For over 20 years, the Jumpin' Hot Club and its founders, Graham"Shippy" Anderson and Adam Collerton have been men with a mission to bring the best of the Country,Blues, Rock n Roll, Songsters, Reggae/Ska - in fact any kinda Roots music to a stage somewhere near you.

At a time when music is increasingly packaged as a lifestyle accessory, it's refreshing to come across people with passion and enthusiasm which years in the "bear pit" of concert promotion has yet to blunt.

'Umble Beginnings
The Club first opened for business in the cellar room of Newcastle's Bridge Hotel back in 1985, although for Graham Anderson the venue had an association which went much further back into Newcastle's musical history. "My dad was a trombone player and he and trumpeter Fred Rowe opened a jazz club in the early fifties in the same place."

With music clearly running in the blood, Anderson summoned the help of self confessed acoustic music aficionado Adam Collerton, to give Tyneside a new dose of Live Music.The Sound of Young Newcastle.As Graham ran a R&B/Jive fanzine called "Jumpin' And Hot" the name of the club was easily acquired.

Newcastle has long had an affinity with the Blues, although in the 1980's the number of venues with live music had slumped in comparison to the heydays of the late 50s and 60s.

Being a musician - Anderson plays double bass/guitar - and running a p.a. system meant that the pair built up a good network of contacts from which they were able to gauge support for the notion of promoting a new Live Music Club.

The First Venue
Anderson recalls, "Dave Shippley was an ex-musician trying the pub trade and asked us to take a look at his cellar bar at The Bridge Hotel." What they saw was a somewhere that was dark and seedy and exactly what they were looking for. "It looked like something out of a Big Bill Broonzy clip. I didn't know at the time me old man had run a jazz club down there all those year's ago."

On Tuesday 3rd December, 1985, local legends, The Hokum Hotshots, opened up and from then on they havn't looked back. Since opening for trade, the Club has carefully built up a long list of top-drawer names, helping to establish their credibility at a local, national and international level.


Although the North East has a large appetite for the blues, the Club felt that there were other forms of music that would prove just as popular. So they decided to dip their toes in the water booking a variety of performers including Rockabilly, Ska, Country, World Music, Jazz, Singer/Songwriters to add to the staple diet of the Blues. "In fact, we booked anything rootsy" says Collerton. "Mind you, we weren't very experienced. If a rider was required, my Mum would invite the artists round to dinner and make them sandwiches to take down the club."

Over the years this has included the likes of Blues players such as Hubert Sumlin, John Hammond, Doctor Ross, Charlie Mussellwhite, 0detta,Holmes Bros Original rock n' rollers Scotty Moore, Billy Lee Riley, Mac Curtis, Extraordinaires, soul legends Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham and reggae/ska luminaries Abbyssinians, Toots And Maytals,Byron Lee, Rico, Horace Andy and Dennis Alcapone.

If your tastes extend to Cajun/Zydeco, then the chances are that the juicy blend of Dl Menard and the late Eddie Le Jeune or C.J Chernier will have tickled your taste-buds. Country luminaries such as Be Good Tanya's,Tift Merritt,Jay Farrar, Giant Sand, Paul Burch, Old Crow Medicine Show, Stacey Earie, Ramsey Midwood and Neco Case have given the club its big Alternative shot though. Even further afield, the palm wine music of Sierra Leone's SE Rogie and veteran Malian performer Boubacar Traore added an nice exotic blend in early days.

The Artists Like It Too!
The Jumpin' Hot Club was somewhere to hang out for many musician's and one regular was Martin Stephenson of The Daintees fame. "When he was on Kitchenware Records in the 80's, he used to sneak away from his management and come play a solo show at the club. In fact Martin Stephenson has played more than anybody. "He's always supported us!", laughs Adam Collerton.

Of course not every artist can be as easy to get along with. Graham recalls the time when Ryan Adams appeared. "He had the piano man tune the thing three times - back and forth during the day,He was dizzy, oh and the towels weren't the right colour for him."The show nevertheless went down very well with the capacity crowd who turned out to see the truculent troubadour."They don't always get to see what goes on behind the scenes, fortunatly", Adam proclaims.

New Venue's
As audiences grew, the Club realised it would have to move to somewhere bigger and in 1996 relocated to the spacious "Live Theatre" on Newcastle's Quayside. Additionally, the club branched out, providing the content for several events in the region, including an ever-popular slot at Orange WOW festival and several Newcastle Festivals, including the main programmer's for the mighty ORANGE EVOLUTION festival.
In 2003-2004 the club doubled its booking policy & deceided to use the splendid confines of The Cluny,Byker as a small music club alternative to Live Theatre.The place just lended itself to raucous Americana/Rock N Roll & Reggae. Other unusual venues have been used too, so the Newcastle public hav'nt missed out on very many J'Hot favourites either.
Unlike many promoter's, "Shippy" has always made a point of seeking out the music first hand, making several trips to the States in search of something special, especially his trips over the last decade to Austin SXSW Music Festival (see his reviews). "I've booked more Texas stuff over the last eight years than everything else, from Slaid Cleaves to Kinky Friedman to Dale Watson to Patty Griffin to The Resentments to Asylum Street Spankers and so on and so on."

The appearance of quality high profile names such as Buddy Miller, Michelle Shocked, Ron Sexsmith, Gary US Bonds,Chuck Prophet have also ensured that the popularity of the Jumpin' Hot Club continues to spread.

A Labour of Love
The bottom line is that Adam believes that the continuing success of the Jumpin' Hot Club is because it's never been an exercise in just getting punters to part with their hard-earned money.

For him it's always been about following an interest and then putting a lot of time, energy and enthusiasm into telling others about it. More than anything, it's this kind of personal enthusiasm and commitment which gives the Jumpin' Hot Club it's own distinctive brand and flavour.

Not too bad for two geordie boys!!

Stan Smith (ex WOW Festival co-director)

Adam & our main sponser (Geoff Brownless-Union clothing)

Graham & John Dee Graham (above right)