Welcome to the part of the site dedicated to the memory of my old mate and quite simply one of the best bass players I`ve ever heard.
Ken Gallon passed away on Xmas Day 2008 after a major decline in his health since he lost his beloved wife Carol in July of the same year.Although originally from Walker in Newcastle where he grew up with his brother David and his Mam and Dad Elsie and Ken,he travelled the world playing bass in many bands from the late 70`s through the 80`s and 90`s.Our paths crossed from time to time but it wasn`t until he met Carol and settled in Spennymoor that we became mates.
In 1991 Ken knocked on my door on a Monday morning.I was packing my guitar and a bag with plans to return to Southern Ireland from where I`d just gotten back.I`d fallen in love with the place and decided to finish off the summer playing my way around the many music bars out there.Ken desperately needed a guitarist to join his band The Extras for a trip to Germany and as was his way,quickly convinced me that I was that man!!
With Ireland on hold I duly becameThe Extras guitarist and struck up a friendship with the lads,not knowing that it would last through thick and thin,particularly with Ken and the then keyboard player Paul (Dixy) Dix.It was a great band with good tight harmonies which was my forte and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with them.
It wasn`t to last however,andas is the way of many bands,a clash of personalities ensued and the band split.At the very last gig we had a room full of friends and family,and the singer decided not to show up.When we realised he wasn`t coming I was delegated to take over his duties for the night.Having never sung lead vocals before I wasn`t too happy but got on with it to much acclaim from everyone.That was it for Ken! As was his way again-he convinced me we didn`t need another singer as we had one in me and I became the `front man` of everything we did from that day on,but always with Ken to my right!
We formed the Mr Lucky blues band and had a great time playing rock and blues around the pubs.Lots of the pub bands that subsequently formed were spawned by watching us plying our trade-always with extra musicians around to get up and jam.Great times.
In late `92 Ken and I decided to work as a duo.We didn`t want to use tapes so went to see an old friend in Jimmy Cassidy.Jim is an exceptional musician and had been working with sequencers for some time.Along with another mate John Lewis,Jimmy gave us the advice and help we needed and Hazard was born,named after the Richard Marx song which was in the charts at the time.
We took to it straight away with no superstar singers or massive egos to contend with.it was just me and Ken and we hit the road big style often playing 7 gigs a week sometimes doubling up and doing a couple on the same day.A few times we even managed to do three gigs on the same day.Our wives Carol and Bridie would often be with us and it was such a fun time after all the years of hassle in bands.Our time on the road was soundtracked by some great music from Pink Floyd and the Crash Test Dummies to The Tubes,James Taylor,Marc Cohn and everything in between.Many of those songs give me such happy memories now.And we travelled everywhere and played all sorts of stuff,building up a massive repertoire.We got to work with many famous names and did summer seasons on holiday camps in Yarmouth ,Skegness,Hull,Scotland-you name it! Edwin Starr asked us to be his backing band permanently but we were enjoying what we were doing and turned him down!!We won awards and appeared on TV which led on to us also being in Spender and Crocodile Shoes,the Jimmy Nail dramas.We did some TV commercials and were regularly in the BBC drama Our Friends In The North where we worked with the future James Bond,Daniel Craig and the future Dr Who,Christopher Ecclestone along with many others.We wrote songs and radio jingles with which we had some success.
Don`t get me wrong-we had our moments,as does any working relationship,and we could both be stubborn firey buggers,but we always wanted the same result-to have whichever show we were doing as professional as it possibly could be.
When my first child came along,I thought that maybe I should `get a proper job` as i didn`t want to be away from home anymore so i managed to get a good job in a factory in Spennymoor.After two days Ken was working there too! We managed to keep Hazard running on a week end and work in the factory during the week.after a year or so the closure rumours had everyone worried and we were both finished with the place closing not long after.Within a week we both had a job at another local factory in Aycliffe.Still keeping the duo going just in case-we worked day and night shifts until,once again we were finished and not long after the place closed for good-see the pattern forming here?
Our time in the workplace had made us many good mates most of whom I`m still in contact and turn up at gigs now and then,but it made us realise that Hazard was where we belonged and we quickly re-established our mark on the local scene without having to travel much.Our partnership coninued both as friends and in business and we played all manner of shows.We often drafted in other artistes and musicians if we needed them for certain jobs including two very successful Xmas seasons at the Holiday Inn with our good friend Janie Mackenzie fronting Hazard.We did the same with the fantastic Pauls Best another best mate and many other singers and players.As a result of hiring a keyboard player by the name of Stewart Summerson for one gig in 2003,another friendship was formed and Stu quickly became a permanent member of Hazard adding some great charisma to the show and lowering the average age of the band by about 10 years!!! We went on to win the trio of the year award in 2004 and have some great times together.
Back in `94 we had staged our first Hazard Xmas Party in Spennymoor as a direct result of people asking us where we`d be playing locally over Xmas so they could organise a night out to come and see us.We created a monster,as Ken used to say! Every year this great night out sold out very quickly and we`ve held it every year since.For years we had been trying to get our old mate from the days of The Extras,Paul (Dixy) Dix to come down for the Xmas party but Dixy was by now playing percussion with his own successful band.however,in 2005 his band had broken up and he came down complete with his percussion set-up and joined us onstage for the show.It was electric and we all felt a real buzz as did the audience judging by all the positive comments we received.
We managed to coax Dixy out of retirement on a full time basis and created another,larger show calling it Paul Lyndons Vertigo so as not to confuse it with the now,smaller trio show of Hazard.The Paul Lyndon comes from my first and middle names and was added to the original Vertigo after U2 had a hit with a song of the same name and a U2 tribute band sprung up in the NorthEast called Vertigo causing no end of confusion!
The band was a huge success from the word go and we thoroughly enjoyed working together.We would wind each other up mercilesly and take the Mick out of Ken reciting his endless stories and travelling tales-yet again!!We won the band of the year award in 2007 and continued our successful 20 year relationship with Beverley Artistes,most notably our mate Paul Taylor who Ken would spend hours on the phone to each week-sometimes giving him a bit of a hard time(ha),sometimes shooting the breeze.either way Paul would end up with earache which was usually Kens desired effect!
Around early 2007 Ken and his wife Carol,whom he`d married in New York six years earlier,moved to a new house in Spennymoor.The kids were grown up and left home now and they had a new light in their lives with the arrival of Grandaughter Layner.In their lovely new home with their little girl crawling around life was good and Kens repeated tales at work became all about babies and Layner.He was a proud Grandad and indulged his passion for photography even more as he continually snapped away at Layner taking some really beautiful photos.
Ken was to celebrate his 50th birthday in March 2009 and was planning a special holiday to Goa with his and Carol`s family to mark the occasion,but was also taking a trip to Greece in July 2008.A couple of weeks before hand,myself and my family wnet along with Ken and Carol to the theatre in Sunderland where my daughter was performing in a show.Ken and Carol had been watching her on stage since she was a toddler,travelling to London with us when Olivia worked a two year stint in the West End,and loved going to see her.i noticed Carol was walking badly ,but in her typical way she shrugged it off.The next week saw them in Greece on holiday,but on return Carol didn`t feel good and was admitted to hospital for a check-up.She died suddenly a couple of days later! We were all devastated and rallied round Ken as much as we could,but although he seemed outwardly to be coping,after spending many years with him I knew it was a brave front and that his light had gone out inside.
The last six months of Ken`s life were not happy times for any of us as we watched his decline both in health and spirit.As much as we tried to talk to him about how worried we were,he seemed to have lost his way altogether.To anyone watching our shows over that period it was pretty clear that he wasn`t well although to speak to him you may not have known as the `brave front` came on.
Our last gig was at Coxhoe,a place where we have lots of friends and supporters of the band and Ken was over the moon to see a packed house with everyone there.It was a cracking night and Ken played brilliantly which I told him when we came off.We made some arrangements for Xmas Day for him to come to our house when he`d visited our mate Barriy and I took him home.I never spoke to him again.
However Ken died,whatever the cause,the reason was simply that he had lost the will to carry on.He would have been so proud of the wonderful tributes which have been paid to him by fellow musicians and friends from all around the world,but not as proud as I am to have had the privilege of being his mate and musical partner for the last twenty years.
Enjoy the Great Gig In The Sky Kenny boy!
Griffy
Ken Gallon 1959 - 2008
