26 February 2018
Newsdesk
Bona fide national treasures Chas & Dave return with a new album ‘A Little Bit of Us,’ their first in over thirty years to feature brand-new Chas & Dave songs. The album, released on April 20th on the duo’s rejuvenated ‘Rockney’ label via Cooking Vinyl, is available on 12” vinyl (COOKLP704), CD (COOKCD704) and digital download. New single ‘A Little Bit Of Me’ is available now when you preorder the album from: https://CnD.lnk.to/ALBOU
Says Chas Hodges: “The bloke who owns the studio where we recorded much of this album is Brian Juniper. He introduced me to Dave back in 1963 - Dave was at Junior School with him. I was at Senior School with him when, as 13 year olds, we started a Skiffle group over 60 years ago.”
The album features a mix of new Chas & Dave originals and live favourites, including the following (with wry comments courtesy of Chas):
‘Sling Your Hook’ “I wrote a special introductory verse to this - my message to cancer.” (Hodges was diagnosed with oesophagus cancer in 2017)
‘Come On Charlie’ “A couple of London 'Laurel & Hardy' removal men. What are they moving? Could it be a Sideboard?”
‘When You Wore A Tulip’ “An old song we rocked up. Done it to a few old songs in our time.”
‘Modern Robin Hood’ “Written with a Del Boy/Arthur Daley character in mind”,
‘Roses of Picardy’ “First World War song rocked up.”,
‘Last Kiss’ “Like to think that Carl Mann or Jerry Lee would have done this, had it been around in the 50’s."
‘Why Not Me? “This one is from my daughter Kate – a great piano player & singer/songwriter.”
The full track listing of ‘A Little Bit Of Us’ is:
A Little Bit of Me
Come On Charlie
When You Wore A Tulip
Wonder Where He Is Now
Nagasaki
Dry Bones
Nothing You Can Do
Modern Robin Hood
Last Kiss
My Little Grass Shack
Roses of Picardy
Sling Your Hook
Why Not Me?
Chas again: “This is our first Chas & Dave-produced album for over thirty years. Tell you what, though, we ain't waiting another 30 years before we do the next one. The older you get, it seems time goes quicker. Yet as soon as we got in the studio it seemed like yesterday that we were producing our last album. My mum used to say the same thing in 1960: "30 years ago I was 17 & it seems like yesterday." "How can 30 years ago seem like yesterday?" says I, slightly mockingly. "Well it bloody well does", says mum, getting the deserved last word, and that's that.”
Chas Hodges and Dave Peacock are part of a tradition of legendary London songwriters that includes Steve Marriott/Ronnie Lane, Paul Weller, Ray Davies, Ian Dury and Chris Difford/Glenn Tilbrook. They have written timeless classics with irresistible and witty lyrics, such as ‘Rabbit,’ ‘Gertcha,’ ‘London Girls’ and ‘Ain't No Pleasing You.’
Who else but Chas & Dave can include on their CV playing with Jerry Lee Lewis, Gene Vincent, Ritchie Blackmore and Phil Lynott, recording with Joe Meek, supporting the Beatles (Chas even joined The Beatles for one night), Led Zeppelin (Knebworth), inspiring Eminem and The Libertines, storming Glastonbury in-front of 30,000 jubilant fans, having a song ‘Margate’ featured in ‘Only Fools & Horses,’ writing a jingle for Heinz Baked Beans and providing the music for the award-winning Heathrow Christmas 2016 campaign – voted by many as their favourite advert of that year. Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq1r_M5a6uI
With a sold out show at the Albert Hall, on the day of release of ‘A Little Bit of Us,’ Chas and Dave continue touring throughout 2018 on the ‘All Seasons Tour, ’ the full dates are:
APRIL
20th
London Royal Albert Hall
JUNE
2nd
Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre
10th
Liverpool Empire Theatre
23rd
Blackburn King George’s Hall
JULY
1st
Maidstone Ramblin’ Man Fair
OCTOBER
26th
Wolverhampton Diamond Suite
28th
Leicester De Montfort Hall
DECEMBER
15th
Glasgow Barrowland Ballroom
16th Edinburgh
Usher Hall
