Castle Farm built a solid and loyal following on the London, Essex and Kent gig circuit in England during the early 70s, with their hard rock and blues-oriented live shows, featuring their original material alongside hard-hitting renditions of blues and rock'n'roll classics. They’re really heavy, slowed down, crunching 20-minute finale version of Eddie Cochran's Summertime Blues' never failed to bring the house down!
Originally a four-piece band, they later brought in John Aldrich, with his super-clean lead guitar style, to supplement Gram Tex Benke's killer slide work and create a dynamic dual-guitar sound, adding so much. more colour and depth to the band's music. With a solid rhythm section of Spyder" Curphey (and latterly his brother Roger) on bass and Steve Traveller on drums, and with Denny Newman's powerful and resonant vocals, the band progressed to the university and college circuit at over England, supporting major acts like Rory Gallagher, Deep Purple, Atomic Rooster, Savoy Brown, Climax Blues Band. Quintessence and many others.
Although they worked on several recording sessions, they failed to sign a contract with a label that wasn't out to rip the band off-pretty much par for the course at the time. But the band had a great following, and knew they could sell records, so they decided to put out their own single, Hot-Rod Queen' b/w Mascot, Forming their own record company, Farm Records, they had 2,000 copies pressed. and distributed them direct through record shops across East London and Essex. They sold out within a couple of weeks and they're now much prized by vinyl record collectors. That independent single, plus a collection of other tracks the band had recorded along the way, was put out in 2013 for digital download/streaming as The Studio Sessions 1971-72
Although they disbanded at the end of 1972, the band. always kept in touch over the years, and came together for occasional reunion gigs. Then in 2017 they performed a live reunion concert in their old Essex stomping ground, which was recorded for posterity (2017 Reunion Concert: Live) by Paul Traveller, Steve's son. This concert has now also been put out on video on YouTube.
Very sadly, "Spyder' Curphey passed away in August 2007, and Tex Benike in April 2018. Denny Newman continued to develop his music career, working with Manfred Mann, Snowy White, Mick Taylor and many others, as well as fronting his own guitar-led blues band, with Max Middleton on keys. Denny also left us in September 2023, having just finished a superb final album: Reach Out - Music for Ruth Cape. They're all sorely missed by everyone who had the good fortune to know them, both for their exceptional musical talent as well as for being all-round great guys.
Liner-notes
Tracks
1. (Maybe A Little Black) Witch - 3:33
2. Hot-Rod Queen (Gram Benike, Roger Curphey, Denny Newman, Steve Traveller, John Aldrich) - 3:59
3. Mascot (Gram Benike, Roger Curphey, Denny Newman, Steve Traveller, John Aldrich) - 3:50
4. All In A Year, All In A Day - 3:12
5. Island In The Sun - 6:55
6. Jewels Of Fire (Gram Benike, Roger Curphey, Denny Newman, Steve Traveller, John Aldrich) - 4:26
7. Lunatic - 3:12
8. You Go Your Way, I’ll Go Mine - 3:29
9. I’ve Been Dreaming - 5:58
10.Hot Rod Queen (Gram Benike, Roger Curphey, Denny Newman, Steve Traveller, John Aldrich) - 4:07
All compositions by Gram Benike, Steve Curphey, Denny Newman, Steve Traveller except where indicated
Castle Farm
*Denny Newman - Vocals,
*Gram “Tex” Benike - Guitars,
*Steve “Spyder” Curphey - Bass,
*Steve Traveller - Drums
*John Aldrich - Guitar (Tracks 2,3,6,10)
*Roger Curphey - Bass (Tracks 2,3,6,10)
