The days of the Supergroup may be long past… but surely The Guilty Men
would qualify for that description! The band is made up of five of the finest
musicians from the Northwest of England. Between them, they have played
over 10,000 gigs on planet Earth, recorded thousands of songs and made
countless radio and TV appearances. To say they’re experienced would be
an understatement!
The story starts in 1979, in Manchester, England when Clive Gregson met
Neil Cossar. Neil was the guitarist in The Cheaters, Clive was the leader of
Any Trouble. The Cheaters had a PA, Any Trouble owned a van. It made
sense to pool resources, often with both bands on the same bill… happy
days!
Any Trouble signed to Stiff Records, The Cheaters signed to EMI. Both bands
released several albums and played thousands of shows. Both bands ran
their course… Clive then went on to a successful partnership with singer
Christine Collister, released over 20 solo albums, and spent 15 years in
Nashville working as a session musician and producer. Neil became a radio
DJ, formed a Music PR company and launched the online brand This Day in
Music, before becoming a music book publisher.
Cut to 2021… Clive and Neil are catching up over lunch and thought it might
be fun to try and write some songs together… several weeks and quite a few
songs later, they decided to expand from a song writing workshop to a full
band. Clive recruited keyboardist Jez Smith and bassist Craig Fletcher from
John Lees’ Barclay James Harvest… and the line up was completed with the
addition of legendary drummer, Paul Burgess, who has played with 10cc
since 1973. They named the band The Guilty Men… and headed into the
recording studio.
Cut to 2024… and The Guilty Men’s debut album “Invisible Confetti” is ready
to roll. 13 brand new songs recorded in the old-fashioned way: everybody
playing live in the studio, intent on catching the moment. Most of the songs
were laid down in no more than 2 or 3 takes… and with four featured lead
vocalists, the album covers a lot of musical bases. “Invisible Confetti” rocks…
with nods to Americana, country, folk, pop, psychedelia… it’s an exhilarating
ride from start to finish. All aboard!