THE DV8 BAND IS . . .

GREG BRYCE lead guitar vocals, songwriter	MARK MIDDLETON bass guitar, vocals	CRAIG ROSEVEAR (aka 'Rosie') drums, vocals
more >> about Greg	more >> about Mark	more >> about Rosie

BAND HISTORY

"The energy and spirit of DV8 has always been to deliver a good-time 'live' rock show. It's this attitude that has made DV8 legends in the Newcastle rock scene, never to be forgotten."

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In the beginning when DV8 front man, guitarist Greg Bryce was barely out of school he formed a power trio called Meccalissa with friends Mark Middleton (bass) and Darrell Mepham (drums) which went on to play to packed audiences at the legendary Star Hotel.

This was the essential line up of DV8 - an original band of hard-driving, no frills blues-rockers who released 4 charting albums and singles during the eighties when they "ruled the local rock scene." Other players included Roy Giles and Allan Cook(bass),Tony Heaney(keyboard),Tony D'Abruzzo and Kerry Jacobsen(Dragon,KB Express) on drums.

The Herald's Scott Bevan said "For seven years Greg Bryce was the key to DV8, playing the roles of founding member, singer, guitarist and song-writer. Bryce was also the key to DV8's popularity in Newcastle . He not only wrote catchy songs that incorporated a variety of styles, he understood exactly what the average pub-goer was looking for in a band....an act that was low on pretence but big on energetic guitar-based rock."

Although Bryce may have been the key he certainly wouldn't have got far without the brilliant drumming of Brad Heaney who went on to play with The Radiators and Screaming Jets and the exceptional bass playing of, firstly Mark Middleton, then Brett Reid.

At the height of their powers when they pulled crowds of up to 2000, similar to bands like Chisel and Midnight Oil at the time, DV8 called it a day before they had a chance to move beyond local notoriety, Bryce turned to touring the world and practicing yoga for the next 7 years.

The early nineties saw a reformed DV8 once again playing to a packed Newcastle Workers Club and in the late nineties a new album Big Green Monsters.

The current line up of original members Bryce and Middleton with ex-Screaming Jet drummer Craig "Rosie" Rosevear was formed in 2000 with a goal to return to the inspiration of blues rock roots of the late sixties to mid seventies and create new music steeped in those roots yet with an ear for the freshness of all that's new.

All the favourite DV8 originals are there in a current concert: I Want Your Body, Down to the Sea, Dry Your Eyes, Back to Basics, Kings X and more along with new songs I Like it on Top, Hotrod and Silver Elvis Sunnies and a collection of blues rock covers from favourite artists of that style like Jimi Hendrix, Deep Purple and Texas blues rock n shuffle favourites ZZ Top, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Johnny Winter.

Greg is enjoying returning to his guitar roots with influences like Ritchie Blackmore, Johnny Winter and Stevie Ray and following that lineage back to the greats like Albert King and Buddy Guy.

Mark and Craig both grew up on a rich diet of Deep Purple with Craig's dad wearing out the Machine Head album by playing it every day!... consequently Rosie channels Ian Paice.

The band is inspired and driven by the passion of playing the music it loves - hard, loud blues based rock - music that excites while delving deeply into the spontaneous connection between the players. These guys know how to jam and love it . a potent chemistry of Middleton's relentless driving bass locked into the punishing exuberance of Rosie's drums and the wild, soaring guitar of Bryce flying over the top of it all.