It’s one of the most important events on the Angels calendar and now Angelfest is only two weeks away.
In the first of a series of profiles on the acts that will be performing in the newly-revamped marquee, we take a look at…….WASTED and their unique live jukebox.
You wouldn’t believe it to look at their youthful faces, but WASTED have a combined total of 167 years gigging experience behind them, which in effect, they tell us, means they’ve been gigging since 1859, the year Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species.
Drummer Alan has been gigging since the other three were in nappies and says he’ll carry on as long as he can carry his drum kits around which other band members Andy and Mark say is about next Tuesday. Andy and Mark have been in bands together since they were 14 – so it’s a wonder they’re still talking to each other.
The band says: “In 2018, we hit upon the brilliant and frankly terrifying idea of the Live Jukebox, where we provide the audience with an online list of all the songs we play and they select their favourites. We pick the most popular on the night and write our set based on that.”
The fourth member of the band is Simon and the thread that unites them all is rock: Alan is a Who and Led Zep nut, Andy loves the guitar of Bon Jovi and Whitesnake, Mark is a bit more prog and loves Marillion and Pink Floyd and Simon goes for some of the heavier stuff like Iron Maiden, Metallica and Black Sabbath.
“Beyond that, however, we’ve got very wide tastes, with Alan and Mark both classically trained singers (although as they’ve got older, their soprano only appears with the aid of a surgical truss). At any time in the assortment of WASTED households you might hear anything from folk (Alan) to dance (Mark), and from Del Amitri and Nashville greats like Tom Bukovac (Andy) to Elvis and modern country (Simon).”
Faced with the unlikely and slightly surreal circumstance of being abandoned on a desert island with the ability to summon from out of nowhere a maximum of two albums they could listen to for the rest of our lives, the band say they’d go with:
- Alan: Led Zeppelin IV, The Who Who’s Next
- Mark and Andy picked the same: Pink Floyd Delicate Sound Of Thunder, Dire Straits Alchemy
- Simon: Iron Maiden The Number Of The Beast, Elvis That’s The Way It Is
Check WASTED out on their Facebook page, wasted.live, where you’ll find loads more info about them and links to their videos on YouTube.
