My very good personal friend, "WILD" Bob Burgos

I got to actually meet Bob at a Rock N Roll night in Plymouth, for the first time around 4 years ago. Like everyone else in Europe, knew who he was and what he stood for in regards to respect, for the Rock N Roll. The name Wild and Sledgehammer, can not be far enough away from the real Bob, He has time for everyone, sometimes the last to leave a venue that he might be visiting as a guest, due to his popularity.

As with all the bands I meet, if i don`t introduce myself then there will certainly be someone to do that on my behalf, and in this Case , a long time friend of the midnight rockers, Keiron Pardew, "come and meet bob burgos" he said, are you kiddin!! ye show him your photos, well i did and the rest is history, he promissed to call me reference and album cover he had in mind, and that led to a complete album that i photographed and produced for him, It was in aid of a worthy cause St Lukes cancer appeal in Plymouth, and was a limited edition, EP, The pictures were taken in Dawn`s living room, Dawn by the way is a very well known Queen Lookalike and works as a DJ amongst many other worthy causes, at Plymouth Derriford Hospital.

This is what Janis Martin had to say about Bob Burgos

May I have the extreme pleasure to tell you a little about "Wild" Bob Burgos, alias "The Wild Tattooed Rocker, alias "The Tattooed SLEDGEHAMMER of Rock n' Roll'... by whatever name you choose to address Bob, the 'WILD" is centainly part of him and I PROMISE you that when the last driving beat is heard, you will KNOW that rock 'n' roll has truly been played in its original form... honest, hard-driving, raw ROCK 'N' ROLL! Bob's vocals are SUPERB showing yet a another facet of Wild Bob's incredible talent.

Bob Burgos was born in South-East London and began playing drums at the early age of 8 years. His main influences in Rock n' Roll and Rhythm and Blues were (and still are), the fabulous CHUCK BERRY and JIMMY REED. Wild Bob was born to an English mother and Spanish father and the "gypsy" blood drove him to the artistic side of life... painting, drawing, sketching and musical talents. All of his drawings were of Rock 'n' Roll scenes and so, he began having these Rock 'n' Roll scenes Tattooed on his body... front and back, head to foot, hence the "Tattooed" Rocker was born. He began his professional career playing drums at the age of 18 years and Rock 'n' Roll became his entire life. He played with various bands and was soon booked seven nights a week. He smashed his way through songs with a couple of drumsticks that sounded like sledgehammers beating out the beat. He was on his way! Wild Bob became well known backing big name artists and playing with such bands as Screaming Lord Sutch and The Savages, The Countbishops, The Wild Angels, Heinz of the Tornados, Wee-Willie Harris, etc..

After backing many other bands, he went on to form a group with a band called "MATCHBOX" that used the old Carl Perkins hit as their name. After much rehearsal to get the true feel of original Rock 'n' Roll they went on the road and became a huge success and recognized on the Rock 'n' Roll scene as one of the BEST! Their popularity grew to the point that they were doing performance after performance, day in day out, touring across the world, cutting records and having major hits that demanded more travel. This naturally took its toll being away from his family and when Wild Bob's father passed away, he went home to sort it all out. No doubt he felt guilty that he had spent so much time on the road away from his family and he needed time to decide what direction his music was taking him. As he Worked his way through depression of losing his father, he realized that Rock 'n' Roll has become his entire life and rocking was something he just had to do. Rock 'n' Roll had him in its grasp and he soon joined the Piano Rocker, Freddie Fingers Lee and the ball started rolling again. He began writing and doing sessions with Freddie, Matchbox, Jim Carlisle, Stuart Coleman and numerous other artists. He began to be called upon to back American artists on tour in Europe such as Charlie Gracie, Gene Summers, Mac Curtis, Clarence 'Frogman' Henry, and his idol... CHUCK BERRY. What a thrill that must have been!

As you are probably aware, I am writing regularly for Maggies Blue Suede News in the UK, and have been asked by editor Peter Scanton of the Big Beat 50s Magazine, which has to be Australias main Rock N Roll magazine, to return the favour by keeping the Aussies informed of what is happening In Europe. Well Im honoured to be uniting Europe and Oz through what we all love best.. and the first Article that will appear in the BB 50s mag, will be on Bob Burgos, and some of the pictures Bob has sent me, apparently, he said have not seen the light of day for years,so i asked if I could share them, he was only to glad to share them.. so hope you like them, he said he will send more, so as i get them I will post them here...see you back here soon..