Established club tunes in to the feelgood factor

THIS week, we continue our round-up of local promoters by turning the spotlight on one of the longest-standing musical ventures in the local music calendar, the Walkern music nights at Walkern Sports Club, High Street, Walkern.

Live Circuit met up with Mike Jackson, the man behind the events, to get the inside story.

A non-profit organisation, Walkern Music began in the 1980s when Mike took on the mantle of music promoter at Walkern Sports club and began booking some of the better known bands on the R&B circuit and charging on the door.

October 1988 saw a landmark gig when Small Faces and Humble Pie stalwart Steve Marriott accepted an invitation to play the club.

The event saw Mike unwittingly run foul of the fly-posting laws, for which he was fined £100, but the resulting show was an unqualified success that easily sold out the 250 capacity venue and put Walkern Music firmly on the national R&B map.

Since then Walkern Music has hosted most of the popular acts on the R&B circuit, including Steve Gibbons, Alan Price from The Animals and Dr Feelgood.

Mike continues to promote regular Saturday evening shows and is involved in running the annual Mayfest Roots and Rhythm and Blues festival near Buntingford (see www.mayfest.org).

The next event is Saturday week and sees the return of Wilko Johnson, the original Dr Feelgood lead guitarist and co-writer of many of that band's best known anthems. His band currently features Ian Dury and The Blockheads' bassist Norman Watt-Roy and drummer Monti and will be playing old Dr Feelgood standards as well as Wilko's solo material.

See www.wilko-johnson.com for the lowdown. Support will be from The Zeds, and entrance is £12 on the door.

To find out more about any of the forthcoming events, or Walkern Music, visit http://pages.zoom.co.uk/walkernmusic or phone Mike on 01462 453953.