My 15 mins of fame

[karatestu]

Excellent Story Stu.
I went to seen the Seahorses in 97, It was one of my/our most anticipated concerts of the time, So disappointed..So disappointed. Don't know what the hell Squire was attempting at that time?. Chris Helme however was the best part of the band I thought.
Maybe they should have had you on drums then too. You never know what might have been. As they say, without Reni, the Stone Roses would never have been.

Kevin.

Yeah, i never thought that much about The Seahorses either but preferred them to Shed Seven (not hard). Reni was rather good. John Squire and Chris Helme fell out about the music i think. I remember a couple of scouts about in York looking for the Seahorses drummer but they wanted one who could do backing vocals and i dont sing. All the members ended up being from York except Squire and i knew them all except the drummer.

John Squire found Chris Helme busking on the streets of York and Stuart Fletcher (bass player) was recruited after being seen playing a gig in York. I remember there being a lot of jealousy from some of the musicians who got passed up. Not me though, i only hang around with musicians

[Berty bass]

My 15 mins of fame was actually about 30 secs and extended to my band being named in a poll of the Top Ten Worst Band Names in the SU magazine of Middlesex Polytechnic. Granted some of our early offerings were of the kind most generously described as 'juvenilia' but ultimately Lord Lucan and the Lookalikes had quite an enthusiastic following for a few, brief years back in mid-80's Colchester.

[Andy-831]

Lord Lucan and the Lookalikes

Great name for a band Berty "Respect"

[Berty bass]

Lord Lucan and the Lookalikes

Great name for a band Berty "Respect"

Thanks, Andy. Yes, we thought it was quite an improvement from our original Cheddar Cheese and the Chunkies!

[karatestu]

I now have the guts to let you lot see this video of me playing drums from summer just gone. It is Moby Dick (kind of) and about 9 mins long. A bit boring for those who don't like drum solo's. Anyway, its nothing like Bonham@s exploits although i can do a few triplets. My daughter makes an appearance showing her knickers near the end.

Enjoy (or not).

[BBvideo=560,315]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPb5p9twImg[/BBvideo]

[wiicrackpot]

You sir take a bow, banger of the highest order, you can take that as a top sausage or top drummer, both good.

[karatestu]

Cheers Wii. Top sausage

That was back in May. We were hassled in to getting an old band back together for a village festival. My first gig in 8 years since children came along. We had about 8 rehearsals and after the gig decided to get the band back together permanently. Got very drunk that day as we got paid in free beer

I only played moby dick cos we didn't have enough songs. It seems to go down ok so has remained in the set although not as long as 9 mins.....

[2020sound]

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but came across this when Googling. I was a big Roses fan, and later Seahorses fan. I saw the gig at the Liverpool Lomax on this tour and loved it and was bemused when nothing came of it - the songs were all dropped too. I saw Chris Helme do some solo sets at Fibbers a year or two after, but he seemed to go down a more MOR route working with session musos before forming the Yards which didn't interest me much tbh. Oh yeah - I saw him do a gig at Fibbers where he did a solo set, and then came back with a band but can't remember who was in that band... did you do that gig? Think it was the tail end of 1999.

Are you able to expand on why the band (the solo band with you on drums) split? I recall the tour was promoted by SJM, and Martin Herbert, Squire's guitar tech even worked the tour. Was there any label interest? Did you ever record anything, demos etc and did you work on the songs that the Seahorses had worked on like Won't Let You Fall and Moth?

[slinger]

Hello 2020,

Wow, you did well to find this thread through Google. It was a long time since it happened, 23 years I remember when we did the last gig in London that Chris Helme didn't come back on the bus with the rest of us. Later I found out he had gone to meet somebody from a record company. I think he saw several over the coming weeks but nothing came of it. I seem to remember they did not think the songs were very strong.

I don't think any of us (including Chris) thought the songs were brilliant but they had potential. After the tour I phoned Chris to tell him that I couldn't work with the guitarist anymore as we were in another band together and had a bust up. Chris then informed me that he had plans to use lots of different musicians. OK I thought, but I was expecting to be employed by Chris again but never was. He only kept working with Stu Fletcher who was the bassist in The Seahorses. I remember Martin Herbert. What a laugh he was.

I did two gigs at Fibbers with Chris so it could have been me. I didn't like the Yards much so never made a point of going to see them. I do have very fond memories of my time playing with Chris and I remained friends with him and the rest of the band. We never recorded anything apart from rehearsals which were rather mid quality. Chris was a good laugh in rehearsals. We could be playing along and he would come and stand I front of me and slowly drop his tracksuit trousers. He also came to my family farm for his 30th Birthday along with many other York muso's. We sat round a bonfire playing songs and singing, getting pissed and stoned. Happy days indeed, I have many good memories.

I haven't seen Chris for maybe five years now. From all reports I get he spends most of his free time in the York pubs drinking ( pre covid of course).

[karatestu]

This might be me. Very rough recording. It was the last song in the set we played in liverpool (before the encore ).

[bbvideo] [/bbvideo]

The set list can be found here although you have probably seen it already. I remember he played the two Seahorses songs on his own with a couple of females playing strings(or that could have been just the London gig). Bloody decibel meters were a pain in the arse. If the band got over a certain volume it would cut the power to the PA.

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/chris-h ... 7c9.html

Setlist

1)Cold Comfort
2)Spike
3)Holding Heaven
4)Blinded by the Sun
(The Seahorses song)
5)Melancholy Lullabies
6)A Change Of Shade
7)Thanks
8)Ditty
9)Old As the Woman
10)Good Life
Encore:
11)Hello
(The Seahorses song)
12)No Expectations
(The Rolling Stones)