Local Bands

Gentlemans Pistols

ARTIST/BAND: Gentlemans Pistols
BASED IN: Burley Park
BAND MEMBERS:
James Atkinson - Lead Vocals, Guitar
Chris Rogers - Lead Guitar, Vocals
Douglas McLaughlan - Bass Guitar
Adam Clarke - Drums
BEEN GOING SINCE: March 2003
BIOGRAPHY: Picture the scene - a sold-out concert at the Albert Hall. Eric Clapton is onstage going through the motions in a bellowing pink Armani suit. Now you can see the reason for this band. Gentlemans Pistols were formed in their earliest incarnation back in Spring 2003. James and Douglas were writing songs together and although none of these songs ever survived, they had a good time doing it. After a short amount of time, old friend and some-time hellraiser Simon 'The Guvnor' Mawson joined and they had their first proper line up.
During this time, the Pistols wrote and recorded three songs and things were looking up for them. More songs started to flow and word of mouth started to spread about the band but nothing was concrete. Although things were looking up for the band, they were still not happy with the overall sound and thought that something was missing. It was around this time that Chris Rogers stepped into the frame on lead guitar. Chris had been a friend of the band for a few months and it wasn't till he asked to join that the other guys really knew he played guitar. Things were looking up. Chris' guitar work brought out another dimension to the existing songs and the band had a new lease of life to write more.
In Spring 2004, the first demo was recorded in Bradford. The Guvnor handled the engineering duties as well as playing the drums. The whole affair was a rushed job, but fun was had. After another six months of debauchery, bad behaviour and lack of practice, Mawson decided to leave the band to pursue a career in sound engineering. In stepped Adam Clarke, drum wunderkind from deepest, darkest Saddleworth. Adam had expressed an interest in joining the Pistols sometime before, and the rest of the band were really impressed by his drumming style. So luckily, for the band, he stepped in right away and then they were flying. The band was at last complete. They got straight into writing new material, were ready to gig and the rest is history.
STYLE OF MUSIC: File under: Heavy Rock
INFLUENCES: Quality Rock/Blues/Pysch from 1968-1974
BEST MOMENT SO FAR: Every moment is a highlight.