Complete Madness

» Profile

Complete Madness was formed in 1994 out of a band called Beat The System which itself was born in 1989 with original members Mark Keegan and Derek Wood who are still with Complete Madness today. Mark was always into the original Punk and Ska scene while Derek was more of an old School Rock person, so finding a happy medium of music was always difficult but in 1990 they decided to settle on the New Wave type of stuff featuring bands such as The Clash, Alarm, U2, Nick Lowe, Big Country and Flock of Seagulls to name a few and even though it was great playing this stuff it wasnt always well received in a lot of clubs.

In 1992 our then bass guitarist, Steve Cliffe, brought up the idea of maybe learning a few Madness tracks, Night boat to Cairo and Baggy Trousers if my ageing memory serves me well. At that time the tracks sounded a bit on the rock side of Ska with having no keyboards but it went down in the clubs very well, it was original and different to say the least. The band started doing showcases and signed to a decent agency and the work started to get better, and more and more Madness and Specials tracks were being learnt, so it was decided that this was the only direction the band were going to take.

In 1994 we felt the only thing holding us back was the name Beat The System as it didnt say a lot about what we were doing and even tough we had a decent following in South Yorkshire, to branch out a bit more we needed a more appropriate name. Not sure whether it was Steve (bass player) or Dave (Drummer) who thought of the name but Complete Madness was born, simple, straight forward and more to the point, was also the first Madness album Id bought.

This was really the turning point for the band, also getting a Sax player Chris Halford who could also play the Keys a little bit as well, all helped the band to sound something like it should be, but in 1998 it was felt we needed an out and out Keyboard player and we got one in the form of Mr Chris Collier who is still with the band to date.

The band were getting offered work a lot further a field now and it was decided we couldnt do our day jobs and the bands as well so Complete Madness went professional. Since that day the band have not looked back and now do an average of between 150 - 170 gigs a year. Like I said at the beginning I could write a novel especially about the type of gigs the band do so Ill try and condense it.

Complete Madness have done the Army Bases here and abroad, have and are still doing all the top Holiday Parks and have been a regular feature at Butlins for the past 15 years doing the family breaks as well as a lot of the adult breaks.

The band was also a regular feature at the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival between 1996 and 2005 winning rave reviews over there.

Complete Madness have also worked on the ferries and small cruises and more recently put together a small Theatre show and played well over 60 theatres over the last few years (A big thanks to Sweeney Entertainments).

Complete Madness are now in their 15th year and each year still seem to go from strength to strength despite strengthening competition, but the few things the band have is Trust, Reliability and always a steady line up of band members.

» The Current line up is as follows:

• Mark Keegan - Lead Vocals
• Derek Wood - Guitar And Vocals
• Chris Collier - Keyboards And Vocals
• Dan Johnson - Sax
• Jeff Thompson - Drums

» Testimonials

"A Massive Thanks To All The Band And Crew For Playing At My 40th Birthday Celebrations It Was Such A Great Surprise Everyone Really Enjoyed The Night,alot Of Younger Generation Now Massive Fans,also Had So Many Complimentary Comments On How Brilliant You Were,once Again Thankyou So Much For Making My Night Extra Special"
- Jon

"Saw You Last Night In Pontefract And You Were Amazing Guys! Felt Like A Teenager Again, Even Though The Body Doesnt Today Lol! Looking Forward To Seeing You Play Again Real Soon"

"Brilliant Night Lads 1st Time Ive Seen You Perform And Would Love To Be Able To See Again You Have A Great Future Ahead Of You All Im Sure And Especially That Sax Player Just Awesome! Cheers Lads Hats Off To You All"

» Set Format

2 x 40 Minute Sets

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