Simply this: enough space for, as we say in the business, “four musicians and a drummer” . . . . and one mains plughole.

We’ve 250 years gigging experience between us. We’re very easy going, highly professional, no fuss.

We have state-of-the-art equipment and original 70s guitars that are worth more than our cars! We have a 1000w Yamaha PA system with foldback.

We do bring some lights from time to time but we usually find we don’t need them to add to our performance really.

Where it is and what time you want us on. We can set up and sound check in an hour. We’ve been doing this for 50 years!

If you’re planning a party and you book Below the Border, the band is the last thing you’ll need to worry about.

We can provide music for you before we go on and during our break and afterwards. Or you can plug your playlist into our PA system.

We also have a great support act that you can book separately through us for £50 if you want.

He’s an old friend called Dave Bridges. He plays good acoustic guitar and sings sweetly performing Laurel Canyon gear from our era ….Joni, Graham Nash, Neil Young, Gordon Lightfoot, Bayez, David Crosbie, Fairport, Dylan, etc.

Later in these FAQs there is a list of some of the Town Halls, Big-Stage Festivals, Universities, and famed Rock Venues we’ve individually played over the past 50 years. Difficult to pick out a ‘best gig’!

But we’ve had some interesting bookings since forming Below the Border in 2018 - from the coveted sundown spot at the Guildford rock and blues festival in the football stadium, to a lovely travellers wedding at a secret location in a random field on the South Downs!

Best ever gig? Probably a Can-Can Toulouse Lautrec fancy dress party at Birmingham Art College in 1975 (it was a different and less conservative time back then!).

Best ever Venue? It would have to be a one of the town hall, theatre or football stadium festival appearances I guess.

Another difficult question on this site’s form . . . because I’d have to say Beethoven! …

We like to replicate our favourite rock artists and that’s why we do our homework to cover their records EXACTLY like the original ….

The Stones, The Beatles, Status Quo, Jimi Hendrix, T-Rex, Slade, The Faces, Steve Miller, David Bowie, The Hollies, Bachman Turner Overdrive, Tina Turner, Steppenwolf, The Sweet and many more - see our website for a complete list.

Greatest song of all time? It’s a bit of a naive question isn’t it? Yesterday? … She? … Hey Jude? …. He Ain’t Heavy He’s my Brother?

Greatest party dance song of all time? Twist & Shout? Alright Now? . . . We know how to pick floor fillers!

Two of us started gigging when we were 14. When we were 16 we joined a very special band in Birmingham (Spellbound) and our second ever gig was at Birmingham’s Barbarellas (second biggest venue to the town hall) supporting Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames! That was in 1975.

Everybody in Below the Border, except one, was a professional musician back in the 70s. Some of us recording artists with record deals.

Gail our harmony singe is Dave Stewart cousin (The Eurythmics ) but her biggest claim to fame is when her auntie (Dave’s mum) asked her to take a cup of tea into “that young man in the front room” in her little house in Newcastle. It took Gail a minute to realise it was Bob Dylan!

As for our gigging experience ….. everything from tiny gigs to music pubs, to town halls, to big stage festivals and touring abroad.

These days we like playing for ordinary folk having a private party - because people love our playing, everybody dances and they always cheer for more … and that’s why we still do this in our sunset years! We’re not doing this for the money anymore.

We adjust our prices according to who you are and where you are. We think that’s the right thing to do.

Below are ALL of our recent bookings and how much we were paid. You can see all of this and more on the gig list on our website. Total transparency - no sales fluff.
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2024
March - Private Function, Holiday Inn, Hampshire (£470)
2023
May - His Majesty’s Coronation Party, Rochester Kent (£500)
May - Private Party, Weybridge (£500)
Jun - Garden Party Essex (£450)
July - Corporate Event, London (£1,200)
Aug 5 -Private Birthday Hertfordshire (£450)
Aug - Travellers’ Wedding South Downs (£300)
Sep - Six Bells, Rock Pub (£250)
Dec -Christmas Party, Community Centre, Rochester Kent (£400)
2022
Dec - His Majesty’s Royal Artillery, London (£650)
Sep - Beer Festival Kent (£400)
Aug - Festival Hampshire (£450)
Jul - HEADLINE Motor Cycle Festival, Camb’s (for charity, so £50)
Jun - Wedding, Surbiton (£600)
Mar -The Excelsior club, Aldershot (£500)

We are old but to quote Van, “Too late to stop now” - we’ve always done this since teens. But now we try to limit ourselves to no more than 12 bookings a year.

Absolutely not. Perish the thought. (What’s the point of being in a rock band if you’re going to wear a suit and tie? )

We don’t set performance times. You’re the customer. You tell us performance times! We’re very easy going.

Most clients want two sets of between 45 minutes in an hour each; but we are flexible.

Yes we get a lot of gigs playing at people’s garden parties in the summer. We’ve played in the grounds of mansion houses and tiny back gardens (which tend to be more fun!).

We had a funny one last summer … it was a wedding and the client wouldn’t tell us the exact location until the day before the gig. We just knew it was near Brighton. When we arrived we discovered why. It was in a random field up on the South Downs - a gypsy / travellers wedding. It was a wonderful gig.

We will learn your favourite song for you if it fits. We can learn anything and make it sound exactly the same as the original.

For example: we played a Christmas party for His Majesty’s Royal Artillery in 2022 and they wanted Slade’s “Well here it is Merry Christmas”. We loved learning it and have kept in the set for Christmas time.

What folk say most is how much we sound like all the different artists we cover. We explain it’s our thing to study our individual parts exactly note for note for all the different hits we play.

When we play T-Rex, not only does Frank copy Marc Bolan’s dreadful solos note for note, failing to bend the strings just like Marc (bless) so he SOUNDS just like Marc! Then we do a Cream or a Hendrix hit and eyes go wide because he also replicates Eric and Jimi EXACTLY.

We played a wedding for a French family last summer and some kind octogenarians came up to us at the end to say they’d recently seen Status Quo in Paris and we played Caroline better!! I very much doubt that! 😅