LOST WEEKEND ARE : Paul
Uttley (Vocals) . Dave Thompson (Guitars) . Robin Patchett (Bass) . Jack
Himsworth (Drums) . Squiz (Guitars)
Yorkshire based quintet Lost
Weekend were formed in January 1990 to play at a party for the
keyboard player's father. They never did play at the party but
since then have racked up almost 400 shows all over the UK.
Prior to forming Lost Weekend
David Thompson had been the guiding light writing the bulk of
the material for NWOBHM act Rhabstallion from '77 till '84.
After that he went down to London to join the band put together
by the legendary NWOBHM DJ Neil Kay, Venture, the band did a
Friday Rock Show session for the BBC Radio 1. David, however,
left to pursue session work for the likes of Nina Hagen, Steve
Howe and Trevor Horn.
Still missing the band situation
he returned North to join AOR band Voyager UK who created a lot
of interest in the late 8O's with their single "Runaway
Heart", a Friday Rock Show session and tracks on the Bailey
Brothers "Vinyl Frontiers" compilation album of the
best unsigned AOR acts. When Voyager UK fell apart David set
about putting Lost Weekend together and began by recruiting Jack
Himsworth, whom he had worked with previously in Rhabstallion
and Robin Patchett, who had been in Voyager UK. Despite having
no experience, Richard Smith slotted right into the band on
keyboards and with the acquisition of ex Jan Cyrka vocalist Paul
Uttley the band was complete.
Enter Yorkshire specialist record
store Vinyl Tap, who had been responsible for the issuing of the
Rhabstallion material on CD. Having made the contact with David
and found out that he was now involved in a new act, they
suggested the recording of a four song EP. The results were
better than anyone had hoped for and so Vinyl Tap agreed to fund
the recording and pressing of a limited album. An initial
pressing of 500 copies to be sold at the bands' shows went
quickly, but not before a copy had been sent to Now & Then
Records. Upon hearing and liking the material a deal was struck
for the album to gain a wider release. To introduce the band
Lost Weekend were given the unenviable job of opening Now &
Then's showcase event The Gods 96. They rose to the task and
their wealth of experience held them in good stead. The audience
reaction was very favourable and Lost Weekend were on their way.
With the album now remastered and repackaged things are moving
apace. Not wishing to waste any more time Lost Weekend are
already well into the writing of their second album. In the
meantime the band will keep playing live as much as possible and
continue to build up a strong following wherever they appear.
Through `96 and `97 they played
127 shows around the country, building up a loyal following
wherever they performed. Everything was in place for the second
album to be recorded at Sable Rose Studios which had previously
been used by Siam and The Shock. On the 18th of July `98 the
recording began with an 8 - 10 week schedule. Unfortunately,
what followed was a collection of machine breakdowns, endless
travelling back and forth from Yorkshire to Coventry and
engineering problems which resulted in the album being completed
some 8 months after it was begun. If the finished item had been
stunning then that would have been acceptable, but the end
result was literally unreleasable.
Both Now & Then and the band
were very disappointed and disillusioned at this time. At this
point the band fully expected to be dropped having spent a huge
amount of time and money on the album but Now & Then had
faith that the material was strong and that it was the fault of
the engineer in the studio rather than the band. After a period
of time spent licking wounds, gigging and rethinking, the band
entered Now & Then's Startrack Studios on January 22nd 2000
utilising the vast experience of the studio`s engineers, Audu
Obaje and Ray Brophy who have worked on many Now & Then
projects including TEN, BOB CATLEY, HUGO, GARY HUGHES, VINNY
BURNS and NORWAY.
With their expert guidance and a
closer input from the label, "Presence Of Mind" was
completed on May 12th even after taking a month break in the
middle between completion of recording and starting the mix.
During the break the band even took the opportunity to play at
the PHOENIX RISING show in Manchester with Bob Catley. It was a
powerful and recharged band that performed that night. An
important element in the Lost Weekend picture for the
re-recording of the album was the addition of a new keyboardist.
Kevin Fitzpatrick has been a session player as long as anyone in
the band can remember but after hearing the strength of the
demos he pledged his support. His classy playing and superb
backing vocals have made a real difference to the quality of the
finished product. With a stunning cover courtesy of Seb Kozak
(TEN, CROWN OF THORNS, TWO FIRES etc. ) and a July release the
band once again to ventured out onto the live scene with a
launch party at Revival`s in Halifax on July 21st and a
requested reappearance at the PHOENIX RISING show on August 6th.
The band continued to promote
their Presence Of Mind album, with live shows around the UK.
They also started to write and demo material for their third
album. The demos proved to be so strong that Now And Then
suggested that the band go to Canada to record their third album
with Murray Daigle and Mike Dmitrovic from Emerald Rain.
The band travelled to Canada
during April 2002 and recorded their strongest release to date.
The final album, New Religion, is to set for release on August
5th 2002. Now and Then organised a major promotion for the
release that started with a Launch Party on Saturday 15th
September. The band were also requested to play at The Gods
festival in 2003, marking their fourth appearance at this
legendary event.
2005 should be a great year for
the band, with a Best Of scheduled for the first half and
recording of their fourth album later in the year. Also the band
have been writing and recording material for a well know artist.
News about this release will be available soon... |
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