JHL recently provided a truck load of backline for glam-rock legend Ace Frehley, Kiss’s original lead guitarist, enabling him to perform two shows (in Sheffield and London Astoria). This involved a wall of Marshall stack’s and a large Ampeg bass rig, not to mention his Tama kit … as OTT as you would expect from a member of Kiss.

We also had fun fun fun this month meeting The Beach Boys’ exacting backline requirements for their current UK theatre tour. God only knows what they’d be without us!

Backline consisted off,
Guitars: Takamine electro-acoustic guitars: Fender Stratocaster, 4 x Fender Deluxe reverb amps.

Bass rig: Fender Precision bass, Gallien-Kruger 800 RB bass amp; 2 x SWR Goliath III 4 x 10 speaker cabs; 2 x Shure UHF guitar wireless multi-channel receivers with three transmitters.

Keyboards: Roland RD700 digital piano; a pair of Korg 01W/FD synthesizers,  Korg Triton Extreme Pro 76 Key; Hammond XK-3 and Leslie 122.

Drums: Ludwig drum set with Zildjian cymbals.

Percussion: 29” tympani, set of LP Congas, set of Bongos and various hand percussion.
JHL technician, Trevor Dawkins took care of the equipment on the tour.

We are also supplying backline for six acts appearing on new show The Nokia Green Room  (Channel 4, Saturday evenings), recorded at Riverside Studios.

Other artistes on tour with our backline include Rooney (Ludwig/Ashdown/Korg); Galactic (Gretsch/Ampeg); John Barrowman (all the staging, percussion rig, music stands, tour trunks and cases for his two-week April tour); 1 Xtra - Live Radio/TV event at Ricoh Arena (backline for six of the R&B acts, with Matt Caley and Alex Barclay system teching); David Essex (rehearsals, keyboard and tour trunks rental for current tour); Buena Vista Social Club (full backline); Dianne Reeves (full backline for her April Barbican show);

Ford Focus Ensemble (taken from the popular Ford advert on TV in which the musicians are seen playing car parts to classical music piece). Here we provided backline for a one off performance at the Royal Albert Hall with The Fratellis and then amps for the three week UK tour and then talk of a European tour to follow.

Meanwhile, other ongoing backline gear (and system techs) are being provided for The Album Chart Show, Transmission, Paul O'Grady, Alan Titchmarsh, Graham Norton, GMTV, This Morning, Loose Women, The Friday Night Project, Al Murray, Richard & Judy.

After hosting The Feeling’s visit last month, the latest roster of artistes using our rehearsal studios has been headed by such names as John Barrowman, Bloc Party and Roger Daltry.

John Barrowman came to Brewery Road to get his band into shape for his forth coming tour which is to promote his new album “Another Side” which is released by Sony BMG while Bloc Party have been rocking in Studio 2.

Roger Daltry & Co was spotted putting numbers together for this month’s  Teenage Cancer Trust events at the Royal Albert Hall for which we also supplied The Futureheads with an Ampeg Bass rig.

Other acts who have been in this month include The Pretenders (rehearsing for their US tour); Ali Campbell (rehearsing for Ali Campbell & friends at the RAH); Pendulum – a 21-day rehearsal for their sold out tour of New Zealand and Australia; Feeder, rehearsing for The Nokia Green Room; The Kooks (now touring the UK); Gabrielle; Goldfrapp (for her album promo) and David Essex (rehearsing for his up coming extensive UK tour).

In May we welcome The Prodigy, Level 42 and Gang of Four … while My Bloody Valentine will be treating us almost as a residential studio as they block book a whopping 29 days rehearsal time in advance of several sold out shows at London’s Roundhouse.

There has been no shortage of new gear to tempt musicians with this month.

We have taken delivery of the Bad Cat Lynx 50 Guitar amp and matching 2 x 12” cabinet and Bad Cat 30 combo, while also in the showroom is the new ddrum Diaton Clear Perspex kit.

New to endorsee stock is the four-piece DW Collectors Series Jazz kit in Gold Sparkle along with the formidable new AMPEG SVT Vintage Re-issue (SVT VR) amp with matching cabs.

Meanwhile, forthcoming tours that JHL are supporting endorsees on include Joe Satriani and Paul Gilbert (of Mr Big Fame) supporting, April through June; the Plain White T’s at Give It A Name 08 festival (May 10-12). JHL will be providing loanstock to them for this, and their other shows from DW Drums, Ampeg Bass, Framus Guitar Amps and Rivera Guitar amps.

LINKS: www.badcatamps.com | www.ddrum.com | www.ampeg.com | www.dwdrums.com

Chanelle….looking gooood! MTV used the amazing lay out of the Pro Shop floor to do the promo shoot for the trailer for her new VH1 programme ‘Wannabe’. Watch video clip (Windows Media, 652KB, 14s)

We recently provided tour and rehearsal supplies to a wide roster of artistes including Sinead O Connor, Dylan Howe, Bloc Party, Pendulum (for whom we supplied two different customised bass drum heads for their European tour), John Barrowman, The Subways, The Feeling, David Essex, Billy Ocean, Riverdance, Funeral For A Friend, Bullet For My Valentine, Gallows and Buddy to name but some.

And the quirkiest sales of the month? Pro Shop manager Chris Griffiths says that’s easy. “We delivered 900 rolls of PVC tape to Munchen Germany for Riverdance and also sold a left handed vintage Fender Stratocaster to Bloc Party’s drummer, Matt Tong.

Bruce Forsyth and Tess Daly take to the floor to host the 5th run of Strictly Come Dancing and JHL are again supplying a full audio sound system to satisfy the highly demanding specification for the "Live to Air " TV show on BBC1.

To meet the latest specification demand, JHL have invested in Soundcraft 's new flagship Digital console, the Vi6.

JHL chose the Soundcraft Vi6™ live sound console to handle all the floor sound, VT and voiceovers. As general manager, Robert Harding explains, "...this is no ordinary show . I know, when you’re looking at it at home, you might think ‘God that’s easy’ but it’s a very complicated show. We have 54 channels going into the console and we’re using twenty of the outputs” JHL's sound engineer, Aden Gregory operates the Vi6 on the show “ .... it's sound quality and ease of use is fantastic. It doesn’t feel like you’re using a digital desk. It works more like an analogue one so you can get through everything really quickly. I’m using forty personal mics on Strictly, so I need something the EQ really does work on.”

A trustworthy and dependable sound console is a must for Strictly Come Dancing. Robert Harding says, “It can’t go wrong because we’re live to air, so we can’t retake it. So everything we buy has to be super-reliable which the Vi6 has proved to be.”

Prior to Strictly Come Dancing, the Vi6 was put through its paces on another primetime television show, Dance X. The same console is now also being used to mix the sound feed for the studio audience of the six guest acts on each BBC “Later… with Jools Holland”.

LINK: www.soundcraft.com/product_sheet.asp?product_id=145

This show just gets better and better. Now in its 15th year and 30th series, it maintains it's popular and diverse selection of top bands and artistes from all corners of the globe and has something for everyone week after week. JHL have serviced every show since the programme started and has seen the changes over the years in the never ending demands to meet the high specifications that have to be provided for the artistes. This time around everyone has gone digital and JHL are providing up to 5 Yamaha PM5D-RH consoles along with the new Soundcraft Vi6 to cover the zoned house requirement.

LINK: http://www.bbc.co.uk/later/series30/episode04/

This is the new BBC music show which is co-hosted by Annie Mac and Nick Grimshaw, features exciting new music and established artists from the UK and overseas. Each week the show is filmed and recoded in a outdoor location that can be a bit chilly and so far some of the sites have included Battersea Power Station, Borough Markets, BBC Multi-storey car park , Westway Sports Centre (under A40 Flyover), Battersea Park, Band Stand etc so you get the picture....the new format has been well received and is looking forward to a long run.

JHL provide the Audio and Backline requirements for this show. Our Audio team lead by Robin Tombs are using the Yamaha PM5D-RH console along with QSC monitor racks and EAW JH15 monitors. The monitors were built by EAW to our own specifications (see our Audio section). The live feed goes directly into the BBC OB (Outside Broadcast) truck and mixed for your viewing/listening pleasure.

LINK: http://www.bbc.co.uk/switch/

Jonathan Ross continues his run of Friday night chats with a never ending list of celebs and fantastic live music. JHL continues to supply the house and monitoring systems. JHL also supply the Yamaha GT7 piano which gets a good thrashing by the Four Poofs and a Piano and any other Backline, Musical Instruments etc that are required.

It's finally happened, the veteran broadcaster Michael Parkinson has called it a day on his Saturday night ITV chat shows. JHL has serviced the programme for the last 10 years or so and have provided the audio for artists such as James Blunt, David Bowie, Michael Buble, Joe Cocker, Harry Connick Jr, Dido, Tom Jones, Norah Jones, Ronan Keating, Kd Lang, Annie Lennox, Madonna, Katie Malua, George Michael, Razorlight, REM, Scissor Sisters, Rod Stewart, Sting, Justin Timberlake, to name but some......

LINK: http://www.itv.com/Entertainment/chatandtalent/parkinson/default.html