Vocalist and frontman Dave Ditchburn has been performing in bands since the late 50’s, starting out in skiffle then moving to Rock n Roll, on to heavy blues rock with legendary 70’s bands Brass Alley, Geordie (mkII), and Fogg. and even a little balladeering. He has been often been described in Tyneside circles as a ‘canny chanter’.
Drummer Eddie Cairn’s first band was in school in 1961, he remembers not having any idea about instruments so his dad bought him a banjo, and he promptly went down the shed and sawed the neck off, and he had his first drum! Guitarist and main songwriter Wally McGill began playing in bands in 1959, gigging throughout N East England including over 13 years in resident groups in the North East club circuit. Bassman Eddy Elliott had also played in a succession of groups, 1960’s Albatross; 1970’s Deep Freeze; 1973 Brass Alley (on percussion); 1980 BB Faith and Rocky.
Dave, Eddie C and Eddie E first got together to form the rock band Armageddon out of whose ashes came Talisman and the original line-up also featured Peter Morrison on second guitar. Meanwhile Peter Rossiter had been playing keyboards in the band First Landing with Dave’s son when they were still at school, then on to join Centerfold in the late 80s before being asked to augment the Talisman sound. The band eventually went their separate ways in 1992. Then a couple of phone calls over a quarter of a century later and the lads were back in the studio, as Dave said “with a little more snow on the roof” but sounding as good as ever. Despite not playing a note together for so long, it was soon obvious that there was still an appetite for their music and the album ‘A Place to Rest My Bones is the result
Some of Dave’s earlier work with the legendary N East 70’s rock band Brass Alley can be found on the Hart Rock 71 e.p a reimagined version of which is available via our Spend One English Penny page. The original recording of their big song of the time, ‘Pink Pill’s had already been snapped up by a Chicago based Recorid Company and is available as part of the psychedelic rock compilation ‘Warfaring Strangers : Acid Nightmares’.
An interview with Dave Ditchburn by Gary Alkivi can be found HERE
