The enigmatic keyboard player of the legendary Northern Funk band Smoove & Turrell has been confirmed to make a special appearance at this month’s massive 90s themed club night in Newcastle.
Back to the 90s – which is set to take place at the Riverside venue on the Quayside on Friday, April 26 – has already confirmed that one of decade’s most famous frontmen, Rick Witter of indie band Shed Seven, will be on DJ duty.
And now, Mike Porter, a leading member of one of the North East’s most prolific groups, Smoove & Turrell, will be bringing his famous Hammond organ fused skills to the stage for a one-off special appearance with the UK’s number one Britpop tribute band, The National Anthems, who are also on the bill.
Porter – who once famously re-taught “Madchester” legend and Inspiral Carpets keyboard player Clint Boon his own songs after he forgot how to play them ahead of his band’s come back tour – will be taking a night off his hectic touring schedule to join The National Anthems on stage at Riverside and has promised to make his own special tribute to a decade of music he holds dear to his heart.
He said: “I’ve been mates with some of the lads involved in this night for 20 years but I’ve never had the chance to perform with them. They’re great musicians and even better people so I can’t wait for this one.
“I first heard about Rick Witter and Shed Seven early 1992. My school mates were studying at York Art College and at a house party, they introduced me to one of their new mates studying there. His name was Alan Leach, the drummer of Shed Seven. They got signed not long after that.
“I remember hearing a cassette demo of them back then and thinking these sound incredible. On a personal note, Rick and I played their hit song “Chasing Rainbows” together for our friend Clint Boon of Inspiral Carpets, when he married Charlie Boon, it’s her favourite song.”
After Mike’s special appearance at Back to the 90s, he will be swiftly back on Smoove & Turrell duty. The group have just released their greatest hits album, ‘Solid Brass’ and will be playing over 20 festivals this summer as well as a full European tour.
Mike Continues: “We’ve got a heavy tour schedule this year with shows in Italy, Germany, Holland, Belgium as well as the UK. We’re pretty busy!
“We’ve just released our ‘Solid Brass’ album, which is kind of our greatest hits of the past 10 years. We called it Solid Brass as a Micky take after other bands from the past called theirs Solid Gold, plus we’re not as rich as everyone thinks!”
Back to the 90s, featuring Rick Witter of Shed Seven, a live performance from Britpop tribute band The National Anthems and a selection of some of the region’s best indie DJs will take place Friday, April 26th at Riverside Newcastle.
Speaking about the event, Mike Porter added: “Acid house, Madchester, Rave, Jungle and later Britpop we’re all reminiscent of the previous Mod, Punk and Post Punk subcultures. They took years to build, word of mouth, we didn’t have the internet. Ugly skinny ‘talented’ kids don’t seem to get in the charts anymore,” adds Mike.
“After the mid-nineties and more especially in the MySpace era onwards you could see the music industry focusing more on ‘the whole package’ and how someone looked rather than what they sounded like.
“I honestly feel sorry for the youth of today, we had so many incredible bands year after year, too many to name. Nowadays marketing budgets controlled by the likes of Mr Cowell n co seem to dwarf any emerging talent with no budget. It’s going to feel good making a special tribute to a decade of music I really love.”
Tickets for Back to the 90s, priced at £12.50 (subject to the normal booking fees), are available on See Tickets and can be purchased via this link: https://bit.ly/2I627AY
The event will start at 7:30 pm and will close at 1 am.
