Rob Fiddaman meets dean fradley, drummer with soul brothers syndicate

I ’ve played drums professionally for around 25 years and also founded the Rhythm Foundry music school some 18 years’ ago. I made my first attempt to play drums at a friend’s house at the age of 14 after seeing Spear of Destiny at the Victoria Hall, Hanley, in 1985 – although I didn’t really start learning properly until I was 17, being inspired by early house music. I believed I could make an acoustic kit sound like a drum machine, that was my mission at the time. Tony Thompson (the original Chic drummer) played only what was required. His playing was so tight and grooved, like nothing I’d ever heard before – and still sounds good today. Shamefully I don’t do enough for the local music scene but I do always encourage all the youngsters who come through the school, I always tell them about the small windows of opportunity you get in life and when they turn up to climb through them quickly! The Soul Brothers Syndicate is definitely less tribute and more homage. Our approach is faithful, though not reverential, it’s energetic, tight and true to the original recordings. We really are brothers and all get along together gracefully and always have fun in rehearsals making music, it’s supposed to be fun after all. We started out as the 45 Sound over 10 years ago and have been involved in a few other projects up until the lockdown. Following the end of the covid pandemic in June 2022 we decided to get back on the road and named ourselves The Soul Brothers Syndicate playing as a backing band (as the Funk Brothers), with the band working alongside featured vocalists. Although it’s a new name we have a lot of tracks at the ready from our 10 years of playing – it’s like the wall of sound for Northern Soul! We usually take the roof off wherever we play. This year we’ve played a lot of scooter rallies, theatres and private functions. We play all the obvious choices but we love to throw in at least half the set of obscure northern tracks with even some early jazz funk! Our show is narrated in a timeline-style from Northern Soul’s humble beginnings at the Twisted Wheel (Manchester) and Golden Torch (Tunstall) to the Blackpool Mecca and the world famous Wigan Casino, not forgetting Legends of Manchester. It can be tricky arranging photoshoots and rehearsals but we persevere and get there (everyone’s very keen and respectful). We try to rehearse most Tuesdays in readiness for upcoming events. We have a few gigs we’ve committed to this year, and next year we’re starting to play theatres, festivals and venues with several bookings confirmed already. We’re also working on a tour for 2024. We all have different musical tastes from soul to jazz, jazz funk, disco but we only have one objective to play Northern Soul as it’s in our Stokie veins to do so. We’re playing the Glaston-Bury festival, in Lancashire, on August 28 and the Golden Torch Scooter Club open day in Burslem on September 24.

INTRODUCING THE BAND

Drums: Dean Fradley

Keyboards: Karl Waye (plays exactly what’s on the record and gets the sound correct, not easy!)

Guitar: Johnny Thorington (I’ve still never seen him play with a guitar pedal, very pure rhythm & blues sound. The most genuine guy in the business. We have to force him to play solos but boy when he does it’s incredible)

Bass and vocals: Sam (he’s the baby of the bunch but I’d say he’s a musical virtuoso – to play with him is nothing short of an honour)

Percussion: Adrian Waters (his playing really is the icing on the cake! From simply playing a tambourine to incredible conga solos! We all love Adrian as he brings a lot of fun to the stage and really is a brother)

brass: This section is great fun too! We have Steve Bryant on saxophone and Morgan Davies on trumpet. They sound like the real McCoy when it comes to horn lines – almost like the JBs.

Vocals: We have a couple of fantastic vocalists who feature either separately or together. They are Alicia (local girl who’s got the most incredible female soul voice and a joy to work with – definitely got soul) Jean, or Johnny Boy, Pryers (probably one of the best male soul vocalists in the UK. We’re very honoured to work with him).

The Sentinel has launched a new weekly music column with label owner, influencer and author Rob Fiddaman. He also has his own In The Spotlight show on HitMix Radio.