FabricationsHQ - Putting the Words to the Music
  • Muirsical Thoughts, Muirsical News Last update: March 24th
  • Latest Articles (links)
  • Cruachan - The Living and The Dead
  • Elles Bailey - The Caves, Edinburgh
  • Knowing Your Shit... 2022 In Review
  • King Kraken - MCLXXX
  • Hayley Griffiths (February 2023)
  • Steve Hill (January 2023)
  • WinterStorm 2023 - Legends and Legacies Announcement
  • 2023 Reviews
  • 2023 Featured Album Reviews
    • Heavy Metal Kids - The Albums 1974-1976
    • Anchor Lane - Call This a Reality?
    • Doomsday Outlaw - Damaged Goods
    • Hayley Griffiths - Far From Here Hayley Griffiths Band - MELANIE
  • 2022 Reviews
  • 2022 Featured Album Reviews
    • Moon City Masters - The Famous Moon City Masters
    • Steve Hill - Dear Illusion
    • Kira Mac - Chaos is Calling
    • EBB - Mad & Killing Time
    • The Commoners - Find A Better Way
    • Rebecca Downes - The Space Between Us
    • Erja Lyytinen - Waiting For The Daylight
    • Chris Antonik - Morningstar
    • The Milk Men - Spin The Bottle
    • SiX BY SiX - SiX BY SiX
    • Jeff Berlin - Jack Songs
    • Keef Hartley Band - Sinnin' For You The Albums 1969-1973
    • Toby Lee - Icons Vol.1
    • Montrose - I Got The Fire : Complete Recordings 1973-1976
    • Orianthi - Live From Hollywood
    • Valeriy Stepanov Fusion Project - Album No. 2
    • Dan Reed Network - Let's Hear It For The King
    • Ali Ferguson - The Contemplative Power Of Water
    • Edgar Winter - Brother Johnny
    • Joe Satriani - The Elephants Of Mars
    • Dave Cureton - State Of Mind
    • Larry McCray - Blues Without You
    • Tears for Fears - Tipping Point
    • Kris Barras Band - Death Valley Paradise
    • Dan Patlansky - Shelter of Bones
    • Black Lakes - For All We've Left Behind
    • Wille & The Bandits - When The World Stood Still
    • LALU - Paint the Sky
    • Various Artists - Revolt Into Style 1979
  • 2021 Reviews
  • 2021 Featured Album Reviews
    • Dave Bainbridge - To The Far Away
    • Lachy Doley - Studios 301 Sessions
    • Mark Pontin Group - Kaleidoscope
    • The Mentulls - Recipe For Change
    • Plush - Plush
    • Wayward Sons - Even Up the Score
    • Pat Metheny - Side-Eye NYC (V1.IV)
    • Steve Hackett - Surrender Of Silence
    • Sweet Crisis - Tricks On My Mind
    • Amanda Lehmann - Innocence and Illusion
    • Chantel McGregor - Shed Sessions Volume One & Volume Two
    • Troy Redfern ...The Fire Cosmic!
    • NWOCR - Volume One
    • Jeff Kollman - East of Heaven
    • The Damn Truth - Now Or Nowhere
    • Dennis DeYoung - 26 East Vol 2
    • Mark Lettieri - Deep: The Baritone Sessions Vol 2
    • Reach - The Promise Of a LIfe
    • Jane Getter Premonition - Anomalia
    • Mason Hill - Against The Wall
    • Lyle Workman - Uncommon Measures
    • Robert Berry - 3.2 : Third Impression
    • Lifesigns - Altitude
    • Jason Bieler and The Baron Von Bielski Orchestra - Songs For The Apocalypse
  • 2020 Reviews
  • 2020 Featured Album Reviews
    • McCartney III
    • Gary Barlow - Music Played By Humans
    • Storm Warning - Different Horizons
    • Reb Beach - A View From The Inside
    • Lykantropi - Tales To Be Told
    • King King - Maverick
    • Jakko M Jakszyk - Secrets & Lies
    • Blue Öyster Cult - The Symbol Remains
    • Fish - Weltschmerz
    • Dyble Longdon - Between A Breath And A Breath
    • Jim Kirkpatrick - Ballad of a Prodigal Son
    • Abel Ganz - The Life of the Honey Bee & Other Moments of Clarity
    • Toby and the Whole Truth - Ignorance is Bliss (25th Anniversary Edition)
    • Everyday Heroes - A Tale of Sin & Sorrow
    • Skintrade - The Show Must Go On
    • Robert Jon & The Wreck - Last Light on the Highway
    • Pat Metheny - From This Place
    • Anchor Lane - Casino
  • Selected 2023 Gig Reviews...
    • The Wilson Brothers - Backstage at the Green, Kinross
  • Selected 2022 Gig Reviews...
    • WinterStorm Rock Weekender - Troon
    • Jack J Hutchinson - Bannermans, Edinburgh
    • Paul McCartney - Pyramid Stage, Glastonbury 2022
    • Daryl Hall - Ryman Auditorium, Nashville
    • Joe Bonamassa - SEC Armadillo, Glasgow
    • Dan Patlansky - Oran Mor, Glasgow
    • Eric Gales - Oran Mor, Glasgow
  • Selected 2021 Gig Reviews...
    • Sweet - The Garage, Glasgow
    • The Damn Truth - Now Or Nowhere Record Release Experiment Live
    • Anchor Lane - Lockdown Live, DreadnoughtRock, Bathgate
    • Laurence Jones - Live From Camden, Powerhaus, London
    • Joe Bonamassa - Austin City Limits, Live Stream
    • Todd Rundgren - Clearly Human Virtual Tour, "Pittsburgh"
  • Selected 2020 Gig Reviews...
    • Jared James Nichols - Garage G2, Glasgow
    • Oscar Cordoba Band - Blue Arrow, Glasgow
    • Rebecca Downes Band - The Ice Box, Glasgow
    • Ben Poole Trio - Room 2, Glasgow
    • Sensational Alex Harvey Experience - DreadnoughtRock, Bathgate
    • The Aristocrats - Liquid Rooms, Edinburgh
    • Fat Suit - Drygate, Glasgow
    • Francis Dunnery's It Bites - St Lukes, Glasgow
  • Selected 2019 Gig Reviews...
    • WinterStorm Rock Weekender IV - Troon
    • Hawkwind - 02 Academy, Glasgow
    • Opeth - SWG3 Galvanizers, Glasgow
    • Félix Rabin - Nice 'N' Sleazy Glasgow
    • Anchor Lane - G2, Glasgow
    • Stray - Backstage at the Green, Kinross
    • Danny Bryant - Backstage at the Green, Kinross
    • Talon - Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow
    • Lifesigns - Smiles of Musical Travel
    • A Whole Lotta Rock 3 - featuring Rattlesnake Tattoo, Prestwick
    • Chantel McGregor - Hard Rock Cafe Glasgow
    • Pete Way Band - Customs House Hotel, Greenock
    • Raintown and Katee Kross - Village Theatre, East Kilbride
    • Danny Vaughn - DreadnoughtRock, Bathgate
    • NR Rocks 2019 - DreadnoughtRock, Bathgate
    • Arran Rock 'N' Blues Fest 2019
    • Cheap Trick - 02 Academy, Glasgow
    • The Blind Lemon Gators - Tolboth, Stirling
  • Muirsical Conversations...
    • Rebecca Downes (December 2022)
    • Chris Antonik (November 2022)
    • Pat Travers (October 2022)
    • Robert Berry (August 2022)
    • JW-Jones (August 2022)
    • Mike Ross (July 2022)
    • Dan Patlansky - March 2022
    • Bernie Marsden (December 2021)
    • Robin George (November 2021)
    • Dennis DeYoung (June 2021)
    • Robert Berry (March 2021)
    • Dan Reed (February 2021)
    • Steve Hackett (January 2021)
    • John Verity (September 2020)
    • Steve Hackett (July 2020)
    • Gary Moat (March 2020)
    • Steve Hackett (October 2019)
    • Rebecca Downes (May 2019)
    • Ben Poole & Wayne Proctor (January 2019)
    • Dan Reed (November 2018)
    • Del Bromham (October 2018)
    • Brian Downey (September 2018)
    • Raintown - Paul Bain & Claire McArthur Bain (May 2018)
    • Hamilton Loomis (December 2017)
    • Alan Nimmo (October 2017)
    • Erja Lyytinen (September 2017)
    • Suzi Quatro (September 2017)
    • Biff Byford (August 2017)
    • Dan Patlansky (June 2017)
    • Graham Bonnet (May 2017)
    • Simon Thacker (April 2017)
    • Sari Schorr (March 2017)
    • Stevie Nimmo (February 2017)
    • Dan Reed (February 2017)
    • Adam Norsworthy (January 2017)
    • Colin James (December 2016)
    • John Lees (October 2016)
    • Sari Schorr (August 2016)
    • Mike Vernon (August 2016)
    • Wayne Proctor (July 2016)
    • Laurence Jones (April 2016)
    • Chantel McGregor (March 2016)
    • John Young (January 2016)
    • Michael Schenker (November 2015)
    • Martin Barre (October 2015)
    • Chris Norman (September 2015)
    • Joanne Shaw Taylor (August 2015)
    • Fee Waybill (July 2015)
    • Ian Anderson (June 2015)
    • John Lodge (June 2015)
    • John Lawton (May 2015)
    • Steve Hackett (May 2015)
    • Manny Charlton (April 2015)
    • Ben Poole (April 2015)
    • Alan Nimmo (February 2015)
    • Popa Chubby (December 2014)
    • Paul Young (July 2014)
    • Bernie Shaw (June 2014)
    • Lee Kerslake (December 2013)
    • Pat Travers (September 2013)
    • Steve Hunter (August 2013)
    • Joy Dunlop (March 2013)
    • Gwyn Ashton (Dec. 2012)
    • Greg Lake (October 2012)
    • Ned Evett (August 2012)
    • Steven Lindsay (July 2012)
    • Dave Cureton (June 2012)
    • Jon Anderson (May 2012)
    • Jeremey Frederick Hunsicker (March 2012)
    • Amy Schugar (Feb. 2012)
    • Robert Fleischman (November 2011)
    • Ivan Drever (Sep. 2011)
    • Michael Sadler (June 2011)
    • James Evans (April 2011)
    • Alyn Cosker (Nov. 2010)
    • Scott Higham (Nov. 2010)
    • Kevin Chalfant (Oct. 2010)
    • Francis Dunnery (Sep. 2010)
    • Duncan Chisholm (Aug 2010)
    • Barbara Rubin (July 2010)
    • Alan Reed (June 2010)
  • FabricationsHQ Q&As With...
    • Jeff Kollman - August 2021
    • Lyle Workman (March 2021)
    • Jason Bieler (February 2021)
    • Félix Rabin (February 2020)
    • Chantel McGregor (August 2019)
    • Greig Taylor (July 2019)
    • Adam Norsworthy (June 2019)
    • Erja Lyytinen (March 2019)
  • Muirsical Articles...
    • 2019AB?
    • The Fool Guitar - The Fool Story
    • Alex Harvey - Framed in Words. And pictures
    • Home of a Ramblin' Band (Allman Brothers Band Big House Museum)
    • Journey - That Time Forgot
    • KISS - Elder Statesmen, Elder Statement?
    • Phil Lynott - Remembering Pt. 3
    • Freddie Mercury - The Days of His Life
    • Gary Moore - Last Exit
    • Mott - Without any of the Hoople-la
    • Muirsical Six of the Best
    • Music Town: A Decade of the Darvel Music Festival
    • Pat Travers - The Forgotten Power Trio
    • Playing Tribute
    • Gerry Rafferty - Humblebum to Multi-Million Seller
    • Cliff Richard - The Rock and Roll Juvenile
    • Slade - Thanks For the Memories
    • The Sweet - A Cut Above the Rest
    • Talon - On Eagles Wings
    • Wild Horses - Thoroughbreds or also-rans?
  • A Personal Journey: Definitive Edition (eBook)
  • Steve Perry (vocalist): One in a Million (eBook)
  • A Writer's Muirsings...
    • A Writer's Muirsings: Introduction
    • Superbowl XLVII MVP: Beyoncé (February 2013)
    • Michael Jackson: The Alternative Verdict (Nov 2011)
    • True Colours (November 2010)
    • It's a New Language, Old Bean (October 2010)
    • Finger Pointing (July 2010)
    • Suffer the Little Children (April 2010)
    • Hey 'Banker', can you spare a dime? (February 2010)
  • Author Bio & Site Info
  • Contact FabricationsHQ

Tufty played bass
Trevor Bolder (1950 - 2013)

Picture
Trevor Bolder was old-school.

The Hull born musician was quiet, unassuming and even a little shy.
But behind what many perceived (wrongly) to be a grumpy misdemeanour was a very likeable man who, if approached, would happily engage you in conversation.
He simply preferred not to be in the public eye.

Musically, Trevor Bolder was a consummate professional and a lynchpin of one of the shortest lived yet most famous rock bands of the 70’s, the Spiders From Mars (far more than just David Bowie’s backing band).

He was also a mainstay of one of the most enduring hard rock bands in history, Uriah Heep.
Trevor Bolder joined Heep in 1976 and remained part of the band (other than a stint with Wishbone Ash from 1981 to 1983) until early 2013, when he stepped out for health reasons after an operation to combat pancreatic cancer.
He sadly succumbed to the illness on the 21st of May 2013, aged 62.

Such loyalty to one band is another old-school trait but more significantly “Tufty,” as he used to be known (due to the top tuft of hair that was part of his look during the Spiders and early Heep days), would go on to become one of the best rock bassists Britain ever produced.

Yet, sadly, one that remained extremely under-rated.

Trevor Bolder couldn’t help but get into music from an early age – almost the entire family and (quite genuinely) their aunties played instruments, danced or sang.
Bolder initially played brass instrumentation, primarily the trumpet (which made an appearance on David Bowie’s Hunky Dory album), and brass bands or R&B may well have been his future if not for his discovery of rock and roll and the Beatles.

Suddenly trumpets became guitars and, in Trevor Bolder’s case, the four-string variety (both he and his brother decided they wanted to play guitar but his brother didn’t want to play bass).  

For all the Beatles were a huge influence on teenage wannabee musicians in the 60’s, Trevor Bolder’s inspiration came from blues rock bassists such as Jack Bruce.
Bolder had a rock edge to his playing from the very start and would develop in to a musician that could play lead bass, produce solid and consistent rhythmic playing or add a melodic groove, each with equal ease.

Trevor Bolder would be later influenced by Jaco Pastorius, a truly brilliant player whose jazz techniques rubbed off a little on Bolder’s blues based rock style.
As Bolder grew in stature and experience he would play more notes in the bass lines but never to the detriment of the song – still clean and precise, never cluttered or ponderous.

Trevor Bolder’s break came when he jumped in to help out guitarist Mick Ronson’s band The Rats, soon to become known as Ronno.
Ronson, another Hull musician, had already played with David Bowie and in 1971 Bolder replaced Tony Visconti in Bowie’s backing band, joining Ronson and drummer Woody Woodmansey.
They first played as a unit on Hunky Dory and one year later Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars became part of rock and roll history.

Bowie eventually distanced himself from the Spiders and Trevor Bolder went on to work with Mick Ronson (a truly gifted musician lost far too soon in 1993), playing on the guitarist’s acclaimed solo albums Slaughter on 10th Avenue (1974) and Play Don’t Worry (1975).

In 1976 Bolder got the call to audition for Uriah Heep, the recommendation coming from ex-Spider Woody Woodmansey (the pair had put a Spiders From Mars band together the year before and some two decades later were part of Cybernauts, a Bowie/ Spiders cover band formed in tribute to Mick Ronson).

Uriah Heep have had more than their fair share of band members, some of whom lasted a year or less, but Trevor Bolder was a great fit from day one.

Bolder replaced John Wetton but up to that point Gary Thain (a very jazzy player and a member of the band from 1972 to 1974) was still remembered fondly as an integral component of the classic Heep line-up and sound.

But from the first audition and subsequent rehearsals the band knew there was something special developing between Bolder and long-time Heep drummer Lee Kerslake.
Kerslake’s big and beefy drumming matched his physicality and personality and the Bolder-Kerslake tandem would become one of the best rhythm sections in hard rock history.
But, again, a sadly under-rated one.


Picture
           Trevor Bolder was old-school – quiet, unassuming, consistent and a consummate professional

In 1980 Uriah Heep reached their musical nadir.
The turn of the decade had seen further personnel changes and the 1980 Conquest tour and later UK club dates featured a band that was a shadow of its former self.
One of the few redeeming features from that period however were the performances of Trevor Bolder –solid, professional and consistent within a unit that was falling apart around him.

Uriah Heep guitarist, founder member and ever-present Mick Box disbanded the group after the 1980 club tour; the idea was then to reform a new and improved Uriah Heep around Box and Trevor Bolder.
But things didn’t happen quickly enough for the bassist and Bolder decided to pay the bills by joining Wishbone Ash in 1981 (replacing John Wetton in a band for the second time in five years).

However when the opportunity came to rejoin Uriah Heep in 1983 and hook back up with Mick Box and Lee Kerslake (who had become part of the reformed Heep in 1982), Bolder jumped at the chance. 

Trevor Bolder would go on to produce for Uriah Heep, wrote or co-wrote a number of songs across most of the albums he appeared on, contributed the occasional lead vocal and helped the band reclaim some of their former glories (1995’s Sea of Light is one of the band’s best ever albums).


But there is no doubt Trevor Bolder’s four-string skills and classic pose, running dexterous fingers across a Fender Precision bass or his signature TB D’Alegria Defender, are his defining musical legacies.

Ziggy played guitar.
But Tufty played rock bass.  And played it better than most.

Ross Muir
May 2013


Main image photo credit: Wiki/ Maria Luisa Spagnuolo
Website and text contents © FabricationsHQ and Ross Muir
All Rights Reserved