The Finlands played on...

Gav Coulson, JHS Artist Liaison and Product Specialist has recently landed himself a gig with some of his teenage heroes.

Oliver/Dawson Saxon were left needing a second guitarist when long time member Haydn Conway had to pull out due to health issues, so Graham contacted Gav to see if he was available to stand in.

“As a young Wakefield lad, Saxon were the first metal band I ever went to see live” says Gav “and even though I’ve got to know Graham and Steve through their association with JHS these past few years it was still exciting to get the call!”

However, a big problem was that a tour of Finland and a festival in Hamburg both coincided with a pre-booked Coulson family holiday.

“I texted Graham to say I was really sorry, but we were due to drive to France for three weeks, and I couldn’t leave my wife looking after our 5 kids and doing all that driving on her own.” Gav continues “When my wife Julie got home, I told her what had happened and that of course I’d turned it down.”

Gav was completely unprepared for her response.

Get on the phone to Graham now and tell him you will do it!! We will sort out the holiday somehow!

Julie practically shouted.

So with the backing of his ‘management’ the tours were approved. A four date UK tour in May with US rockers LA Guns saw Gav’s first appearances with ODS rocking out metal classics such as ‘The Bands Played On’, ‘Wheels Of Steel’, ‘747 Strangers in the Night’ and ‘Dallas 1pm‘ at The Underground in Camden, The Robin 2 in Wolverhampton and Yardbirds in Grimsby, with further festival dates at Slamfest in Rotherham and the Nottingham Rock & Bike Show.

In late July the band fly out to Finland to embark on a short tour, with Gav flying out of Helsinki to meet up with his family in France for week before heading out again afterwards to Germany for the Headbangers Festival, and then making the trip back to France for the remainder of the holiday!

Graham Oliver and Steve ‘Dobby’ Dawson, both founder members of the original New Wave of British Heavy Metal band Saxon formed ODS back in 1995 and have so far released six albums, with the current band lineup completed by Paul Oliver on drums and Seventh Son vocalist Bri Shaughnessy on lead vocals. Both longtime Vintage guitar endorsers, Graham has a Signature VS6GO model as well as favouring the V624MDY for live work, whilst Dobby has been a big fan of the V4MVW and V4MTB bass guitars.

Meanwhile, Gav has been using the Vintage V6M24LB through either his Hughes & Kettner GM36H Grandmeister or the BluGuitar AMP1 with a selection of Xvive compact pedals.

“We knew Gav was a great guitarist,” says Graham, “and as we had become friends through our association with JHS, that he was also familiar with our songs. Thanks Gav and Julie, for this is beyond the call of duty, and both the band and I are very grateful. I know its what we musicians do – make sacrifices for our art – but its still tough. Lets get ready to ROCK!”

“I consider myself very lucky to be doing the job I do with JHS as I’ve gotten to meet a lot of my musical heroes, and even jammed and done clinic tours with them”, says Gav “but I’m even luckier to be married to such a patient, understanding and (most importantly) rock-music loving wife!”