The Rock n Roll Kabaret, says creator Cherry Simpson, is like sex. Waves of emotion and hopefully you won’t be exhausted by the end of the first 20 minutes!
“I never ever want to go to another gig where I’ve got five metal bands, five rock bands, five hip hop bands... I want a nice zig zag of emotion and movement.”
Cherry and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Pirates, Krysten Cummings, Maurice O’Conner, Counsel to Alex, Robert Brown, TJ and Murphy, Walki’s Monster, DJ Crusher and more special guests will take visitors to Stowmarket’s John Peel Centre for Creative Arts on February 8, on a ride they’ll never forget.
“Maurice is a great young Irish singer who’s just going to be a star, TJ and Murphy are a great double act from Liverpool, Walki’s Monster, she just defies defininition, genre... We always have the most amazing music if I do say so myself,” laughs Cherry, who founded the globe-trotting night because he was fed up of watching bands play to the empty club he was running.
“I was like man, I could just put a night on myself and fill this up with amazing music just with my friends I know are having a hard time getting a gig or getting freaked out by the way everything’s run in London, all this pay to play stuff. I said ‘do you just want to all come on and we’ll all play together on one night... have fun, have a drink’. It grew and grew from that. It’s been a wonderful ride.”
Born in Scotland, raised in California, don’t be surprised if you see some famous faces joining the actor, singer and multi-instrumentalist’s ever-changing line-up of cohorts. Not that he ever tells anybody they’re coming.
“I never wanted the Rock n Roll Kabaret to be advertised with celebrities it’s not what it’s about. It’s not about ‘oh my God, there’s going to be someone famous there, that’s why we’re going’. It’s not about Judy Tzuke is doing this, it’s ‘oh my God, it’s Judy Tzuke’. If they show up and they do something it’s fantastic and a great surprise for everyone whose there.
“Yesterday we had a little gathering and the lead singer of the drifters said ‘I want to sing Cherry’,” he laughs. “So it’s quite a wide expanse [of music]... we’ll have the Supremes on next you watch.”
When the John Peel Centre approached Suffolk singer-songwriter Robert for help to up its profile even more, he knew the Rock n Roll Kabaret, whom he’s been with from its birth, would be a great fit.
“It’s like music and fashion meets the arts, meets Andy Warhol. It’s three hours of real, cutting edge music - stuff you won’t hear on the radio or see on the TV. It’s just non-stop... usually we always end up over-running,” he laughs, describing the night as a rock n roll magical mystery tour.
“You never know what’s going to come on stage next - it could be the best thing you’ve heard in your life or it could be the thing you didn’t like but you’ll remember it forever.”
Returning every two months, the kabaret is looking for local acts to join the line-up.
“Our whole mantra is rock n roll isn’t [a type] of music it’s an attitude. If you’re good and you’re rock and roll we don’t care if you’re 15 or 90, black or white, gay, straight, transsexual, whatever.”
To find out more about joining the kabaret or how to get tickets, check out www.facebook.com/pages/The-ROCK-N-ROLL-Kabaret, following Robert on Twitter via @smoulderingson or visit www.johnpeelcentreforcreativearts.co.uk
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