South African Terence Reis will front Dire Straits

Jack-Flash-Jr

When they play live for the first time in yonks, at Royal Albert:

http://www.thedailymaverick.co.za/article/2011-03-10-maybe-get-a-blister-on-your-thumb-sa-guitarist-to-front-for-dire-straits

In case there's any fans out there ?

chris77

Jis, ja what an honour hey. But Straits without Knopfler is like a Spur burger without the patty.:-S

aubs1

chris77 wrote: Jis, ja what an honour hey. But Straits without Knopfler is like a Spur burger without the patty.:-S

I heard about this about two weeks ago from Andy McGibbons. But I agree with Chris....... no Knopfler, no Straits....... ☹

Tokai-SA

I met him at Andy's a few months ago...I sat in the demo room with him whilst he played a few guitars...very nice guy and great guitar player.
He was telling me all about his acting career in the UK, he's done well for himself.

I could be wrong but I don't think he was born in SAfrica, but has lived and studied here.

TI-Distribution

Oh the Irony! To me that band is Not Dire Straits. They should have changed the band name!

Knopfler IS Dire Straits to me. If only he would succumb to playing 1 more gig for Dire Straits.

I mean this is like like pap without wors, the night without the moon, the beer without the head

DonovanB

TI Distribution wrote: the beer without the head

Sjoe, what bar is that?!?!?!

Jack-Flash-Jr

Donovan Banks wrote:
TI Distribution wrote: the beer without the head
Sjoe, what bar is that?!?!?!

The best kind ?

Hammeron

Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep, Deep Purple have all gone out without the original line up and have still been brilliant!
Straits without Knopfler? FFS appreciate what you get, it's better than nothing.

Bob-Dubery

Tokai SA wrote: I could be wrong but I don't think he was born in SAfrica, but has lived and studied here.

The article says "Born in Durban and raised in Maputo". Also he was schooled at Kersney, so I'd say he's a local chap.

Bob-Dubery

Hammeron wrote: Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep, Deep Purple have all gone out without the original line up and have still been brilliant!
Straits without Knopfler? FFS appreciate what you get, it's better than nothing.

Dire Straits WAS Mark Knopfler. The only two guys to play on every Straits album were Knopfler and John Illsley, and you could take Illsley away and it would still have been Dire Straits. Take Knopfler away and.... he wrote the songs, he took the lead vocals, he provided the signature guitar sound.

The revolving chair in Dire Straits was always the 2nd guitar player. That's what I'd thought Reis was getting. But with a stand-in for Knopfler... well it's like "U2" without Bono.

The gig at the RAH is a charity affair, it's not clear that "Dire Straits" will be doing more than this one gig. .

Here's the line-up. Decide for yourself what this amounts to
Alan Clark - Keyboards (played with Dire Straits from 1980 until they split)
Phil Palmer - Guitar (played as 2nd guitarist on the last Dire Straits tour)
Chris White - sax (played on the last 2 dire straits tours and their last album)
Steve Ferrone - drums. Well regarded session player who has played with lots of people but never with Dire Straits.
Terrence Reis - lead vocals and guitar
Mick Feet - bass. Played with Knopfler but never with Dire Straits
Jamie Squire - keyboards. No connection with Knopfler or with Dire Straits.

I'm not convinced.

Keira-WitherKay

how dissapointing .without knofler who was the voice and the guitarist who took the memorable lead breaks with his unique style.as Bob said he was dire straits so without him ........ they just a cover band with a few big name ( as in played in dire straits backing band.but no disrespect to the muso's but dire straits was about the guitarist.... really who even knew who played sax or keyboards for them ...... i'd rather see knofler solo ? for sure ... he's a monster player ....... than see his band without him ......

Bob-Dubery

The band that will be taking the stage at the Royal Albert Hall will be billed as "The Straits".

Here's the web site http://www.thestraits.com/home.php

So far this is their only gig.

Hammeron

So without the mighty Knopfler the rest dont stand a chance.

Bob-Dubery

Keira WitherKay wrote: how dissapointing .without knofler who was the voice and the guitarist who took the memorable lead breaks with his unique style.as Bob said he was dire straits so without him ........ they just a cover band with a few big name ( as in played in dire straits backing band.but no disrespect to the muso's but dire straits was about the guitarist.... really who even knew who played sax or keyboards for them ...... i'd rather see knofler solo ? for sure ... he's a monster player ....... than see his band without him ......

Well believe it or not a band named "Thin Lizzy" are still touring. Obviously Phil Lynott isn't involved.

There's a big "tribute band" scene in the UK - Queen tribute bands, Led Zeppelin tribute bands, Pink Floyd tribute bands etc etc. IIRC there are several Abba tribute bands.

So I suppose if you can boast one or two original even if not particularly significant members then you are a step up from a tribute band.

This sort of thing is not new. Little Feat still tour in the USA long after Lowell George passed away. The Band reformed and toured first without Robbie Robertson and then a second time without Richard Manuel. There's an "Elvis" tour in the USA that has most of the members of his band playing on a stage with footage of The King shown on a movie screen.

Hammeron

When Ozzy left Sabbath and they came back with Ronnie James Dio they should have dropped the Sabbath name. Which they did eventually when they became Heaven and Hell. But IMO the first 3 Dio albums - 'Heaven and Hell', 'The Mob Rules' and 'Dehumanizer' were thee best "Sabbath" albums of all.
My point is that even if 'the main- man leaves' the resulting material may very well blow your freakin' socks off.

Warren

Hammeron wrote: So without the mighty Knopfler the rest dont stand a chance.

Not as Dire Straits, no.

Like The Cure without Robert Smith. Impossible.

Hammeron

Forget the band name give the seven musicians a break.
If there was a GFSA guitarist in that line- up, we'd be over the moon, yea?

Warren

Hammeron wrote: Forget the band name give the seven musicians a break.
If there was a GFSA guitarist in that line- up, we'd be over the moon, yea?

You seem to think it's some kind of affront to the musicians personally. Not so. If I'm going to see Dire Straits, I want some Knopfler in there, and the same goes for some other folks.

Why brand yourself Dire Straits if you don't share much of its DNA? It's a marketing thing, for me. I'd rather go see a local Dire Straits tribute band.

singemonkey

Ladies and Gentlemen, David Coverdale and... The Rolling Stones!

*slow clap somewhere in the darkness... hum of amplifiers... a cough*

Still. Congrats to this guy for getting a huge gig. When I was younger I would have wondered why anyone would take a job like this. Now I get it. He doesn't have to be loved, he just has to be acknowledged by his peers as having done a good job with a bad situation and it'll do wonders for his career when this inevitably collapses with a quiet, damp, noise.

He's got the right idea isolating himself from any opinion on it. He's no fool. Good luck to him.

chris77

I think it's brilliant that a local oke is doing well and I am convinced the show will be great. To be fair to the musos, they aren't calling themselves by the full name and it is a charity concert, so kudos for doing it gents. But Knopfler is Dire Straits like Trent Rezner is NIN. A lot of great bands have two or more standout talents that define them and will survive and maybe even flourish if they replace a member. Others won't.