Glastonbury’s finest rockers REEF have announced some live dates, including a night at the Tramshed in Cardiff, which will give us a chance to hear new material, as well as the live favourites.
Reef have always been hailed as one of the UK’s best and most respected and prolific live acts. Fronted by Vocalist Gary Stringer, bassist Jack Beasant and Jesse Wood on guitar (replacing original guitarist Kenwyn House in 2014).
Since forming in 1993 the band have released 5 studio albums and sold an excess of 3 Million albums worldwide, with each of their releases reaching Top 40 in the UK.
Of course, with a new tour comes a new album and that’s exactly what we can expect from the band soon. The first single, and title track (Shoot Me Your Ace) is out right now.
The album was produced by legendary Duran Duran and Power Station guitarist Andy Taylor and is due to be released next year – watch this space for more.
Bassist Jack Bessant told us…..
“We are super stoked to be heading back out on the road again – AMAZING! It’s gonna be such a blast to play new songs from our forthcoming album mixed up with Reef classics. Also to see and rock out with our fans after all this time will be truly special as we have all missed the energy flow between the band & our fans when playing live. BRING IT ON!”
The band are also joined by drummer extraordinaire Luke Bullen formerly of Bryan Ferry’s band and prior to that drummer for Joe Strummer’s band The Mescaleros. Both Luke and REEF guitarist Jesse Wood have been great friends since playing together as teenagers in one of their first bands called ‘Woodspirit’ 25 years ago.
Jesse told us more……
“It was serendipitous we were auditioning drummers and had just had a full day of auditions when I literally walk into Luke coming out of an elevator. What was even more crazy was the fact that he’d been talking the night before about me!
“I asked him what he was up to and whether he wanted to come down and have a jam with us and play him our Shoot Me Your Ace album demos. He said yes and Hey Presto two weeks later thanks to the wizardry and production talents of Andy Taylor and Luke’s natural ability to get the feel of a song and nail it, there was an album.”
For all Duran fans, watch out for Andy Taylor who joins the band as a special honorary member on guitar on the new album, capping off an altogether impressive lineup alongside REEF founding member and vocalist Gary Stringer.
It feels like REEF have always been around, and actually they’ve been making music for nigh on 30 years now.
The band formed in 1993 and were quickly signed to Sony imprint S2. They had a massive nine Top 40 singles – most famously ‘Place Your Hands’ – and four studio albums, including 1996’s platinum-selling No.1 album ‘Glow’, plus greatest hits album ‘Together’ before disbanding in 2003.
Their hiatus came to an end in 2010, when they were tempted into reuniting for a short tour. In 2014 Jesse Wood, formerly of the Ronnie Wood band/Faces/Red Racer, replaced original guitarist Kenwyn House after he amicably left the band to pursue other projects.
We defy you not to turn this up loud and sing along to every word when you play the video……
In 2016, Reef returned with their first single since 2003, ‘How I Got Over’, which was A-Listed at Radio 2 and saw the band perform live on Chris Evans’ radio show and on The One Show on BBC1.
Reef were personally invited by Chris Martin to support Coldplay at Wembley Stadium, and also released their live album ‘Reef: Live At St Ives’, recorded over two sold-out nights at St Ives Guildhall.
It is live where the band absolutely shine Gary Stringer told us……
“It’s really exciting for me to go out and to play and to look into people’s eyes who are ready to rock already”. “
You get on stage and throw that energy down and it comes right back. That’s how you get an exciting gig. That’s a feeling that’s addictive for a musician. It makes you want to keep going out and giving it your everything and playing hard and rocking out.
This spring sees Reef back where they belong performing at some of the biggest and best venues in the UK, as they embark on a string of live dates set to take place this month. With an unmatchable stage presence, and relentless determination, exciting times lie ahead for one of the nation’s finest rock bands.
REEF get to the Tramshed in Cardiff on the SHOOT ME YOUR ACE tour. They play tonight, 15th April, you can get tickets for that HERE.
