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1989
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Mark Barratt
searches for like minded musicians to form three piece
power trio. Eric Van de Velde and Davide Bozzatto join to complete
line-up of band. The year is taken up rehearsing songs comprising
new arrangements of 1980s material written by Mark, songs by Davide
plus new original group compositions. Demos recorded. 1990- Live work
commences in and around London with more songs being
added to the repertoire and further demos recorded. Recording
sessions for first album commence in a London studio. Live work
continues.
1991-
Band promotes forthcoming album with continuous live work all
year. Sessions for first album move to Studio 125, Sussex.
Album (Solidground)
completed, mixed, mastered and eventually
released end of December.
1992-
Live work continues. Band rehearses new material. Recording starts
for second album. Davide departs band to return to
Italy.
Band enlists Ian Herron (studio engineer) to complete bass tracks.
Michael Syslo (bass/vocals) joins band. Live works resumes
immediately. 1993-
Band works on extra
songs to add to new album. Live work
resumes. Four new songs recorded for second album on Easter
weekend. Album mixed a few weeks later and mastered in May.
Live work continues. 1994-
Second album (No
Man's Land) finally
released end of January.
Band promotes album with live work all year. End of December
Michael departs band. 1995-
Band auditions new bassists without success. Eric departs band
in the middle of the year but would return for future sporadic
appearances. 1996-
Mark writes new songs
for future projects. 1997-
Original concept of Native Son still alive and in September, Mark
and Eric re-unite with new bass player, Mark Snowling for one-off
London gig. This line-up rehearses new songs for self-financed
third album. Bass and drum tracks recorded in December. 1998-
Mark Barratt
completes album over several sessions. Third album
mixed and mastered June/July to be conveniently released on
previous record label. Leap
of Faith not
available until end of
December.
1999-
Third album Leap of
Faith released
officially in April. In May
Native Son record two songs for Heepsteria/A
Tribute to Uriah Heep.
(various artists). Line-up for this session:
Mark Barratt (guitar/vocals), Mark Snowling (bass), Pete Cowan
(drums) 2000-
Mark Barratt searches
for new rhythm section. Bill Croft (bass) joins
the band in May. Eric returns to help out. Heepsteria
finally
available in November with official release scheduled for March 2001.
2001- Mark
and Bill spend all year in search of the right drummer to
complete line-up. Several drummers fail to commit.
Native Son continue rehearsing/demo-ing new material for inclusion
on next album Utopian
Sky which has a
projected completion date
of 2003. 2002-
Mark calls
time on the latest line-up during March after two years of
perseverance with rehearsing/writing and line-up changes.
The
continuing absence of viable live work on the London club circuit
also meant the band couldn't continue in its present format. The
demos of new material were scrapped. The concept of Native Son,
whilst still alive, needed a fresh bass/drums combination to advance
with the next project. While hopes for the fourth album are
still
planned to re-commence in 2003 with all new material, no definite
time has been decided.
2003- New
line-up forms in May. Terry Peaker (bass / vocals) and Les
Hammond (drums) join Mark to commence work on material for
proposed next album and on a new live set comprising old and new
material. Native Son return to live gigs during the
year.
2004- No
Native Son activity. 2005-
Mark returns to live
work during the course of the year making
several guest appearances at the Kings Langley jazz, rock
and blues
music club nights. He is joined by Chris Garner (Bass) and Terry Finn
(Drums). For the November and December gigs Eric van de Velde
returns on Drums to join Chris and Mark for a selection of Native Son
songs and Jazz/Rock instrumental covers. 2006-
Live work continues with Chris and Terry throughout the whole year
at the Kings Langley and Chipperfield clubs. The Rock, Jazz
and
Blues workouts prove very enjoyable and both venues are regularly
full. If it wasn't for other plans the trio would have ventured
into the
recording studio to lay down tracks for a new direction in the Native
Son sound. At the year's end Mark would look forward to his
planned relocation to the southern hemisphere and the next
chapter in his music projects. 2007-
Mark relocates to
Brisbane, Australia and continues studio work
on
new original material and Live work as a member of Johnny and
the Phantoms who also comprise ex-pat NZer's. Johnny and the
Phantoms gig throughout 2007 playing 1950's style Rock 'n' Roll and
Surf Instrumentals.
The band line-up is John Stroud - gtr/voc., Ray
Stroud - bs/voc., Mark Barratt - gtr/voc., Tony van
der Puten
- (OR)- Max Butler - drums/voc.
This musical liaison reunites Mark and Ray who first played
together in bands 30 years ago in Wellington NZ.
To be continued
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