Reg
Brown(vocals) 1991-1998
Reg
Brown(vocals) 1991-1998
Current
Band (l-r): Alan Astbury(bass), Corin Handley(drums),
Ross Philips(Guitar/vocals),
Amandla - A Potted History
In
1991, the band was formed by me (Corin) and Mike Jones (Guitar/Vocals/Keyboards),
soon acquiring Pete Starkey on bass and Reg Brown on vocals, they were
joined briefly by Pete Robinson on lead guitar and vocals. Amandla played
their first gig in a marquee in Woodbank Park, Stockport in 1992.
Following this there were several changes in the line-up: Pete Robinson was
fired, Pete Starkey left and was replaced by Alan Astbury on bass, Mike Jones
left and after a few fruitless auditions we persuaded Ross Philips to come
out of retirement on guitar. Around this time Reg started to have health
problems and, although it would be another 18 months before he was diagnosed
with polyarteritis nodosa, a rare and terminal illness,
it began to affect his ability to perform. The illness and nodules on his
vocal chords meant that Reg had to miss a couple of gigs and was replaced
on vocals by Pete Robinson, before he was fired, and on one memorable occasion
at short notice by Joe Kover of the Hot Bananas (nice one Joe).
After some time Reg was more able to predict the effects of his illness and
began to perform regularly again. Partly as a result of Reg's condition and
partly due to the other members' perfectionism the band rehearsed more often
than it gigged so when we did gig the performance was always well rehearsed
and tight. Consequently we gained a reputation as a good band to go and see
and gained a loyal following as we gigged around Macclesfield and Stockport.
One of the things that Reg was responsible for was the recording side. Normally a covers band like Amandla would not be overconcerned about recording, but Reg knew that this would be the last thing he would do musically so he pushed for everything to be recorded. I for one am glad he did, we now have on tape pretty much every song that Reg sang with Amandla and it's nice to be able to hear him whenever we want to.
Despite his problems Reg put 110% into all his performances and during this period he was the heart and soul of Amandla but eventually his illness caught up with him and he announced his retirement in 1998 with one final gig at our home venue, The Dog & Partridge, Bollington on August 29th.
Reg wanted the band to continue after he retired but we took a break from gigging for a while. In July 1999 after several months in Christie's Hospital Reg came home to die; he passed away on 22nd July at home in Bollington.
After about 6 months the remaining members got together again with the addition
of a singer (Dennis Pimblett) and guitarist (Nick Griffin) from another
band that had recently split. After a few rehearsals Ross decided that
he didn't want to carry on with this line up so he left and the remaining
four renamed themselves The Hip Replacements and gigged locally for the
next few months. Eventually, musical differences caused the break up
of the band in 2001
Meanwhile,
Ross, Corin and Al had been rehearsing as a 3-piece and they continued
after the demise of The Hip Replacements with Ross taking over Reg's singing
duties, performing a couple of low key local gigs to see how Ross's voice
would hold up.
In the summer of 2001 the final piece of the jigsaw fell into place when
John Davison came to watch Amandla rehearse, he was so impressed he joined
the band! John had been playing keyboards since he was very young, but had
not played in a band since school.
On October 27th 2001 Amandla were born again. A packed house at the Dog played
host to a new, revitalised band.
Unfortunately John's day job meant he had to move to Hong Kong recently,
so we're back to a three-piece.
That brings us just about up to date, we continue rehearsing, recording
and gigging as and when we can fit it around the rest of our busy
lives.
C.J.H. 3/2003
For more information on polyarteritis click here
Why "Amandla"?
The
name "Amandla" was Reg's idea, he spent many years living and
working in South Africa where he became involved with the ANC, to such
an extent that he
was forced to leave the country to avoid arrest.
The rallying cry of the ANC is "Amandla
ngawethu" ("power to the people").
Amandla is the Xhosa word for power.
I must admit, at first I thought it was a daft name, but it's kind of grown on me and I'm quite proud of it now and like all band names its meaning gets subsumed by the identity of the band.
For more information on the ANC and related topics Check out these websites: