'Tony Steele and the Massacre' consist of singer songwriter Tony Steele, an ex boxer and boxing promoter, and his backing band, playing an explosion of Merseybeat scouse rock’n’roll mixed with a twang of Americana to the honest and sometimes biographical lyrics of lead singer Tony Steele. They have toured the UK with bands such as 'Cast', 'Alabama 3', 'Proud Mary' and Pete Doherty, and are regular live residents of the Liverpool scene, usually selling out venues when they play. There is plenty of experience in the band which includes lead guitarist Charlie Landsborough Jnr, the son of legendary folk singer Charlie Landsborough. Drummer Nick Minski has played in some of the biggest bands to come out of Liverpool including 'The La's' and 'Cast'. Bassist Pete MacParland has been with Tony from the start providing the upbeat notes to compliment Minski's skiffle type drumming whilst creating harmonies to produce the perfect backdrop for Tony's lead vocal. 'Tony Steele and The Massacre' combine the essence of the classics with harmonically improvised music and have garnered inspiration from the legendary bands and artists like Johnny Cash, 'Echo & The Bunnymen', and 'Cast', and many others but it was 'The La's' that inspired Tony to pick a guitar up and start a band.
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| Tony Steele |
They toured Scotland supporting 'Cast' back in 2015 at the time they released their first ever single, 'Starting From Scratch'. At that time there was just Tony and Peter McParland in the band with a mate of Tony's, Grant Walker, coming along to some of the gigs to play African Djembe as percussion and they also had a fiddle player at some gigs to make the sound fuller. At the end of that tour in 2015 they both decided they needed a lead guitarist and drummer, so brought in Charlie Landsborough Jnr on lead guitar, and then got Nick Miniski, the nephew of Edgar Jones, on drums, who was the drummer for 'The La's' when they had a brief comeback in 2005. That line up stayed the same until 2019, when first Peter McParland suddenly and tragically passed away, and Nick Miniski and Tony both decided to part ways. Tony maybe could have left the music scene at that point but decided to carry on, recruiting his friend Mal Peet on drums, who had played with him in a band 10 years earlier called 'Mojo Revival'. His new bass player was Jon Dillon who used to play in another Liverpool band 'The Bribes' who had just split up. With lead guitarist Charlie unable to play gigs on the sabbath, Tomy also got Sean Gow to play some live gigs for them. Lead guitarist Charlie Landsborough Jnr subsequently also left the band and Sean became their new lead guitarist.
Before the pandemic hit, they had played the 02 Academy in Liverpool and a festival in the Isle of Bute called 'Butefest' where they went on before fellow scousers 'Space' and Louis Berry. The planned album was scrapped and Tony went about writing a whole new set of songs to suit the new line up and their musical styles, with a plan of keeping 'Cold Shoulder', released in November 2019 topped the ITunes singer songwriter charts, and gained a small UK tour off the back of both it and 'Bound to Collide', as well as using all of the other songs as B-sides. 'Bound To Collide' was the first single to be recorded with the new line up of the band and it's a much more mature sound with a build up throughout. Their music has grown up but it still has that beautiful Liverpudlian sound and their new material is less folky and much more sing-a-long/big sound anthems. The new single, 'Invisible World' is the first recording with all 4 band members on, and is a statement of intent! It was recorded at the world renowned 'Motor Museum Studios' in Liverpool with well known producer Al Groves. The band have announced their first post lockdown hometown gig at Jimmy’s in Liverpool on the 16th October, which sold out in a few days, and have also announced this single will be the first of 3 new tracks to be released over the next 6 months.
see also:- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2021/12/pool-of-sound-zinney-sonnenberg.html
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