JERRY SHIRLEY PRESENTS: HUMBLE PIE LEGACY – 50 YEARS OF SMOKIN’
The current incarnation of Humble Pie will stage a short tour of America this September. All shows go on-sale this Friday. Staged as JERRY SHIRLEY PRESENTS: HUMBLE PIE LEGACY – 50 YEARS OF SMOKIN,’ the excursion is a celebration of one of the greatest touring bands to ever perform internationally. Band leader and guitarist Dave “Bucket” Colwell, bassist Ivan Bodley, drummer Bobby Marks and vocalist / guitarist Jim Stapley were handpicked by Jerry Shirley to carry on the band’s legacy.
Humble Pie founding drummer Jerry Shirley offers, “Having spent a long time carefully putting together such a wonderful band of top-class players with the help of Dave ‘Bucket’ Colwell, my musical director and band leader using his recruiting skills, I am thrilled with the outcome and can’t wait to see and hear them light up the live stage later this year.” Founding guitarist Peter Frampton adds, “I wholeheartedly support this venture.”
Looking towards the road ahead, singer Stapley shares, “Having spent a number of years playing with guys like Bucket, Kenney Jones, and Rick Wills, and having written, performed with, and been a close friend to Mollie – one of Steve’s daughters – it’s clearly obvious to me that the legacy of Humble Pie is an important and influential one. It’s not lost on me that the center spot on stage has a huge hole in it, where Steve Marriott once stood. I can’t even attempt to fill those boots, no one can. But I’ll tear my lungs out giving it a shot… The songs deserve it, the band deserves it, and everyone one who has come to love the music of Humble Pie, but never got to see them live, deserve it too… So, no pressure… (gulp). “
When Humble Pie emerged a half century ago, they lead the way as the heavy harbingers of a new generation of organic, hard-hitting blues-rock that would help define the denim and doobies half-decade of the early 1970s. Their unimpeachably classic LPs like 1971’s heralded live album Performance: Rockin’ the Fillmore and 1972’s commercial breakthrough Smokin’ remain veritable cornerstones of classic rock, foundational influences for generations of artists from Aerosmith to Van Halen to Quiet Riot to the Black Crowes to Rival Sons, Dirty Honey, and beyond.
Dave “Bucket” Colwell has played in bands since the age of 16, starting in the UK pubrock era. He moved on to touring and recording, with tenures in Samson, Adrian Smith & Project, and Bad Company. Over the course of a dozen years, he shared and solo-occupied the guitar chair of his pal Mick Ralphs, from 1990’s Holy Water Tour to 2002’s Merchants of Cool album and tour with Paul Rodgers. The current band leader of Humble Pie Legacy plans to release his third solo album Chasing Satellites under the moniker Buckets Rebel Heart later this year.
Colwell would summarily draft R&B bassist Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley (Sam Moore, The Shirelles), drummer Bobby Marks (Dokken, Joe Lynn Turner) and most recent addition singer Jim Stapley to meet, magnify, and manifest the band’s heavy legacy head-on. “We all have a great sense of love and pride for Humble Pie,” says Shirley, now 71, “and that includes the original members, their families, and what we were able to achieve. It goes without saying that no one will ever replace Steve, Peter, or any member of the band. My goal is to keep the legacy of Humble Pie intact as one of the greatest live acts in rock, while satiating the need for generations of our beloved fans to again enjoy our music performed live by world-class musicians.”
