THE HISTORY OF
BLACK ROSE.
BLACK ROSE started life in 1996 from an extremely frustrated club duo who wanted to take their musical interests further than the local social clubs and a four track recording studio in a bedroom. After a 3 year stint in the local club scene, we decided it was finally time for a change. So at the beginning of 1997, after a little planning and a few auditions, a few other musicians were drafted in to begin a Thin Lizzy tribute band.
The first drummer and bass player didn't make it past the second rehearsal for some reason but a solid rhythm/lead guitarist called Mark Young was all already well rehearsed and ready to get things moving. Mark (being me big brother) joined from the very start and quickly became an integral element in the twin guitar situation. After a few more let downs with other musicians, we eventually got in touch with a drummer called Keith Setchell. After a quick session with Keith and a meeting with a bass player just a few days away, things began to look a little more certain. We met the bass player named Barry Muir and decided to put everything together to see if what we had would work. BLACK ROSE was born. We felt we had everything we needed to take things forward so rehearsals began and in December 1997, we had our first live gig in Bowburn in Durham.
From there, BLACK ROSE performed a few more local gigs before Keith announced his unexpected departure. Going back to the drawing board again was inevitable, but a brilliant stroke of luck lead us to a drummer called George Clark. George played his first gig with the band in October '98 and has remained with us since then. Now with a good solid, well rehearsed unit, gigs started to pour in and during '98 and '99 we were gigging at an unbelievable rate. Then in April 2000 Lee Rippon decided to call it a day and leave the band. His departure was to be very sudden, so with a heavy schedule ahead and to keep things flowing without any disruption, I agreed to take over on vocals up until a time we could find another singer. BLACK ROSE was now a four piece and as time went by, it was decided to keep it that way.
Again we had to rehearse like mad to get the band back to full speed and after a short time we were. Then in the back end of 2000, Mark then decided it was time for a break. After 3 years with the band, Mark gracefully bowed out of BLACK ROSE in December 2000 and was swiftly replaced by Mick Taylor. Mick brought a whole new element to the band as his guitar style was very different from anything the previous guitars had produced. Adding a different edge to the music brought the band back up to speed and added new dimensions so much so that in the dawn of the new year of 2001, we were literally flying.
Then as luck would have it (and most of ours being bad), in February 2001, Mick suffered an injury which forced him to temporarily retire from the band. But, brotherly love took over and after a little bit of begging on my behalf, Mark agreed to rejoin the band. Obviously we actively sort a temporary replacement for Mick as Mark was eager to continue his sabbatical and that's where Graham Thompson came into the picture, A brother of a friend of George, Graham really did the business and after only 2 weeks learning the music from scratch, he joined the band in April 2001. We knew Graham was only able to play with the band for a certain length of time as he ultimately had other musical plans. Well over the few months that followed it was learned that Mick was going to be incapacitated for a lengthy time, so he agreed to step down and a new permanent replacement was found.
The end of June 2001 saw the departure of Graham who left to concentrate on other projects and in stepped Martin Metcalf. Martin brought some exciting elements to the band which made the whole Black Rose experience much more fulfilling to watch and listen to. We always felt we had the best line up with Martin and hoped that this line up would last the distance, but as they say, all good things.......
In March 2002, Martin was given an opportunity he couldn't refuse in another band and it was decided that Black Rose replace him. Martin left in April 2002. Mark Young was again forced out of retirement to help out over the next few months to give the new guitarist rehearsal time with the rest of the band. Ken Pearson answered an advert I placed on this website for the new guitarist and was quickly drafted into the band. Ken has a perfect melodic feel to his playing which is what Lizzy were all about. Ken made his debut with the band in July 2002. Ken's playing was just what we'd been looking for so we were all pretty happy and hoped that now, we had a good solid line up that would last.
Well, just after a short break in September 2002 Barry broke the news to us that he wanted to call it a day and leave the band. Obviously we were all gutted as we all thought we had just turned a new corner and were in the midst of preparing a brand new set. So we were all prepared to bid a fond farewell to Barry in December 2002. 2003 meant that my commitments away from the band were greater than ever. So with the birth of my son growing closer we decided to take it easy this year and thankfully Barry had a change of heart. As they say "the show must go on"... and it did................
With the gigs slowed down everything seemed to coasting smoothly but In May 2003 Barry finally decided that enough was enough and handed in his notice. Barry thankfully offered to stick with the band up until August 2003 or until we have found a replacement.... And here starts a new chapter.
The bass player we've been looking for has landed on our doorstep..............more details to follow.
Hope you enjoyed it
Ben