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Mutter Slater has one of the great voices of British rock - and he
writes a mean song too!
- Billy Bragg|
Once upon a time, a band called Little Dixie was playing in a pub in Burton Bradstock,
a tiny village in West Dorset one night a couple of years back. A
newly-arrived resident to the village, one Billy Bragg, happened to
be checking out his new local that night and was
impressed enough with Little Dixie’s frontman Mutter Slater’s
belting blue-eyed soul voice and the quality of his original songs
to establish a working relationship that’s lead to Bragg taking the
producer’s chair for the Mutter Slater Band’s début album Riding A
Hurricane. |
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MUTTER SLATER|
...All this, combined with constant gigging in the UK and Europe
(including a tour with Jethro Tull), plus recordings for John Peel
and Bob Harris at the BBC, resulted in temporary burn out and
several personnel changes in 1973/74. The band rose fag-end like
from the ashes with ‘Extravaganza’ in 1975 and ‘Mr. Mick’ in ‘76 on
Elton John’s Rocket label, before financial constraints brought
about the band’s demise. Mutter then enjoyed the glamorous life of
leather-tanning, car valeting and a car-hire business, keeping his
hand in by playing r&b and soul to the good people of Somerset and
Dorset before founding the band Little Dixie, which, after several
line-up changes, eventually recruited Chris Lonergan and Ady Milward
into its ranks. Saxophonist Clive Ashley joined soon after. Little Dixie performed in various pubs and clubs in the West Country for several years. The band recorded the album ‘Love and Hate’, with guest appearances from Robbie McIntosh, Ben Waters and Tom Hughes. |
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CHRIS LONERGAN|
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ADY MILWARD (drums, backing vocals)
DID
YOU KNOW?...the Mutter Slater Band members all hail from islands!
Mutter was born on the Isle of Wight, Ady's from Portland and Chris'
family are Irish. 
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...contaminates the farthest reaches of the land. The mooted time of
release is mid to late March - as soon as I have a definite day I
will let you know.
We have been rehearsing like blazes to tighten up the already tight
band ( for once ' tight ' does not refer to boozing ) and we have
aired our progress at one or two local gigs. We will continue to do
this over the next few weeks, so that when we venture further afield
around the time of 'Riding a
Hurricane' there will be some danger of us sounding as though we
know what we're doing - no guarantees of course.
Be assured dear reader, I DO want you to hear us! I'm just crap at
organising the logistics. That's why I've enlisted the help of
Adrian Collis of Thoroughbred Music to try and manage that side of
things. If you want to glean any more info why not cast your eye
over their web site
www.thoroughbredmusic.co.uk |
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FRIDAY
15th FEBRUARY '08 |
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Crewe is an eneormous trading estate that has been left to
regenerate itself over several decades. What's left of old Crewe
festers at centre with The Limelight nursing a grievance somewhere
near its bruised heart. It's a converted church, after its
deconsecration someone with a sense of humour installed seven bars
complete with neon signs, suits of armour and countless gaming
machines. I had a pint and comfortably resisted the razzamatazz of
their come hither flashing lights and screens. I don't know how many
floors there were to the church originally, I don't even know how
many there were on Friday the fifteenth February 2008 – I lost my
bearings and then lost count of the levels. I did find the
auditorium – it was in the basement. |
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...A waist high railled ballustrade of dark polished wood stops the
punters dropping four feet down onto the dance floor. A jam of
Victorian gents in frock coats and earnest expressions might have
leant on those rails and spent an instructive hour or so watching
someone conduct an autopsy with gardening implements or, going even
farther back, a steaming, fetid bunch of their forefathers may have
howled and cheered at a cock fight on a bloody straw strewn floor.
Just my imagination; no autopsies or cock fights, just an empty
floor with empty galleries. We sound checked and hoped for enough
people to dispel my ghosts. |
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They had filled the galleries and were spilling down onto the floor
when we hit the floor running with our first number. The two forty
five minute sets went in a blur with everyone – especially the
audience – playing their rightful part in a Stackridge event. They
sang with gusto when asked we sang even when no one could care less
( it's part of the job ). I will not detail the musical agenda here
as it is more than adequately covered in the Stackridge chat room -
www.zorgansgal@yahoogroups.com. This is The Mutter Slater Band
web site anyway. |
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...Crun and I shared a room at a Travel Lodge on the edge ot a trading
estate on the edge of Crewe. I awoke refreshed, Crun was not so
lucky, 'Like sharing a room with a bloody old carthorse' he intoned
as I made my way to the shower. If I can keep this up I can see me
getting a room to myself in no time at all. We arrived back in Bath
in time for me to slide into the trusty old Escort estate and bomb
off down the M5 to the next leg of my quest for world domination.
I'll skip the solo gig for now, the story of Ade's birthday party in
deeper Devon is for another day. |
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That's eight down four to go – well to be precise three and a
quarter, Strangers in One Room is nearly done. Chris brought his
plastic dobro type guitars ( £130 on ebay and worth every penny )
and his 1962 Ampeg guitar amp ( also from ebay ) and laid down some
authentic bluesy colour on Sunday – Running Wild and Triumph
Bonneville. I managed to re-record some lead vocals I couldn't share
a room with. |
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...All Mutter Slater originals and lovingly played and recorded. As
soon as a release date is finalised you will be the first to know. |
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