Animals, Troggs and a Searcher in tow
The lineups have changed but the songs remain the same as a battalion of Brits revives the sound of the '60s in Bangkok for a four-hour pop blitz
THE ANIMALS, the Tremeloes, the Troggs, the Searchers and the Spencer Davis Group – all part of pop music’s “British Invasion” of America in the wake of the Beatles’ triumph in 1964 – are about to invade Thailand en masse. Rounding out the invading army is the Scottish band Marmalade, which took just a little longer conquering US shores.
Fans of the sound of the ’60, from the Animals’ and Davis’ bluesy soul to the proto-punk anarchy of the Troggs’ “Wild Thing”, can bask in four hours of blissful nostalgia at a four-hour show at Muangthai GMM Live House on May 16. No doubt a lot of the girls in the crowd will be screaming their heads off too to make that sound complete.
While all of these bands have undergone break-ups and personnel changes over the decades – and only Mike Pender from the Searchers and Spencer Davis without his Group are coming – there’ll still be more than 70 Top-40 hits to enjoy, faithfully recreated with the sound that changed pop culture forever.
The Animals, led by Eric Burdon with his fog-cutting baritone, came out of Newcastle, in the heart of the English coalfields, with a predictably gritty interpretation of American blues to score a No 1 transatlantic hit single with “The House of the Rising Sun”, which had been a folk-music mainstay until they fed it through their amplifiers.
The Animals’ mix of rock-hewn pop and rhythm and blues brought immediate success in the US, with favourites including “I’m Crying”, “Bring It On Home to Me”, “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”, “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” and “Don’t Bring Me Down”.
Second billing at the Bangkok show goes to Marmalade, born in Glasgow in 1961 as the Gaylords (before the word “gay” adopted its current meaning). Despite promising partnerships with the likes of Pink Floyd and the Hollies, they struggled to find a place on the charts until “Lovin’ Things” took off 1968, followed by “Baby Make It Soon”, “Rainbow” and a cover of the Beatles’ “Ob-Lah-Di, Ob-Lah-Da”. Bassist Graham Knight’s departure in 2010 left Marmalade with none of its original members, but the remaining line-up is still making albums and still crunching out the timeless old hits with gusto.
Mike Pender, still a powerhouse at age 74, was the voice of the Searchers – a hugely influential band that emerged from Liverpool at the same time as the Beatles – and also played the Rickenbacker 12-string riffs that enliven their biggest songs, like a cover of Jackie DeShannon’s “Needles and Pins”, which in turn inspired the West Coast folk-rock revolution best identified with the Byrds. Their other popular tunes include “Sweet for My Sweet”, “Sugar and Spice” and “Don’t Throw Your Love Away”.
While a latter-day incarnation of the Searchers is still touring, “Mike Pender’s Searchers” – in which he’s the only former member of that band – is the band coming to Bangkok.
The Spencer Davis Group, launched from Wales in 1963, produced some of the most dynamic R&B singles of the 60s, sung by Steve Winwood, one of the original titans of “blue-eyed soul”. Their mighty song list includes “Keep On Running”, “I’m a Man”, “Gimme Some Lovin’”, “Looking Back” and “Somebody Help Me”. Davis, guitarist and singer, is now 75, but he keeps things rolling with various backing musicians.
In 1962, London’s Decca Records (long since absorbed by Sony Music) auditioned two little-known bands – the Tremeloes from nearby Essex and the Beatles from far-off Lancashire. Pondering primarily the geography, the label chose the former – but at least the Tremeloes did ultimately place 13 tunes in the British Top 40, including “Do You Love Me”, “Here Comes My Baby”, “(Call Me) Number One” and, shades of the Fab Four, “Twist and Shout”. And they’ve been in demand ever since, outlasting the Beatles by a long shot and still a big draw on the British pop-revival tours.
The Troggs, hurtling noisily out of Hampshire, had an immortal hit with the still-inescapable “Wild Thing”. Rolling Stone magazine ranks the tune, which Jimi Hendrix played at the Monterey Pop Festival and which so crucially influenced garage rock and punk rock, midway down its list of “the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”. There was also “With a Girl Like You” and, for all you fans of “Four Weddings and a Funeral” and the 1990s boy band Wet Wet Wet, the original “Love Is All Around”. All three of these tracks sold over a million copies. Again, the band’s original line-up is gone, most members now deceased, but again, the spirit lives on.
The British are coming!
See “British Invasion: Music of the 60s Live in Bangkok” on May 16 at Muangthai GMM Live House on Level 8 of CentralWorld Plaza.
The fourhour show starts at 7pm.
Seats cost Bt2,500 to Bt7,500 at www.ThaiTicketMajor.com and (02) 262 3456.
