Chase Aitch Music
1970's - 2017
ARCHIVE PAGE ONLY - FOR HISTORICAL PURPOSES
GERRY SHERWIN
LEAD VOCALIST / BASS PLAYER / BAND LEADER
Period in the Band: Since the Beginning!
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Gerry Sherwin is not only the the lead vocalist and bass player of the band but he is also the Founder of "English Rogues".
Gerry's first serious gigging band was "Refugee" with Paul Samson on guitar.
In the mid 70's Gerry formed "Hotline" with Dave Colwell on guitar and Pete Jupp on drums.
This band was the forunner of "English Rogues".
The band has toured not only the UK but EUROPE supporting top acts over the years.
Before and after forming the "English Rogues" Gerry played/continued to perform with various other bands.
Bands that he was involved with Include:
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Sledgehammer.
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Paul Samsons / Samson.
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Troubleshooter.
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Gerry Sherwin is a professional musician and has dedicated his life to music.
As soon as he was old enough and had come of age he was out there gigging and on the road.
He has worked with many names within the business and the band has been the support act for many top bands of today & yesterday.
Gerry has shared stages with names such as:
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UFO.
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Twisted Sister.
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Samson.
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Groundhogs.
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Argent.
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Budgie.
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Girlschool.
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Steve Marriott and Many more.
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Thin Lizzy.
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Manfred Mann's Earthband.
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Garry Moore.
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Ian Gillan's Band Gillan.
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Supertramp.
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Dr Feelgood.
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Katrina & The Waves.
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Saxon.
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Gerry has spent all of his life acquiring his own unique sound,
vocally and through his bass playing. Gerry has had many influences over the years. Influences, favourite singers & bands include:
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Paul Rodgers
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Bob Seger
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Otis Redding
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Rod Stewart & Steve Marriott of "The Faces / Small Faces"
Gerry's equipment comprises of:
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Rickenbacker Bass.
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Acoustic Bass Amplifier and Fender Cab.
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Sure SM58 Vocal Microphone.
Ex-Members
CHASE AITCH
DRUMMER
Periods in the Band: 2003-2006 / 2011-2014
Chase was born into a family heavily Influenced by music.
Every member of his family are musical in some form.
A mother who played Bass for many years and sang. A father who played Piano and Hammond, and a sister who's become a vocalist and a Saxophonist.
But one Instrument that has stayed prominent in the family over the last 3 generations is the Drum Kit.
From a grand father who played jazz & Swing all his life.
To an uncle who played cruises and worked with many bands from the 60's onwards.
Now the magic has been past on to chase, the youngest musician of the family.
By the age of 14 he'd done his first gig and over time has now become a highly skilled drummer/vocalist with great listening skills, a vast vocabulary of fills, and an array of musical styles that he is very competent to play.
Over time Chase has acquired an amazing singing voice with the added capability of giving powerful backing vocal harmonies.
Chase is not just a drummer but a multi-talented Musician.
Although drumming is Chase's passion, he also loves to play Guitar and sing live.
He has also been known to play Bass guitar with bands and on recordings play: Piano, Harmonica & Percussion.
Chase's previous band before joining English Rogues was
The V12 Soul Band.
Chase has had many Influences over the years.
His main Influences and favourite drummers are:
Steve Gadd
Stewart Copeland - "The Police"
Scott Underwood - "Train"
Travis Barker - "Blink182"
Zachary Wayne Farro - "Paramore"
Dave Weckl
Chase’s equipment is comprised of:
Mid-Late 1990’s Piano Black Pearl Export Kit
22” Bass Drum 10”, 12” Mounted Toms 16” Floor Tom
14x5” ​Brass Snare Drum
Pearl & Premier Hardware
DW5000 Turbo Double Pedals
LP Cowbell
20” Sabian Pro Ride
13” Istanbul Mehmet Series Hi-Hats
8” Istanbul Alchemy Series Spalsh Istanbul
​ Istanbul "Alchemy" Series 16" & 18" Crashes with a 17" China
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Sure SM58 Vocal Microphone
"Vic Firth" Sticks (5B Hickory Wooden Tipped American Classics)
MICK NORRIS
GUITARIST
Periods in the Band: 2003-2009
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Mick Norris joined the English Rogues in January 2003.
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Mick has been playing Guitar since the age of 15 and was heavily influenced by his idols and Bands:
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“The Small Faces”
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“Pete Townsend”
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“Eric Clapton”
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“Free”
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“Bad Company”
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“Mick Taylor” and many more!
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He has played with numerous Rock & Punk Bands over the years as well as dabbling in other styles of music.
He has spent years polishing & perfecting his own unique sound and doesn’t need thousands of Guitar pedals to achieve.
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Mick’s equipment is comprised of:
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“Les Paul Classic”.
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“Marshall” 100w Valve Amplifier linked up to A “Fender Twin” Cab.
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“Boss” Overdrive Pedal.
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Wah-Wah Pedal.
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“SM58” Vocal Microphone.
DAN MURPHY
GUITARIST
Periods in the Band: 2009-2017
Dan first met Gerry at a jam in Greenwich, where they played some blues with Guitarist/Vocalist Mike Panos. From then on, Dan showed up at Gerry and Chase's jams on a regular basis.
It soon became clear from the ease at which he was able to interact with Richard and Gerry, that if ever the band needed a new guitar player, Dan would be the man for the job.
Since joining the band in September 2009, he has been given an extremely enthusiastic reception at every gig. Dan completes what is without a doubt a classis Rogues line up.
Dans principal stage guitar is a Gibson Les Paul, but he also uses Rally guitars fitted with Mightymite pickups. He uses Laney amplification.
Dan's equipment is comprised of:
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Gibson Les Paul.
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Laney Amplification.
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"SM58" Vocal Microphone.
TONY TUOHY
DRUMMER
Periods in the Band: 1989-2003 - 2014-2017
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Tony Tuohy is a long time connected member of the band.
A friend, a drummer and an important part of history for the "English Rogues".
We caught up with him for an interview to get some information on him and some background knowledge of his time during the "English Rogues".
This is what he had to say.
I started drumming in 1980 (age 18). A few years later I started playing with club/pub bands mostly playing r ‘n’ b and gradually building my technique and knowledge in various styles of playing. Then in 1984 I moved into another musical genre joining "Body, Heart & Soul" a sixties Soul/Motown band fronted by superb vocalist Les Walker (ex Warm Dust, Tiger – Who had successful albums on EMI in the seventies).
A couple more blues/soul bands followed before joining "Cookin’ Tonite" in 1987 with Les again and Charlie Whitney (founder member with Roger Chapman of renowned band "Family").
Finding myself at a loose end in March 1989 I checked out the ‘Musicians Wanted’ ads in Melody Maker and answered the appealingly brief ‘Blues Rock trio require drummer’. This was English Rogues. Gerry threw me straight into a gigging schedule I had previously only dreamt of – the band were doing about 15-16 gigs every month across the south-east.
By June 1989 Gerry was looking for a new guitarist and asked his old mate Paul Samson to stand in for a couple weeks. That couple of weeks turned into a couple of years as Paul found we gelled so well as a power-trio rock band that he put his own line-up on pause for the time being. Samson had been leaning towards the ‘curly-perm, tight spandex, big keyboards’ type of rock that was so prevalent at the time. Paul enjoyed our back-to-basics straightforward rock ‘n’ roll sound which was refreshing to him!
We embarked on a very busy schedule, including a number of tours in Europe, especially playing and recording in Germany .
After a while the "Rogues" took a short break. I continued in Samson until 1994, appearing on a couple of Samson albums and playing an incredible number of gigs up and down the country and abroad (over 200 gigs in 1993!). I finally left when almost living in a white van on motorways started to lose its appeal!
I returned to playing in a couple of pub rock bands ("Saucy Jack" and "Faith Healer") as well as doing occasional dep gigs for Paul (who sadly passed away in 2002) and another (part-time) stint in English Rogues with Gerry and Alex, and then Mick after Alex’s untimely passing in 2003.
Things were generally quiet after that until getting a call to play for The V12 Soul band in 2006, as ex-V12 drummer Chase Aitch had joined my old mates in English Rogues!
Tony's Drum Kit is comprised of:
Standard set-up Pearl Export kit:
22” bass,
12” and 13” top toms,
16” floor tom,
5.5” deep chrome snare,
Tama Kingbeat bass pedal with wooden beater and click pad.
Cymbals:
Paiste 20” ride,
2 Zildjian 16” crashes,
Zildjian 18” crash,
Sabian hi-hats.
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ROB GRAIN
DRUMMER / SOUND ENGINEER / ROADIE
Periods in the Band: Continuous
Rob first got to know Gerry back in about 1977, when he was in Hotline, and playing in his local area, although he had seen him in Refugee back in about 1973.
As well as working as roadie with various local (North West Kent) bands, Rob was part of the stage crew at the legendary Gravesend Red Lion. In about 1980, Gerry asked Rob to help him out with a gig at Birmingham Odeon, supporting Budgie. This was probably the largest gig that Rob had done at the time, and he learnt a valuable lesson at this
show - Never put drinks on top of amplifiers!
From about late 1980, Rob was roadie, sound engineer, tour manager, lighting engineer, mechanic, booker, firms cat etc for English Rogues, which at the time featured Alexander Dee on Guitar and Pete Martin on Drums, along with Gerry.
They were playing probably 5 gigs a week on average, in places as far apart as Folkestone, Andover, Milton Keynes and, of course, Chiddingly. Rob was also holding down a day job. Pete Martin left and was replaced by Roy Reed. Alex came and went a few times and was replaced by Mick McCormack and Joe Wearen amongst others. As well as working with The Rogues and the day job, Rob managed to fit in one-offs and tours with the likes of Thunderstick, the Q Tips, Paul Samson and John McCoy, Sledgehammer (also with Gerry) and the Ya-Yas.. In about 1984, Rob became the English Rogues Drummer, and left in 1986 due to family commitments .
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Rob stayed in touch with Gerry and filled in on odd gigs as drummer or soundman over the years. Between then and now Rob has worked with bands and venues large and small in the UK, Europe and Japan. Rob was roadie/tour manager for the much missed Paul Samson from the early 90’s until his untimely death in 2002, and they toured the UK, Europe and Japan. Since about 2000 Rob has carried out the same function for Bernie Torme', and also assisted him relocate his recording studio in Kent. Around 1999-2000 Rob did 3 UK tours as backline tech/tour manager with American blues supremo Jimmy Dillon. On top of all this, Rob has run websites for Paul Samson and Thunderstick.
Rob has been named as Creative Controller for the Paul Samson estate, which has involved sleeve design and notes for two cd's ( a Samson compilation called "Tomorrow and Yesterday", which he also compiled, edited and remastered, and the posthumous release of his final recordings, called "P.S...." {both on AngelAir}).
Between 2005 and 2013 Rob was road manager/tech for Guy, McCoy,Torme, featuring legends Bernie Torme and John McCoy, along with powerhouse drummer Robin Guy, as well as doing sound on occasional Rogues gigs.
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Over the years Rob has still been involved with the band whether it be through keeping the website up-to-date or helping with recording the band live. Rob is still a huge asset to the band!!
Rob still jokes "If I ever get to write a book about my time in the music industry , you can rest assured that my apprenticeship with Gerry and English Rogues will play a very important part in it". Top guy!
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ALEXANDER DEE
GUITARIST
Periods in the Band: 1979-2003
Alexander Dee was the Guitarist of English Rogues on and off between 1979 and His untimely death in January 2003. He also maintained the website at that period of the "Rogues". This was his own page, and as a tribute to Alex we have left it exactly as it was, except for the removal of the out of date navigation bar. REST IN PEACE ALEX !
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Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr Alexander Dee!
Alexander Dee, Mr Blues himself. This man is twice the man he used to be, mainly due to a sudden (or not so sudden) influx of calories!
Alex’s playing style has been likened to Leslie West, Jimi Hendrix, Peter Green and the late great Rory Gallagher.
His most favourite guitar in the world is his very own Flying V. Not a Gibson though! It is a custom-built 3/4 scale guitar made by Rabbit in 1971 in Kingston, Surrey.
It has humbuckers from a 1959 Les Paul and has the “best sound in the whole wide world” according to Mr Dee.
That guitar is currently being refurbished and will be making an appearance in the Autumn - however Alex is delighted to be using the next best thing - a British (Manchester) built Gordon Smith - it’s all in the solid mahogany Alex says - you get fantastic sustain!
For amplification Alex uses a very rare Musicman 130 watt 4 x 10 combo purchased brand new in the 70’s - “You see loads of Musicman amps, but a 4 x 10” speaker setup is something else!(”.
(Photo: by Paul Puttock)
RICHARD ALLEN
Drummer - 2006-2011
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Richard Allen Joined the English Rogues In January 2006.
Richard is a very accomplished drummer with much experience and sophisticated technique.
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Richard has been drumming since the early age of 13 and has had tuition from various professional drum tutors.
His idols comprise of:
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“Dave Weckl”
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“Steve Gadd”
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“Steve Smith” and many other great Drummers over the years.
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He has spent most of the years of his life performing, recording & gigging live in various bands playing many different styles and developing his drumming technique & vocabulary.
He has been on recording session’s with many know artists such as Terry Clemson and has appeared on several albums with many different bands.
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Richard's Drum Kit is comprised of:
Richard uses a “Premier” drum kit:
22’ Bass Drum.
12’ & 14’ Tom Toms.
14 - 5’ Snare (Richard also occasionally uses a 14’ – 5’ “Pearl” Brass Edged Snare).
He uses “Premier” Hardware.
Richard uses a combination of makes of Cymbals to get the acquired sound that he has. He uses:
14’ Istanbul Hi-Hats.
18’ Istanbul Crash.
22’ Ride.
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ADDITIONAL EX-MEMBERS
Sadly there is no further Information on these musicians
PAUL SAMSON
Guitarist - Various Gigs
ANDY HYLDON
Guitarist - Various Gigs
PHILLIP ELDRIDGE
Guitarist - Various Gigs
TERRY WRIGHT
Drummer - Various Gigs