MUD + VAMBO – THE FACTORY LIVE, WORTHING 22.12.23
When I was a little lad at Primary School my passion was football and whizzing about on my yellow Chopper bicycle. Me and my mates were always kicking a football about and I used to get my copy of ‘Shoot’ magazine every week and put the best posters of players up on my bedroom wall. This happened for a few years and then one day I literally took them all down and replaced them with posters of music stars of the time – some more cred than others! I simply can’t remember why the dramatic shift from footie to music, but I’ve been seriously into music for 50 years now! When this happened I was well into many differing bands, but historically looking back a large chunk of these now fall under the Glam Rock banner. Back then I really liked Sweet, Roxy Music, Sparks, Wings, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, 10CC, David Bowie, Slade, Suzi Quatro, Mott The Hoople, Queen, Hello, Elton John, (dare I say it) Gary Glitter, The Glitter Band, and an outfit called Mud.
I was (and still am) obsessed with the UK Official Singles Chart which was compiled by the British Market Research Bureau. Every Tuesday I would run home at lunchtime from school and catch the first announcement of the new chart when it was announced on Johnnie Walker’s afternoon show on Radio 1. The most excited I can remember being back then was when I heard that ‘Tiger Feet’ by Mud had made it to the No.1 slot. I had previously been telling my classmates what a fab tune it was and now it seemed that everyone else agreed with me. The song spent seven weeks in the top 10, including four weeks at number one and it was knocked off the slot by fellow RAK artist Suzi Quatro with ‘Devil Gate Drive’. ‘Tiger Feet’ became the best selling single of the whole year! Seeing off challenges from Terry Jacks (‘Seasons In The Sun’), Paper Lace (‘Billy Don’t Be A Hero’), The Three Degrees (‘When Will I See You Again’), and George McCrae (‘Rock Your Baby’).‘Tiger Feet’ was the first of many songs that I have flagged up as going to be a hit and so Mud have a warm place in my heart. Astonishingly I have never seen the band performing live until this very evening at The Factory Live which is located at 9a Ivy Arch Road, Worthing, BN14 8BX.
Mud originally formed way back in February 1966 and featured lead guitarist Rob Davis, lead vocalist Les Gray, drummer Dave Mount and bassist Ray Stiles. They released their debut single ‘Flower Power’ on CBS in 1967, and played their first professional gig on 31st March 1968 at the Marquee Club in London. The band were not immediately successful as stated this evening by Ray and after several years of unsuccessful singles, they got their lucky break and were signed to Mickie Most’s Rak label. 1973 saw a trio of Top 20 singles successes with ‘Crazy’ (No.12), ‘Hypnosis’ (No.16) and ‘Dyna-mite’ (No.4). However, Mud hit the peak of their career the following two years with the arrival in 1974 of the aforementioned ‘Tiger Feet’ (which sold a million copies globally) and their No.1 Christmas hit ‘Lonely This Christmas’, and into 1975 with their third and final No.1 in the form of their Elvis Presley stiled cover of Buddy Holly’s ‘Oh Boy’. In 1975 Mud had seven singles in the UK Top 40 totalling over 45 weeks on the chart, the most by any artist in 1975. By 1976 Glam Rock was on its last legs and was going to be blown away by punk rock and disco. Mud briefly went the disco route with the arrival of their ‘Shake It Down’ single. This being the catalyst for Rob, who interestingly wrote the mega smash hits ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’ for Kylie Minogue, ‘Groovejet’ for Sophie Ellis Bextor, ‘I Need A Miracle’ for Coco Star and ‘Toca’s Miracle’ for Fragma.
Mud’s last show with the original quartet was back in 1978, after which lead singer Les Gray opted for a solo career. In 1992, Gray moved to the Algarve region of Portugal and sadly passed away on 21st February 2004, of a heart attack, whilst fighting throat cancer. Bandmate Dave Mount (drums) died on 2nd December 2006, at St Helier Hospital, Carshalton. The remaining duo of Rob Davis and Ray Stiles are with us this evening in Worthing and are accompanied by a trio of other guys. Interestingly, Ray has been a member of the legendary Hollies for the past 31 years and has produced their last two studio albums. He now produces classic rock quartet Vambo who are fronted by his son Jack, and are tonight’s special guests – more on them later. Ray informs us that Mud’s drummer Pete Phipps – who incidentally was an original founding member of The Glitter Band (The Glittermen) and has been with Mud since 2015 – is currently suffering from Covid and that stand-in Paul has come to the rescue and has learned all the tunes so that the gig can go ahead tonight. If Ray hadn’t of said anything, I wouldn’t have guessed as Paul did a good job. Also on stage this evening is Keith Read on guitar, who is a long time friend of the guys and Keith was originally in a band called the Wild Angels and has been with Mud also since 2015. Cementing the quintet is Scotsman Ian Parker who has played keyboards with The Hollies since 1991 and previously with Clannad from 1988 to 2016.
To get us in the mood this evening, there are Glam Rock hits being played over the PA in between bands – Oh OK I’ll come clean, they played Disco Classics instead! Mud take to The Factory Live stage at 9:40pm to the sounds of ‘The Hippopotamus Song’ by Flanders & Swann with its “Mud, mud, glorious mud” lyrics and after Ray acknowledging the passing of both Les and Dave, four minutes later they kicked off with their 1975 top-tapping ‘L’L’Lucy’ single, which is found on their ‘Use Your Imagination’ album from the same year. This being the first of a respectful fourteen tune 63 minute set, which concluded at 10:47pm. The venue was packed full and had rows of reserved seating at the front with room for standing punters behind them. Prior to Mud’s arrival everyone is talkative in a friendly way and there’s a buzz of anticipation in the air. The ceiling of this hidden gem of a venue is not that high and as a result the room is almost boiling from all the heat generated by those gathered. As you would anticipate, tonight’s clientele are a more mature offering than I’m accustomed to, but (in the main) although of senior years, folk are still up for some wholesome live music, especially the ladies in the front row who are all wearing Christmas light garlands and one is even donning Tiger Feet slippers.
Song two was their early ‘Crazy’ single, after which we were served the mighty ‘Dyna-Mite’ single from 1973. Ray informs us that Messrs Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn had originally offered the tune to the Sweet, but they turned it down. I was unaware of this information until now and it totally explains why I really loved the track back in the day on account of it sounding like the Sweet. This evening’s rendition is a decent delivery, like almost all of the tracks from tonight. They are faithfully recreated versions of 1973 to 1978 material. Next up was the Elvis vibed ‘One Night’ from their 1975 ‘Mud Rock Vol. 2’ album, which I felt that Ray’s vocal wasn’t quite as good as Les’ had been on their original recording. They carried on with another cut from the same album, this being the singalong rock’n’roll number, ‘Secrets That You Keep’, which Ray informs us is his favourite Mud song. He then asks Rob if it is his favourite as well, but he replies in the negative. We are left none the wiser regarding Rob’s fave.
Ray then discusses Mud’s brief foray into disco, via Rob’s penned ‘Shake It Down’ single from 1976. The beat of this reminded me of a combination of Blondie’s ‘Rapture’ meets the Average White Band. From going all “modern”, they opted next for the retro sounding Sonny West ‘Oh, Boy!’ cover from 1974. For this, Ray explained that when recording their version they had a session singer on it and that they haven’t seen her since and that she would be joining them on stage during this next tune. It turned out to be Ellie Hope of disco group Liquid Gold fame, as in 1980’s No.2 smash single with ‘Dance Yourself Dizzy’. Ellie sang her part and vacated the stage as the band segued straight into ‘Moonshine Sally’. According to the setlist, we were to be served their rendition of ‘Good Rockin’ Tonight’, but I’m sure they switched it for Chuck Berry’s good old r’n’b ‘Johnny B. Goode’ instead. After ‘Rocket’ we had 1978’s ‘Cut Across Shorty’ (from the ‘Rock On’ album) which saw guitarist Keith Read on lead vocals, whilst drummer Paul bashed out a sound akin to Sweet’s ‘Ballroom Blitz’.
Mud signed off with a trio of 1974 big hitters in the form of ‘The Cat Crept In’, (the second best track of the night), ‘Lonely This Christmas’ (which is currently sitting at No.66 on the UK Singles Chart) and an extended version of ‘Tiger Feet’. For ‘The Cat Crept In’ the crowd merrily hand-clapped away and for ‘Lonely This Christmas’ Keith got out a glove puppet to mime the lyrics, which was a nod to Mud’s 1974 ‘Top Of The Pops’ Christmas appearance where Les had a scary one on the go. Almost all of the punters were on their feet for ‘Tiger Feet’ and it was wonderful to finally hear this favoured tune being played live almost 50 years after I was raving about it. Suffice to state that Mud were greeted with loud rapturous applause and shouts on finishing their set. It was well worth the trip over to Worthing to experience this! The CD selection for the car’s return journey was naturally a disc from my 4CD Glam Rock album set.
Mud:
Rob Davis – lead guitar, bv’s (1966–1980, 2015–present)
Ray Stiles – bass guitar, lead vocals (1966–1980, 2015–present)
Keith Read – rhythm guitar, bv’s (2015–present)
Pete Phipps – drums (2015–present)
Ian Parker – keys, laptop, bv’s
Mud setlist:
(Intro tape) (‘The Hippopotamus Song’ by Flanders & Swann)
‘L’L’Lucy’ (from 1975 single & 1975 ‘Use Your Imagination’ album)
‘Crazy’ (from 1973 single)
‘Dyna-Mite’ (from 1973 single & as part of a medley on 1974 ‘Mud Rock’ album)
‘One Night’ (Smiley Lewis cover) (from 1975 single & 1975 ‘Mud Rock Vol. 2’ album)
‘Secrets That You Keep’ (from 1975 single & 1975 ‘Mud Rock Vol. 2’ album)
‘Shake It Down’ (from 1976 single)
‘Oh, Boy!’ (with Ellie Hope) (Sonny West cover) (from 1974 single & 1975 ‘Mud Rock Vol. 2’ album)
‘Moonshine Sally’ (from 1975 single)
‘Johnny B. Goode’ (Chuck Berry cover)
‘Rocket’ (from 1974 single & 1974 ‘Mud Rock’ album)
‘Cut Across Shorty’ (from 1978 single & 1978 ‘Rock On’ album)
‘The Cat Crept In’ (from 1974 single & as part of a medley on 1974 ‘Mud Rock’ album)
‘Lonely This Christmas’ (from 1974 single)
‘Tiger Feet’ (from 1974 single & as part of a medley on 1974 ‘Mud Rock’ album)
Support this evening came from Vambo who are a London based heavy rock quartet, although vocalist Jan Stiles actually lives in Worthing, just five minutes away from The Factory Live. He is also the son of Mud frontman Ray Stiles who is assisting with the band’s crisp sound this evening. Completing the Vambo lineup are Peter Lance on guitar, James Scott on bass and last but by no means least David Flint on drums and samples. There’s a track on Mud’s 1976 ‘It’s Better Than Working’ called ‘Vambo Rools’, and so I suspect that this is possibly where Vambo acquired their name. The quartet have thus far released two albums, their self-titled debut long player back in 2019, which also got an extended release a year later with an additional handful of tunes, and also their new ‘II’ album which dropped on 20th October. They are no strangers to the live circuit, having played shows and major festivals throughout Europe, including Download, Isle of Wight and Stone Free Festival. They have toured extensively in the UK, supporting acclaimed artists such as Hard James Nichols, Y&T, Praying Mantis, Stray and Cats in Space.
This evening the lads perform a sizable dozen song set that lasts 55 minutes from 8:18pm to 9:13pm and not surprisingly half of their set is from the new album. The young lads look like heavy rockers and sound like heavy rockers and are clearly rather good at what they do. As they launched into the ‘Intro’ tune and onto ‘Minute Of Madness’ from 2023 ‘II’ album, I was anticipating that many of the mature audience would quite possibly get up and go to the bar or even stick their fingers in their ears, as I’m sure that Vambo were going to be an acquired taste. But to the band’s surprise, most of the audience were well behind the band, whether this be because of the Mud connection, or closeness to Christmas or just being polite, but the punters (in the main) were having a good time!
The staple of the band’s sound comes courtesy of Peter who certainly puts his Gibson Les Paul through his paces, and I noted that the lady in front of me was showing her appreciation by recording a song by the band but was solely focused on a closeup of the guitarwork. The sound was loud and compact but by no means distorted as the venue clearly has invested wisely in a great soundsystem! Thus Vambo were giving off a stadium sound in an intimate venue. Add to that they are a tight unit and clearly high hopes are on the horizon for this lot, especially with Jan’s vocal delivery which certainly will keep any AC/DC, Black Sabbath or Deep Purple fans very happy indeed. In fact, during the tailend of the set, Jan decided to go off-piste from the setlist and they dropped ‘Shadows’ from the new ‘II’ LP in favour of a cover of Deep Purple’s ‘Black Night’. It ticked all the heavy metal boxes, but I would have much preferred ‘Smoke On The Water’. They even saw their set out with another Deep Purple tune, in the form of ‘Burn’, which is the closing track from the band’s 2020 ‘Vambo (Deluxe)’ album. For this Jan saw the set out by running his microphone stand up and down Peter’s guitar, which is a photographer’s dream!
The atmosphere throughout their set had the vibe of four lads having fun. This was assisted by the ladies in the front row standing up and giving the 4 lads their Christmas light garlands to wear for the remainder of their set. In conclusion, Vambo gave a very good account of themselves and can cut the mustard with any of the metal dinosaurs still going! Check out the new blood!
Vambo:
Jan Stiles – vocals
Peter Lance – guitar
James Scott – bass
David Flint – drums
Vambo setlist:
‘Intro’
‘Minute Of Madness’ (from 2023 ‘II’ album)
‘Hey Willy’ (from 2023 ‘II’ album)
‘Sweet Christine’ (from 2023 ‘II’ album)
‘This Is Your Life’ (from 2023 ‘II’ album)
‘Paradise’ (from 2020 ‘Vambo (Deluxe)’ album)
‘Running In Circles’ (from 2019 ‘Vambo’ album)
‘Love Candy’ (from 2023 ‘II’ album)
‘We’re Not The Same’ (from 2019 ‘Vambo’ album)
‘Black Knight’ (Deep Purple cover)
‘Shake It Woman’ (from 2023 ‘II’ album)
‘Burn’ (Deep Purple cover) (from 2020 ‘Vambo (Deluxe)’ album)
Great review. Far better detail than other music journalists go into.
Thanks Derek.