The English Channel

Groovy British Invasion at Matoaka Ampitheater

Friday night at Lake Matoaka was about singing, dancing, remembering, and getting downright psychedelic! We could almost smell the Strawberry Alarm Clock ringing. The English Channel far exceeded our* expectations. This was not just a tribute band singing a few oldies. The English Channel is a group of six highly accomplished musicians paying tribute to an entire era, with an amazingly long play list that covers all the best English pop-rock artists from the 60s to the mid-70s.
Before they sang a note, lead vocalist Julie Quarles painted a visual mood with her “Thoroughly Modern Millie” beaded mini dress, mod earrings, and white go-go boots. Her dance moves and selective percussion accents swept us back to the late 60s. Graciously giving us an interview after performing 3 hours of outstanding music, Julie shared some of her favorite performance moments. We were not surprised to hear that “To Sir with Love” was her favorite, because she sang it with so much feeling.

We were surprised to hear that Julie is the mother of two teenagers, and her husband Bob is a physician by day, keyboardist and vocalist by night. Bob loves the music so much, he looked like he could play another set. I guess sleep isn’t all that important when you’re making so many people get up and dance.

Bob’s impressive keyboard skills did much to capture the sound of the era. “It’s my job to orchestrate the music to support the vocalists,” Bob explained. That’s quite a modest attitude for the man who led the vocals for the Moody Blues’ “Nights in White Satin” and anchored multiple Beatle’s tunes with lead vocalist/guitarist Marion Hodges. Backed up by guitarist David Tetlow, bass player Gary Shortridge, and drummer Bob Saydlowski, the group almost made us believe we were hearing the original groups.

In one case I found them to be even better than the original. I confess I’ve never been a Rolling Stones fan, because I could never understand what Jagger was singing. Marion Hodges laughed out loud when I thanked him for helping me to hear more than “…can’t get no satisfaction.” It only took me 45 years and the help of The English Channel to figure out what that song is about!

Marion’s vocals were especially strong on Paul McCartney’s songs. When asked his favorite songs to perform, he proved his love for the fans by replying, “whatever the crowd gets into. Tonight it was “Hippy Hippy Shake,” “No Matter What” and “I Only Want to Be with You.”

We thought the groups’ best songs were Beatles tunes, but they were also impressive with a number of other artists, including Badfinger, Cream, Dusty Springfield, Elton John, Petula Clark, The Who, and The Kinks, to name some.

We’ll be back for more performances by this intelligent and talented group. Formed in 2001 and based in Richmond, VA, The English Channel will play for large events, clubs, and private parties. Check their web site for upcoming performances. We’ve no doubt you’ll want to book them for your next event.

*Special thanks goes to my husband Jeff for his interviewing and writing assistance on this post.
Laurie Brown - http://www.williamsburgnative.com

September 7th, 2010 4:58 pm ET.Good news for local Beatle fans! The Abbey Road on the River fest that went on all Labor Day Weekend was deemed such a big success that the promoters plan to return next year -- and make it an annual event. Festival goers enjoyed non-stop music of the Beatles and other period acts non-stop. With five stages, you couldn't miss.

The fest featured far more than Beatle imitation bands. In fact, almost every act put a unique spin and didn't act like the standard quartet where each member strives to look like and play the role of one of the Beatles. Gary Quinn sang Beatle songs very well, for instance -- but the guy's bald, hardly the image of a Beatle!

Acts varied in quality as well as their interpretations of music of the Beatles and the era. Mario Da Silva played solo instrumental versions classical guitar style, for one spin. Acts were as varied in their names as they were in their interpretations, though some took names from lyrics in Beatle songs, which has become a chiche'.

Amazingly, you could sit there -- or get up and vibrate as many attendees did -- the whole weekend and not hear the entire Beatle catalog, even some of the most famous and significant numbers. The acts didn't shy away from the harder numbers to play and seemed to emphasize later Beatle work. Bouncing from stage to stage, one heard multiple renditions of Strawberry Fields Forever, While My Guitar Gently Weeps and A Day in the Life. But amazingly, it seemed no one wanted to play the earlier hits like Love Me Do, She Loves You, I Want to Hold Your Hand or even Help.

Itchycoo Park, which took its name from the psychadelic hit of Small Faces, another British band, performed a bunch of rockers including its namesake and everything from Beatle songs to the Turtles' Happy Together. They really rocked it up but sometimes out of sync.

The Traveling Beatleburys put on one of the best shows, putting their own spin on songs performed by members of the Traveling Wilburys, which included, of course, George Harrison. (Unlike the Beatle records themselves, the fest's acts did not give short shrift to George's music.) The Beatleburys started with their own take of George's I Want to Tell You. As many acts here did, they extended the numbers as one can do on stage, instead of merely trying to imitate the sound on Beatle recordings. Then the Beatleburys covered songs by other Wilburys, including Tom Petty and Bob Dylan (though they sometimes muffed the lyrics).

The fest offered a small stage for acoustic acts, such as the duo of Desmond & Molly who did two-part harmonies of the gentler Beatle numbers, such as Things We Said Today and It's Only Love. Desmond did an admirable George imitation in Here Comes the Sun. His partner should have sang the opening line from A Little Help from My Friends -- where Ringo crooned 'What would you think if I sang out of tune?" Because, unfortunately, that's what she kept doing.

The Jukebox seemed the closest thing to a straight Beatle imitation but unfortunately, there wasn't much voice to compete against the instruments on rockers they did such as Birthday and Back in the USSR.

Several other acts performed hits from other British invasion acts. The Union Jack British Invasion Band turned its performance into a history of the event by performing each act's first song song on the Ed Sullivan show, including The Beatles' All My Loving, the Dave Clark Five's Glad All Over, and the Searchers' Love Potion #9. But their act was marred by inexcusable drumming -- instead of the beat the music was distinguished for, all that came out was repeated cymbal crashing.

The Bristols also performed British music of the period, but with a harder edge, doing the Yardbirds' Heart Full of Soul, for instance. But they overdid it with too many guitars (five) and played everything at the same fast tempo. You might think it would be impossible to play BeeGees songs faster than the BeeGees but they managed to do it.

The English Chanel from Richmond, Virginia put on perhaps the best performance of the weekend. They did faithful versions of the Beatles' Penny Lane and Hello Goodbye. Then a female member of the group added a twist with numbers such as Petula Clark's Downtown. The band even performed fine renditions of the Moody Blues' Nights in White Satin and the Hollies' Bus Stop.

And Sir Frankie Crisp performed a lineup of George's songs exclusively and did a better George than George could have done, with the famous numbers such as Here Comes the Sun and Give Me Love and also lesser known compositions such as Let it Roll and of course the Balled of Sir Frankie Crisp. He leaves you wanting to hear more of George's catalog.

While the sounds of the show were authentic, if the music lacked one dimension, it was the absence of the actual variety of instruments the Beatles used. No one evidently played a live sitar, harpsichord, Moog synthesizer, harmonium, mellotron, or other devices t - examiner.com

It was Richmond, not London. Penny Lane Pub, not Apple. Franklin Street, not Savile Row. A balcony, not a rooftop.
The English Channel, not The Beatles, performed. It was Nov. 17, 2003, not Jan. 30, 1969.
But there the differences end. Anyone who witnessed the not-so-impromptu noontime concert at Fifth and Franklin streets Monday - whether they got the Fab Four connection or not - realized something unexpected and pretty darned
special was happening.
How fun was it to stand on the corner on a gorgeous fall day as songs from the British Invasion bounced off the walls of downtown? Songs such as "Downtown" (natch!), "Carrie-Anne," "Hello Goodbye" and "I Saw Her Standing There."
Penny Lane Pub's debut at its new location might have corresponded with The English Channel's performance. It didn't, as it happens; the pub was not quite set for prime time. But that didn't keep a respectable crowd from
gathering beneath its balcony as strains of The Beatles' "Penny Lane" - of course! - filled the air.
The E.C.'s star turn also coincided with this week's release of "Let It Be . . . Naked," a stripped-down version of The Beatles' classic album. (Not to mention a new DVD, "Lennon Legend," with previously unreleased footage of the late, great John Lennon; and a "Concert for George" CD-DVD, the 2002 celebration of Harrison's life and music.)
The English Channel's own eponymously titled first album will be released this weekend; you can hear the band yourself - see Julie Quarles' boots in person! - at the Boulevard Deli from about 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. tomorrow and Saturday. (Want more info? See thenglishchannel.com.)
Serendipitously, Jeff McKee points out, we're also looking at the 40th anniversary of the British Invasion. And President Kennedy was assassinated four decades ago Saturday.
McKee, half of the popular but now-defunct "Jeff & Jeff" show on WRXL (102.1 FM), manages The English Channel and champions the group's musical genre of choice.
"Just last week," he says, "a prominent Hungarian historian and cultural philosopher [Andras Simonyi, Hungary's ambassador to the United States] opined that it was rock'n' roll more than anything that toppled Communism. It wouldn't have happened without the British Invasion.
"By the early'60s, American rock'n' roll was all but dead. Elvis was in the Army. Chuck Berry was in jail. Buddy Holly was dead.
"The Beatles and their contemporaries saw what we here in America could not see: that our popular culture was not as disposable as we might have thought. They saw the beauty of our popular art and rescued it, and perhaps the world . . . or at least that's the way I see it."
So do I. And, I suspect, so did a lot of Monday's lucky listeners.
Brilliant job, E.C. Encore!
Nov 20, 2003 - Richmond Times-Dispatch

What: Deli and band form delicious combo

Remarks: We're basing this recommendation on a single visit and a single listen. But if both were typical, Boulevard Deli and The English Channel make a sweet combination.

English Channel? That's the band, not the waterway. Boulevard Deli? That's at 5218 W. Broad St., not the Boulevard.

The English Channel, which plays British-Invasion era rock and pop, performed at the Deli the weekend before last. If you like that kind of music (and we do!) this band puts the "beat" in Beatles, the "mood" in Moody Blues.

The standing-room-only crowd rocked along, with people dancing to nearly every song. We use the term loosely; one fellow moved as though a foot was nailed to the floor, and another must've had magnets in his shoes.

We're not criticizing - we applaud their courage in getting out there and enjoying themselves - but people watching did add to the entertainment value. Especially when several people jumped up on the bar to "Those Were the Days." Every time one extremely tall gentleman bobbed his head, it pushed the acoustic tile directly above him into the ceiling.

Now that was amusing.

The English Channel (Bob and Julie Quarles, Greg Marrs, Richard Cowles and Mike Edwards) is bloody brilliant, especially for a band that's been together less than two years. Julie's a picture in her go-go boots and mini skirts. (Inside info kids! She never wears the same outfit twice. Onstage that is.)

For details and song list see thenglishchannel.com The band will be back at the Deli May 2-3 and have a CD release party in June. For the Deli's weekly schedule, call (804) 282-9333.

March 13, 2003
- Richmond Times-Dispatch

Is it the Music? The Dancing? The Boots? Is it the massive wave of Babay Boomer nostalgia that has propelled this British invasion cover band to the top of the Most charts?

The English Channel has built up quite a following since they got together in 2000. It plays only British music from the '60s and '70s, and it manages to cover a lot of ground from The Beatles and The Who to Jerry and the Pacemakers and Cream.

"Psychedelic stuff, bluesy stuff, we play it all," says Julie Quarles, singer and mistress of the band's trademark white go-go boots. Bob Quarles, Julie's husband and the keyboardist noticed that no one was playing that kind of music locally. "It was sort of a neglected genre," Julie says. So the Quarleses, along with Greg Marrs on guitar, Richard Cowles on bass and Mike Edwards on drums, got together and immediately reminded the Boomers why they used to scream and cry at rock shows. See them at Friday Cheers July 23.

June 16, 2004 - Style Weekly Magazine, Richmond, VA

Is it the Music? The Dancing? The Boots? Is it the massive wave of Babay Boomer nostalgia that has propelled this British invasion cover band to the top of the Most charts?

The English Channel has built up quite a following since they got together in 2000. It plays only British music from the '60s and '70s, and it manages to cover a lot of ground from The Beatles and The Who to Jerry and the Pacemakers and Cream.

"Psychedelic stuff, bluesy stuff, we play it all," says Julie Quarles, singer and mistress of the band's trademark white go-go boots. Bob Quarles, Julie's husband and the keyboardist noticed that no one was playing that kind of music locally. "It was sort of a neglected genre," Julie says. So the Quarleses, along with Greg Marrs on guitar, Richard Cowles on bass and Mike Edwards on drums, got together and immediately reminded the Boomers why they used to scream and cry at rock shows. See them at Friday Cheers July 23.

June 16, 2004 - Style Weekly Magazine, Richmond, VA