Geordie

Geordie is a hard/glam rock band from Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England, England, United Kingdom, that was formed in 1971 under the name U.S.A. The band changed its name to Geordie in 1972.

The line up of Geordie was stable from 1971 to 1975. It consisted of vocalist Brian Johnson, main songwriter and guitarist Vic Malcolm, bass guitarist Tom Hill and drummer Brian Gibson. The band released two albums with that line up, Hope You Like It in 1973 and Don't Be Fooled By The Name in 1974. This was also the most successful period of the band's career, because five singles, that were released around the first album ("Don't Do That", "All Because Of You", "Can You Do It", "Electric Lady" and "Black Cat Woman") reached the charts in different European countries.

In 1975, the history of Geordie starts to get a bit confusing, when original guitarist Vic Malcolm left the band. He was replaced by Micky Bennison. Interestingly the band's third album Save The World includes tracks with both guitarists: Five tracks were recorded with Malcolm and seven tracks with Bennison. But before the release of that album in August 1976, Brian Johnson released the solo single I Can't Forget You Now in January 1976. This fact showcases, that the band actually already had split up, when the third album was released. A fact, which confirms the split, is, that there were no single releases and tour dates after the release of the album to promote it.

Surprisingly in 1978, a fourth album called No Good Woman hit the stores. And - to make things really confusing - this time, you can actually hear two completely different versions of Geordie on the album. While three tracks of the album were recorded by Brian Johnson, guitarist Derek Rootham, bass guitarist Dave Robson and drummer Davy Whittaker, the remaining seven tracks were recorded by Vic Malcolm with vocalist Dave Ditchburn, bass guitarist Frankie Gibbon, drummer George Defty and keyboardist Alan Clark. So, the original members Hill and Gibson weren't involved in this record at all. In an interview, Dave Ditchburn confirmed, that the line up with Vic Malcolm was formed in 1976 and this version of Geordie, that can also be heard on No Good Woman, was actually called Brass Alley 2 (Ditchburn and Gibbon had played in Brass Alley before), because the rights of the name Geordie were copyright of the Red Bus label.

In 1980, Brian Johnson's line up of Geordie released the single Treat Her Like A Lady, but this version of Geordie called it a day, when Brian Johnson took over vocal duties in AC/DC after the death of Bon Scott.

Two years later, in 1982, surprisingly a new Geordie single, Nutbush City Limits, was released. It was recorded by Malcolm, Hill and Gibson with the addition of vocalist Rob Turnbull and guitarist David Stephenson. A year later, in 1983, it was followed by a fifth Geordie album called No Sweat. After the album, Malcolm and Stephenson left the band and the remaining members Turnbull, Hill and Gibson formed the band [a=Powerhouse (21)] with guitarist Martin Metcalf. Powerhouse released the self-titled album Powerhouse in 1986. After it, the band finally split up.

In 1989, the album Keep On Rocking was released under the name Brian Johnson and Geordie. Although it looks like a compilation at first sight, it is an album with re-recorded and sometimes significantly re-arranged versions of twelve Geordie songs in a typical 80s sound. It's not really clear today, which musicians actually recorded this album, but the booklet says, that Johnson, Malcolm, Hill, Gibson, Bennison, Rootham, Robson, Whittaker and Hiam Romano were involved. Some of these new recordings later also appeared on various rock compilations and some listeners wondered, where these recordings came from. They're actually taken from this album released in 1989.

Two new Geordie recordings appeared in 2001 and 2002 respectively, although they "just" were released under the name Brian Johnson. The two recorded tracks appeared on the two compilations From Tees To Tyne (The Northumbria Anthology) and From Tyne To Tweed - The Northumbria Anthology and were recorded in October 2001, while the line up Johnson, Rootham, Robson and Whittaker did a five-date UK tour billed as Geordie II.

In 2018, Geordie reappeared again. This line up consisted of Tom Hill and Brian Gibson with vocalist Mark Wright and guitarist Steve Dawson. In 2021, Wright was replaced by Terry Wilson-Slesser. This incarnation of the band released its first single Red White And Blue in November 2022. Although not actually present as a musician, guitarist Vic Malcolm contributes to the band with writing songs.