The Reegs

Gary Lavery: (vocals, keyboards) Reg Smithies: (guitar, bass, vocals, percussion) Dave Fielding: (guitar, vocals) After a successful American tour and the tragic death of their Manager and good friend Tony Fletcher [ Kennedy Street Enterprises] The Chameleons UK drifted apart, although the band never officially broke up. Mark and John quickly formed the Sun And The Moon and Dave and Reg some time after began rehearsing together as 'The Reegs'. They were asked by a friend of Dave's Brother from the new independent label 'Imaginary Records' to record a track for a Kinks tribute album. In a way as Dave has confirmed in some interviews, '....it was the guys from Imaginary who got The Reegs rolling really'. There was only one last thing. Reg wasn't comfortable with the vocals so Gary Lavery a friend of the band finally joined them. Gary used to play with local band 'Partisan Grey' as support for The Chameleons during their early days so it was not difficult for him to get along with the lads The Reegs first works were some recordings for tribute albums: 'The Last time' by The Rolling Stones [Recorded under the moniker of 'Three Imaginary Boys'] and a nod to the Velvet Underground's 'All Tomorrow Parties' followed by two LP's, 'Return Of The Sea Monkeys' and then 'Rock The Magic Rock'. There are also a couple of CD singles ['As You Leave' and 'You told me before'] with very interesting B sides and two more 12" edited in Vinyl 'See My Friends' [April 1989] and 'Chorus Of The Lost' [August 1990]. Other unreleased tracks were played live like 'Subject to status' or 'Bosnia' which were supposed to be on an upcoming album that never saw the light. The Reegs played some gigs in England mainly up north in small local venues like The Roadhouse in Manchester, The Duchess of York in Leeds, The Witchwood in Ashton -under-Lyne or Kaleida and Night&Day in Manchester city center. They also supported 'The Wedding Present' on few occasions. Although there are no official videos of the band, a bootleg was recorded in The Tivoly in Buckley- Ladies and gentleman The Reegs, Manchester best kept secret! Dave Fielding-Electric and Acoustic Guitar/ Keyboards/ Harmonica/ Vocals and E bow Reg Smithies-Electric and Acoustic Guitars/ Keyboards/ Bass Guitars/ Vocals Gary Lavery- Lead Vocals/ Keyboards and Programing