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After making a very successful appearance at The Soundry last year, where they gave their first live performance in five years, Tons Of Sobs are going to be making an unprecedented second appearance within a year! This time they will be bringing along some special guests to perform on stage with them.
Special guests will include Andy's bandmate from The Hamsters, Barry Martin (aka Snail's Pace Slim), the renowned guitarist Phil Hilborne ("We Will Rock You", Nicko McBrain, The Nice, ...), and renowned musician, director & producer Phil Aldridge (The Illegal Eagles, The Carpenters Story, The Wendy Roberts Band, Whisky Mac, ...).
Tons Of Sobs were pretty much 'thrown' together (along with the name) in the spring of 2017. The band was formed essentially on the whims of vocalist Ray Brown and bassist Andy Billups to perform a handful of songs by the iconic band FREE at a fundraising event in memory of local master guitar builder Steve Smith. The event was organized by Steve’s son Paul.
The band went down a storm and were encouraged to run with it as and when the 'stars aligned'... which transpired to be extremely rarely over the years! They did appear a couple of times at our venue when it was known as ‘The Touchline’ in 2017 and 2019, and were very well received.
Tons Of Sobs will be making another one of their rare live appearances at The Soundry, where they will be performing some of the greatest hits of FREE. Their show will include songs such as Mr Big, Ride On A Pony, I'll Be Creepin', My Brother Jake, Little Bit Of Love, I'm A Mover, The Stealer, Fire & Water, Wishing Well, Walk In My Shadow, Be My Friend, Alright Now and many more...
Members of the band are:
Ray Brown (Vocals)
Original lead singer and frontman of The Illegal Eagles. Accomplished songwriter and session musician who has, over the years, worked with many top artistes. Has also written, co-written and performed on many album projects, including his own personal ones.
Al Vosper (Guitar)
A highly respected, life long and constant touring session guitarist. Has worked with many top mainstream acts over the years. He is one of the founder members of The Illegal Eagles. More recently he has toured with Chris de Burgh, Alfie Boe, Il Diva, Anastasia, Chesney Hawkes, Sam Fox, Never The Bride and many others.
Tony Kiley (Drums)
Joined the Blow Monkeys in 1983 and began an incredible journey with hit records all over the world, performing on TOTP five times. Later he moved to America and worked with soul legend Curtis Mayfield. Joined The Illegal Eagles in 2017 and still tours with them today.
Andy Billups (Bass)
Toured extensively with The Hamsters from 1988 until the band retired in 2012. Current member of the Gary Fletcher Band. Session musician and celebrated singer/songwriter. Writer and producer of his own highly acclaimed album project called ‘Afton Down’.
Chris Teeder (Keyboards)
Regular member of the Phil Hilborne Band, Moritz, The Room, Tony Jackson’s Vibrations and many others. He has had the pleasure of working with many well known musicians including Nicko McBrain, John Entwistle, Bernie Marsden and more recently Owen Paul.
