Phil Bates

Phil Bates

July 9th, 8:23 pm

Something that I have had a lot of flak for over the years with my German ELO music project is the accusation that I was responsible for advertising and promoting my band as ELO, and not a tribute/homage.It is true that on many occasions I arrived in a town or city and was greeted by posters advertising our gig as ELO. If there was any other billing, it was in extremely small print, so difficult to read from any sort of distance.Had a lot of abuse over this, and I do understand how it appeared from the outside. I would have felt the same as an observer,What people did not know was that on EVERY page of the contract sent out by my promoter to local promoters were the words - ‘This is not ELO, and should not be billed, advertised or promoted as ELO’.We also issued instructions stipulating the relative sizes of the fonts that should be used on posters when advertising ELO music and Phil Bates Band.Hell, my promoter even had thousands of posters printed with everything correctly laid out, and these were sent to all promoters.What we could not legislate for was local promoters ignoring our posters and printing their own, obviously advertising my band as ELO.I even refused to play one gig because of this.Of course, we had threats from Mr Lynne and his lawyers, but we were never sued because they were sent copies of our contracts and posters. Thus, any responsibility for misrepresentation lay with local promoters, not with me or my promoter.I know many will still be sceptical and disbelieving, but my conscience is clear, and at this point a f*** I do not give.Anyway, we always based our arrangements etc on ELO Part 2, which was legitimate, despite what many people believe.Just a few thoughts I wanted to get off my chest ❤️☯️🙏😄 ... See MoreSee Less

Phil Bates

June 8th, 1:11 pm

Sometimes people (critics) forget that fundamentally I have always been an ELO fan, even well before my association with the band and Jet Records began.I was over the moon when we signed to the same label as ELO, and especially when I sat in the Jet listening room downstairs at Gloucester Place, and heard Out of the Blue before it was released.Turn to Stone just blew my mind at that time, listening to it LOUD in that room.My band had a VW van that we travelled to gigs in, which was a challenge because it would rarely reach speeds over 50 mph, even downhill with a following gale😂But I had possession of it most of the time, and I have wonderful memories of trips and holidays to the south coast, Devon and beyond listening to Out of the Blue constantly, time after time. Which is why I got to know the album so well.But I was a fan from 10538 Overture onwards, which again is probably why this has always been one of my favourites to play ‘live’.A few things have soured me along the way, but the music was, and still is, absolutely wonderful, beyond souring😂. This is something that I have come to appreciate even more as I have dissected the songs to put my solo acoustic versions together.Thank you Jeff Lynne. ... See MoreSee Less

Phil Bates is with Joanna Bates and 5 others.

May 9th, 1:37 pm

Back from the 80s Cruise around a small part of the Med. Palma - Marseilles - Barcelona - Palma. 5 days of music and over-eating😂Our two concerts, in the theatre, and then poolside, were an absolute success, with great audiences going a bit crazy. Really enjoyed the gigs, even with some technical challenges. Seeing the joy on people’s faces was fantastic.Also did a few interviews for on-board entertainment and radio, which are not always easy for someone who is fundamentally an introvert. But they seemed to be OK.Such a great pleasure forcJo and me to be with our friends - Ralf, Eric, Chris, Susanne, Steffen, Alex, and Dominik. Dominik has done some really good things with my website. He put the whole cruise together. Such a lovely chap and a hard worker. Thank you all. I am very grateful that you are all in my life.Travel was surprisingly problem free, and I always have to shout out for Jet2 and their organisation. A company that employs enough people to make the whole process as easy as possible.Other artists on the show were Sweet, Nick Kershaw, Samantha Fox, Sydney Youngblood, plus a few others, so pretty diverse and interesting.One day to recover, then my solo gig in Clyro on Sunday 🙏☯️❤️😄And, by the way, my cabin was stunning. Panoramic views, and a separate terrace/sun deck. Never had such luxury before. Perhaps a final reward for an old muso😂😂Steffen Klimt Susanne Filep Alex Sicorskyy Dominik Dröse Joanna Bates #schallwellen #80sclassicrock #meinschiff ... See MoreSee Less

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