​

 

​New England’ are a new band featuring four very

experienced musicians from Cumbria. Based in the Keswick

area,they play a fresh exciting mix of American influenced

rock music in the style of the Eagles, Doobie Brothers,

Lynyrd Skynyrd, CSN, Keith Urban Etc.

One of the key features of the band is the strong harmonies

that they bring to the music

 

 

 

​

THE BAND​

 

George Moulder on Lead Vocals, Guitars and Harmonica

Nick Cripps on Bass Gtr and Vocals

Phil Middleton on Drums and Lead vocals

Richard Greenough on Lead Gtr and Vocals.

 

Veterans of the local Keswick music scene, Nick & George, originally got together in 1987 to form the blues rock band ‘Rocket 87’. This band ,which later became ‘Blues Connection’ ,were an extremely popular band on the Cumbrian and North East circuit for a number of years  and there are many people who still fondly remember those regular Wednesday nights in the ‘Casablanca’ in Keswick.

 

At one point, the band came very close to making some real progress when they were picked up by Mickie Most. Unfortunately this didn’t lead to any commercial success, but the experience of working in a large ‘state of the art’ studio was invaluable and recording with people like Georgie Fame, John ‘Rabbit’ Bundrick (Free & The Who) and Danny Thompson (John Martyn & Pentangle) was particularly rewarding.

As this process came to its natural conclusion the band continued on as before, for a while anyway.

 

It is worth noting that the last drummer to become a member of Blues Connection was a certain Phil Middleton who had just arrived in Cumbria after playing with Joe Brown for a number of years. However, this couldn’t prevent the band from running out of steam and the band called it a day.

 

It was at this point that Nick and Phil came together in ‘The Nightriders’,

an excellent 60’s band, who, in their present form, have been together for around 20 years. As well as playing extensively all over the North of England, the band still play locally from time and recently enjoyed a fantastically well attended gig at the Keswick Rugby club.

 

 

PhiI originally joined The Nightriders in 1987 and was recruited as drummer and backing vocalist. 

 

Phil explains “As I settled into the band I took on more lead vocals which proved enormously popular with audiences. The band worked solidly, appearing on live Radio shows and local T.V. and recording three albums in as many years and were well respected for our opening support to acts like  The Hollies, The Searchers and The Fortunes and were invited to open the stage version of sixties T.V show Oh Boy! Featuring The Dallas Boys, Craig Douglas and The Kaye Sisters.

In 1988 after opening a show for Joe Brown and the Bruvver’s, Joe was so impressed by the band that he invited us to become his backing band. This partnership led to extensive tours, the first of which was actually a country music set that Joe had wanted to do for many years. T.V, Radio and Theatre shows followed appearing with artists like Chris Montez and Suzi Quattro.        ​​​​​​​​

 

In December 1991 The Nightriders appeared at the London Palladium on 

Chas ‘n’ Dave’s 25th Anniversary concert, providing backing as The Bruvver’s and also backing the late Screaming Lord Sutch, unforgettable!   

The Nightriders also recorded a live album with Joe and I was delighted to get a vocal session doing backing vocals for Joe’s wonderfully talented daughter Sam Brown on her album ’45 Minutes’. In 1993 Mike Sheridan called it a day and The Nightriders split. I took this opportunity to up-sticks from my home town of Birmingham and moved to Cumbria.

 

After meeting up with Cumbrian bass player Nick Cripps via The Blues Connection we decided to reform the Nightriders. I met up with studio owner Tom Tyson sometime after moving to Cumbria. We set about writing some country songs and were very fortunate to place two songs on the second Woolpackers album ‘The Greatest Line Dance Party'.

 

We received a gold disc for that which was great. What was really cool was getting the chance to work with guitar legend Albert Lee. Albert demo- recorded one of our songs too though sadly that was never published.  

Irish country singer Mary Duff also recorded a song I co-wrote ‘Heartbreaker’.

I am really looking forward to writing some original songs with the New England boys and having some fun on the road again! ”

 

 

 

George had always wanted to play country rock and in 2005, he made it happen

 

In 1995 ,after Blues Connection folded, George teamed up with an old friend from the North East, guitarist Derek Simpson and set about putting together what was to become his next venture, ‘Raising Cain ‘.

 

10 years and a few changes later, ‘Raising Cain’ became a full blown country rock band and over the next few years they had a great time. This involved playing extensively on the UK club and festival scene, (including gigs in France and Norway), doing some TV and radio and recording three cd’s in the process. Eventually, the band felt that it had gone as far as it wanted to and decided to call it a day. 

With batteries fully re-charged, George was keen to get together with some old friends and  develop what has now become 'New England'

 

George is very enthusiastic about this new venture 

 

“New England is a band that we have been talking about putting together for some time and now we finally get to give it a go. This band has strong potential and is a great deal of fun. I have high hopes for the future development of the band, especially in the song writing department “

 

 

 

Guitarist Richard Greenough first met Nick & George in 2009 and he is also  very enthusiastic about ‘New England ‘

 “I am originally from Surrey and moved north to Cumbria 9 years ago with my family. I started playing lead guitar over 30 years ago beginning in blues/rock bands in the Surrey area. I began playing a more pure blues and country after I joined George Moulder and Nick Cripps a few years ago when we formed Under the Radar, playing blues/country rock.                                                                       

 

I am delighted to be involved with New England. We have spent a long time rehearsing and getting things just right and recently recorded three songs as a taster which has come out fantastically well. I can’t wait to get out there and play some of the great Festivals and clubs around the country.”

 

 

 

Nick began his musical career a little later than the other members of the band but soon got to grips with the bass and feels that New England are indeed destined to be a truly ‘Great Band’!

“My deep love for country music has led me to this point. I didn’t get a Bass until I was 22 years old as we simply couldn’t afford one back then. Soon after getting my Bass I was asked to deputise for local Cumbrian outfit

'The Silver Dollar Band' and was instantly hooked. I played in various country blues/rock outfits and met up with George Moulder more years ago than I dare say. We had a lot of fun with 'Rocket 87' & 'Blues Connection' spending time recording with Mickey Most and gigging all over the North of England. 

When that band finally called time, I was able to set up The Nightriders with Phil Middleton.

That was a new experience for me as I had never really done any vocals before and now it is almost second nature for me. A few years ago I was also involved with George and Rich in a band called 'Under the Radar' and when that folded I was hoping to get something going that was really rooted in Modern Country/Blues. New England is just what I was hoping for and the line-up is very strong. With the new album 'Driving South' almost ready,I am looking forward to bringing our version of British Country to audiences wherever they may be! ”

 

So there you have it, we look forward to seeing you at one of our gigs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click below to hear ' There's a hole in the world '