Worthing date for new Fleetwood Mac tribute band

It’s a venue drummer Steven Hunt knows well from his days in a Who tribute band.

“They had been trying to get this band off the ground for a little while and then I joined at the start of the year. And we have been working really hard to get things together and we did our first festival at the end of August in Bexley.

“We are Kent-based mainly around the Maidstone and Midway area. The main singer, the Stevie Nicks of our band, was trying to get the band started and then they brought me in. Fortunately I have a bit of experience in the game. I was the singer in the Who tribute for eight or nine years. That's what I've been doing for a long time but I had had enough and I was happy to come in and help them get things started and use my little bit of experience. We have been knocking ourselves into shape ever since. We've been getting the songs together and making sure that we've got a good band but actually that's one of the things that made me join. I met them and in the first week I realised that they were a really, really good band even if it wasn't what I was expecting to do!

“I think most people like Fleetwood Mac, don't you. You rarely find anyone who doesn't like Fleetwood Mac. I think they're genuinely one of the most popular bands out there. But there are quite a lot of Fleetwood Mac tribute bands out there which is one of the drawbacks so we'll just have to see how we compete but I do think we will do well.

“I've played The Venue a few times with my Who band and it is a cracking venue. It's a really great place, like an old chapel, so it's quite grand inside. And it's run by a guy that I've got to know quite well, Howie Kirk. He was one of the actual Genesis’s main lighting directors. He owns or runs the place and he does it to a very high standard and as you can imagine the lighting there is just amazing and he is a cracking guy.”

As for Fleetwood Mac: “I wonder whether most people are aware of the history of the band. I'm not sure, but they've got quite a varied history. They started in the 60s as a blues band and gradually made their way to America and came across Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham and it all took off. It's just the kind of music that is pretty hard to dislike. They are great tunes and they are well played.

“As a drummer, I really like The Chain and Dreams but I'm not a drummer for drumming sake. I just love good songs and I enjoy whatever we are doing provided the songs are good.

“We did the tribute festival and these things, as I've learned in the past, are quite important. You need a big event because you get a chance to promote yourself in a professional way. You get proper promotional tools and photos and the experience of playing in front of a crowd, and these links things lead to other things. We spoke to the people that manage the festival and they were so impressed with us they're wanting us to do more festivals next year. I think a lot of people couldn't believe that we'd done quite so few shows until then but we managed that high quality straight off the bat.”