As a little lightener and bit of escapism from the dark times and problems we're all facing right now, I've been listening to a bit of 70's music of late and here's a great song from a fine Welsh band, Sassafras. They got together in 1970, and were one of the first bands I ever saw, with a fine 3-piece rock outfit called Strife, in support, around 1974 (ish), at a venue called The Golden Diamond..pretty awesome it was too!..and Dai Shell (lead guitar (No.1) in Sassafras), has always been a favourite player of mine, great feeling, especially in the quieter and more introspective guitar passages/solos.....and, a little statistic with rather large magnitude, in the early 70's, Sassafras held the record for the most number of gigs played in a single year (just checked this online) at 332!..beating another favourite band of mine from that era, Slade, by 1....Pretty mind blowing...another way of looking at this figure is, they only had 33 nights off in the year, which equals playing more than 6 nights a week, every week, for a full year!!...this would probably kill most 'normal mortals'..throw into that all the travelling in crappy transport, being away from home, staying in lots of seedy and rundown B&B's, not eating properly, the total lack of sleep and rest, the crappy conditions backstage which most people know nothing about (dirty, run-down 'dressing-rooms', unhygienic, shower facilities if you're lucky and if you dare use them), and all the 'recreational' activities that accompany the lifestyle etc, etc....reflections of bygone, but happy, happy days!
...anyone else here remember them?, or other similar bands from that era?, for example another favourite band of mine The Groundhogs, featuring legendary frontman, vocalist and guitarist, Tony (TS) McPhee.
..I think I'll have to pop a Groundhogs video on as well.
Sassafras ~ 'New York Collapse'
The Groundhogs ~ Eleventh Hour...…...from the mighty Crosscut Saw album.
..Awsome lead guitar from Tony McPhee in this!!
...escape for a while, stay safe and look out for others who may be struggling.
I saw Sassafras loads of times in Middlesbrough in the 70’s. It seemed like they were there about every other week. I always thought they were a lot better live than on vinyl. On stage they sounded less over produced. The live, raw sound was far better in my opinion. The live music scene was so much better in those days. We had about 4 decent venues in the area and there was always someone worth going to see and at much more affordable prices than today. I was only on a low wage but could still afford to go to at least two gigs a week. Imagine that at today’s ticket prices to see anyone!!
Just sat listening to their first album and reminiscing about the good days
PS. Be Bop Deluxe weren’t bad either when I saw you!!