Ten Years After
Ten Years After is a British blues-rock quartet formed in Nottingham, England, as the Jaybirds in 1965 they ditched their name for one that was more fitting with the underground progressive music scene. The group consisted of Alvin Lee (born December 19, 1944), guitar and vocals; Chick Churchill (born January 2, 1949), keyboards; Leo Lyons (born November 30, 1944) bass; and Ric Lee (born October 20, 1945), drums. As the Jaybirds they were popular in the Midlands music scene and had success in Germany, a residency was secured at the legendary Star club in Hamburg. Although a Pop band Lee's guitar prowess was by now filtering through the scene and he was offered a position in The Outlaws, a post he turned down. Moving to London in 1966 they secured a support tour to Pop act The Ivy League. For these dates the group decided to draft in Chick Churchill on keyboards to augment their live sound. New manager Chris Wright suggested that they needed a name change in order to make headway. The band became Blues Trip and then Blues Yard under this guise the band gained a valuable residency at London's Marquee club. The band felt another name change was needed. Lyons found the name Ten Years After in a newspaper article on Russian history. Another name under consideration was Life Without a Mother. As Ten Years After they appeared at the Windsor Jazz & Blues festival before cutting their first album for Deram. The self-titled debut album surprisingly received play on San Francisco's underground radio stations and was enthusiastically embraced by listeners, including concert promoter Bill Graham who gave them in 1968 their first crack at the U.S. at his San Francisco Fillmore West venue. Audiences were immediately taken to Lee's distinctive, soulful, rapid-fire guitar playing and the band's innovative mix of blues, swing jazz and rock, the American love affair began. Unfortunately for the other three members, Lee overshadowed them to the extent that they became merely backing musicians in what was described as the Alvin Lee show. A trip to New York the same year found the band entering the studio to record demos with guitarist Jimmy Spruill and vocalist Garfield Love. It would be twenty years before these tapes surfaced. Their second album was the superb live Undead, recorded at Klooks Kleek club, word spread that Lee was not only an outstanding guitarist, but he was the fastest by a mile. It would give them their first taste of the British charts. From this point on Ten Years After would live life almost solidly on the road or in the studio. 1969 saw them appearing at the famed Woodstock Festival, Lee's now legendary encore, "I'm Going Home" was one of the highlights and remains today a standard for many other guitarists. Captured on film in the documentary of the festival, movie-goers were blown away by the intensity of the band's performance Lee’s playing catapulted him into superstardom, and soon the band was playing arenas and stadiums around the globe. Their ten-minute appearance in the film is an acknowledged highlight and established Ten Years After a place in the rock history. Lee later lamented that he missed the intimacy of smaller venues; there is no denying the impact the film made in bringing his music to a worldwide audience. A third album 'Stonedhenge' found the band exploring more Psychedelic territory. Lee's fret burning on 'I'm Going Home' would become the yardstick to measure all future phases of their career. This performance would set up next album 'Ssssh' for chart success at home and for the first time in America. Further exposure was gained when some American radio stations refused to play the record objecting to the lyric 'I want to ball you all night long' on the song 'Good Morning Little School Girl'. 1970's 'Cricklewood Green' gave the band a British top five album and 'Love Like A Man' from the album gave them their only UK hit single. Now signed to Chrysalis Records by Chris Wright, they altered their sound becoming much mellower with pastoral acoustic numbers coming to the fore. A Space In Time saw them briefly relinquish guitar-based pieces in favour of electronics. By the time of Rock 'N' Roll To The World the band were jaded and they rested from touring to work on solo projects. When they reconvened, their spark and will had all but gone and remaining albums were poor. Alvin Lee decided to go solo in 1975 and the group disappeared from the scene. However, there has always been a demand for Ten Years After to reform.  Each time, Alvin quit to return to his solo career. In 1978 Lee formed the trio Ten Years Later, with little reaction, and in 1989 the original band re-formed and released About Time, but only their most loyal fans were interested. In 2001, to take advantage in the growing interest in legendary bands like Ten Years After, EMI, and Decca Records digitally re-mastered and re-released the whole Ten Years After back catalogue, most with bonus tracks, including a rare "find" that had laid unnoticed the 1970 live recording of the band at its peak at the Fillmore East in New York. Ric and Chick approached Alvin with a view to reforming to support the releases, but Alvin declined. It was a frustrating situation and once again it seemed that fans would be denied hearing the music being played live. A chance opportunity in 2002 for three founder members Leo Lyons, Chick Churchill and Ric Lee to work together gave them an insight into the intense, re-awakened interest. The band, albeit minus Alvin Lee, made a return in 2002 with twenty five year old guitarist and vocalist Joe Gooch they are now recreating the music, energy and excitement they have been known for over the past four decades. Debuting in Italy during November of 2002 the new look band was soon receiving rave reviews. Touring extended into 2003 with Ten Years After playing gigs in Europe, the UK and North America before entering the studio to record a new album entitled 'Now'. The band returned to touring in Europe during 2005 performing festival dates packaged with fellow veterans Iron Butterfly, Canned Heat and Jefferson Airplane. 2005 also saw the release in Europe of Roadwork’s a double live album to great critical acclaim. Roadwork’s is scheduled for release in US and Canada early to mid 2006. Later this year the band’s first DVD will hit the streets.
	LIVEMUSICMAGAZINE.COM2006