Boogie rockers Status Quo have had more than 60 hits and become legends in the music industry. Now a tribute band are bringing the magic to Hornchurch.
It’s 1981 and your father asks you and your brother which band you’d like to go see, Showaddywaddy or Status Quo, which do you choose?
Status Quo of course! Or at least that was the response Shaun Michaels (not the wrestler), who was 10 years old at the time, gave.
After seeing Status Quo in the early ’80s Shaun, 45, has been obsessed with the band and their unique live shows. And he’ll be replicating them alongside his band, The Quo Experience, when they perform at Queen’s Theatre, Billet Lane, Hornchurch, next month.
The Quo Experience are more than just a tribute act as they pride themselves on recreating the live experience of a Status Quo set, from the hits all the way down to the individual band members’ nuances.
The band first performed in November last year and it has been a whirlwind few months for Shaun, who used to perform with another group but grew disenfranchised by their lack of ambition.
“I was in a Quo tribute band and I really wanted to push the band into better things but the band I was in were happy to settle and not go any further,” said Shaun.
“You cannot have that attitude. One of my philosophies is if you have a bread crumb no one will notice, but if you have a load of bread crumbs you’ll have a slice of bread.
“Before we could blink we got the band (The Quo Experience) together.
“That was in about mid-June last year. It’s gone crazy – it’s hard to keep up.
“I can’t believe how quickly the band has gone up ladder to where we are now and it’s going to get crazier.”
The Quo Experience’s shows have already gained a reputation as the closest thing to the real Status Quo that you can find - with even former Quo drummer Matt Letley telling Shaun,
“your attention to detail is amazing” after seeing them on YouTube.
Shaun, who steps into the shoes of Status Quo’s Francis Rossi when performing, has been trying to replicate the legendary guitarist ever since he saw him play at that fateful gig in 1981.
“I was playing the guitar when I was seven and then I heard Francis and that was it,” said Shaun.
“There’s so much to Quo, to do it right is very difficult. The way they play seems easy and it really isn’t. I’ve been doing it since I was 10.
“The subtle things we do won’t really be noticed but there are certain things. As a guitar player, Francis does so much in a song that is very subtle but if it wasn’t there it wouldn’t be the Quo.
“We have all rehearsed and studied very hard, I went through three discs of the Just Doing It tour!
“Before I go on stage I’m Shaun but when I go out there I’m Francis and the whole world doesn’t exist. And because we love it, and love Quo, it’s not difficult to do.”
Shaun says he and his band mates Dave Crawte (Rick Parflitt) and Brian “Brino” Smith (John Edwards) are now living the dream and even have their own fan club on Facebook made up of 220 people.
“Some people think we are Quo and we sign autographs. I have to pinch myself sometimes and think ‘hang on a minute a year ago this didn’t exist’. Things seem to have come together without trying.”
“If people come they will leave thinking they’ve been to see Status Quo. It’s like a Quo gig and I’m confident of that.”
The Quo Experience comes to Queen’s Theatre on Saturday, August 19, for a two hour set which begins at 7.30pm.
For tickets, which cost £20, go to http://bit.ly/2tquuD0.
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