About us

Livewire is a small PA hire company run by myself, Mark Burton. I am also a freelance Sound Engineer. Since seeing Metallica playing St Davids Hall in Cardiff in 1986, I have been passionate about live sound. I went to a lot of gigs at this time and began to develop a (healthy?) obsession with PA systems. Aside from my love of making things loud it turns out that my fascination with technology, my patience and adaptability together with my ability to listen means that the role suits me perfectly.

I started trading as The Bath PA Company in 1990 when I was 19, hiring out a small PA system and expanding it. It was't long until I also got work as a freelancer. I have worked for the Gloucester Guildhall on and off now since about 1991. I was one of Elkie Brooks‘ System Technicians for over 8 years, I toured as the Seckou Keita SKQ band's Sound Engineer for 7 years and have worked with Baka Beyond since 1997

I knew that I wanted to build a small system which didn't compromise on quality. I thought "if I'm going to go to the trouble of building this PA system, I'm not going to cut any corners." I didn't want to be doing the sound thinking "I wish I had a better ....."

Every component of my PA, of which there are many, had to be genuine - no cheap copies and all of very high quality. I like to think of my system as the Mercedes Benz of the PA world!

My philosophy is this: a quality PA system will ensure that I am satisfied as a Sound Engineer, that I can do the best job possible with a combination of my skills and my equipment. This will, in turn, make the performers happy and they will therefore be able to deliver to their best ability which will please the audience. So everybody is happy!

Livewire aims to get the best out of a performance whilst remaining invisible to the audience, so they come away having not just seen a show, but actually had an experience.

Diary

See what's coming up in my diary or what I've been up to!

History

Since 2018
I have been the principal sound engineer for The Bath Festival (which has now merged with the Bath Literature Festival) and The Bath Children’s Literature Festival. I work with the organisers to supply and spec equipment for a number of venues in Bath and get other engineers in to cover the work.
I was also asked to do sound & AV for the whole of the Gloucester History Festival.

Since 2008
Started to do conference events including presentations.
I am currently doing a lot more of these and have built up a quality AV system to compliment my PA.
Also for a few years I did a rural tour with the Italian band Spaghetti Swing. Fun music and theatricals, including cooking live on stage!

From 2009
Provided PA for announcements (The actual music is acoustic) and pre / post concert talks for the prestigious Bath Mozart Festival and Bath Bachfest.

April 2008 to June 2016
I regularly worked for an established PA company as ‘system tech’ for Elkie Brooks. This involved loading the PA near Worcester, taking it to the venue, setting up as the band specifically required and ensuring everything worked smoothly during the show. I was then responsible for packing up and returning the equipment. I did about 146 concerts in all

Around 2005
I worked at several concerts for d+b Audio UK, based in Nailsworth including Nailstock (Nailsworth’s own festival) a one-off concert for the legendary Brazilian percussionist Airto Moriera and the Anniversary of Real World (Peter Gabriel’s studio & where WOMAD is based).

From 2005
I am a sound engineer for the Bath Literature Festival. I am also involved in doing some events for the Bath International Music Festival and the Mozart Festival. This involves both engineering and supplying equipment and working in acoustically challenging environments.

April 2004 – 2012
I was the sound engineer for Seckou Keita SKQ, an international quintet playing music based on Senegalese Mbalax style music. We toured the UK a number of times and played in Spain, Australia, NZ, Japan, South Korea, Europe, Singapore, Senegal, Gambia, Tanzania, Zanzibar and the US among others. Tours have included several WOMAD festivals. I made a 3 minute video from footage shot on tour which was featured on Yahoo’s homepage

May 2003
Did my first tour (in the UK) as a sound engineer with Jalikunda, a 12 piece band from Senegal. I liased with venues and promotors as the band were technically demanding. I supplied equipment for rehearsals and any extras needed in order to ensure a professional standard throughout.

2002 – 2004
I supplied & operated the PA for a small stage for the Frome Festival, The Festival Club. This involved 10 consecutive days of varied acoustic / world music.

Jun 1999 - Dec 2000
I played bass guitar (and supplied the PA) for a successful 7 – 8 piece Soul / Party band called Mister Blue. We played various venues in the UK for corporate events and weddings mostly. I recorded a demo CD with my own equipment.

Sept 1998
I did my first overseas sound engineering job. I went to Sao Paulo, Brazil for 6 days with Baka Beyond, an international 8 piece Afro-Celt band. I have since toured with them a number of times, mostly in the UK, including gigs at the Jazz Café in London. In April and May 2006, 7 of the Baka tribe from the SE Cameroon rain forest played with Baka Beyond on a tour for which I was the sound engineer. It was the first time they had been outside the rain forest and was an amazing experience to be with them. I still work with Baka Beyond today.

Nov 1997 - Aug 2003
I started up a 7 piece 70s disco funk covers band called Studio 54, in which I played Bass guitar, arranged rehearsals and organised gigs. We dressed up in outrageous glittery costumes and did classic disco funk songs such as Disco Inferno, We are Family and September. Gigs included The University of Westminster Christmas Ball, weddings and local festivals. I recorded 2 demo CDs with my own equipment

Jun 1997 - Aug 1999
I provided a complete disco for kids, including sound system and lights with myself as a DJ. This started after I did a disco for my niece’s 13th birthday and some parents asked me to DJ for their children’s party. It was a good sideline but towards the end I was getting more sound engineering work so I stopped the kids disco.

April 1996
I started trading as Livewire and began working freelance at the Gloucester Guildhall regularly again for all their band nights. In 1997 I was hired as a consultant to upgrade their PA after a £20k lottery grant. I started to build my own PA system again.

April 1991 – today
I was the in-house sound engineer for a few years and now occasional freelancer for a highly regarded regional venue, the Gloucester Guildhall responsible for hundreds of gigs and working with a wide variety of bands including Supergrass, Roger Taylor from Queen, Muse, The Blockheads and Catatonia. I have also worked at several International Blues Festivals held at the Guildhall featuring top Blues acts from places like Chicago and New Orleans..

Jan 1990 - August 1992
I bought my first PA system and started trading as The Bath PA Company, working with several bands on a regular basis across the South West. I continued to upgrade my equipment.

Bands

These are some of the bands (That you may have heard of) I have worked with.

The bands on this page are categorised into genre;

Mainstream / Chart bands ~ Dance acts ~ tribute bands ~ Blues ~ Jazz ~ Folk ~ Cajun & Zydeco ~ Other ~ Drum Clinics

Mainstream / Chart bands

Bands	Who’s that?!
60ft Dolls	Energetic Welsh Indie band.
Alabama 3	English electronic band. Hits include ‘Woke up this Morning’
Art Garfunkel	Half of Simon & Garfunkel
Arab Strap	Scottish Lo-Fi Doom ‘n’ Bloom Merchants! Album called Philophobia.
Ash	Young Indie Band. Hits include ‘Girl from Mars’
Asian Dub Foundation	Political Dub with Asian flavour
Apache Indian	"Bhangra raggamuffin" artist who did ‘Boom shakalak’
Audioweb	Guitar - pop/ragga from Manchester. Singles; Bank Robber & Policeman skank.
Baby Bird	Pop. ‘You’re Gorgeous’ was in the charts then.
Bad Manners	Buster Blood vessel’s Ska band. 80’s hits include ‘Special Brew’, ‘Lorraine’ & ‘The Can-Can’
Bananarama	Only 2 of them in the reformed group. They did ‘Robert De-Niro’s waiting’
Blameless	Indie Guitar band.
Captain Sensible	Ex Damned guitarist. Sensible he is not!
Carter	Political guitar ranters. Hits inlude bloodsport for all, After the watershed & sheriff fatman.
Cast	Indie pop. Hits include ‘Alright’ and ‘Beat mama’
Catatonia	They weren’t so well known then! Hits include ‘Road Rage’ & ‘Mulder & Scully’
China Drum	Heavy rockers from Tyneside.
Chumbawumba	Anarchic pop. They did Tubthumping (I get knocked down!)
The Clint Boon experience	Ex front man from The Inspiral Carpets.
The Damned	Gothic rockers. Hits include "Smash it up"
Dawn Penn	Jamaican Reggae singer. Hits include ‘No, No, No’
Death In Vegas
Desmond Dekker	The late Jamaican Ska legend. Hits inlude ‘The Israelites’ & ‘007 (Shanty Town)’
The Divine Comedy	Original pop. Hits Include ‘Wood Shed’ & ‘National Express’
Dr Feelgood	Blues Rock band formed in 1971. Hits include Back in the Night and Milk & Alcohol
Dreadzone	Crusty Techno Reggae Dub. Singles ‘Little Britain’, ‘Captain Dread’.
Elastica	Girl lead Guitar band
Elkie Brooks	Legendary Soul / Blues ballad singer. Had hits ‘Pearl's a Singer’, ‘Lilac Wine’ & ‘Fool if you think it's over’ amongst others.
Enter Shikari	Extremely energetic up & coming trance - Metal band!
The Fall	The Legendary Fall headed by front man Mark E Smith.
Gene	Indie guitar / crooner. Hits ~ ‘As good as it gets’, ‘We could be Kings’, ‘Fighting fit’ and ‘Haunted by you’.
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci	Wierdo Welsh pop - types. Single ‘The Patio Song’.
Hadouken!	British Dance-Punk Electonic Rock band
Human League	Fronted by Philip Oakey. Hits included ‘Mirror Man’ & ‘Don't you want me’
Hurricane #1	Indie guitar rockers. Singers a bit like Rod Stewart. Hits include ‘Just another illusion’ and ‘Step into my world’.
Ian Brown	Ex Stone Roses Singer.
Inner Sense	Samba - Reggae band from Birmingham. You can't help movin‘!
Jack Savoretti	English solo acoustic singer of Italian descent
Jake Bugg	English Singer Songwiter
Joyrider	Indie Rock. Hits Include 'Rush Hour'
Judy Tzuke	Judy had hits such as ‘Stay with Me till Dawn’ and ‘Welcome to the Cruise’
Julian Cope	Ex member (& primary songwriter) of The Teardrop explodes. Hits include Reward, World shut your mouth.
Lamb chop	Band from Nashville with slow songs with a hint of country.
Laurel Aitken	"The Godfather of Ska"
Little Axe	One of my favourite bands. They headlined for the anniversary of Real World Studios. Robert Plant & Peter Gabriel joined in as they were there too!
Lush	Girl Indie Band. Hits include ‘Single girl’
The Magic Numbers
Mansun	Indie. Hits include ‘Wide open space’
Martha Reeves	Martha Reeves and the Vandellas had hits such as ‘Nowhere to run’, ‘Jimmy Mack’ and ‘Dancing in the Street’
Mogwai	Post rock, Lo Fi. Had a single called ‘F**k the curfew’.
Neville Staple	Neville Staple was a singer in The Specials
Nils Lofgren	Legend. Has played with many rock gods including Bruce Springsteen for 9 yrs and Niel young.
Northern Uproar	Young Indie Guitar band
Ocean Colour Scene	On the threshold of fame at that time. Hits include ‘The Riverboat song’
Ozric Tentacles	Festival space rock band.
Phantom Chords	Dave Vanian, ex Damned singer's band.
Primal Scream	Secret gig promoting their new album Exterminate
Priory of Brion	Robert Plant’s band (Led Zeppelin’s singer)
The Proclaimers	Scottish brothers front a Folk pop band. Hits include I’m gonna be (500 miles), Let’s get Married and Letter From America
Quadrophonia	They were No.1 then, with ‘Quadrophonia’. Dance/Rap- from Belgium I think.
Roger Taylor	The drummer for Queen. 1st gig on a tour with his 3rd solo album. He wrote ‘We will rock you’, ‘Radio ga-ga’, ‘It’s a kind of magic’ and more.
Rose Royce	The 70s funk band who did ‘Wishing on a star’, ‘Love don’t live here anymore’ & of course ‘Car Wash!’
Ruby Turner	Jamaican born Jazz/Soul Singer. She plays regularly with Jools Holland
Sea Horses	Indie Rock. Ex Stone Roses guitarist. Hits include ‘Love is the Law’
The Selecter	80s Ska band. Hits include ‘Three minute hero’,‘On my Radio’ and ‘Too much Pressure’.
Twist & Crawl	Formerly The Beat, 80s Ska stars. Hits include ‘Mirror in the bathroom’, ‘Ranking full stop’ and ‘stand down Margeret’. They re-formed and this was their first gig as Twist and Crawl at the Ska Festival, Gloucester.
Shed 7	Indie. Hits include ‘Going for gold’
Silver Sun	Vocal harmonising Indie. Big in Japan. They have their own chat show there!
Skindred	Ragga-Metal band with a touch of Drum n Bass! Awesome 4 piece fronted by Benji from Dub War. The whole gig was jumping!
Super Furry Animals	Welsh guitar/ dance crossover. Album ‘Fuzzy logic’, singles ‘God! Show me magic’ and ‘The man don’t give a f**k’.
Supergrass	Indie. Hits Include ‘Alright’, ‘Going out’, ‘Richard III’ ‘Sun hits the sky’ & ‘Pumping on your stereo’.
Supernaturals	Indie Rock. This is the 4th time I’ve worked with them.
Symposium	Heavy Rockers.
Toploader	Lead vocalist plays hammond; Indie type band.
Toyah Willcox	Toyah had hits such as ‘It’s a Mystery’, ‘Thunder in the Mountains’ and ‘I want to be Free’
Turin Brakes
Uk Subs	Original punk band from 1976
Ultrasound	Indie
Unbelievable Truth	Indie Rock
Uresi Yatsura	Wild Indie Rock.
Wheatus	Hits include Teenage Dirtbag
Wishbone Ash	Clever Guitar band from the 70s
The Wurzels	Legendary west country band. Hits include ‘I am a cider drinker’, ‘The Combine harvester’ & ‘Blackbird’
The Zombies	With Colin Blunstone & Rod Argent. Hits include ‘She’s not there’, ‘Hold your head up’ and ‘Time of the season.’ They also actually wrote ‘God Gave Rock n Roll to you.’

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Dance Acts

808 State

Aloof

Astralasia

Banco de Gaia

The Egg

Joi

Loop Guru

Time Shard

tribal Drift

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Tribute Bands

ABBA Gold	Great, Just like the real thing! This was in the Winchester Guildhall
The Blues Others	Bath based Blues Brothers 11 piece Tribute band
The Bon Jovi Experience
The Bootleg Beatles	Top Beatles Tribute
The Floyd Effect	Pink Floyd Tribute with lasers!
From The Jam	The Jam songs with Bruce Foxton actually in the band
The Guns of Navarone	Ska covers band
Hell’s Bells	AC/DC Tribute band
The Rat Pack
The Royal Family	Queen tribute band. Look alike and sound alike! I did this gig in Hemel Hempstead.
Whole Lotta Led	Led Zeppelin tribute band.
The Spiced Girls	A bunch of young girls making a lot of money from miming to someone elses songs. Just like the real thing! This gig was in Exmouth Pavillion.
Doreen Doreen	Billed as Bristol’s biggest party band
The Rolling Clones	Guess who they are a tribute to?!
The Simon & Garfunkel Story	This is getting too easy!
Livewire	Excellent tribute to AC/DC
The Jamm	Great Jam tribute

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Blues

Big Lucky Carter	Memphis Bluesman
Catfish Kieth	National Steel Guitarist
Eddie Martin	Bristol Bluesman
John Hammond	Legendary country Bluesman
Jon 'King' Cleary	"Probably the best blues / barrellhouse pianist in New Orleans"
The Karen Carroll Band	Daughter of Jean Carroll, Chicago Blues lady
Kent DuChaine	Made his UK debut, Steel Guitar Country blues
Little Charlie & The Night Cats	California Blues/ Jazz/ swing/ Rockabilly/ R&B
Roy Book Binder	"The Hillbilly blues singing travelling man"
Angela Brown	From Chicago. - What a voice!
Giles Hedley	Bluesman from Leighton Buzzard, double necked guitars, lap guitar and he even played two harmonicas at once.(one with his nose!)
John Jackson	Former grave digger, at the time was country blues guitarist/ singer/ storyteller. Died in 2002
Larry Garner	Original Electric blues from Louisiana.
Micheal Roach	Country bluesman, although local now, native to Washington.
Paul Jones	Ex Manfred Mann and The Blues Band. Hosts his own Blues show on Radio 2
Sonny Rhodes	From Oakland. Lap Steel guitarist
Blues Shouter	British Blues Band with strong female vocals
Henry Gray	"One of the greatest blues pianists". Played with Howling Wolf for 14 yrs
Jay Owens	Funky Blues/ Soul. Died in 2005
The Hoax	Loud Hendrix style blues
Little Whit & Big Bo	Authentic Alabama Blues. First time out of USA. Hung out with Howling Wolf. Big Bo died in 2002
Ben Waters Boogie band	A young blues pianist form UK, sounding like an old blues pianist form New Orleans!
Canned Heat	1969 Woodstock Legends. They did 'On the road again'
Eric Bibb	Blues with soul and heart.
Eric Sardinas	Amazing National Steel guitarist. Heavy Blues Rock. Sometimes sets fire to his guitar during the performance! Has played with Steve Vai.
Eugene "Hideaway" Bridges	Power derived from Al green & BB King.
Geno Washington	The Legendary Geno Washington!
Holmes Brothers	Gospel harmonies married to a sizzling R&B combo. From New York.
Innes Sibun	My guitar hero (from Bath!) Toured in the USA with Robert Plant's band
King Pleasure and the biscuit boys	Energetic / entertaining Jazz Jive
Otis Grand	In your face big band guitar - led Blues.
Pee Wee Ellis	Legendary Saxophonist for James Brown for a number of years. Co-wrote a lot of songs including "I Feel Good". now lives near Bath.
Sam Brown	Daughter of Joe Brown Had a hit with 'Stop'
Stan Webbs Chicken Shack	Stan the man. Still going since the sixties.
Wilko Johnson	Ex Dr feelgood and Ian Dury guitarist

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Jazz

Humphrey Lyttleton	Legendary Jazz trumpet player. Died in 2008
George Melly	Eccentric Jazz Singer/ Entertainer. Died in 2007
GoGo Penguin	Manchester-based leftfield piano trio
Avon Cities	I did quite a few gigs with this Bristol Jazz band which started in 1949. They finally stopped playing together in 2000

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Folk (traditional Folk, Irish Folk & Folk Rock)

The Bad Shepherds	Adrian Edmunson’s band
Celtarabia	Up-tempo Hurdy Gurdy, Dulcimer Dub!
Craob Rua	Authentic Irish Acoustic Folk.
The Dharmas	Funky folk rock white kids.
Dockery Boys	Folk rock to get you movin'!
Eliza Carthy	Frantic fiddle player from Whitby, Yorkshire
Flook	Anglo-Irish band playing traditional-style instrumental music
HKipper	Paul Bradley's band. (Nige from Eastenders) First time I've seen a Sellotape solo!
Jacqui McShee's Pentangle	From the original band Pentangle. Much more up to date now.
John Spiers	One of the leading Melodeon Players. Was in Bellowhead
June Tabor	Classic haunting Folk songstress
Katherine Tickell	Northumbrian pipe player.
Oyster Band	Folk Rock
Robin Williamson	Harpist/ Storyteller from 'The Incredible String Band'
Rory McLeod	travelling Anarchic Entertainer
Sin E	Irish Folk with Indian percussion and other influences

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Cajun / Zydeco

The Acadian Ramblers	Premier Dutch / Belgian Cajun & Zydeco band
Baton Rouge	Unique blend of Cajun, Zydeco, Hillbilly, Irish and good old Delta Blues
Bobby Michot	A Hobo from Louisiana's Cajun country leading the Cajun Voyageurs
Daisy Belle	France's leading Cajun & Zydeco outfit
Eddie Lejeune	Legendary Cajun accordianist from Morse, Louisiana.
Eunice & the red hot bayou band	The West country's most popular Cajun act
Flatville Aces	Awesome dancehall Cajun sounds from the South coast
Mouton Noir	Authentic Cajun from Louisiana swamps
Sacaulait	Old timey Cajun authentic trio
Steve Riley	The US's leading cajun accordianist fronting The Mamou Playboys.
Titte Fille & the Acadians	North Wales traditional Cajun band
ZydecoActive	UK's foremost genuine Zydeco band.

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Other

Baka Beyond	A fusion of African rhythm with melodies from the Celts and the Cameroon Rain forest.
Seckou Keita	Awesome Kora player & Percussionist form Senegal, West Africa.
Eric Hydocks Hollies	The Hollies were 60's Rivals of the Beatles this time supported by the Dakotas
London Community Gospel Choir	Even if you're not religious it's an uplifting experience!
Jimmy Tarbuck	Everyone knows Tarby!
Frank Carson	Irish Comedian "it's the way I tell 'em!"
Kenny Lynch	Apparently one of the first black Comedians, he wrote "up on the roof"
Jimmy Carr
Paddy McGuiness

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Drum Clinics

Gary Husband	Drummer for Level 42
Nico McBrain	Drummer for Iron Maiden
Steve White	Drummer for New Order, Paul Weller & brother of Oasis drummer
Virgil Donati	Phenominal Australian power drummer
Mark Mondesir	Mostly self taught drummer for Courtney Pine

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