For more information, email
can be sent to Fran
Hart at: bpd@tiac.netAll Material © copyright Independent Newspapers 1996.
BREAD bring their bitter-sweet brand of acoustic rock to the Good Hope Centre on Thursday,
October 24. GRAHAM HOWE spoke to David Gates, Mr Guitar Man himself, after they opened
their world tour this week in front of delighted audiences in Johannesburg.
NOSTALGIA rules. Catch the great South African rock 'n roll revival show on stage in Cape Town next week.
The gig circuit is getting crowded. Bread and Meat Loaf on separate nights what's this, a rock 'n roll sandwich?
Those were the days. Gruesome Gresham's Top 20 Countdown on LM Radio was the closest we got to our pop idols when they ruled the airwaves and the charts. We're finally getting to see all those bands we missed in their heyday and our glory days: the Hollies, Uriah Heep, Deep Purple, Jethro Tull, those supergroups of the "underground".
The first time I heard wah-wah guitar was on Bread's Guitar Man. The first time I had that adolescent lump in my throat was over Bread's Baby I'm A-want You, If and the girl next door.
As for Bread's Sweet Surrender, the first time I ... that's enough about me though. Why is the band back on the road 20 years later?
A long-distance connection. The telephone rings in a high-rise hotel room a long way from Tulsa, Oklahoma where Bread first played in the dust-bowl.
The soft mid-western drawl of David Gates sings down the wire as soothing as warm vinyl: "We're finally doing the world tour we always wanted to but never got around to.
"The original members of the band were all available so the timing was right. Selwyn Miller, our manager in LA, is from Cape Town, so South Africa seemed the right place to start."
Lyrics, melody, harmony Bread had the perfect pop formula. After riding the charts with a string of classic singles in the early 1970s, they disbanded after recording Lost without Your Love, their sixth and final album.
How did the opening concerts of their tour go at the Standard Bank Arena?
"We rehearsed in Nashville and LA for the tour; did a few warm-up gigs in the States.
"We played to enthusiastic crowds in Johannesburg. We're doing all the old hits and some new stuff too. The stage set is like a starry night a romantic evening out to hear sentimental ballads."
Are they feeling rusty after the long break? He says no, they're all pros: "We're musicians who love what we do and play with pride. We stay focussed with busy solo careers. Larry Knechtel (keyboards) has been touring with Elvis Costello, Mike Botts (drums) with Dan Fogelberg, James Griffin (guitar) with the Remingtons, a country group".
The new guitar-men on tour are Randy Flowers (lead) and Scott Chambers (bass), two renowned session men from Nashville. Backing up the band is a lavish ten-piece string section violins, cellos and violas of local philharmonic musicians.
Lesley Rae Dowling performs solo on piano as the support act.
Bread's distinctive sound came from the perfect melodies of composer David Gates and great backing harmonies. But the advance publicity bills the tour as "David Gates & Bread".
To quote his own lyric,"who draws the crowd, who's going to steal the show, maybe it's the guitar man".
The drawl at the end of this call says: "Nope. It simply enables me to do material off my five solo albums. Y'see, we're promoting our new Elektra compilation which contains the greatest hits of Bread as well as my solo successes."
Tusk will be releasing a new album by David Gates in South Africa in January 1997.
By then, the band will have played in Australia, New Zealand and the East, before returning to Europe and America. When their first and last world tour is over, David Gates will head back to the sanity of life on his cattle ranch in Northern California near Lake Tahoe.
And what does he listen to down on the farm?
"Um, Nine Inch Nails, a real heavy sound, the Spin Doctors, Corrs (a new Irish group). I listen for strong melodies rather than new bands."
Catch David Gates & Bread in concert at the Good Hope Centre on October 24. Tickets are available through Computicket from R85 to R150.
All Material © copyright Independent Newspapers 1996.
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Most recent update: Wednesday, March 10, 1999
For more information, email can be sent to Fran
Hart at: bpd@tiac.net