Hooker started back in 1993, when Rob, who had recently completed a drumming course, got talking to Maurice, a friend who played guitar. They decided to get together for a jam session and mentioned it to Trev.
Rob and Trev had met through work, and Trev mentioned that he had been a singer in a band called High Octane, several years earlier.
Trev worked with Ray, an old mate who in the past had played Bass guitar in several bands. They all decided to get together for a jamming session in the Prima Parts warehouse where Ray & Trev worked. Maurice also brought along a mate called Colin, another guitarist.4th July 1993
The fateful jam session happened, everyone got on really well with each other, and went through some old Rock & Roll classics.
Lineup---Rob Pincham (Drums), Maurice "Fingers" Armstrong (Lead Guitar), Ray Stockton (Bass Guitar), Colin Ward (Rhythm Guitar), Trev Smith (Vocals).The band carried on jamming for several weeks, just for fun with no ambition of actually playing in public. Unfortunately Colin's work commitments meant he had very little spare time, and had to quit the weekly get-togethers.
Sept 1993
Colin was replaced by Steve French, a friend of Robs'. Great bloke but used to wind Maurice up mercilessly. Being a fiery Yorkshire terrier, Maurice always bit, which made Steve's job even easier.
It was about this time that Maurice told us of a Gig he was supposed to be doing at the Orton Snooker Centre on Christmas Eve. The band he was supposed to be playing in was about to split up, and did we fancy taking over the booking? Of course we did! (enthusiasm and naivety in equal measures or what?)
This gave us about 16 weeks to learn enough songs to fill three sets, about 45 in all!!
We learned as many "easy" numbers as Maurice could remember, plus a few numbers Trev knew he could sing from his Karaoke nights, and a load more besides. We were playing the likes of The Eagles, The Beatles, UB40, George Harrison, as well as the beginnings of our familiar numbers, like Bon Jovi and Bryan Adams.24th December 1993
The first Gig had arrived, we were playing with an old Maine 200 Mixer Amp for Vocals, with a pair of borrowed speakers, and just the back line amps.
Ray was seriously pissed before we even started, (Dutch, German and Russian courage we think!). Steve was so nervous that he had a nosebleed all day, that didn't let up until about 15 mins before kickoff. He also spent the entire gig with his back to the audience.
Trev stood there with all his words written on pieces of paper, (no change there then) and spent most of the night looking round at Rob with a scared rabbit look on his face, unsure of what came next.
Maurice played a blinder until the middle eight in "Run to You", where he just stopped playing, and looked around oblivious to the rest of the band's pleading looks in his direction...willing him to play the required riff. The rest of the lads went right round the verse again to lead him into the offending passage, but no! he couldn't remember what came next. A second pregnant pause ensued, but with Maurice also panicked like the rest of us! Luckily, we managed to cobble together some kind of ending and the audience didn't seem to mind....PHEW!
Rob played brilliantly all night, but the exitement got to him, and every song finished up at twice the tempo it had started off at. Bless him!
The first Gig was over....and we got paid for it too! (There is talk of a video of this first gig on the loose. But we don't encourage viewing it, please!.... pretty please? )31st January 1994
We played to an invited audience at the Heron pub in Stanground. We had been rehearsing there for a while, and asked family and friends to come along as critics. We treated it as a proper Gig and asked for comments later. We had a great night, and learned a few things about presentation, audience preferences and such like.This was also the birthplace of the ORANGE OVERALLS.
Earlier that day, Ray had given Trev a pair of British Rail orange overalls that his Dad had got rid of. As a joke, Ray said "Why don't you wear them tonight?". Trev muttered something about Ray being a silly old fart and dismissed the idea.
However, at the last moment he thought why not? and did the Gig in them anyway. At the end of the night, A mate called Steve Williams came up and said, "I love the overalls, that will make you stand out! If they forget the name of the band, they'll just say....."you know... the bloke with orange overalls." And so a trademark was born...
The only trouble is, they make you sweat like a pig... handy for weight loss I suppose, but not very pleasant. Yuk!19th March1994
Steve French played his last Gig with us, at the Heron as it happened. Again it was work, or college commitments as far as I remember that caused him to leave.30th April 1994
Sean Wilkerson joined the band playing lead and rhythm guitar. Sean and Trev were old mates and had been in High Octane together. In fact Sean played at Trev's first wedding with High Octane, before Trev got involved with the band.
Sean's first Gig was at the Cherry Tree, when Pete Carter was still the landlord. Talk about a baptism of fire! Anyway we had a brilliant night and got invited to play at the National Music Day event later in the year. Great!!30th September 1995
Ray played his last Gig with us at the Cock Inn in Werrington. He and Shirley had been offered a business up near Retford, and had decided to go and live up in Elkersley. It was a real sad day for all of us, but at least we didn't have to put up with his bloody awful time-keeping any more!
Sean wanted to play Bass and we decided to try it as a four piece. He sold his guitar and amp and bought a Bass and Bass amp instead. No going back now then?
8th October 1995
Played our first Gig as a four piece at the Dragonfly in Orton Malborne. Seemed nice and tight, musically that is! Although it gave Maurice a lot more work to do, it sounded good and we decided to stay as a four piece.9th November 1996
The George at Whittlesey, someone nicked Trev's wig....git!! It turned out to be Maurice's last gig with Hooker, although we didn't know it at the time.15th November 1996
The Cherry Tree, Oundle road. We had set up the gear in the pub ready for the gig, but there was no sign of Maurice. Time was getting on, and it wasn't like him to be late. We left it until about 8.30 and then phoned his house to see if he had left. When he answered the phone he sounded bad, and said he wasn't well enough to play. Of course we thought he was having a laugh, but he was serious. Rather than let the pub down, we figured that we had nothing to lose, and asked if anybody was a guitarist, and did they fancy standing in?
There was an American lad there called Sam, and he used to play rhythm guitar in a band in the States. However he now only played keyboards, but was willing to have a go. Trev dashed off to Maurice's house to borrow his guitar and amp, and when he saw Maurice, it was obvious he was seriously ill. In the meantime somebody had mentioned a mate of theirs was a guitarist, and he might step in. He phoned his mate, and lo and behold, a certain Mr. Steve Gough was available, and willing to play.
We had a really great night considering the situation, and Sam and Steve not only saved the day, but they stole the show! Steve agreed to play in the next couple gigs, to help us out of a spot..........and five years later he's still here.Poor old Maurice turned out to have kidney failure, and coupled with his existing diabetes, it put him out of action for months. He started dialysis shortly afterwards and is still awaiting a transplant. It was a sad way to leave the band, but there will always be a bit of Maurice in Hooker, and I dare say a bit of Hooker in Maurice. Anyway, I don't know why I've gone all morbid, the old bugger is still going strong and can still jump out of his pram now and then!
Steve's vast experience shows through all the time (being an old git does have it's advantages) He's played guitar during the reign of at least the last 5 Monarchs, and there doesn't seem to be a tune he's not familiar with!!! Keep an ear out for one of his now legendary lead breaks. He always manages to find something different to play every time... wicked!
Summer 2001
A time of great change.... the introduction of keyboards to Hooker's sound. We had always wondered if we could incorporate keyboards into the band, and had experimented on a couple of occasions over the years. The time had never seemed quite right, or there was no-one available, or whatever..... until this summer.
Steve invited an old friend of |his to come along to a rehearsal or two, to see how it sounded. When he walked through the door, it turned out that Trev had known him for about 10 years too! He was the one and only......Pasky Chiarizia! Hairdresser to the stars, Sex symbol to all red blooded women in the northern hemisphere, etc etc. (Funny how most of the women had Labrador dogs, and white canes, must be a fetish or something?)
Anyway, after several rehearsals and lots of discussion, we invited Pasky to join our merry band of men, and amazingly he accepted! We're hoping to expand the kind of material we do, to take advantage of the extra range the keyboards can offer. In the meantime, Pasky is busy putting in all the missing bits in the songs we've always done....We've always been happy with our sound, and now it just got better, can't be bad eh?
(Another advantage of having Pasky on board, is that he manages to make the rest of us look nice and slim! Well you didn't think it was all about your musicianship did you Pasky?)
June 2002
We played on the Embankment for the Queens Golden Jubilee. Organised by BBC Music Live, and announced our temporary retirement due to a problem with Trev's throat.
March 2003
Following a thankfully unfounded cancer scare, Trev had to go through an operation on his vocal chords to correct a complaint called Reinke's Edema.
March 2003
Sadly, news came through that Maurice Armstrong, one of Hooker's founder members had died in hospital.
July 2003
At last! The comeback gig we had all waited over a year for! Top slot, Main stage, Saturday night at the Willow Festival. Wow! what a Gig!
We couldn't have hoped for a better comeback!
Carried on gigging through the rest of the year, slowly helping Trev's voice back to full strength.
January 2004
Upgraded the P.A. and introduced live multi-track recording of each gig. Live CD to follow??
Present day
We still have the same line-up and have no plans to change it as far as I know. The P.A. has slowly improved over the years, and the music has evolved as we've gone along, but the best thing is..... we still love playing. Hope to see you soon.
Bye..