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➤ Milan says Ciao to snazzy Ross now fronting the flash dads of Spandau Ballet

Posted on 24 Oct 2018 | Leave a comment

Spandau Ballet, Ross William Wild, Martin Kemp, John Keeble, Fabrique Milano, pop music, interviews, tour dates

Last night at Fabrique Milano: singer Ross William Wild fronts the new Spandau line-up, alongside Martin Kemp and John Keeble

◼ LAST NIGHT FIVE STARS WERE REBORN. Spandau Ballet returned to the international tour circuit with a long nostalgic set for an audience of 3,000 in Milan’s vast Fabrique music space. For their rebirth in fashion-conscious Italy, the leaders of the UK’s New Romantics movement during the Swinging 80s pulled out the stops: the dads flaunted floral beach shirts and zhooshy silky jackettis. Up front, their new boy-wonder vocalist Ross William Wild – recruited from Britain’s stage-musical circuit at the appetising age of 30 – dressed both down in Ts with street-cred ripped jeans and up in skimpy black leatherette. All radiated evident joy to be back onstage in this handful of dates titled The Next Line to test the temperature for bigger plans next year.

Tonight they play Rome, then Padua, Utrecht and Tilberg, then home on Monday facing a 3,600 audience at London’s Apollo Hammersmith where tickets at £57 and £155 are still available through Spandau’s own store.

Monday’s event Backstage Live presented by Pips Taylor will be streamed online from 19:45 to 20:30 GMT via YouTube and Facebook. Fans are invited to suggest funny and creative questions to put to the band by emailing in advance to nick [at] moonlightmile.co.uk

Spandau Ballet, Fabrique Milano, pop music, interviews, tour dates, Steve Norman , Gary Kemp

Looking sharp at Fabrique Milano: Steve Norman and Gary Kemp

Spandau Ballet, Fabrique Milano, pop music, interviews, tour dates, Steve Dagger

Milan last night: Manager Steve Dagger adds to the smiles all round after the Spandau Ballet tour launch. Front right is keyboardist Toby Chapman

Spandau Ballet,pop music, interviews, tour dates, Ross Wild, John Keeble

Wherrrrre’s Johnny? Missing from available Milan photos, Spandau drummer John Keeble – pictured instead in rehearsals with his new bro Ross. Plus the playlist

ROSS TELLS ALL IN RECENT INTERVIEWS

❏ In a frisky chat with Graham Norton on Radio2 [from 2h04], Ross told listeners that singer Tony Hadley’s exit leaves “an awesome legacy” but it wasn’t just a matter of him playing a role as Hadley: “As a kid, all I wanted to be was lead singer of a band. It’s liberating now to just be myself and sing as me.”

❏ Pre-show buzz included this lively and reflective interview with Ross and Steve Norman [above] for FaceCulture in Holland, plus a massive picture splurge on Spandau in The Sun last Friday:

“ Guitarist Gary Kemp insists the band are stronger after surviving Tony Hadley quitting as lead singer. Brother Martin adds: “We should be so lucky to play together and have that opportunity. In the end, we’re a family. We might be a dysfunctional family, but whose isn’t?”

Tony may no longer be part of Spandau’s plans but they insist they are all back on good terms, with Tony also recently making contact after a bereavement within Steve’s family. Steve says: “He was straight on the phone and that cut through everything. None of the grievances came into it. We’re old mates. . .” / Continued at Sun online

Bang Bang Romeo, Spandau Ballet, pop music, interviews, tour dates,

Bang Bang Romeo who are supporting Spandau’s gigs: vocal powerhouse Anastasia Walker, Ross Cameron (guitars) and Richard Gartland (drums)

❏ “An absolute honour” – so say Yorkshire’s female-fronted soul rockers Bang Bang Romeo who will be supporting Spandau in Holland, as well as in London on the 29th. The trio represent a strong voice for the LGBT community.

➢ Previously at Shapers of the 80s:
2018, At Ross’s showcase debut, dad band Spandau preen with pride for their newly adopted son

➢ Previously at Shapers of the 80s:
2018, Shock claims about the secret role of Shapers of the 80s in the rise and rise of Spandau Ballet

➢ Elsewhere at Shapers of the 80s:
1980, Who was really who in Spandau’s break-out year, penned by the Invisible Hand of Shapers of the 80s

FRONT PAGE

➤ Was the Band With No Past truly wafted here from Paradise?

Posted on 2 Nov 2010 | Leave a comment

Paradise Point: Roman, Adam, Cameron and Johnnie

❚ THEY’RE BROODY, A TOUCH SULKY, they’re very fresh and very photogenic in black and white. Four songs online show they play their instruments with startling energy — bass, rhythm guitar, syndrums and synth. Their music is high-octane power pop on one track called The Only One. Furious upbeat emo on another called Tears. Whiffs of Duran Duran on Unbearable Without You. The singer does also happen to have a voice, bone structure, mad hands, attitude. Can’t be more than 18. There’s no evidence on their website of ever playing in public. This is the Band With No Past.

Where do bands like this come from, fully formed, straight from the egg? A whisper tells you they’ve already landed a deal, but that can’t be true. Google the name Paradise Point and all you find is a Palm-dotted beach in San Diego.

Somebody else tells you PP are Brits, playing their first date this month, live with, er, actual instruments. Hang on. These aren’t indie scruffs or thrash rockers. These kids are in their teens, unashamedly popsters, writing songs and making their own music like real pop groups used to before boy-bands — and before the Cowell X-culture robbed the pop charts of a generation of musicians. We have to reach way back into the heritage for groups who could play their own pop.

It turns out to be Steve Strange who’s showcasing Paradise Point at The Face, the bleeding-edge Neo-Romantic clubnight of the 20-tens, but hang on again, you wouldn’t call this band Romos, they don’t dress like Alejandro Gocast. Yet. OK, they sing of angsty love, like in two more tunes they’ve covered on video and posted today — live versions of Katy Perry’s Firework, and Rihanna’s Only Girl in the World, just to show they can big-time it. Straight to-camera demos, in one take, in fashionable black-and-white, understated and fearless and fizzing with energy. Don’t say Busted. Don’t say McFly. Really, there’s no need to wince.

Strange, I’ve seen that face before ... the one on the right’s called Roman, and he somehow reminds me of her

So far, there’s no press coverage on the band. There’s no info, even of any kind, on Paradise Point’s MySpace page or at Facebook. Apart from four names in alpha order: Cameron Jones (vocals), Roman Kemp (bass), Adam Saunderson (guitar/synth), Johnnie Shinner (drums). So, Watson, what do you deduce? Kemp’s face, Holmes, looks familiar, seen it somewhere before. By jove, Watson, you’re right — some pretty high-powered friends on MySpace, as well, Lady Gaga top of the list. There’s a clue in their YouTube tags too: if you like the tags, you’ll probably like the Band With No Past. Better trek down to The Face Friday fortnight, see what they amount to…