Archive for the ‘Disguise’ Category

The Bedrock Festival Newcastle June 1979

The Bedrock Festival Newcastle June 1979
bedrock79 Yesterday I wrote about the 1977 Bedrock festival. The event obviously ran again in 1979, as I have a ticket stub for a show which took place at Newcastle Guildhall. I don’t recall whether or not there was a Bedrock festival in 1978. Once again, the festival showcased local rock talent. The Weights grew out of the ashes of Harry Hack and the Bog G after they split. White Heat were fronted by Bob Smeaton, who went on to be a very successful film director, directing the Grammy-award winning Anthology series on the Beatles, and many other music-related films. At the time, White Heat had quite a following locally, and released a couple of singles, and an album which is quite collectable nowadays. Their music was based in new wave, but more of the power pop or new mod variety. Bob was a great front man. I recall seeing the band at Newcastle Mayfair one night; the place was packed and their was a feeling that we were witnessing the next big thing. Their single “Nervous Breakdown” is great; there is an excellent video on Youtube of them performing it live. Disguise were another band who seemed poised for big success, which alluded them. They came from Hartlepool, and were also of the power pop genre. They had some quite catchy songs. As well as this gig at the Guildhall, I remember going to see them at the Bell in Horden which ran a series of Sunday night gigs at the time.