NEWS ARCHIVE

May 2002

The Promise have decided to call it a day. There’s been no falling out – we just recognised that the The Promise is not happening any more! Over the last couple of years, we’ve found it harder and harder to make progress on the third album, and as everyone knows, the opportunities for live concerts were becoming more and more rare. We therefore discussed things recently and agreed it was best to accept that the band had reached its logical conclusion and we should “pull the plug” and give it a dignified death!! We’re all sad about it, but its for the best. I guess all bands have a natural lifespan – and we’d rather stop now when people (hopefully!!) have positive memories of the band!

Although our debut album came out in 1995, the band actually originated in 1985 under the name Tour de Force, so when you consider we’ve been around for 17 years I think it’s fair to say we’ve had a pretty good innings.

We want to say a huge thank you to all of our fans for your support, and particularly to the guys at Now & Then, and Frontiers, for giving us the opportunity to bring our music to a world wide audience. We’ve got some wonderful memories – and have made many new friends along the way.

Our website will remain open at www.the-promise.co.uk so please sign our guestbook with any messages of condolence!!

As a special thank you, we’ve also posted on the website an MP3 of the song “Falling” which was only previously available on the Japanese version of our debut album. You can download the song at this page:

So, in the words of one of our songs… It’s the end of the game!!

Cheers
Gareth, Nods, Ian, Colin
aka The Promise

16 January 2002
Apologies for the lack of news/updates on this site recently. We can confirm that The Promise are still alive and well! However, the band have taken an extended break to re-charge our batteries and re-motivate ourselves as we want to ensure our third album is the best yet. Hope to have some news in the not too distant future.

8 May 2001
Thunderstruck 2001 cancelled. We have just been informed that this event has been cancelled. Here’s the formal announcement.

“I’m afraid this mail note is not good news. After a long hard think about the situation it has been decided to cancel this year’s Thunderstruck festival. The reasons are many and varied, however I must stress that all bands involved had no connection with the cancellation and feel very upset
about the situation. The problems that was faced with putting on such an event were getting worse and to save the festival at this short notice would be very difficult – there is no way that it would be a success on any scale.

I would like to thank all those that were involved in trying to make this festival happen. Many thanks must go to the bands for their time, efforts and loyal friendships during the last year. I’m really sorry for making this decision as it affects many people, but I hope that everyone can understand the reasons as to why this has happened.”

This unfortunately means that there are no gigs planned for The Promise in the near future, and the band will be focussing their efforts on the new album.

15 April 2001
At last an update!!! Just to remind everyone that our next live appearance is at Thunderstruck 2001, Blackpool on Saturday 2nd June. See 27 Sept 2000 news below for details.

A lot of people have been asking how things are progressing with the new album. As usual, it’s taking longer than we planned but we are currently making good progress and hope to air 3 or 4 of the new songs at the Thunderstruck gig. Current working title for the album is Intravenous and some song titles are ‘Forever I Know’, ‘One Day’, ‘Angels Never Die’, ‘This Side of Heaven’. We really want the third album to be by far our best yet, so are taking some time to get it right. Hopefully it’ll be worth the wait.

22 September 2000
The Promise have confirmed that they will be playing on Saturday 2nd June 2001 at the Thunder Convention, Thunderstruck 2001. More details below:

Captain Thunder! here to announce some great news. The first annual Thunder Convention, Thunderstruck 2001, will take place in June 2001. On Friday 1st June & Saturday 2nd June, around ten to twelve bands will be partying with Thunder-holics at Pontins Holiday Camp, Blackpool. Tickets will go on sale on Monday 11th September 2000 and only available from Pontins themselves. For bookings, please contact Danielle Donald on 08706010472. Please note a deposit of £5 per person is required to secure a place. Rock legend Bob Catley will headline and close the weekend of mayhem on the Saturday night, whilst AOR gods Ten will headline the Friday evening. Other bands already confirmed are The Promise, Emerald Rain, Razor Babies, Stilettos and Sonic Oblivion. Many more will be added to the line-up, making Thunderstruck 2001 the biggest, bestest concert of 2001 and a true tribute to Thunder!.

15 September 2000
The Promise have confirmed a gig at the Malt Mill, Holburn Street, Aberdeen on Saturday 23rd September.

2 July 2000
We’ve had a request to post the set list of the songs we played at Ultrasound 2000, so here it is!

Let’s Talk About Love, You Are The One, When Love Takes A Hand, Holdin’ Out For A Miracle, Hold on to Love, Don’t Keep me Waiting, Only a Woman, Holdin’ On, Kiss Me and Kill Me. We’ve also been asked how we’re managing to duplicate the songs live without a keyboard player. Quite simple – we got copies of the recorded keyboard parts from the studio and have put them onto a mini-disc with the keyboards on one channel and a click track on the other. The keyboard track goes to the front of house PA and the click track goes to Colin’s headphones, so he can ensure that the band keep in time with the keyboard backing track. Works fine and at least ensures that one “member” of the band doesn’t make mistakes!

10th June 2000
Was it a dream that we were in Las Vegas just over a week ago?! Photos added to the site suggest it must have happened! We had a fantastic time in Las Vegas, which is a totally over-the-top place, where there’s just so much to see and do. It was great to realise a lifelong ambition for us all to perform live in the States. It was also great to meet some US based fans that we didn’t know we had. We really enjoyed playing the gig and the only disappointment was the poor crowd turnout for the whole event. Special thanks also to Doug “Torch” Groff, Todd Smith. Tony Sison, Bill Rowan and Dan Harding. Two brief reviews here.

24th March 2000
The Promise have announced 2 further gigs in Aberdeen. They will be playing The Blue Lamp, 121 Gallowgate, Aberdeen on Saturday 15th April and Saturday 20th May.

19th March 2000
The Promise have confirmed another gig at the Malt Mill, Holburn Street, Aberdeen on Sunday 21st May

12th March 2000
The Promise have confirmed 2 additional gigs in Aberdeen. They will be playing at The Loft (upstairs from O’Donohues, 16 Justice Mill Lane, Aberdeen on Thursday 30 March and Thursday 18 May. There is an admission charge, but we will supply complimentary tickets to anyone who advises us they want to attend. If you’d like us to send you tickets, please send us a stamped addressed envelope to The Promise c/o 12 Rosewood Avenue, Aberdeen AB12 3DE – make sure you confirm the date/s you wish to attend, and how many tickets you need.

Although we are likely to be limited to a set of around 40-45 mins at the gig in Las Vegas, we will be playing for up to 90 mins at the gigs in Aberdeen, so we intend to do most of the songs from the two albums, and some cover versions by bands such as Journey, Night Ranger, The Storm, Survivor, Van Halen, Bon Jovi etc. There’s also a possibility we may even manage to preview one of the new songs from the next album.

5th March 2000
The Promise are delighted to announce that they have been invited to play Ultrasound 2000 in Las Vegas on 28th May. We hope some of our US fans will be able to make it to the gig. The band will be playing some warm-up gigs in their home town of Aberdeen prior to this. The first date announced so far is The Malt Mill, Holburn Street, Aberdeen on Friday 7th April, but please check back as further Aberdeen dates will be announced soon.

Monday 10th January 2000
One of our Japanese fans, Yuki Wada, has published a tribute website to her favourite bands, including The Promise. This site can be found at httpsss://plaza.harmonix.ne.jp/~rimmer/ and has lots of info on the band, written in Japanese. Well done Yuki!

27th November 1999
Two weeks prior to our gig at The Gods festival, keyboard player Steve Craig sensationally quit the band. Steve refused to explain exactly why he was leaving, just saying there were “a number of reasons”. The band had hoped Steve would at least fulfill his commitment to play the forthcoming sets at The Gods both with ourselves and backing Jaime Kyle, but he flatly refused to do so. After coming to terms with this shock, the band however quickly decided that we were not prepared to let down our fans, or Jaime Kyle. It was decided that we would get copies of the original recordings of the keyboard parts for our songs on an ADAT tape which we would run as a backing track at The Gods. For the Jaime Kyle set, Nods agreed to play keyboards and Andi Watson (local guitarist and good friend of the band) was drafted in to fill the second guitar spot. After putting together the keyboard backing track, rehearsals for both sets commenced. Two days prior to The Gods show, we received an e-mail from Jaime Kyle saying that she would be unable to play. The Promise had spent much time learning and rehearsing Jaime’s songs so were shocked and angry at this, especially as we received no direct communication or apology from Jaime.

After these bombshells, we were determined that these events would not spoil our enjoyment of The Gods. As it turned out, we had a great time and were delighted with the positive feedback we received for our performance. Indeed, the whole event was a great success, and we also enjoyed the social side of the weekend. For those who couldn’t make it, our set at The Gods 99 was as follows: Let’s Talk About Love, When Love Takes A Hand, Hold On To Love, You Are The One, Let The Night Go On Forever, Arms Of A Stranger, Don’t Keep Me Waiting, Only A Woman, When It Rains, Kiss Me & Kill Me. Thanks to all of you who attended The Gods, supported us, sang along with the songs, bought our CDs, and spoke to us after the event. Gigs like that make it all worthwhile!! We hope it won’t be too long before we’re playing live again.Meanwhile, the band are currently writing songs for our third album, and will be considering how to fill the keyboard position.

23rd August 1999
Thanks to all who attended our open air gig on Saturday 21st August at the St Nicholas Centre Bandstand, Aberdeen. Our start was delayed after Nods managed to blow up 2 amps(!!) but all went well after that. Just a pity it’s so long till our next live performance – at The Gods on Sunday 21st November. The event is running over 2 days, Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st November. Doors open 12 noon. Tickets priced £15 for one day, £25 for both days available from Now & Then Productions, 825 Atherton Road, Hindley Green, Wigan, Lancs WN2 4SA.

1st August 1999

Live Gigs – The following gigs are currently scheduled:
Saturday 21st August (weather permitting!) – The Bandstand, Upper Level, St Nicholas Centre, Aberdeen. The band will be performing a free open air gig commencing approximately 1.00pm

Saturday 20th or Sunday 21st November – The Gods 1999, Maximes, Wigan. The Promise will be performing at this 2-day event. Actual date to be confirmed. The band will also be backing Jamie Kyle for some of her set.

Monday 21st June 1999
Live Gig! – The Promise are pleased to announce a gig in their home town of Aberdeen. The band will be playing at The Forum, Skene Terrace on Friday 23rd July. The band expect to be on stage between 10 – 10.30pm. Admission £6.

Tuesday 15th June 1999
Nods and Gareth have recorded a short interview with Jim Gellatly of Aberdeen Radio Station Northsound 1. This will be aired on Friday 25 June on Jim Gellatly’s Friday Vibe Show which is on between 7 – 10pm. Snippets of the interview will be mixed with tracks from the new album.

Sunday 13th June 1999
Northsound Radio, the commercial radio station in the band’s home town of Aberdeen are to include the song ‘Hold On To Love’ on their playlist from Thursday 17th June. This will mean that the song is aired at least 4 times every day. The station will also be interviewing the band – details of when this will be aired to follow

Monday 24th May 1999
We can confirm the new album Human Fire is now available in stores throughout the UK & Europe, and through the usual specialist mail order stores/websites. Availability in the UK majors (Virgin/HMV etc) is sketchy, but if not in stock they will order it for you.

Sunday 16th May 1999

The main thing to report is the release of our new album, Human Fire on Frontiers Records (Catalogue No: FRCD024) . The official release date for the album is 17th May for the UK and Europe. We are awaiting confirmation as to whether it will be available in the shops on that date. We will post an update as soon as we know. Meanwhile, you can listen to Real Audio sound bytes of the new songs on ‘The Music’page. The album will be released in Japan on the Nippon Crown label. We’ve been told they are planning an August release and will advise when we have a confirmed release date for Japan. The band are really excited about the new album, especially as it’s taken so long to complete! Hopefully you will agree that the wait has been worthwhile.