BILLY KARLOFF MEMORIAL GIG

BILLY KARLOFF MEMORIAL GIG September 11th 2010 8.00 - 11.00 pm Doors open 5pm - midnight Scream Lounge 20 South End, Croydon, CR0 1DN 0208 667 0155 nearest train East Croydon Special appearances by Pedro Ortiz Neil Hay Mark Dawson Gareth Dean Glen Buglass Tickets £6 (includes entry into raffle) www.myspace.com/screamstudios www.billykarloff.co.uk tickets@billykarloff.co.uk BILLY KARLOFF & THE GOATS The history of Billy Karloff goes right back to the mid 70's when guitarist/vocalist/songwriter John "Billy" Osborn played all over South London with bands like ‘Slippery Sam’, ‘The Punks’, ‘Scum Of The Earth’ and ‘Streamliner’. By 1977 he'd formed ‘Billy Karloff & The Goats’ along with guitarist Chris Pye (later of ‘The Books’), drummer Pedro Ortiz (who played with Bowie at Live Aid!) and bassist Ed Duane, though keeping a regular bassist proved difficult. They played The Roxy on quite a few occasions and following their appearance on "Farewell To The Roxy" they became the ‘Billy Karloff Band’ for April 78’s "Crazy Paving" / "Back Street Billy” 45 (Wanted Records, CULT45-001) and album “The Maniac” (SOS LP 2). By this time they'd added a second guitarist known simply as Julian. They became ‘Billy Karloff & The Supremes’ then (after a threat of legal action from The Supremes management) ‘Billy Karloff & The Extremes’ and secured a deal with Warner Brothers. By now the lineup featured Karloff, Neil Hay (guitar), Paul Jeiman (guitar), Dolphin Taylor (drums ex – ‘Tom Robinson Band’ later ‘Stiff Little Fingers’ / ‘Spear Of Destiny’) and bassist Glen Buglass. It was this incarnation that recorded the 1981 LP "Let Your Fingers Do The Talking" (K56394) and the singles "Headbangers" / "Don't Keep Me Down" (K17753) and "Summer Holiday" / "It’s Too Hot" (K17818,) though a second album "The Vinyl Solution" remains unreleased to this day. Karloff then issued a "Stars On 45" style single under the name Frankie Lee called "It Ain't Him Babe" (ZIM001) which was basically a medley of Bob Dylan songs! He then concentrated on song-writing and his credits include "Wait For The Blackout"/ "Dozen Girls" by ‘The Damned’ and "Anywhere But Here" / "Back Street Billy" by ‘The Business’
Back to blog