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Band members |
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Carl
Leyland: vocals, guitar, piano
Tony McMillan: bass
Jimmy Fahy: drumsSecond
line-up (pictured)
Mark Cole: vocals
Tony McMillan: guitar
Jason Thornton: bass
Dominic Parr: drums
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Discography |
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Albums
The
Adventures Of- Lost
Moment LM08
Sweet Dreams - Lost
Moment LM10
Into The Tomb- Lost
Moment LM14
Plague Of The Dead-
Lost Moment LM20
Power - Lost Moment LM21
The Final Adventure Of- Lost
Moment LM23Singles
Ramblin'-
Lost Moment LM024
What Are You Today- Lost
Moment LM12034
My Generation- Lost
Moment
Do You Wanna Touch-
Lost Moment LM045
Forbidden Planet- Lost
Moment LM050
Compilations
Klassic
Tracks From 1985- Lost
Moment LMCD054
Singled Out - Lost
Moment LMCD024
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The Krewmen were formed
in 1982 by Tony Mc Millan and, at that
time, played rockabilly. According to
some sources the band went under the name
of The Starlites until 1984. This early
formation started to build a name and a
following and in 1985 was hired to play
Elvis' band in "Elvis the musical"
which saw them touring the USA and Canada.
Back to Europe, Lost Moment offered them
a record deal but the other two decided
to leave.
Mc Millan on double bass soon recruited
Jimmy Fahy on drums and Carl "Sonny"
Leyland on piano, guitar, harmonica and
vocals which led the band to play more
blues influenced material but still with
a heavy rockabilly flavor in it. The band
released two singles on Lost Moment (both
excellent) now very rare but available on
the compact disc Klassic Tracks Fom 1985
! (still on Lost Moment) and some other
unissued recordings are available on Carl
Sonny Leyland’s album “I Like
Boogie Woogie” (On The Hill OTHRCD
001).
In late 1985, tired of playing covers and
with the will to play a more modern
music, Mc Millan thought it was time for
a change of direction. This led Leyland
and Fahy to leave. The former joined
various bands before moving to the USA
where he built a solid reputation as a
boogie-woogie, jazz and blues pianist and
the latter teamed with Get Smart, a band
which described itself as Jazzabilly.
The brand new line-up consisted of Mc
Millan on guitar (his former instrument),
Mark Cole on vocals (sometimes close to
Guana Batz's singer, Pip), Dominic Parr
on drums and Jason Thornton back on
double bass (he played with The Starlites).
They played fast rockabilly / psychobilly
and original material. Their first
release in 1986 "The Adventure Of..."
entirely written by Cole and McMillan
became an instant classic and a highly
influential album on the psychobilly
scene, for good reasons.
Two other classics (Sweet dreams and Into
The Tomb both in 1987) followed with
covers of Should I Stay Or Should I Go by
The Clash (a song which proved to be very
popular on the psychobilly scene) and T-Rex's
Solid Gold Easy Action.
But all good things comes to an end and
Cole left the band in 1987, with McMillan
taking over the vocal duties, followed in
1988 by Parr and Thornton. It was time
for a new line-up with Steve Piper on
drums and various bass player (Graham
Grant, Mark Burke) before they found Paul
Oxley. As the line-up changed, the sound
did too, getting harder and harder with
elements of metal, punk, glam rock.
"Plague Of The Dead" in 1988
combines all those influences, and two
years later "Power" goes
further on the metal side and adds
hardcore to the mix. The following year
"The Final Adventure..." sees
The Krewmen return to a more "classical"
sound. The single issued from this album,
Forbidden Planet, features a country song
(and with The Krewmen treatment) and a
cover of the Rolling Stones' Paint It
Black with electronic drums.
In 1992, Steve Piper left the drums to
play rhythm guitar and Tony Gallagher
replaced him on the drummer's seat.
Not officially disbanded, the band
stopped its activities in the late 90's/early
00's.
Cherry Red has issued a live DVD with the
"Power" line-up (Mc Millan,
Hoxley, Piper). |
