The long journey of The
Tuckers dates back to the earliest part of the century,
when brothers Kevin and James Aitman began having guitar lessons
wanting to follow in the
footsteps of new hero's Kurt Cobain and Noel Gallagher.
As they both began to
get better they started experimenting with other like minded
mates and began to get a band together, the result of this was a
short lived band
called "The Feedback", who made an impromptu debut at The
Alnmouth Working
Men's Club. Although they were just having a bit of fun, this proved
a fuel for the
Aitman brothers' fire.
Nothing happened for
a while and the boys both went off and got jobs, still picking
the guitar up every once in a while. James then began trying his
hand at writing
songs, taking his inspiration from everyday life and in mid 2015
began jamming with long
time friends Alec Paterson and Ricky Clark, who wasthe bass player
for "The Self" at this point.
Kev soon became aware
of this and instantly wanted a part of it so he also picked
up the guitar and started writing songs. Soon after, they met a
young clean cut
drummer named Daniel Hogg in the pub and persuaded him to join. The
first official line up was now complete.
In the weeks that
followed, the band practiced incessantly anywhere they could,
using whatever equipment they could find. Then in November 2015 at
JW's in their home town of Alnwick, the whole town came down to
watch the official debut
of Kev (vocals), James (lead/rhythm guitar), Alec "Randy"
(bass) and Daniel
"Hoggy" (drums). Now known as The Tuckers, the surname of
the Aitman's great
grandfather.
The night was a one
to remember as it brought live music back to JW's for the first
time in years. The set also included songs still played today, like
"Automatic
Magic" and "Turns to Stone" and was steeped in Oasis
and The Beatles
covers. From then on the lads got a massive taste for gigging,
(among other
things!) and played out that year and the whole of the next one
continuously, in
anywhere that would take them. Playing with other popular bands
including:"The Motion" and "The Self" (which
featured fellow Alnwick school
mates Ricky Clark, Michael Pengelly and also Londoner Alan
Davidson.) As the
band played more, their fan base grew with them and began to contain
lunatics including Crazy
Horse, Gary Gary Gary and Frank the Tank, who never fail
to get the crowd going. Not surprisingly their set began to develop
and they started
to add tunes like "Crazy Days" and "Can you fell my
Rock and Roll?"
into the mix.
In August 2016 Randy
made a decision to leave the band and concentrate on hiseducation
and so, he up and left for university. Ricky was then approached and
agreed to help out as his band had come to a virtual stand still and
during this time they recorded songs such as "Rock n' Roll in
hell" and played gigs further adrift including one at Lennon's
in Newcastle.
As the end of the
year drew closer, Ricky had decided that his main band "The
Self" were going to
try and make a real go of it in London. This left The Tuckers
helpless for a while, frustrated and unable to gig without a bass
player, then salvation
came in the shape of Matthew Swordy - a mate of the lads,
who decided to swop his guitar for a bass and try to learn it very
quickly. He was broke
into the band, sharing the set with Randy when he returned
from Uni and gradually he began to play full gigs during this period
they gained their
highest allocate to date.
A headling spot at
The Cavern in Liverpool, the most famous club in the world! Definitely
one of the proudest moments in their history as a bus load of fans
joined them in their
glory.
Further into 2005 saw
the writing of now popular live songs - "The Weather"
and "England's
Rose". As the year drew to an end, Swordy parted from the band
and the band stopped for
a while. After a well earned break, they were rejoined
by former bass player Ricky, who had also recently parted from his
band in London and
returned home.
Since then, The
Tuckers have started 2006 in a positive way, they had written
some more tunes
(arguably their best to date) played more gigs, continued to extend
their ever growing fan base, and now have a new manager who has
thrown an
incredible amount of faith, enthusiasm and determination into the
band. The Tuckers
are currently planning dates for the recording of their first
official EP and are also
scheduled to be back at The Cavern in July.
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