Off the Pier are a 5 piece band from Liverpool who originally formed in 1993.
History.
Founder members were:
Simon Bowers - Lead vocals / Guitar
Stu Pennington - Keyboards / vocals
Phil Boyes - Bass Guitar
David Bygroves - Lead guitar / vocals
Dan Pennington - Drums
All of the lads, except Phil, went to the Bluecoat School and would regularly get together, at that time, to write and perform original songs in the attic of the Pennington's house in Huyton.
Phil and Stu played together in a number of performances set up through a church group, and Phil was asked to come along one evening to practise with the other lads.
It was soon clear that there was a good bond between us all and that regardless of how good or bad we might have been, we were going to have a good laugh!
Eventually, we were offered our first gig which happened to be in Llandudno. Under the guise of 'The Band With No Name', (How original), we were all set for an afternoon session on the Llandudno Pier stage and an evening in the 'Grand Hotel' Llandudno. It was December so we weren't too keen on playing on the end of a cold windy Pier but as agent had organised it and it came hand in hand with the posh hotel gig we had to do it! The night before the gigs we called the agent to confirm the details and she informed us the hotel gig had "fallen through" but said we can still play on the Pier. As none of us really wanted to do the gig on the Pier in the first place, for fear of messing up our hair, we declined the gig altogether! From this point we became "Off The Pier" and cutting a long story short, we did manage to arrange a gig for that weekend in a pub called the 'Glan Conwy', (sorted by Stu & Dan's cousin Steve), and so off we all went with our gear crammed into three cars.
'Off the Pier' were then officially formed. A kind of irony and yet majestically linked to our beloved Pier Head in Liverpool. The Glan Conwy gig (image below) was not one of our finest moments but never to be forgotten, along with the shenanigans of 5 Liverpool lads being away from home!
Dave Bygroves soon left the band to train football in America and was replaced by Nick Street on Lead Guitar. Phil Boyes also took over the backing vocals at this time.
Off the Pier went on to perform regularly on the Liverpool circuit. Our home venue was undoubtably Guinans on Slater Street (now Wonderbar) but we also played regularly at 'Rosie O'Gradys' (now O'Neils), 'Kitty O'Sheas' (now closed), and 'PJ's' (now an '80's bar).
We were regulars at the Mathew Street Festival, usually playing 'Flanagans Apple' but most memorably at 'The Cavern' main stage which was beamed around the world on TV.
Around this time, Stu Pennington left us for a year to continue his education in Spain.
The band kept going as a four piece with the following line up:
Simon Bowers - Lead vocals / Guitar
Dan Pennington - Drums / vocals
Phil Boyes - Bass guitar / vocals
Nick Street - Lead guitar
After many years, Nick Street left us and was replaced by Matt Deacon. (Lead Guitar). Matt was another awesome guitarist, which was needed to replace Streebo!
Eventually in 1998, Off the Pier threw in the towel due to the fact that most of us were approaching our final year of University and needed to go and find 'real' jobs! The last gig was 'Flanagans Apple' at the Mathew Street Festival in 1998.
Present.
In 2008, ten years since the last gig and with the assistance of various internet networking sites, contact was made between the lads again and it was agreed that a 10 year reunion tour would be perfect. Especially to play the Mathew Street Festival again, and in our Capital of Culture year would just be brilliant.
Our present line up is: -
Si Bowers - Lead vocals / guitar
Phil Boyes - Bass guitar / vocals
Dan Pennington - Drums / vocals
Nick Street - Lead guitar
Si Case - Keyboards / percussion
We started practising and replacing / fixing equipment in March 2008, and on Friday 18th July 2008, we played our first gig in 10 years at the Mossley Hill Athletic club, followed by a roaring night at the Liverpool Yacht Club, set up for the crews of the Tall Ships.
Stu Pennington lives in Spain, but managed to join us for the Mathew Street gigs in August. Also, Matt Deacon who lives in New Zealand, joined us on stage for the August gigs. (Click here to see photographs)
Check out our events page for details of venues coming up and feel free to email any comments or send booking requests.
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