JJ Gilmour: Breaking The Silence
JJ Gilmour
Entry Requirements: Over 14's (Under 18's must be accompanied by and adult)
For the first time in over 20 years, the former Silencers front man JJ Gilmour revisits the songs he sang with the band for a very special full band show.
JJ Gilmour is an outstanding songwriter, singer & performer…of that there is no doubt. He first came to public attention co-fronting the Scottish rock band The Silencers. JJ had been a long-time admirer of the band, with them both coming from the same town, Coatbridge, and jumped at the chance to join the band when asked. The band had a huge following in Europe, especially in France & Spain where they would play stadiums sized shows. It gave JJ a platform that he relished, launching his solo career and establishing him as a singer, songwriter & performer of some repute.
Since leaving the band, JJ has only performed some of the songs he has sung with The Silencers once, at the Glasgow ABC for Burns Night in aid of the band’s guitarist Cha Burns, but this very special show will see JJ perform the songs he sung with the band once again with his all-star band, featuring Ross McFarlane on drums (Gerry Cinnamon, Texas & The Proclaimers), Lewis Gordon on bass (Deacon Blue & Texas), Ali Petrie on keys (Albert Lee) & Jon Mackenzie on guitar (Kirsten Adamson).
Opening the show are two iconic Coatbridge bands. Valerie and the Week of Wonders have reformed after 30 years, playing a series of sell-out shows as well as recording a new album. Sideway Look will be playing live for the first time in over 3 decades, playing tracks from their self-titled debut album & Taming The Blade.
This is going to be a special one.
Line Up
Internationally acclaimed Scottish singer-songwriter JJ Gilmour made his recording debut in 1989 with The Silencers, one of Scotland’s top bands who enjoyed huge success throughout Europe. A naturally gifted musician (in his youth (JJ came very close to a career in classical music as a tenor), he first joined the band as a backing vocalist though later in their career he progressed seamlessly to lead vocalist.
Seven action-packed years of gigging and recording ensued during which The Silencers had gold albums, sold over half a million records for BMG/RCA, headlined major rock festivals and were regulars on hit TV shows across Europe. However, all good things must come to an end and after this successful period with the band, JJ decided he needed to take on new challenges and embarked upon a solo career.
After an initial period of prolific song-writing in 2001 at his home in Jersey (Channel Islands), JJ left for New York to record his critically acclaimed debut solo album ‘sunnyside P.A.L’ Produced by Dan Wise (Scissor sisters) and mixed by Michael Brauer (Coldplay, John Meyer) the album was inspired by the memory of a childhood friend Paul Anthony Lennon and was released in February 2002. The album became the catalyst for establishing his now fiercely loyal fan base and gained wide spread acclaim from his peers as an ‘outstanding debut album’.
In between the release of his first solo album and the long awaited equally successful second album ‘The Boy Who Didn’t Fall’ (released in 2009), JJ’s desire to write a musical began to take shape in 2006. This was where he began to sow the early creative musical seeds and formulate ideas for the show ‘Dancing Shoes’, based upon the life of footballer George Best. After his dream was realised “Dancing Shoes” played to over 70,000 people. He has also written the songs for the musical play ‘The Titanic Boys’ which had its debut in August 2012 at Belfast’s Grand Opera House.
JJ was living in Scotland where he recorded his third album Slocomotion, before departing for Ireland. During his time here, he remastered and released ‘The Jersey Sessions’ & ‘Live at Cottiers’ albums and finished compiling a newly released songbook of his works as a solo artist. He has also now completed album number four which saw him go back to The Foundry Music Lab to work with Sandy Jones recording the album he always wanted to do - DiX is 10 songs of simply vocals, piano, strings and uilleann pipe, released in January 2017.
