09.08.2010
There's a lot happening in Jamieland at the moment. He's currently working on his next release, and also on a CD for EPIC/Eaglesque/Do Wah diddy, but more news of those projects to come soon. As you will see, this website has recently had a facelift and overhaul. The new photographs were taken at John Hornby Skewes by Gary Barlow, and feature the Fret King Ventura 80 Bass and the Fret King Perception Bass. The backgrounds and photoshopping work come courtesy of Adrian Bece who also worked on the "Return To Bass" album cover. Jamie, "I've been using the Fret-King basses now for a few months and I continue to be very impressed. I was really pleased with the photos Mr Barlow took of me with them. As I get older, I dread photo sessions more and more, but Gary was very easy to work with. I also wish to extend a huge personal thanks to Adrian Bece, who worked his magic on the "Return To Bass" cover and has now assisted with tarting up my website with new artwork. He will also be working on the cover for my next release. Any band or website needing that special something artwork-wise should contact this guy."
30.06.2010
A few updates in one. On 14th June 2010, Jamie performed at the John Hornby Skewes "Event," alongside Saxon legend Graham Oliver, John Verity (Argent,) Dave "Bucket" Colwell (Bad Company,) Gordon Giltrap, Chantel McGregor, Thomas Blug and Bob Henrit. Jamie was very excited about the event and was pleased to give JHS something back for all the help and support they have recently given him. Jamie is featured in the new "Gear" magazine - which can be viewed on the media page of this site. He is also awaiting inclusion in Bass Guitar, Metal Hammer and Bass Frontiers. Recently moving house, and being very busy working live recently has slowed Jamie's recording process down. However, at his new home he has a new studio called "Mothership Studios," so please keep coming back to the site for updates on Jamie's latest recordings. Also, Eaglesque have further developed their 60's show, "Do Wah Diddy," so eyes peeled for a brand new website and poster coming soon.
28.04.2010
Jamie has recently accepted an endorsement opportunity with Fret-King guitars. He is currently playing the Perception and Ventura (pictured) basses. Jamie, "I couldn't be happier wih these basses. I've had them a week and I've recorded 15 songs and played 4 gigs with them. I don't endorse anything just for the sake of it - I have to fall in love with it first! People who endorse a product just for the publicity and then don't really use it are cheating the public and should be shot! I'd like to thank the staff at John Hornby Skewes, particularly Gavin Coulson and Gary Barlow (who took this photo) for offering me this fantastic opportunity."
The 15 tracks to which Jamie refers are the songs recorded for inclusion on the forthcoming Eaglesque CD. More news on that soon.
17.04.2010 - Photos From Sweden Rock Cruise
On 7th April, The Tony Martn Band flew to Stockholm, ready to play The Sweden Boat Cruise the next day. The band had an evening to kill in Stockholm, but were rather shocked by the prices of food and drink. The picture to the left shows Jamie and Danny Needham's reaction to the price of the first round of drinks. A few different photographers have been kind enough to allow us to use their shots of The Boat Cruise gig from the following night, in Jamie's photo album. Just go to Photo Album, Tony Martin, Sweden Cruise - to view the pics and read further info about the gig.
Other news, Jamie is currently recording an Eaglesque CD. The CD is set to feature several Eagles songs and a few assorted bonus tracks. More news on that as it comes.
08.03.2010 - Kicked Off Hammerfest
Yes it's true, Tony Martin's Headless Cross have been removed from the Hammerfest 2 bill. Following their cancelled USA/Canada tour last summer, this is the last thing the band needed and has come as a very serious blow to Jamie. As has become their usual practice, Jamie and Tony Martin Band drummer Danny Needham (now also with Venom) rehearsed last week just bass and drums to prepare for the gig and once again it seems that their efforts were in vain. Jamie, " I wish the news was different. I would like to extend my apologies to the many fans who bought tickets to Hammerfest because they wanted to see us. I think the organisers will realise soon enough that there will be some very disappointed people at the festival. Sorry to those of you I agreed to meet and sign things for. Sorry to Donna who was patient and supportive whilst I shut myself away and practiced the songs to get back up to speed, all for nothing. And most of all, sorry to Gareth from Hartke Artist Relations for going to a lot of trouble to organise a rig for me, only to be told at the last minute not to ship it. That wasn't embarassing enough!" Jamie will not be making a statement about the reasons for cancellation at this time.
03.03.2010 - Fireworks Review "Return To Bass"
Today, new pictures have been added to the photo album, which were taken at this weekends Eaglesque gigs. As excitement builds for The Tony Martin's Headless Cross appearance at this years Hammerfest on 12th March, Jamie still continues to receive rave reviews for his solo album. This one by Sue Ashcroft, Fireworks Mag issue 39.
"Having played bass with former Sabbath front man Tony Martin for the past few years, amongst other things, Jamie Mallender releases his first solo album 'Return to Bass.' This instrumental album features Jamie exculusively and is something which I would probably recommend for connoisseurs and musos rather than the man on the street. That's in no way a criticism, more of a reflection on the standard of playing and style of music.
Coming from such a hard rock background (Bailey's Comet, the Tony Martin Band and Zal Cleminson's Oskura) you would pherhaps expect an album from Jamie to be of this genre - not so. The album is a magnificent mix of jazz, rock, blues and all points inbetween. I was reminded at times of Stanley Clarke - one of my first bass loves and a very noticeable influence of Jamie's.
Apparently, the album was a way of Mallender channelling his frustration after the US tour he was scheduled to go on with Tony Martin was cancelled only hours before he was due to leave for the airport, leaving him with no income and no work. His energy wasn't wasted. High points of the album for me are 'The Bass Player Answers Back', which has a Zappa-esque feel in parts, but then almost Jethro Tull-ish in others, and the amazing 'Captain Blake Versus the Lion', which is old-school prog with pleanty of keyboard wizardry.
This eclectic mix of styles is an excellent showcase for Mallender's talents, but even though he's shunned commerciality with this release, I hope sales of this little gem will spur him on to bigger and better things."
02.02.2010 - Happy Birthday Jamie
Today Jamie celebrates his birthday a very happy man. This website has had a total facelift and has been re-launched today. "Return To Bass" is selling steadily, and was included in the recommended releases of Bass Musician Magazine's CD Hot Spot, in the latest issue which came out yesterday. Classic Rock magazine had this to say about the album, "You might know Jamie Mallender from his stint as bassist in former Black Sabbath vocalist Tony Martin’s band. There again, perhaps you won’t. Now usually, the thought of a bassist doing a solo album has as much appeal as Thierry Henry in an Irish pub. But against all the odds, Return To Bass is listenable and entertaining. Lots of cool noodling from a man who understands how to ride the balance betweem being accessible without compromising his musical integrity. No obvious pop-rock hits here, but if Billy Sheehan style presentation is your bag get a copy from www.jamiemallender.co.uk"
Eaglesque are going from strength to strength with more and more work filling up the diary nicely and now they have their own page on this site. Last but not least, there is a UK gig to look forward to for The Tony Martin Band (see previous news article.) It has been decided that the band will be billed as Tony Martin's Headless Cross, following much speculation on the matter.
05.01.2010
Jamie, "Happy new year everyone. I'm happy to start the year off with the news that I will play Hammerfest in Prestatyn, North Wales with the Tony Martin Band on 12th March this year. Click the pic to the left to check out the official Hammerfest site."
"My sincerest thank-you's to those of you who have purchased "Return To Bass" and helped put my career back on track and restore my confidence. I'm eternally grateful."
09.11.2009
Today Jamie released the "Return To Bass" album independently. It is availabe through CDBaby. To purchase the CD or to digitally download it, please click the link below. Jamie, "I've poured my heart and soul into this album, and I've learned so much and become a much better a musician whilst recording it. This is a very proud day for me."
30.10.2009
Eaglesque are a 100% live 4 piece band with incredible harmony vocals and 1st rate musicianship. Depending on the booking, they perform an Eagles tribute show, or the best of The Eagles with some tracks by other similar bands to mix it up a bit and late November they will also be launching a '60s show. Recently their bass player had to step down due to some personal issues. Jamie was drafted in at the last minute and the band honoured all gigs. Jamie has now been asked to join the band as a full time member - an offer which he was very pleased to accept.
www.eaglesque.co.uk
www.myspace.com/eaglesque
http://www.facebook.com/pages/eaglesquecouk/154271801379
10.10.2009
"Return To Bass" is complete! Jamie has finished his solo instrumental album. The album was a 1 man operation from start to finish. All tracks written and recorded by Jamie, featuring the man himself on all instruments. Mixing and mastering has now taken place and a promo version of the album called "The Return To Bass Recordings" is available by e-mailing returntobass@hotmail.com , pending an official release of the album. Artwork has been contributed by the fabulous Adrian Bece. See "Recordings" for more details.
28.09.2009
Jamie recently did an interview for The Tony Martin Era of Black Sabbath and his other Collective Works site, and he has even been given his own page there. The link for the site is http://edtrader.proboards.com
Jamie has been working hard on his own recordings recently, and is on his way to completing another great new instrumental - "Theme From Nowhere." He is soon to make a video to accompany one of his tracks. It's about time they had something better to go with them visualy than a simple slideshow of old photos. He's currently undecided which track should get the video treatment and so he has invited fans to make their suggestions. Feel free to e-mail Jamie or put a comment on the guestbook with your suggestions.
10.07.2009
The tour of USA and Canada has been cancelled. Tony Martin made this statement yesterday on his MySpace page,
"Yes its off!!!! We did everything we could to get to you guys, and right up to the last minute we were negotiating it. We couldnt get contracts agreed, or financial arrangements agreed, and even the artwork and advertisements caused problems.
The word being put out is "personal and creative differences" Well it CERTAINLY wasnt creative!!!!! The band are absolutely FLYING!!!!! The last few days spent in rehearsals was awesome!!!! Nothing wrong with our creativity i can promise!!!
And personal?!!! What the heck is that!!! The band is closer than ever!!
Nah... I'm afraid its business shit that is the problem this time. Just pure business shit!!!
We are sickened to the core that we werent able to get over there, and there are some that will be celebrating that. Well HA!! He who laughs last....
Now we travel to Brazil where we will unveil the new set.
Its an exciting but frustrating time and we offer our deepest and most sincere appologies to you that intended to support us. We won't forget that.
Best Wishes
TM"
Jamie is deeply disapointed and would like to add the following statement, "It was a very sad moment when we had to make the decision not to fly to the USA. I extend my sincerest apologies to the fans who have already made plans to attend the gigs and have purchased tickets. Judging by the volume of e-mails I have received over the past couple of months, there was a lot of interest in this tour and that just saddens me more deeply. I have never toured the USA and I can't tell you how excited I was about going there. Lots of people are trying to get a statement out of me about the tour cancelation, but I really don't feel like discussing it right now. This has hit me very hard, and has left my family in financial difficulty. I have 2 children to provide for, so I have to pick myself up and find some work to try to replace the lost earnings. I gave up all my other work to free me up to do this tour and many months of hard work went into putting an awesome show together. In rehearsals this week I have to say that I have never heard a tighter, more powerful sounding band. Tony's voice was in unbelievably good shape and it is a crying shame that America and Canada will not get chance to experience this now.
The other bad news is that I will not be able to go Brazil in September to play the shows with Tony, Danny and Geoff, as cancelation of the US dates means it is no longer financialy viable to take me there. This situation I have to say, is in no way the bands or the organisers of the Brazil dates fault. It is just a knock on effect from losing the USA tour."
17.06.2009
Tony Martin just made this announcement on the Black Sabbath official website, "OK Its official and you're the first call.
Yesterday they confirmed that all visa applications were under way and that means we're definateley on our way.
Everything thats out there up till today has been speculation but if you wanna start talkin about it you can say you heard it for real from me.
The band is gonna have an advertising tag of Headless Cross.. its really the Tony Martin band, and thats what we enter the states as.. but the promoter has got itchy fingers i think and decided its better to use the album title .... I'm not ENTIRELY happy with it just because ,.... but I decided to run with it .
So the idea is to commemorate 20 years since Headless Cross and I can reveal that some of the songs have NEVER been done live before... Like Black Moon... Its a REALLY complex track but we're gonna bring it to the stage and show it off... also we've just left behind th anniversary of Eternal Idol so there's gonna be some more off that album too like Born to lose.
Looking forward to getting out there and seeing what response we get.
I have to say its been a hard slog with negotiations and getting visas and stuff so we come at VERY short notice and hope to be with you guys in just under 3 weeks from now!!!
The band consists of myself, Geoff Nicholls, My drummer Danny Needham, Empire guitarist Rolf Munkes, and Jamie mallender, we are a couple of members short normally we like to have more people up there but it wasnt possible this time round but we got it covered.
We arent able to bring with us much in the way of visual stuff just because there is so little time to get it all together so ... its just the songs... Me and....well .... i hope.. you guys!!! Dates are becoming published and that was a little premature cause some of them didnt have confirmation but from now there will be and so if you find something near you its almost certain to be real.
But you can always check with me i guess.
We're out there till the end of August.
Best wishes
TM"
25.05.2009
Jamie is absolutely over the moon to announce that the Tony Martin Band will tour the USA from 20th June 2009 to 31st August 2009. The full date sheet is not yet available, but the dates will be posted here as soon as possible. The band has been off the road now for longer than they would have wished, and are returning with a new set of Tony Martin era Black Sabbath, Tony Martin solo and Empire tracks, a slightly updated sound and renewed hunger to perform. Jamie has been halfway round the world with Tony, but has never visited the USA. It is the one place he has always wanted to perform more than anywhere else, and is currently busy reminding himself of the old songs and learning the new ones.
For this tour, Jamie has all new gear. He will be playing a Musicman Bongo through a Hartke rig and using Rotosound RS66LE's.
Jamie has been asked to write a tour diary for www.RockRadio.co.uk which will also be posted here, so keep checking back for his regular anecdotes.
Next addition to the website will be a photo album, to feature pics from Jamie's own camera on the road, fans pics and photo shoots etc......
(Pic - Deborah Stone)
07.04.2009
Tony Martin will be touring extensively this year (dates to be announced soon,) and Jamie will as usual be handling the bass duties. Unlike many musicians, Jamie only endorses products that he actually uses and truly believes in. That is why Jamie will be touring with a Hartke Bass rig and playing Rotosound strings exclusively.
17.03.2009
Jamie is back!!!!!!!! In more ways than one. As many of you may know, Jamie toured with former Black Sabbath vocalist Tony Martin on and off for a couple of years, playing all over Europe, the eastern block, Russia, Asia, etc...etc.... Since December 2007 The Tony Martin band has been inactive. This was just as well because Jamie's partner has been very ill for the last 12 months, preventing him from being particularly active musically. However, with his better half now fully recovered, Jamie is back with a set of new bass oriented instrumental recordings for your listening pleasure. (Each page of this website features one of Jamie's own tunes playing in the background - apart from the Tony Martin Band pages.) And there are new Tony Martin tour dates soon to be announced, And as you can see, Jamie has a brand new website. There is a lot of work left to do on this site, but seing as how a very incompetent company who shall remain nameless called Lycos failed to transfer Jamie's website over to the new host before ceasing operations as website hosts - all the hard work Jamie had put into the site was lost. Please keep checking back to the site to see how both the site and Jamie's career are developing.
