Tony Skeggs

Now a self-professed cover artist at the famous Cavern Club in Liverpool, musician Tony Skeggs was a founding member of The Overtures, a sixties cover band who have played for the likes of Sir Elton John and with Sir Paul McCartney on stage at the O2, and has been playing music for around forty-five years as of 2020.

Inspired by musicians such as Little Richard, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, Skeggs first met the frontman of The Overtures - Dennis Pugsley - in the mid-1970s, "we learnt a lot and played a mixed bag of stuff," he said when asked how the band was founded, "we joined a band in 1976, and that became The Overtures. I hadn't even left school at that point." Skeggs then goes on to lament about how playing your own songs in a band doesn't pay the bills, "in the mid-80s, we wanted to get married and start having children so we needed to make some more money. That was when we started playing covers. The first time, Den and me sat on two stalls in a pub, which we had never done before, so it was an odd experience. At first we did bars, but then we got invitations to bigger venues. We needed a drummer and we knew some around, but we needed a permanent one. The Overtures developed from our duo, 'Tony and Den', as we called ourselves. I played with the band until 2003."

So what drove Tony Skeggs, resident artists at what is perhaps one of Liverpool's most famous venues - the Cavern Club - to music in the first place? Older siblings - and The Beatles, of course. "I'm the fifth youngest of six. We had music everyday. I knew and loved it. My sister was ten years older than me, and I can remember waiting up for her when she went to see The Beatles at the Hammersmith Odeon. It was so exciting. She came home in floods of tears. I knew from about the age of fourteen that I wanted to play, but I always wanted to be a pilot, and I had always liked football. Somebody told me I couldn't be a pilot, so I became a musician instead." And working in Liverpool for six days out of the given seven (eight) days a week inspires him, "the passion for music in Liverpool is massive. It's really interesting that it is still full of loads of stories. It is a city of music... and football, of course. The whole atmosphere is friendly and warm, and all the visitors are so passionate. [On working at the Cavern Club] I'm very lucky because everyone wants to get there and few actually do. Everyone who comes to the Cavern really loves music, and that's really great because they truly listen when you play."

Skeggs then described to me how he writes his songs, "I write about personal experiences. Things that are true to me. My topics are subjective and open to interpretation. I have a residency at the Cavern Club, so a lot of what I play are covers, but my original stuff has been well received... I am particularly proud of my 'All Along The Watchtower', because it has had 1000s of views. Over the years I have touched people, and the saving grace is that I get to keep doing it."

In lockdown, Skeggs has been doing Facebook live streams to keep his fans entertained, "luckily, I've been doing two performances per week online to an audience of maybe one hundred people. My wife has helped with the requests. The feedback and response which I have received has been really touching. People who've been isolating have sent lovely gifts and kind messages, and I am so grateful to them." He then continues to explain how he thinks the 2020 coronavirus pandemic will affect the music industry, "it's given people a really good artistic stimulus, I think, so that should be good. Everybody can relate to lockdown and the pandemic. The business side bamboozles me. The industry has so many people in it that it will affect everybody differently. Live music, for example, ended in March, and it's not back yet. The government only cares about getting teachers and children back to school, and that's fine, but the industry is so large that it's affecting the economy. I don't know what will happen, really."

"Being a musician has two stages; creative and performance," tells Skeggs when asked about his favourite part of being a musician, "which part is my favourite? I like them both. I like being a musician and expressing in ways that I couldn't otherwise, but the important part is performing and having dreams. By my early teens, I could play, but it took me many years to get it perfect. What is it they say? 10,000 hours to master something?"

The Beatles, one of Skeggs' favourite bands, and the Liverpool heroes, who are also known as The Fab Four, generate over £81.9 million of Liverpool's tourism every year, and that number is likely to continue rising. The tourism aspect of The Beatles also supports 2300 jobs in the city. "I like the majority of their music. It gives me the nostalgia of growing up. They represented music for me. The Beatles are played continuously in the Cavern Club, so they're really a part of my everyday life. A part of culture. My favourite Beatle song is 'Twist and Shout', and my favourite Beatle changes regularly, but in my early days I idolized McCartney for his vocals. Now I'd say my favourite is John Lennon. I love his 'Rock 'n' Roll' album." The album is a collection of 1950s and early 1960s hits, all covered by Lennon. The album was released in 1975, five years before his assassination.