Popular North East band reforms with Bowie tribute

A former 80s club band who'd built up a firm following with their live performances have returned to the stage under a new guise.
The CastThe Cast
The Cast

The Cast – made up of Dave Bunker on lead vocals and saxophone; Chad McDonald on bass and vocals; Dave Kelly on guitar / vocals, Jim Perry on keyboards and Martin Rooney on drums – filled North East venues with their pop sound in the 80s before parting ways.

Now, after more than 20 years apart, they’ve reformed as WhamBamThankyouMa’am, a David Bowie tribute band named after a line at the end of the late singer’s Suffragette City track.

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Chad, from Pennywell, Sunderland, said: “The guys wanted to do something that was not the norm as most pub bands are doing the same type of music, so we came up with a first set of all David Bowie songs from the Ziggy Stardust era 1969-1974.

“Then we decided to do a second set of other classic ‘0s songs from the likes of Be Bop Deluxe, Mott The Hoople, Genesis, Neil Young, Santana, Roxy Music, Alice Cooper and many others.”

The band did their first gig last month at Wardles in Hebburn, South Tyneside, where they were well received by the crowd.

Chad said: “It was amazing, there were people there who knew us from our Cast days, as well as many Bowie fans.

“We’ve been inundated with emails for bookings since then.”