Sundance: Friday 30th May 1975, The Penthouse, Scarborough

1974 SUNDANCE Chuffer The ‘Chuffer’ tour?

Bob Bowman (guitars, vocals) / John Lynam (guitars, vocals) / Steph Griffin (keyboards, vocals) / Phil Savage (bass, vocals) / Alan Moore (drums, percussion)

I really can’t remember this band at all, but they seem to have been around for a few years, certainly long enough to have cut two albums for Decca: 1973’s ‘Rain Steam Speed’ and 1974’s ‘Chuffer’.

Discogs tells us that they were an “obscure UK outfit aside from the fact that they issued two LP’s and a couple of singles on Decca, toured a bit and disappeared into obscurity. They came from Birmingham in the UK and had a nice West Coast sound based on the American music of the late 60’s and early 70’s. Both their albums had train-related cover designs. Their college tour was promoted by using the tag line ‘Who The Hell Are Sundance?’. At the time no one seemed to care! And their record sales were very poor. Sundance’s biggest claim to fame is perhaps that drummer Alan Moore briefly joined metal legends Judas Priest and played on their classic album Sad Wings of Destiny.” Which is waaaay more than I could ever have told you! 🙂

I’m also guessing when I say that this was probably the ‘Chuffer‘ tour as the album had been released in 1974, the previous year to this gig, but it seems highly likely that they were using material from both that and their previous effort, ‘Rain Steam Speed‘. Beyond that, I’m afraid that I cannot tell you anything.

This was just another Friday night at the Penthouse with a band that did OK but clearly didn’t stand out from the crowd. Some of their stuff can be heard on YouTube and, I’ll be honest, it’s not bad at all; just the sort of stuff that I would have enjoyed.

UPDATE: In September 2023 I picked up a beautiful vinyl copy of the ‘Rain Steam Speed’ album and it’s quite decent. 🎶🎵👍

In addition here is a review (complete with grammatical errors) of the album from Discogs which reads, ” Sundance were from Birmingham and made a mere two albums of which this is the first. An unfairly overlooked curio, ‘Rain Steam Speed’ seems to be collectible because the drummer later joined Judas Priest. The good news is he had the good taste to leave Judas Priest to join Sundance, but later rejoined the metal behemoths when Sundance’s bid for commercial success was not to be. A modest travesty that this HM association should be the only reason collectors seek it out, as it certainly deserves to be known for a whole lot more. How about the great songs of principals Bob Bowman and John Lynham, and their unashamed discipleship of The Band? Mistakenly sometimes lumped in with the Pub Rock movement, Sundance were early exponents of what we insatiable music nerds who crave the stuff call: ‘British Country Rock’. Along with Brinsley Schwarz, Help Yourself, Matthews Southern Comfort, Cochise, Sutherland Brothers & Quiver and one or two others, this is what kept us sane in those lean years between the death of Prog and the beginning of Punk. Notable tracks ‘I See The Road’ and single ‘Coming Down’ still sound untouched by the passing years and continue to make grown men crave gingham and ill-fitting cowboy hats. Two other final passing footnotes of interest: Guitarist, John Lynham later joined Celtic flavoured band Quill and, lastly, Sundance reunited in 1994 but with few of the original members except for Lynham. Still not released in any modern format, my vinyl copy could definitely do with a digital overhaul, if there any kind souls out there with a private copy, please do look me up?”