News Archive 2004

Home > News Archive - 2004

16th December 2004

New Article: I recently managed to find an old article, reviewing Brian's album Reputation, from 1988. It was in Kerrang! a UK music magazine which tends to focus more on the heavier rock side of the music business. I think it is a good review and well worth a read, especially if you prefer Reputation. Either click on the link here (go to article) or go via the Articles link on the navigation area on the left.

Seasons Greetings: It's that time of year again. It comes around every year with alarming regularity but I'm still not prepared for it. I hope Christmas and the New Year go well for you and that Santa brings you and your loved ones health, wealth and happiness.

25th November 2004

Brian on Video: I have recently received a video file from a Brian Spence fan, of a large number of musicians and singers, named The Projekt, performing a track called "Hand in Hand" for German handicapped children. Amongst these artist mainly German and Austrian is Brian Spence. He gets to sing a line (just like the others but in English) for this worthy cause. The video was sent to me by TC Gola of Hamburg who thinks it was around 1986 to 1988. If you want to see this video file feel free to download it, but please remember that it is about 46MB so it is a B-I-G file - approximately 10 times the size of a normal mp3 file and will take a long time to download (1 hour plus) if you don't have broadband. It is also slightly fuzzy in quality but, in my opinion, worth it. For those of you who don't want to risk it for only a few seconds I have included a couple of still that TC also supplied.

If you have any information about the event and if there was a single released from it please let me know as TC has been looking for it.

TC is also looking to see what else he has amongst his vast collection of music memoriabilia that is of interest. In the meantime I would like to thank him for bring this to my attention. As a thank you why not visit his own web site which is for his own music band Tc Gola & The Goalgetters at http://www.tcgola.de

13th November 2004

New Old Article: I have placed a new article about Brian on the Articles page. It comes from Sounds, a British weekly music newspaper cover dated 6th September 1986. Brian had just released the single "Hear It From The Heart", his first solo single and the album "Brothers" was also only just released.

The article is typical piece of music journalism for the time. Comparison with North American musicians abound. If you have any articles on Brian Spence, either reviews, interviews or just mentioning him why not let me know? You can read this article either by clicking on this link of by going through the articles link on the navigator section to the left.

25th October 2004

Web Site Updates: Within the last couple of weeks I have been trying to update the Friends of Brian page and then create links from the various other pages to it, i.e. the Brothers page with it's list of thanks. Sometimes these are easy to do, especially if they are musicians, sometimes this is difficult (especially if only one name is given) as they are just literally friends.

14th October 2004

Guest Book: The guest book has been up up running for sometime now, however, there are only a few message there. Is this because there are only a few fans of Brian out there or is it that they are all shy? Whilst you are read this why don't you click on the guest book link and leave a quick message.

Videos: Does anyone have any videos of Brian or Bilbo Baggins? I know Brian and Debbie do. However, they are causous above letting me borrow they are they cost a lot of money to produce (artists have to pay for videos themselves - record companies only work on behalf of the artist).

I know there are vidoes for Hear It From The Heart, Reputation, Come Back Home and Travellin' Man. Do you know of any more?

30th September 2004

Off Topic: Sue and I have had a strange few weeks since I last updated the site. I received a telephone call from someone (I will call him "Joe") who wanted some information, but not about Brian Spence but about Don Henley of the American country-rock group The Eagles. The latter is also one of Sue and I's favourite artists but there are plenty of web sites covering this artist so to receive a telephone call about Henley was a bit strange. Even stranger was the question, "do you know about any Henley impersonators?" Joe did not mean a tribute act but someone who was conning people into believing they were someone who they were not.

As it happens we did know of someone who perform a concert as Don Henley around 1990 in Chislehurst, South-East London. We sent the article about this person and Joe said that the description in the article fitted perfectly someone he had recently met who said he was Don Henley. As the real deal was playing a series of concerts in Texas at the same time it was unlikely that Joe's Henley was the genuine thing.

Sue and I arranged to met Joe and spent the evening talking about "his" Henley and the stories he was telling. All very amusing but also very weird at the same time.

On Topic: Sue and I also spent some time with Brian and Debbie. As this was non-music related and was more a getting to know each other session there is nothing that I will report about on this web site. However, Debbie did tell me that "The Wedding" the song by The Wish was true and that she found it very therapeutic, and difficult, to write. If you are unsure about the lyrics why noy pop over to http://www.the-wish.com/lyrics/thewedding.htm to read the words.

4th September 2004

Another longer break between updates than I had planned. I have had a two week break from work to do some work on the home plus other stuff, like catching up on my day job, has prevented me from updating the site as often as I would like.

Interview: Part 8 and 9 is now accessible. This will finish off the interview started some time ago.

Break FM: Guess who forgot to listen for the broadcast of Platform? Three guesses and the first two don't count. If anyone did record it could they let me know?

31st July 2004

After a period of rebuilding my home PC, due to software glitches, I'm back. I did lose some data (mainly passwords to various web sites, etc.) which is stupid as I normally back everything up. However, the main software glitch was with my back up device.

Interviews: Part 7 can now be downloaded. In this part Brian talks about performing covers when he first moved to London, after the break up of Bilbo - something he still does.

Break FM: Just a reminder that Break FM will be broadcasting the first of their Platform recordings - see below for more info. If you have not read this until after the event, shame on you. Should have signed up to the SpenceMusic mailing list.

Ricky Stevens: I have copied Ricky's singles from vinyl, however, I need to clean them up a bit then convert them into mp3 files. Perhaps next week.

Holidays: I'm on leave from work in a week's time and I hope to be able to, amongst other things, go to London and see Brian and Debbie. If you are interested in joining me and Sue at one of Brian and Debbie's performances click on the email link and send me an email.

12th July 2004

Interview: Part 6 can be downloaded. After last week's large file a more manageable one this this. In this extract Brian talks about some of the jobs he has done to make ends meet.

Break FM: Community radio station Break FM, based in the Newnham area of London, will be broadcasting the first of the Platform sessions in a "Live from the Stratford Tavern" show on Friday 6th August from 11pm, with a repeat show on Sundays from 10.30pm. For those of us who don't live in the Newnham area we can hear it first on Friday 30th July 2004 by logging onto the Break FM web site (http://www.breakfm.com/) and listen to it there. However, the show will be aired from 1am (British Summer Time).

Ricky Stevens: Ricky is Debbie's father and had British hit in December 1961, with "I Cried For You". I have added this to the timeline page. I plan on adding this single and other Ricky tracks to the site soon.

27th June 2004

Interview: Part 5 of the on-going interview is available. In this section Brian talks about bands that he knew back in Edinburgh. This is a larger than normal section, of 5.43Mb, therefore, the download will be longer than normal.

19th June 2004

Interview: Part 4 of the interview is available now. Here Brian talks about his musical influences.

Debbie McKenna: As I said I would do, Debbie's tracks are now available from the download page. There are three tracks, Lover Boy and One Love plus Fax-U's (featuring Debbie) I Who Have Nothing.

10th June 2004

Interview: Part 3 of the interview is available now. Here Brian talks about writing a football song for Hibernian, a Scottish club based in Edinburgh, and Colin Chisholm being the singer.

Bilbo Tracks: As promised last week, ALL the tracks from Bilbo Baggins and Bilbo are now uploaded ready for you to download. They can all be found on the download page. This fulfills my promise to David Muir of Edinburgh, and to you all. Enjoy them.

Debbie McKenna: Next week I'm aiming to add tracks by Debbie McKenna to the list of available downloads.

Platform: Last week I attended the final Platform appearance by Stewart Irving. Brian was there to support him perform three tracks, one of which was The Spell by The Wish. Stewart will be returning back to South Africa soon where he will be joining either his old band, Ballyhoo, or another band that have also invited him to join. More news on this when I know more myself.

3rd June 2004

Interview: Another section of the interview is now available for download, this time talking about how Scotland and Ireland relate to England. For those of you who live outside the UK what Brian says is very honest.

I have also added an interview The Wish did last year for Wave 105.2 FM. It is a short interview but worth listening to. This can be found on the Interviews page.

Bilbo Tracks: Next week I'm hoping to be able to put all of the Bilbo Baggins and Bilbo tracks on the Download page. Yes, all of them, all 18 tracks. So keep watching.

New Pages: There are a number of new pages now available, as promised, the Interviews page, but also:

• Quick Facts - for anyone who just wants the skinny on Brian,
• Articles - where newspaper and magazine mentions either Brian or related items. If you have any interesting articles that myself and other SpenceMusic visitors may like to see then please contact me.
• News Archive - News from previous years, back to when SpenceMusic started.

26th May 2004

In my excitement of telling you about the Brian Spence interview I forgot to give you a link. I will place a new link in the navigation bar, to the left, in the next couple of days, however, in the meantime here is a link. Brian Spence Interview

25th May 2004

Hello again to everyone.

Spence Writing Again: Brian tells me that he has been writing with a friend, Danny, he has made through the London club circuit. Apparently, they have written about an album's worth or songs. However, he did not say when or if they would be recorded, so watch this space as I will follow up on this story.

The Wish Update: I also spoke to Virginia (manager for The Wish) the other day. Stewart and Virginia will be returning to South Africa soon. Apparently, Stewart has already had a few of offers for him to join successful bands, one of them from his old band Ballyhoo. What will become of the name "The Wish" I'm not sure, but again I will try and find out.

Brian will be at Platform, with Stewart Irving of The Wish, for Stewart's last performance in the UK for quite a while. This will take place on Tuesday 1st June. For more details go to www.platformmusic.co.uk I hope to be there too.

Web Site Update: Over the coming weeks there will be some changes. These include be:

• Removal of Guest Map - this was a rather flaky link to a map of the world where you could take where visitors were from. I find that kind of stuff fascinating, you obviously did not. So it's now gone.
• Also, gone is the "Fans of Brian" page. This failed to grab your imaginations, So now it has gone.
• Brian Spence Interview: This is a half-hour interview, recorded in 1988 (Reputation time) and discusses a huge part of his life. The interview has been broken down into 9 sections for you to either listen to or download. I will release one section a week until it is all available.
• Lyric Pages: Naoki asked me, about two years ago, for me to put the lyrics down on to paper for a couple of tracks, especially Travellin' Man. Well I have now done this, plus City of Shadows. You can find them off any link that references these tracks. These are not the official lyrics, just what I wrote down as I listened to the music. If they are wrong I rely on you to tell me. I will try and get around the others when I can.
• New Friends: I continue to discover more friends of Brian's. Recent additions include members of Expo (one of Brian's groups before Bilbo Baggins) and Alex Arthur a boxer.
• Newspaper articles: I have found a few (and I do mean only a few) articles about either Brian or things related to him. These will be going on the site soon. If you have any articles yourself, please share them with other fans. You can do this by letting me know.

20th April 2004

Not a lot for me to report at the present time. Things are very quite at the moment. However, I am sure that there will be loads of frantic activity at some stage.

Don't forget, you can always leave messages for other Brian Spence fans on the Guest Book.

14th March 2004

Spence Night: Sue and I managed to go to London, last night, to see Brian and Debbie perform at The Hammers. I was surprised to see Douglas and Kenny (two of Brian's brothers) there plus Alison, Kenny's wife. Kenny and Alison had traveled from Edinburgh to see the rest of the family (Stuart and Douglas both live in London). We tried to have a chat above Brian and Debbie playing, but it was difficult.

Part of Brian and Debbie's show is that they invite people for the audience to sing, with Brian and Debbie accompanying (and helping were necessary). This can be risky as, after a few drinks, almost everyone thinks they are great singers. Such was last night. My sensitive ears are still recovering from the acoustic assault they were given. ;-)

8th March 2004

Spence Night: Unfortunately I did not make it to the Royal Duchess, due to a cold (which I caught from Sue). I spoke to Brian about no being able to go and he told me that he too was suffering from a cold. Sue and I hope to see Brian and Debbie this coming weekend instead - all of us cold free.

Bilbo mp3's: I have been trying to record the Bilbo Baggins singles on to my computer. This was as a result of a fan emailing me requesting some files. However, I must have something wrong with the set up as I am recording the signal but nothing plays back (yes, I have checked that the speakers are on AND connected, thank you!). Once the tracks have been recorded, tested, etc. I will attach them to the download page. As there are approximately a CD's worth of music this is an interesting project. The tracks I will be concentrating on first (by request) are Don't Blame It on Me, America and Back Home. Just try and be patient - especially you David Muir, who was the person requesting.

3rd March 2004

Platform Night: I attended the Platform night at the Railway Tavern in Stratford, London, which took place last night (and every first Tuesday of the month) and I had a great time. I was going to do a review of the night here, but I guess I'm too lazy for that. Instead I will say, if you are in the area, you would be stupid to miss this event. Virginia and Stewart are starting to get things really established there with some superb acts appearing there. All the acts really are great (and I'm not just saying that) and you might just hear the odd track or two that has been written by Brian and Stewart.

I tip of the hat must go to a duo called Urban Dove, who went to watch and listen to a friend (Lizzy Bing) and ended up performing; due to one of the acts not turning up (no names here - okay, it was Lea).

Spence Night: Sue and I hope to see Brian and Debbie on Friday night (5th March) at the Royal Duchess, Commercial Road, London. If anyone else is going please let me know so that I can say hello. At the moment Sue is getting over a cold and I'm trying to fight one off.

14th February 2004

Brian Spence Advert: I managed to get an old advert from one of the UK music papers this week. The advert, shown below, is from 1986 upon the release of the album "Brothers". You can see a larger image of the advert by clicking on the picture, however, please be aware that it may take some time to download.

Birthday Wishes: It was Brian's 51st birthday on 7th February. I am sure you all join me in wishing Brian a happy birthday. He believes that he still has plenty of time to have a hit record. Good for him I say. Belief in yourself is essential in the music business.

20th January 2004

Happy New Redesign: So I'm not the only one to use the new year as an opportunity to revisit their web site. Naoki, in Japan, has completely rebuilt his Brian Spence web site giving it a great fresh new look. Why not pop over and have a look?

http://www.interq.or.jp/www1/onj1/br.htm

Linking Up: Recently I have been reading Web Designer articles about how to increase my presence (sad isn't it?) and have come to the conclusion that I am doing everything right (hey, I'm entitled to my opinion, okay?) except for having those vital links from other web sites. So, if you have a web site and want to have a link exchange (provided our sites are an appropriate match - there is no way I'm linking to Manchester United's web site even though it will get me loads of visitors) please contact me.

The Platform: Virginia has sent me an update on the acts appearing at The Platform nights at The Railway Tavern. Although the January date was canceled due to technical problems the February and future dates will still go ahead, building on the success of these nights prior to Brian and Debbie's separation from The Wish.

5th January 2004

Happy New Year: I hope you have now recovered from your celebration excesses and are probably back at work, or what ever you do to get by in the world. Let me add my voice to others and say "happy new year" to all of you.

Sad News For The Wish: Not a good start to the new year, but Brian and Debbie have left The Wish. The split, which I believe was due to conflicting priorities and is apparently amicable. Stewart, who retains the name, is reviewing his plans for The Wish, but I understand, he is looking to edit the vocals on the album so that his vocals are the lead ones and a contract is thought to be waiting to be signed in South Africa.

Brian and Debbie are looking to go back into the studio soon and start recording new material. If you want a copy of the Postcards album with Brian and Debbie's vocals I suggest that you don't hang about as stocks are limited and will not be available once the current supply is all sold. As they say in the markets, "once it's gone, it's gone". Hop on over to www.the-wish.com now for your copy - it is sure to become a collect's item.

Competition: The recent competition was won by John of Southampton, UK. He correctly answered the question "Stewart Irving of The Wish was a member of an award winning South African band. What was the band's name?" with Ballyhoo. There were other correct answers, notably Luis, Tracy and David - all from the UK - plus Naoki from Japan. If you did not send in your answer, shame on you, as you stood a good chance of winning with just 5 entries. However, I do have another signed CD which I will use in a competition later in the year.

More News

Looking for more news? Wondering where the old news has gone? Why not visit the news archive for more news, but older?

News from 2005

News from 2003

News from 2002

Page Last Updated: 4th March 2010

© Morley Enterprises 2001-2011. This site, SpenceMusic, is a personal site and is not affiliate with Brian Spence, Bilbo, Bilbo Baggins, Cheeky Bufalloes, Chisholm & Spence, The Wish or anyone else for that matter. Any copyright infringement is accidental. The pictures and music on this site are there for information only. They are not there for any commercial purpose. Therefore, if anyone representing the artist(s) or record company(ies) want me to remove these items please mail me and I will remove them immediately! This site, SpenceMusic, and Morley Enterprises are not responsible for the content of any other websites that are linked from here. So there.