Eddie and The HotRods

EDDIE & THE HOTRODS were formed in Essex back in 1974, by school friends Steve Nicol and Barrie Masters, they recruited Dave Higgs , Lew Lewis and Paul Gray, after a year of playing the London pub circuit they signed to Island records, they released a 4 track EP called Live at The Marquee which made the top 40 singles chart , it also inspired bands such as The Undertones, Stiff Little Fingers, The Jam and even Def Leppard. Four more hit singles followed , the biggest being Do Anything You Wanna Do which sat in the UK top ten for more than 6 weeks . The band played many shows across the USA with The Ramones ,The Police, Tom Petty, Talking Heads and Chuck Berry, their song Teenage Depression features in The Ramones film Rock n Roll High School. Sadly bad management and lack of record company support saw it all come crashing down and by 1980 it was all over , the band went their separate ways.

1980-2000

Over the 20 years that followed it is fair to say the band went through many line up changes , many of them not very good and the bands popularity plummeted .

2000- present day

In 2000 the band line up was Barrie Masters, Simon Bowley (nephew of original drummer Steve Nicol) Gary Loker and Dipster, the band were only playing very low key local shows until they were asked to be part of a 76 date UK tour with Dr Feelgood, John Otway and local Southend band The Hamsters, this was the turning point for the band, the tour went well and people were once again saying how good The Hotrods were, the band decided it was time to get serious once more. 2001 saw the final line up change with the departure of Gary Loker and the arrival of Richard Holgarth and Chris Taylor on guitars. The next 20years saw the band record 2 studio albums, 2 live albums , 1 live DVD, a film soundtrack, and return to touring worldwide playing Japan and Russia for the first time ever and 5 tours of the USA.

After 43years Eddie & the HotRods remain one of the most exciting live bands in the world. Anthems and hit singles sound as fresh as they did back in 1977. After original frontman Barrie Masters announced his retirement in April 2019 ,long serving members Simon Bowley ,drums (24yrs) Richard Holgarth guitar (18yrs) and Dipster bass (21yrs) took the decision to continue the legacy of Eddie & the HotRods with a string of sell out shows with Stiff Little Fingers with new recruit Mic Stoner (the Chords UK) on bass and Dipster taking on the role of Eddie, the shows proved to be a huge success.

After the sudden death of Barrie Masters in October 2019 the band were left asking themselves if it was right to carry on , the fans soon made it clear that they wanted Eddie & the HotRods to continue . As the band move forward they continue to record new material and deliver their blistering live performances that Eddie & the Hotrods are famous for.