THE CHRISTIANS, the outstanding, soul influenced group who had hits in the late 80’s and 90’s including ‘Forgotten Town’, ‘Harvest For The World’, ‘Born Again’, ‘Ideal World’, and ‘Hooverville’, are celebrating their 26th anniversary with a date at the regions brand new venue The Atkinson in Southport on Saturday 8 June, to coincide with the release of their brand new album SPEED OF LIFE plus Deluxe Anniversary editions of their first two multimillion selling albums The Christians and Colour.
THE CHRISTIANS followed up their 1987 self-titled million selling debut album with the number one hit album ‘Colour’ in 1990, which heralded the magnificent tracks ‘Words’ and ‘Father’, while The Daily Mirror described the voice of Garry Christian as “the best voice of the decade”.
The name THE CHRISTIANS refers simply to the brother’s surname AND HAS ABSOLUTELY NO RELIGIOUS CONNOTATIONS!! (the original line-up included Roger, Russell and Garry, as well as Henry Priestman) and the band were also renowned for the strong messages and morals in their songs. During their rise to fame the Liverpool based band packed out international and UK stadiums and developed a reputation for being ‘socially aware’ …. unsurprisingly comparisons were drawn to The Temptations due to the depth, range and warmth of the brother’s vocal harmonies.
Fast forward 26 years and the group – are still headed by their unique selling point … the smooth toned Garry Christian and sound ‘tighter’ than ever before with Mr Christians voice being perfectly complimented by keyboards by Mike Triggs, Drums – Lionel Duke, Acoustic Guitar and Vocals Neil Griffiths, Electric Guitar – Joey Ankrah, bass guitar – Cliff Watson … Garry sounds (and looks) better than ever and the 90 minute set includes all the old hits (sounding remarkably slick) and a taste of the new album plus a rumoured comedy entertainment by frontman Garry. The Christians are enjoying a surge of publicity following the new album release and 25th anniversary ‘deluxe’ re-issue having recently been received well by 20000 fans at the 80s REWIND Henley and Scotland as well as guest appearances at ISLE OF WIGHT FESTIVAL.
Supporting The Christians are The Hummingbirds, a 6 piece acoustic outfit from Liverpool, influenced by music from the 50s/60s era. The Hummingbirds capture that “Liverpool” sound as well as putting an interesting twist on conventional folk and blues music, bringing it to a more mainstream audience providing what they describe as modern skiffle (21st Century Merseybeat). The lads are set to release their first single entitled ‘Emma’ July 15th.
More information on The Christians can be found at www.thechristianslive.com. More information on The Hummingbirds can be found at www.wearethehummingbirds.com.
Posted on 21 May 2013 under General news
