Throughout November, Alan Murphy (of Kate Bush fame) and Felix Krish (currently with Bucks Fizz) undertook a string of dates throughout the UK to promote the new range of Fender guitars and amps. With John Hill of CBS Fender providing the 'rap' (product information), Felix the 'slap' (bass) and Alan on 'whammy bar' (guitar with tremelo arm for the uninitiated), local halls such as the Kimberly-Clark Social Club, Maidstone (where we caught the show) saw an evening of 'musical excess' organised in conjunction with a local shop.

Opening with an interesting little number called 'Day of the Doughnuts', the presentation dealt first with history of the Telecaster (backed up by a country piece), and then the story of the Strat (with 'Purple Haze' as illustration). After the precision Bass, back to the music with 'Burn from Baghdad' featuring the new Elite Strat with Alan using the active electronics to good effect. The Elite Tele fuelled the exciting 'Warp Factor 6'. Perhaps we should mention at this stage that Alan and Felix were playing over some excellent backing tracks which they had recorded themselves using a TR808 drum machine augmented by the suitcase Simmons, to which various synth parts had been added. After 'Summer Night in Wandsworth', Felix did his solo bit taking us through the sounds on the new Elite Precision II. 'With Reference To Archimedes' led into the section on the new amps designed by Paul Revere, which gave a phenomenal range of sounds: the 'Super Champ' and the Princeton being particularly impressive for their size. 'Six-eight' and 'Heavy Bongo' were followed by a competition with prizes of sweatshirts and strings for those who had been paying attention. A whirlwind 'Bridge over the Falls Road' rounded up the evening.

It was refreshing to see a major company like CBS Fender using their influence to enable people to see great players like Alan and Felix in a relaxed informal atmosphere. John Hill spiced the product information with his inimitable sense of humour and the evening proved to be as entertaining as it was informative.