A passionate tribute to the music of T. Rex heads to Brighton

Inevitably it was a busy year for T.Rextasy who play Brighton Theatre Royal on Sunday, April 8 (7.30pm).

Band frontman Danielz reckons Bolan would have been quietly pleased with the way the world remembered him four decades after his passing.

“I know a lot of people that were very close to Marc, people that are my friends, people like Tony Visconti who was Marc’s producer and also Harry Feld, Marc’s brother,” says Danielz. “When I first met him, he came backstage and gave me a big hug and said ‘I am sure Marc is looking down smiling!’ Since then, Harry has come to see our shows dozens and dozens of times.

“So how would Marc see it now? I would like to think he would be looking down pleased to see the devotion of his fans still. The fans were everything for him. I remember listening to Marc in an interview once saying that even if he had only six fans, he would still go into a recording studio and press a single for them. He just loved people that loved him.

“I never met Marc, and that is a great shame. I have had Mickey Finn (the T. Rex drummer) on stage with me. I know lots of the people that were around him. But I never met Marc. I did meet David Bowie in Japan, and we were talking about Marc. I said to him ‘you must miss Marc’, and without thinking, he just said ‘yes, I miss him every day’.

“My wife met Marc dozens of times. When she was younger, she used to follow T. Rex around. In fact, we actually met at a Marc Bolan convention. We were friends for years before we got together. She’s not actually in the band, but she does all sorts for the band. She does my tax, and she arranges all the hotels. They say that you should never meet your idols, but the great thing is that she always says that Marc was very kind to all of them.”

Danielz continues: “Of course, I have heard terrible stories of how Marc used to be to people in the studio, but you think of the pressure he was under as the frontman and just wanting to get it right.

“But he recognised that his fans were his bread and butter, and he treated his fans really, really well.”

And that probably helps explain just why last year things were so busy for Danielz and the band.

“Last year, we were almost never at home. But it’s great because I do love the gigging. Because there are a million tribute bands out there, I think the way that you make yourself different is by still having the passion, by still loving what you do.

“When people start tribute bands, they just think that either they were around at the time or that they could have a go at the music, but for me, it is all about the love of Marc Bolan.”

Tickets cost £23-£28.

Visit atgtickets.com/venues/theatre-royal-brighton.

Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.

Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be among the first to know what’s going on.

1 Make our website your homepage

2 Like our Facebook page

3 Follow us on Twitter

4 Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.

And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!

Be part of it.