Newsletter;   31st December 2011

Hi Everybody,

It’s been a while since my last newsletter so I’ll bring you up to date.

Since the beginning of 2011 the Group has been around the world twice. The first trip around the world was to New Zealand via Australia with Gerry Marsden in April, where we played ten theatres on both the North and South Islands. We started the tour in Invercargill at the Civic Theatre, which is the most southerly theatre in the world. It was a great night with a full house which made it all worthwhile as we had been travelling from Manchester, England for two days. The next day we were on a ‘red eye’ flight to Christchurch where we had been booked to play at the James Hay Theatre, but unfortunately it had been severely damaged by the earthquake in February, so the venue had been changed to a theatre five miles out of town near the airport. The theatre only held seven hundred people so we did two shows as nine hundred people had bought tickets for the show at The James Hay Theatre. In the end we sold out both shows with a total of fourteen hundred people in attendance. We were the first International entertainers to play a concert after the February earthquake and the audience really appreciated us for coming to Christchurch.   The next morning we left Christchurch for a 1030 flight to Blenheim.  It turned out to be really fortunate that we caught the early flight as there was another earthquake at the airport at 11.30am which measured 3.4 on the Richter scale and as a result the airport was closed down for several for hours for safety inspections. We had a great tour with Gerry and finished in Auckland at the Bruce Mason Centre to a full house of thirteen hundred people. The next day we flew back to Manchester where we had one day off then started working on our UK venues as well as a trip to Sweden and Denmark.

On August the 29th we were once again on a plane, this time to Australia to do our usual tour of Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia. We were there four weeks in total, which was again very successful indeed. 

On our return to Manchester we had a longer break of two days this time and then started touring again on the Sensational Sixties Experience with the Tremeloes, Union Gap and the Dreamers. The tour went all over the UK and was well received everywhere and a sell out at almost all the theatres we played. At this time I would like to thank Alan and Billy, our promoters, who have worked so hard to make the Sensational Sixties Experience Tours so successful. I would also like to thank the many thousands of people who have seen our shows this year and who have met us and chatted with us afterwards.

Next year will be even more busy with more  tours of New Zealand & Australia, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, The 2012 Sensational Sixties Experience Tour and our own theatre tour, ‘Herman’s Hermits in Concert’.

So until the next News Letter, take care and have a great 2012.

From,    Geoff, Kevan, Simon and myself - Barry

GREAT NEWS!!

News
Simon Van Downham has left the group to pursue his own career. He has been replaced by Mike Amatt   

Mike was lead guitarist for Shane Fenton/Alvin Stardust and Wayne Fontana in the late 60s and early 70s. He then went on to become a successful International solo artiste including regular contracts to perform in South Africa’s famous/notorious Sun City.
On returning to the UK Mike wrote, presented and composed  the music for his own BBC TV series ‘Mop and Smiff.’ This wasfollowed by 2 more successful kid’s BBC TV shows before he was commissioned to write and perform the theme tune to the  now “cult” BBC TV Series, ‘Jossy’s Giants’.  Following the success of the Television Series, Mike wrote the songs for the stage production of Jossy’s Giants. During this same time at the end of the 80s Mike was a regular main presenter on BBC TV’s Playschool.
Having played the guitar since he was 12 when he studied with Professor James Morley at the Manchester School of Music, Mike now enjoys country guitar pickin’ and classical guitar … during private moments.  But his first…. and probably his last love…. Are those timeless classics he embraced and “rocked-on” to as a teenager in the 60s
During the late 60s, Mike Amatt started his musical career as lead guitarist with The Rogues a Manchester based band. Shortly after this, Geoff Foot joined The Rogues, and they changed their name to "Sunshine" when they went fully professional. A year or two later  Mike and Geoff combined forces to open a fledgling recording studio in Salford, called "Snorkel Studios".  (A memorable visitor to these studios was Roy "Kinell" Jay, he wore a convict's suit and used the catchphrase "Slither Hither. Sadly he's no longer with us!)  Shortly after this Mike and Geoff parted ways to pursue their own individual careers as composers, songwriters and performers. Little did they know then, that they would later be musically re-united as members of Herman's Hermits.