Gibbo and Co Blast from the Past

Jenny and I have returned to performing after a short break where we spent an exciting couple of weeks entertaining house-guests visiting from Germany. Originally from the seaport city of Bremerhaven, in Northern Germany, Karin and Wolfgang are both well-remembered and much-loved friends from my youth. We first met each other back in those hazy, crazy days when I was touring around the UK and Europe as the front-man and occasional sax-player for a somewhat infamous Rock Band called Ramrod. The band’s line-up included; myself on vocals and sometimes-sax, Keith Stevenson on bass, Mick McLoughlin on sax and keys, Taffy Whelan on guitar and vocals, and Mark Robbins on drums. Everyone in the band sang back-up “harmony” and doubled on mayhem and madness.We actually had an Aussie, an Englishman, an Irishman, and 2 ex-Rhodesians in the band and if that isn’t a joke waiting to be told, I don’t know what is!

Ramrod toured for a couple of years all over the UK and Europe and ended its’ days as the resident band in an amazing Bremerhaven bar called the Atlantik Bar. In just 2 short years of playing the bars and clubs of Europe I managed to accumulate a couple of lifetimes’ worth of memorable moments and stories. These days, whenever I start talking about the stuff we got up to over there, most of my current crop of mates think I must be imagining it or making it up. The incredible truth is that, despite the fantastic odds against anyone surviving to tell the tale, it all actually happened and we’re still here to talk about it! Several episodes exactly parallel the script of the Blues Brothers Movie and I’m sure that one of us will eventually get around to writing a book which finally sets the record straight about who did what to whom and why it seemed like such a good idea at the time.
There probably was a good reason, we just can’t remember it!

Taffy Mark Dave Keith Mick Karin & Dave (then)

Anyway, back to the story….
Karin was like my personal Guardian Angel back then. She took in a bunch of homeless musicians and helped rescue us from ourselves, more times than I care to remember! Over time we all moved on and lost touch with each other. We changed addresses, got married, had kids and settled down (sort of), and just generally got on with our lives. I hadn’t seen or heard from any of my old band cronies or German friends for years. In January last year, I was sitting at the computer searching for some lyrics and just generally mooching around the web when I stumbled across a familiar name… it was my old band-mate; Taffy Whelan, that amazing/demented/brilliant guitarist with Ramrod all those years ago in Bremerhaven! I fired off a quick “remember me?” e-mail to Taff. He’s still living in Germany and plays Bass in a great Blues-Rock outfit: Cold Shot.(Cold Shot website)
Over the ensuing few weeks Taffy helped me to get back in touch with every one of my old missing-in-action mates from Ramrod and my most-loved friends from that time. We’ve all been reminiscing, sharing stories and photos, and just catching up on each other’s lives by email and phone ever since… you’ve just gotta love the world-wide web!

In September Karin and Wolfgang arrived in Sydney for a visit with us as part of their 6 week tour of Oz. Jenny and I have had an absolutely fabulous time showing them around and enjoying what has been a simply wonderful experience for us all. We somehow managed to fit in all of the touristy things; a Hot Air Balloon flight over Sydney, the Zig-Zag Railway, the Blue Mountains, the Sydney River Cat, the sights of Sydney, a quick gig so they could see us play, a fishing trip for Wolfgang-the-fisherman, some very late nights, some even earlier mornings, lots of laughter, hours of reminiscing and some great conversation. Their visit has been the highlight of the year for us.

Dave & Karin (now) Wolfgang, Jenny & Karin