from the archives some ramblings from me -

From the Middle East to the North East

The Glitzy Glamorous World of Showbiz

Formed in 1986 by bass guitarist Cary Lord, and keyboard player Helen Tierney, She's the Leader were Birmingham's premier female professional band and rocked around the World playing a combination of covers and original material, and probably had the largest hair do's...ever.

The original line-up featured Stacy on lead/rhythm guitar, Chris on drums, Cary on bass/backing vocals, Helen on piano/synth/backing vocals and Lesley on lead vocals, all coming from diverse musical backgrounds of tastes and styles. It was tough getting an all female line up together and the only work we could get at the time was abroad. Shortly after the band formed, we were offered a contract in the middle East playing a residency at the Ambassador Hotel in Dubai. We immediately grabbed it. We had played the hotel before - it was pretty basic but ok. We ate off the staff menu which consisted of .....all types of curry.

After a month in Dubai, Chris (drummer) announced she wanted to leave and as we weren't familiar with drum machines back then we had to find a replacement fast in the form of true heavy metal god rocker Pano Malaris, who flew out to join us midway through the contract. He settled in really well considering he was surrounded by women and had to adapt his extremely loud rocky style to the more suitable laid back restaurant one! Pano later went onto to tour with Birmingham rockers SHY. We had an enjoyable time in Dubai, making friends with the other artists - Phil Bates became a good friend together with Jo his wife (he later joined ELO II and toured the World, now in the Bev Bevan Band), soaking up the life style, and weather, including being told off by the hotel manager for drinking champagne in the outside jaccuzi (quite rare back then) and annoying the other guests! Everyone treated us like royalty, and we had the most fantastic time eating and drinking for free, and taking in some of the World's finest hotels, and shopping for gold in the gold souks. I just couldn't look at a curry for months afterwards.

Back home and with the line-up now settled, the band invested in a primer grey coloured transit van, called it Kenny, overloaded it with equipment and travelled extensively throughout the UK playing clubs and military bases, despite an electrical fault which meant the headlights would randomly go out at night, and it backfired chucking out trails of fire from the exhaust. We travelled to the Middle East - Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain, Holland and Germany in those early years. Arriving at a military base in Germany one night, a squeak was coming from the back of the van. `Oh it's nothing to worry about', I told the rest of them confidently. We just about wobbled through the gate when the guard informed us that the back wheel was falling off. That was a memorable gig. Stranded on the base for three days while I searched like a headless chicken for bolts to get the wheel back on. Eventually they needed to get rid of us so one of the guys did a welding job and we drove back to the UK at 40 mph. The glamorous world of show biz. Fun indeed!!

There was a week of gigs in Jersey where the band played in Fort Regent Leisure Center over looking St Helier. The band poster was up in Woolworths window and we couldn't go anywhere on the island without being recognised. Weird. The highlight of that summer season was supporting Billy Connolly at the Inn on the Park. Billy was fantastic with us as I nearly ran over his foot backing the van into the loading bay at the back of the club. Our rider consisted of umm....nothing. He had a massive spread with unlimited booze in his dressing room and invited us in to help ourselves. He also lent us his famous black and white striped jackets for a Kodak moment with the man himself.

Getting off the ferry on the way back from Jersey we were subjected to a strip search which was frightening but also delayed us by three hours. We missed the gig we were travelling to and our agent went beserk. We lost the money for our first night's gig in the North east. Don't get to the gig - don't get paid. The North East of England was rich for band work back in the 80's. You weren't a 'proper band' unless you had survived a stint up North. Aye pet those were the days with a Saturday evening gig then up early to go to a club for backing the Sunday lunch time stripper, then onto another gig for the Sunday evening.

We sucessfully auditioned for the 'Med Tour' even though we forgot our mixing desk (left in our keyboard players front room - don't ask) in front of a panel of USA military club owners. Our first American Military base tour of Europe took place in 1988, and we invested in a more dependant and large Mercedes Benz Van. We had planned and prepared as much as you can do when you don't really know where you are going and you don't know how much it will cost to get there. Multimap was just a figment of a developers imagination and back then an agent would give you the name of the base and just tell you to 'get there'. The RAC were very helpful in route planning. You could tell them your 'holiday' route and they would send paper maps with the route carefully pencilled on. I nearly collapsed when I got the route back for our first trip to Northern Turkey. It stretched the entire width of the room over several pages.

On the day of our departure to catch the ferry on the first leg of our journey, Helen and I drove to Coventry to pick up Stacey who had completely misunderstood the concept of there being two four o'clocks in one day and was sound asleep. We dragged her out of bed at four in the morning, she hurriedly packed and we set off on our adventure. The van was enormous and quite comfortable inside with a bunk, table and room for everyone to sleep in it if required and they did. The exhaust split in two going through a tunnel in Italy and Pano and I had to fix it with an empty coke can and a wire coat hanger. I attempted to keep the van tidy and emptied the metal bin at one of the services we stopped at. Unbeknown to me, Stacey was using the bin to keep her cosmetics in (Wot??) and I had just binned 2 months worth. We crossed many borders and had to get a VAT document called a 'Carne' stamped at each one entailing wasting many hours hanging around until someone decided to turn up.

We played some tremendous gigs in unusual places to say the least taking in major countries such as Turkey, Italy, Greece, Spain, and the islands of Sardinia, and Sicily. In Turkey we carried the gear onto a boat and sailed out to sea before someone realized there was no power on board. A generator was promptly requested and the show went ahead. The next day saw us carrying the same gear up the stairs to the 8th floor restaurant. Who needs a gym??

We played a few beach gigs on the back of trailers in the belting heat of the Mediterranean sun. It was wonderful, and we met some great people. All band members were multi talented, highlighted in a feature encore in the show where everyone changed instruments. Helen went onto bass, Cary to guitar, Lesley to drums, and Pano to keyboards, and performed `Alright Now' with Stacey taking lead vocals. The military guys were starved of entertainment and very responsive and grateful of what we were doing. They used to bring crates of Michelob beers and B52's to the stage and request `Mony Mony' so they could sing unprintable words to the chorus.

Our equipment was being hammered and gradually things were deciding not to work! One side of the desk had given up completely and I did one of my `botch job' specials with a soldering iron to send the signal through both sides of the PA and keep the sound together. The last gig of the tour was Southern Spain. We arrived at the gig excited knowing we were soon to be home. The manager was brash to the point of being quite rude but informed us that he had a very nice apartment we could stay in over the next two nights. We set up the equipment and the desk refused to work. No sound was going to come out of that baby. There was nothing I do except grovel to this horrible individual. I asked the impossible question `I don't suppose you have a spare sound desk laying around do you?' thinking the band was doomed and we would be sent home. `Yes,' he said `over there'. I couldn't believe my luck. This huge piece of equipment was slung on a table and I attempted to plug everything in and get it to work. Fortunately the band sounded amazing as it proved to be far more superior than the desk we had. We were saved. We happily drove off to our digs for that night to find that it was a rat infested, damp and dingy dump. We had no choice but to stay in there as it was far too hot at night to sleep in the van. Pano ended up sleeping on the coffee table. You win some, you lose some.

Alas, travelling was not for everyone and in early 1989 Lesley left to be replaced by Sue on lead vocals, who was also a terrific songwriter. We were also fortunate enough to find the finest female drummer in Birmingham - Maz Williams and the material played took on a rockier raw edge leaning towards Lita Ford, Heart, Blondie, The Bangles, and our very own Magnum, Wasted and Def Leppard. We were now writing and rehearsing original material playing at local pubs - The Barton Arms, Selly Park Tavern, and Edwards No 8 in the City Centre. We had a following of local lads who used to come and mosh at the front. Sue didn't stay with us long term and Lisa took over lead vocal chores.

We had a publicity picture taken and had some huge posters made up which Helen, and I took around Birmingham fly posting at 3.00am one morning, hanging off bridges and flyovers with the wallpaper glue - everyone in a band has done this believe me! It looked great for oh.. at least two days until they were all scraped off.

After recording some tracks in the studio, in June 1989 the band took off once more for the sunnier climes of the Mediterranean taking in the delights of Sicily, Madrid, Barcelona, and Sardinia. `Alright Now' was replaced by Maz Williams raunching through `Sweet Transvestite' from the Rocky Horror Show much to the delight and laughter of the rest of the band and the shocked faces of the audiences (we were ahead of our time musically!!). Unfortunately the tapes from these shows have all been lost

Its a tough life without the financial backing and management girl bands receive these days and the band decided to call it a day in August 1989. Cary and Helen still play in local bands around Birmingham - The Word Girl, and Angel Street, playing private parties, weddings etc.

Cary has worked with the Roy Wood Big Band/Roy Wood Army making several TV appearances - Big Breakfast, Jim Davidson's Generation Game, Richard and Judy, also touring Scotland in November 1999. She now concentrates on writing and recording original material under the name of 'BLUSH'.

4 tracks from She's The Leader recorded in 1989 will be available on i-tunes from the end of October 2009 - Watch this space