ANYONE with even the slightest knowledge of the music scene in Newport and further afield has come across Big Macs Wholly Soul Band.

A fixture of music venues, weddings and corporate events across the region, the troupe has been wowing audiences with their energetic performances of soul classics for 26 years.

Founder member and charismatic frontman Mike Mcnamara, one of three remaining members of the original line-up, said the band had started with a group of friends getting together casually to jam in the basement of legendary Hollywood Club in Market Street, Newport.

“We didn’t really have a direction,” he said.

“A sax player who was a mate of mine and said ‘why don’t we try and get a horn section together?’

“We didn’t really gig, we were just playing in a cellar.”

But a turning point was just around the corner when the release of film musical The Commitments in August 1991 ignited an interest in soul music across the UK.

“When that came out the whole soul thing went sky high,” he said.

“It became every much in vogue and there was loads of bands doing the same things, especially Mustang Sally, which we still have to play in every set.”

Today the band is made up of 11 members, including Mike’s daughter Erin, playing instruments including saxophone, trumpet, trombone, guitar and keyboards, and two road crew.

“There’s only three of us original members, but some of the guys and girls have been with us for 20 years,” said the frontman and singer.

“Over the years we have various people.

“Drummers seem to change the most. It’s like Spinal Tap.”

As with any band lasting as long as them, the shape of their sets has changed over the years.

“The set has changed over the years because we’ve got three really good girl singers now and they’re putting their own stamp on it,” he said.

“We were doing original material at the start, but as we went on the decision was made, as we were playing at events, it wasn’t viable to keep the original stuff in.

“Events with lots of people are very fickle.

“We put loads of songs in, but as soon as we started playing things people might not know they walk away from the stage.

“We need to bridge that gap of songs people like and songs they know.

“But I wouldn’t want to do songs I don’t like.”

Citing his biggest influences as Little Richard, Wilson Pickett and Sam Cooke, Mike, who is currently writing his own album of original material, said: “When you’re doing a covers you’ve got to be close to the original or people think you’re doing it wrong.”

Mike said some of the biggest highlights of the 26-year career included playing at Liverpool’s Cavern Club, often cited as launching The Beatles, as well as London’s famous Marquee Club, where The Rolling Stones played their first-ever live show.

“We’ve had the option to play abroad a few times and they were fantastic,” he said.

“We did one this year in Vienna and we played in Cairo a few years ago and that was fantastic.

“We got the chance to go around and see the pyramids and all that sort of thing while we were there for a big event.”

The band is known to many for as a fixture of weddings and corporate events across Gwent and further afield, and Mike said it was these sorts of bookings which allowed he and his bandmates to stretch their wings a little.

“They are quite lucrative and enable you to do the events you really, really enjoy,” he said.

“We play at Monmouth Festival every other year and the Upton Festival in Worcestershire every other year as well.

“If you are able to get enough money for weddings and corporate events and stuff we can do these other events.

“When you play one of those festivals people have come to see the band and that’s the big difference, they come specifically to hear you.”

He added the band had built up a loyal following in Newport, despite finding the city a hard nut to crack in the early years.

“Newport has always been a notoriously hard audience,” he said.

“When we started playing we were popular in the Rhondda Valley and Blackwood.

“But Newport was hard.”

Although many bands lasting as long as Big Macs see their popularity wane, Mike said the experience of he and his bandmates had been quite the opposite.

“I think we’re probably busier than we have ever been,” he said.

“When we started we were out all through the week but we were playing for next to nothing.

“Everyone wanted to book us but we had no reputation.

“We are a bit more selective now.

“We just played the Tramshed (in Cardiff) and we sold that out.

“We sold out the Vale Hotel (in the Vale of Glamorgan) and we’re playing the Mercure Hotel in Cardiff Bay on New Year’s Eve.

“We are the only band that has played The Globe (in Cardiff) five times and sold it out so we must be doing something right.”

Mike said the biggest lesson he had learned over the past 26 years was to always give 100 per cent.

“You have to put a brave face on it,” he said.

“There have been a lot of hard times but I’ve never missed a gig or cancelled a gig no matter how bad I was feeling or how ill I was feeling.

“I lost my father a few years ago and played a gig the same night.”

Overall, Mike said all he really wanted was to be “a good-time band people can dance to and have a good time”.

“There’s no deep philosophy to it,” he said.

For more information on the band, gig dates and bookings visit bigmacswhollysoulband.com.