East 17 hit with a very different take
It’s East 17’s Stay Another Day, but not as you have ever heard it before.
It’sthechristmassinglefrom West Sussex four-piece Doctor Gonzo, very much redone in Doctor Gonzo’s pop-punk style.
Comprising members from Crawley, Worthing and East Grinstead, the band has been together around five years and is a former winner of Horsham's summer Battle of the Bands. Leadsingerashmilesexplained: “Ever since we started we have wantedtodoachristmassingle. Wethoughtaboutwritingsomething original and putting it out as a Christmas song but we decided that actually we wanted to takesomethingthatwasalready verymuchachristmassongand put our own spin on it and in all honesty we wanted to put a bit of our humour on it as well. Stay Anotherdayisagreatchristmas song that everybody knows but really it's actually very tired and when you look back and watch thevideothattheydidit'salmost likethey'retakingthemickeyout ofthemselvesoratleastitisavideo that sets itself up to have the mickey taken out of it – and we are happy to do that! But it's all in good spirit and done with lots of humour and fun. We would not want to take anything away from East 17 and their songs because they're great songs but we justwantedtodosomethingabit different.”
And who knows, this just could be the start of the band's own festive tradition with a new Christmas single each year with their own particular spin on a classic.
Ash, a general builder by day from Crawley, said: “There are four of us in the band and we tend to rehearse in Staplefield between Crawley and Brighton. Andy and Tig both live in Worthing and Josh, the drummer, in East Grinstead. We've been together about five years. It all started with Andy who is a fantastic musician and plays pretty much anything. He was looking to start a new band, and me and Andy had been friends for a long time. Andy put an ad in the paper and we met Tig and the guys started rehearsing. We started off with another drummer actually. But I came along and auditioned to be the vocalist with nostrugglewhatsoeverandthey took me on. I really don't know why! We met Josh, our drummer, at a different gig.
"We have come from absolutely nowhere but we just love playing together. We have the unique bond that we're all very good friends, and I think that really helps when you are doing something together musically.”