'Alfie' was born between May and September 2012, when a group of disillusioned 'young' musicians decided to band together and put the music business right. In an attempt to reverse the 'Cowell effect', the boys set about rediscovering 'proper' music from the past, putting their stamp on it, and sharing it with the masses in venues around the North West.
Without further ado, please meet the band...
Without further ado, please meet the band...
Tony Wardle - Vocals and Harmonica
Tony was born in Sunderland in the North East of England and started singing in the early 80s with top North East band Brands Hatch, who found critical acclaim in most of the music papers. This recognition allowed Tony to jam with various names of the time including The Groundhogs, Simon Kirk and Mick Ralphs.
Brands Hatch had a song 'No Return' in the Record Mirror's Heavy Metal chart at no 4, the band also having tracks on the cult Heavy Metal compilation album Rockscalabre, which was played on the radio world-wide and has never been out of print in one form or another since 1982. The band did countless radio interviews and met with many contemporary journalists whilst receiving fan mail from all over the world.
Tony then decided he should take some 'time off' as he was disillusioned with the rock scene and his father was seriously ill. Tony needed time to re-charge his batteries.
Keith, a fellow musician, rekindled Tony's interest in performing by introducing him to the music of Dr Feelgood, and together they formed a blues-rock band playing under the name 'The Tony Wardle Experience!' More song writing in the late 80s and early 90s followed, and led to recording, gigs and tours with top NE bands such as The Creed and Sharkhunt.
In the late 90s Tony became a founder member of The Great Glam Mothers, a Glam Rock touring show that played all over the UK with in excess of 200 gigs a year for more than 12 years, often playing to crowds of over 2,500, supporting such 70s acts as T-Rex, The Sweet, Boney M, The Glitter Band, Brotherhood of Man, The New Seekers, Kenny, The Bay City Rollers, Slade, The Rubettes, Alvin Stardust and many more.
After such a long time touring, Tony decided to take some time out and relocated from the NE to the NW, but soon started jamming with a few of the NW best bands such as Midnight Johhny, The Adrian Gauntry Band and Victorian Dad amongst others.
The help and support of guys on the NWbands Forum and in particular Lucas from BJ's Blues club in Chorley, has rekindled Tony's interest in performing again which leads us to the present. As Tony says "forming Alfie Ibbotson's Popular Beat Combo with my drinking and fellow music loving buddie Ian, his mate Charlie and then Paul have recreated the happy days I had with The Tony Wardle Experience. The four of us are all 'out of towners' now living in St Annes and Preston, two in each location".
With 'Alfie', Tony has returned to his blues, rock and soul roots. "My music career has seen me working with some fine players, rough players, some nice guys, some awkward guys and quite frankly some a***holes who I wanted to kill! Its great to be playing again and to be working with a talented, friendly, enthusiastic and happy bunch of musicians who just want to gig, play, write and record".
Brands Hatch had a song 'No Return' in the Record Mirror's Heavy Metal chart at no 4, the band also having tracks on the cult Heavy Metal compilation album Rockscalabre, which was played on the radio world-wide and has never been out of print in one form or another since 1982. The band did countless radio interviews and met with many contemporary journalists whilst receiving fan mail from all over the world.
Tony then decided he should take some 'time off' as he was disillusioned with the rock scene and his father was seriously ill. Tony needed time to re-charge his batteries.
Keith, a fellow musician, rekindled Tony's interest in performing by introducing him to the music of Dr Feelgood, and together they formed a blues-rock band playing under the name 'The Tony Wardle Experience!' More song writing in the late 80s and early 90s followed, and led to recording, gigs and tours with top NE bands such as The Creed and Sharkhunt.
In the late 90s Tony became a founder member of The Great Glam Mothers, a Glam Rock touring show that played all over the UK with in excess of 200 gigs a year for more than 12 years, often playing to crowds of over 2,500, supporting such 70s acts as T-Rex, The Sweet, Boney M, The Glitter Band, Brotherhood of Man, The New Seekers, Kenny, The Bay City Rollers, Slade, The Rubettes, Alvin Stardust and many more.
After such a long time touring, Tony decided to take some time out and relocated from the NE to the NW, but soon started jamming with a few of the NW best bands such as Midnight Johhny, The Adrian Gauntry Band and Victorian Dad amongst others.
The help and support of guys on the NWbands Forum and in particular Lucas from BJ's Blues club in Chorley, has rekindled Tony's interest in performing again which leads us to the present. As Tony says "forming Alfie Ibbotson's Popular Beat Combo with my drinking and fellow music loving buddie Ian, his mate Charlie and then Paul have recreated the happy days I had with The Tony Wardle Experience. The four of us are all 'out of towners' now living in St Annes and Preston, two in each location".
With 'Alfie', Tony has returned to his blues, rock and soul roots. "My music career has seen me working with some fine players, rough players, some nice guys, some awkward guys and quite frankly some a***holes who I wanted to kill! Its great to be playing again and to be working with a talented, friendly, enthusiastic and happy bunch of musicians who just want to gig, play, write and record".
Paul Mason - Guitar / Vocals
Paul was born and grew up in Wallsend in the North East of England and is therefore extremely "sophistomocated" (thanks Homer).
Early music interests and influences were mainly hard / prog rock, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Free, Cream, Thin Lizzy,Yes, Genesis, ELP and It Bites being some of the favourites.
Paul played in several rock bands in and around Newcastle, performing a combination of original material and classic rock covers. He mainly played guitar, both lead and rhythm, but also played some keyboards and did quite a lot of singing, mainly backing vocals.
After moving to the North West over 20 years ago, Paul played guitar in a local band before concentrating his efforts more into the production side of things, recording local artists and himself.
A few years ago Paul decided to take up the drums and joined a local band 'Shock Induction' as their drummer, something which he still currently pursues.
A chance meeting with Charlie the bass player, allowed Paul to team up with 'Alfie' and dust off his various instruments and rediscover his love of playing the guitar.....live!
Early music interests and influences were mainly hard / prog rock, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Free, Cream, Thin Lizzy,Yes, Genesis, ELP and It Bites being some of the favourites.
Paul played in several rock bands in and around Newcastle, performing a combination of original material and classic rock covers. He mainly played guitar, both lead and rhythm, but also played some keyboards and did quite a lot of singing, mainly backing vocals.
After moving to the North West over 20 years ago, Paul played guitar in a local band before concentrating his efforts more into the production side of things, recording local artists and himself.
A few years ago Paul decided to take up the drums and joined a local band 'Shock Induction' as their drummer, something which he still currently pursues.
A chance meeting with Charlie the bass player, allowed Paul to team up with 'Alfie' and dust off his various instruments and rediscover his love of playing the guitar.....live!
Ian Cooke - Bass / Vocals
Ian joined 'Alfie' in March 2017. Ian is a Salopian, born in Shrewsbury but settled in Lancashire back in the mid-sixties. When his school-friends formed a ‘beat group’ in 1968, Ian persuaded the drummer – his ‘best friend’ at school – to get him into the band as a singer. A visit to a local folk musician for advice led to the revelation that, while the group had two guitarists, an ‘organist’ (it was 1968, remember), a drummer and a singer, nobody was ‘playing bass’ (whatever that was). Four faces turned toward Ian and agreed ‘well Ian’s doing nothing else..’ so now you know how a bass-player is born!
Playing along to records (vinyl, naturally) of bands such as Cream, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, Led Zeppelin and his all-time favourite band, The Moody Blues (I kid you not) began the whole affair, which has progressed through pop, rock, cabaret (suits and dickies, if you please) to an Ozzy Osbourne / Black Sabbath tribute band and a long association with the Country Music scene that saw three appearances at Wembley Arena with the NW band ‘West Coast’ and many festival appearances with other Country bands, plus a couple of forays into Europe.
Having officially ‘retired’ from music in 2014, a ‘downsize’ and move to the Fylde Coast ensued which deprived Ian of all his gear and all but two of his basses.
The weeks turned into months – the months into almost 2 years.
Out of the blue, Ian was contacted by local musicians looking, ironically for a singer for a rehearsal band. It was soon discovered that ‘this bloke also plays bass’. A few months later, this particular band found itself struggling to find a drummer. A friend of the band, who was actually a guitarist, offered to ‘help out’ as he played a bit of drums.
And so Ian Cooke met Paul Mason..
To be continued…
Playing along to records (vinyl, naturally) of bands such as Cream, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, Led Zeppelin and his all-time favourite band, The Moody Blues (I kid you not) began the whole affair, which has progressed through pop, rock, cabaret (suits and dickies, if you please) to an Ozzy Osbourne / Black Sabbath tribute band and a long association with the Country Music scene that saw three appearances at Wembley Arena with the NW band ‘West Coast’ and many festival appearances with other Country bands, plus a couple of forays into Europe.
Having officially ‘retired’ from music in 2014, a ‘downsize’ and move to the Fylde Coast ensued which deprived Ian of all his gear and all but two of his basses.
The weeks turned into months – the months into almost 2 years.
Out of the blue, Ian was contacted by local musicians looking, ironically for a singer for a rehearsal band. It was soon discovered that ‘this bloke also plays bass’. A few months later, this particular band found itself struggling to find a drummer. A friend of the band, who was actually a guitarist, offered to ‘help out’ as he played a bit of drums.
And so Ian Cooke met Paul Mason..
To be continued…
Ian Massey - Drums
Ian is from Stockport, supports Manchester City and likes to hit things...LOUDLY!