The Steve Gibbons Band

The Steve Gibbons Band

The Steve Gibbons Band is a British rock group led by Steve Gibbons, who comes from Birmingham, England. The band forms around the final line-up of The Idle Race and begins playing the pub and club circuit before signing to management associated with The Who in 1975. It records its first album the same year and releases it in 1976.

Background

Gibbons’ career begins at the end of the 1950s. He starts out in Birmingham as a plumber’s apprentice before replacing Colin Smith as lead singer of the Dominettes, a local rock and roll group. The Dominettes later rename themselves the Uglys, and Gibbons stays with them for eight years as the band goes through several line-up changes and moves from rock and roll into rhythm and blues and psychedelia. By the mid-1960s he is strongly influenced by Bob Dylan, something that continues to shape his work for many years, including the Uglys single “Wake Up My Mind.”

By 1968 Gibbons is the only original member left in the Uglys line-up. The band then breaks up after disputes involving manager Tony Secunda, and Gibbons moves on to new projects. He first joins Balls with Trevor Burton, Denny Laine and Keith Smart; that group is short-lived but leaves an album. He then joins the Birmingham band the Idle Race, which has recently lost Jeff Lynne to the Move. That line-up lasts only a few months before changing its name to the Steve Gibbons Band.

Style and reputation

The Steve Gibbons Band is associated with blues rock and classic rock. Gibbons presents himself as a modern rock and roll outlaw, and the songs are built around updated Chuck Berry-style writing, including in some cases direct Chuck Berry covers. The material often deals with thugs, dealers and bad relationships. Gibbons is also compared to Bob Seger, particularly for an unpretentious, working-class rock style, though his profile is much stronger in England than in the United States.

Recordings and later work

After the first album, Gibbons releases two records on RCA in the early 1980s and On the Loose on Magnum Force in 1986. Down in the Bunker is singled out as a major album in his catalogue. In 1998 he records The Dylan Project, a Bob Dylan tribute, with members of Fairport Convention, which marks a return to prominence. He continues to tour with the Steve Gibbons Band into the 21st century and also appears in Birmingham rock and roll showcases alongside fellow Brummies Trevor Burton, Bev Bevan and Danny King.

Members

Members associated with the group include Trevor Burton, Dave Carroll, Phil Curtis, Steve Gibbons, Bob Lamb, Trev Thoms, Derek Wood, PJ Wright and Dave Pritchard.