Meet the Movers
Things first kicked off at the start of 2006 with a small group of keen musicians wanting to form an authentic soul band and putting their heads together. These intrepid few started rehearsing and looking around for other musicians to fill the gaps. A big soul sound was sought and this would need quite a few people!
Eventually all the roles were filled and rehearsals continued with a passion.
By the summer things were ready and the band’s first ever gig was lined up at the Broadway Inn, Stourbridge. This was June 2006. There weren’t many people there, a few friends and family, this was our first ever gig and no one had heard of us – not yet!
There have been a few personnel changes over the years, which is to be expected, especially with such a big band. However, it seems that as new people have come along and time moves on the sound gets better and better and bigger and bigger!
Now, into our sixth year, it’s a different matter. People have heard of us. We have a reputation to be envied. Audiences find it difficult to believe the sound we get. That thumping in the chest from the bass, the tight rhythm from the back line, the elevation of the brass section, all those voices! We even had one guy who said we were so tight he suspected we must have been miming to a backing tape (we weren’t of course) – he couldn’t believe his ears!
Steve grew up listening to the likes of Otis Redding, James Brown, Sam & Dave and Wilson Pickett, so it was no surprise that when he decided to sing it was these idols that he took for his style. A life long soul fan, aficionado and sometime Northern Soul DJ he likes nothing more than to entertain his fellow soul-ies.
He has a voice like a bucket of gravel and his main aim is to take everyone he meets into his musical world. A natural born front man he ensures The Midnight Movers are not only a fabulous set of musicians, but entertaining too. By surrounding himself with excellent musicians this is achieved with consummate ease. He eats, lives and breathes music.
Jolie is a local girl from Worcester who has always sang, since she was twelve years old! She first started with vocal lessons, then entered a number of singing competitions coming first in two competitions in the Midlands at the age of just sixteen. Then at nineteen Jolie joined a singing and dancing duo and did many gigs around the country from Swansea to Birmingham. Jolie also entered X-Factor with her duo In June 2006. She did really well and even had an appearance on TV!
Jolie has always had a passion for Soul music. Her Dad is top drummer Rob Mason, who has been in many top Soul Bands around the Midlands and Jolie would go and watch her Dad regularly. She makes regular stage appearances with Gordan Jackson (ex-Traffic) and is a respected local musician. Her idols range from old and new including Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield, Alicia Keys and Mary J Blige. Jolie’s hobbies outside of singing are dancing and running… oh, and talking!
Housewife, mother and superstar Nicki’s first stage appearances were at the age of 3 at various holiday camps around the country but her knife throwing and chainsaw juggling act was considered to be inappropriate for such a young child. Despite agreeing to remove the blindfold she was actively discouraged so found her singing voice and went on to entertain in the vocal field. Her singing career was put on hold for a short while during her astronaut training at NASA but was rekindled after her resignation over a dispute about seat trim colours on The Space Shuttle.
Nicki now sings regularly and has achieved success in local competitions such as The Text Factor. Just a note that the first part of this biog is made up until Nicki sorts one out.
Professor of Saxomonophonolgy and Minimalist Yogic Sneezing at King’s College Callow End, Mel wasn’t always in the musical field. Not gifted at school she left with a GCSE in Pagan Studies and a 2 widths freestyle certificate. Moving on to sport, particularly football she successfully completed a trial for Dynamo Kiev as sweeper/attacking midfield player but an injury sustained in a bizarre eyelash straightener accident left Mel unable to kick a football without shouting “its in the fridge” or “он находится в холодильнике” in Russian.
One day out of frustration she picked up a saxophone thinking it was one that blew bubbles and she was nearly at the end of ”Abide With Me” when she realised she had never learned to play. A miracle , a Billion to one twist of evolution or a quirk of nature ? Quite frankly we don’t care, her solid sax style is authentic and true to The Movers Soul style and flows through our set like a river of brass. Mel said NO to genetic research and YES to The Midnight Movers. Result.
Clever dude and all round nice guy James took up the trumpet as light relief from his studies at Oxford University.
Graduating in Physical Sciences his hobbies include reading boring books, doing hard sums and online bingo. Employed by The Ministry of Defence his research in to the fusion of cider and beer atoms was ground breaking but a dispute over “Whats best – Large Hadron Collider or Curly Wurleys ?” resulted in early retirement from the scientific field.
Playing in various bands from the classical to jazz, James adds a strong dynamic to The Midnight Movers and really helps to create that authentic STAX and Motown sound.
Lawrence
An accomplished and talented guitarist at just 18 Lawrence is also a qualified stage technician. Despite being a bit of a show off as all lead guitarists are, his modern take on a traditional style fills the Midnight Movers sound and gives it a contemporary edge while staying true to the soul genre.
People ask Lawrence what the attraction is for a young dude to play a retro genre. Lawrence always tells them it was on his ascent of Mount Everest that his inspiration to discover the roots of music was kindled. ”I just felt it was an almost spiritual thing to do, so I joined The Midnight Movers”. We asked if he was successful on his climb. ”Not really, I reached my first base camp just North of Droitwich and my mum rang and said my tea was ready. So I went home”.
Lawrence can be seen on stage with his other band Ronin, who play original numbers and who gig regularly.
Chris
Chris has just joined us on Keyboard. He has been a multi-talented professional musician for most of his life, originally on the Cruise Ship and Holiday Camp circuit but now teaches guitar in schools. Chris had been looking for a band to join for a while and got in touch with The Midnight Movers on the off chance. ”It’s great to be in such a big band” Mike told us. Such a refreshing change from playing to backing tapes and such like.”
“I’m really looking forward to getting on stage and giving it a blast !”
Mike
Mike hails from Malvern and is a true veteran! A self-taught musician since the age of seventeen, Mike has enjoyed a broad range of musical influences ranging from the Soul and Motown classics of the 60s to the big ‘Prog Rock’ bands of the 70s such as Yes, Rush, Camel and Genesis.
As an ex-professional bass player he has performed in bands covering a wide range of musical styles across the whole of the UK and has also toured Europe and the Middle East. Mike is a well sought after muso and session player and a solid member of our backline (probably one of the best in the business) and an invaluable part of The Midnight Movers talented line-up of musicians.
Steve was born a long time ago in a quaint railway town in the North of England. Most of his school mates were into music and Steve took the “goalkeeper” approach to drumming, nobody else wanted to do it. His first kit was a collection of oddments but he managed to learn the basics and join a school based band trying to be Led Zeppelin (it was either that or ABBA back then).
Moving on to a better kit happened at the same time as a fortunate turn in cultural events – Punk! Bands were back in fashion and opportunities for locally based bands to gig were more plentiful. Joining the Stoke on Trent musicians’ collective and going to uni in ’77 saw support slots for Duran Duran (pre Simon le Bon) and a tour with The Significant Zeroes (yes, them???!!!!).
Keeping in touch with the music world, Steve worked on a freelance basis for The Charlatans creating their website and holding their coats at gigs. Still doing web stuff for The M Club in Crewe and helping to run the highly successful Nantwich Jazz Blues & Music Festival.
Except for the odd bash on a mate’s kit, no drummage was indulged upon until five or six years ago when the stage was taken again at a Jam night up in Crewe. Moving to Redditch (on advice from his doctor – he wouldn’t live any longer it would just seem like it) Steve jumped back in and was in a couple of gigging bands, the first seemed to be playing fill in spots between the Bingo but getting out and about around Worcestershire led to better opportunities and an approach from The Movers to audition was taken with much enthusiasm. “I just love the atmosphere that the band creates and it’s so much fun to be making people want to get up and dance”.
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