PULSE - music and more, with Simon Donohue

MUSIC fans in East Lancashire are set for one hell of an experience tomorrow night.

Noel Redding, former bass player with the Jimi Hendrix Experience, will be bringing his band to the Keystreet Music and Dancing Bar, Lowergate, Clitheroe, at 7pm.

The event is being mounted in conjunction with the Fender guitar company and Ribble Valley-based Rothery Artist Management International.

The Noel Redding Band also includes three supporting members with impressive musical histories.

They are one-time Thin Lizzy member Eric Bell, Dave Glover -who works for Fender - and Les Sampson, a session musician who has worked with David Bowie, Peter Gabriel and Ringo Starr.

Venue owner Phil Knight said: "It is brilliant to have them here. This is a gig which we could not have afforded to put on on our own but it has been made possible because of our links with Fender and Rothery Artist Management International."

Noel Redding first met Jimi Hendrix after being asked to audition on guitar for Eric Burdon of the Animals. At the audition he was asked by Chas Chandler if he could play bass and said he would give it a go. He played three tunes with a drummer, keyboard player and unknown American, who turned out to be Jimi Hendrix.

The Kent-born musician went on to tour the world with the guitar legend and appeared on the three classic albums, Are You Experienced, Axis Bold As Love and Electric Ladyland.

Phil added: "Strangely, I have never been a Jimi Hendrix fan but I can see the attraction.

"I am really looking forward to it."

Earlier in the day there will be music from Clitheroe band Joy, who will entertain during the afternoon.

Kava's funk has O-levels

KAVA Kava are a funky kind of group who have taken great delight in wasting their college educations.

But it can't be that bad a thing because they were recently asked to help hotly-tipped band Embrace on their Fireworks EP.

Armed with a handful of degrees, Kava Kava decided to step onto the stage rather than take the quickest route to the rat race.

And seven years after graduating from Huddersfield Polytechnic they are still doing what they like best, purveying a super-cool brand of blistering funk. They are bringing their sound to the stage at Jazzy Kex, in Blackburn.

Tonight's appearance will be the second in this neck of the woods for the Kavas. "Last time we played there it was great," said Birmingham-born Kava Kava crew member Matt Bond, pictured in the middle of our photo montage.

"It has been good playing to club audiences in general because it's easy to get people up dancing."

The Kavas are influenced by the "funky dance-mix leaders of old skool funk" but also get off on current sounds like those of the Propellerheads.

On stage they prefer to use live sounds rather than samplers but throw in a few good keyboard effects for good measure.

But their sound wasn't always so "cooool".

"In fact, it all started out as a joke," said Matt.

"When we all met at Huddersfield Poly, we started just jamming and ended up going into a battle of the bands.

"People seemed to like it and we thought, 'God, maybe we ought to to carry on.

"We didn't win. We weren't playing raging metal music so we didn't stand a chance in Huddersfield."

The latest tour is a continuation of the 25 dates they played last year to promote the album Supalube, a release was been praised by the likes of the NME, Suede and, er, The Big Issue. They start off their tour in Blackburn before heading off to Stoke, Manchester, Canterbury, Brighton, Oxford, Cardiff, Liverpool and Hereford.

Harley stripped down after Full Monty

COCKNEY Rebel star Steve Harley cuts the glam and brings an "unplugged" set to Burnley Mechanics tonight.

Seventies success Harley is enjoying a revival with his 1975 Number One Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me) being used in The Full Monty.

The tour is titled "stripped to the bare bones" and sees Harley on stage with just the stringed instrument back-up of Nick Pynn.

He will perform all his hits including Mr Soft, Judy Teen and George Harrison's Here Comes The Sun. You can expect to hear several songs from his 1996 album Poetic Justice, where Harley acknowledged his respect for Bob Dylan with a cover of Love Minus Zero, alongside some self-written material.

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