I recently caught up for a phone chat with Terry Utterly, member of English Rock ‘n’ Roll band Smokie and we talked about their forthcoming tour of Australia, including Tasmania. The band boast five hit albums and are as well known in Romania, Greenland, Mongolia, Norway, Sweden and Sri Lanka as they are in Britain and Australia.
Terry tells me the guys enjoyed their last visit to Tasmania three years ago citing the hotel and venues as ‘fantastic’.
Three of the band got together when they were grammar school boys, ironically, at a music shop!
If that serendipitous moment hadn’t happened, well, Terry would have joined the family business and been a lithographer/printer instead of a musician. Lithography means to ‘write in stone’ and in a sense Terry has been a lithographer with Smokie’s music, as some of their songs have become written in the ‘stone’ of our cultural history.
One such song is ‘Living next door to Alice’. Terry says everybody asks who was Alice and what happened to her but never ask about the song’s mysterious Sally! Mick Chapman created the song from the simple story of a boy and girl in love.
With tours requiring over 70 flights a year and the hectic schedule that goes along with them, often means it’s not possible to experience the places they perform because it’s usually a case of 8 hours on a plane then directly to the stage!
This tour Smokie will introduce four new songs in their 1 hour 40 minute show but be assured they will also play all of the hits!
You can see Smokie at The Derwent Entertainment Centre on Friday 11th November at 8pm.
Paula Xiberras
