blues chart.

In 2022 guitarist Lester Hunt sadly announced his retirement from the band due to health reasons and Climax had no hesitation in recruiting Dan Machin on guitars. Dan had worked with Lester from the age of 16, had followed Climax as a fan and played in various other bands with Roy and Neil along the way. He had already covered for Les at gigs where Les was unable to play and it was apparent he was able to smoothly step into the band as an accomplished and supremely talented guitarist.

With the 30 year experienced bedrock rhythm unit of Adams and Simpson, Climax veteran George Glover holding everything together from the keyboard stand as band leader, the dynamic Beebe as well as the ‘new blood’ of creative guitarist Dan. A new chapter of Climax Blues Band is here, creating new music, flying that flag in 2022, moving forwards, blending the old with the new, and loving making music.

Band Lineup

George Glover (keyboards)

Chris Aldridge (saxes)

Roy Adams (drums)

Neil Simpson (bass)

Dan Machin (guitars)

Scott Ralph (vocals & trumpets)