45°
The real thing: Marc “Feld” Bolan
(Sept. 30, 1947 – Sept. 16, 1977)
As a German website promoting the “new” band notes, wunderkind “Marc Bolan ist tot” — since 1977, in fact.
And the driving force behind this group is a drummer “misleading the next generation of music lovers into thinking that he played more of a role in the band than he genuinely did,” says Natalie McDonald.
“The drummer who actually defined the real T. Rex sound, Bill Legend, is very much alive and well and perhaps too much of a gentleman to display the outrage that Marc Bolan’s fans around the world are feeling,” notes McDonald, the Louisiana-based webmistress of MarcBolan.com.
The band doesn’t perform in the U.S. or in Germany, where a petition drive against using the T. Rex name was signed by David Bowie, Legend, and famed producer Tony Visconti, among others, in 2008.
“This sets a dangerous precedent. What’s next?” Visconti said. “When Paul McCartney dies, will a group emerge calling themselves The Beatles?”
Band members insist the act is an homage to Bolan, the sexually-charged electric elf who, in essence, was T. Rex, until he died in a car crash two weeks short of his 30th birthday. They used a hyphen instead of a period, thereby avoiding any trademark infringement. And they’re back to adding “The Music of Marc & Mickey (Finn)” to the full bill.
“We never had any intention to upset anyone,” manager Barry Newby has said. “We perform, in our opinion, the most dynamic T-Rex show in the world.”
But longtime fans insist it’s still misleading.
“NO BOLAN, NO T.REX,” McDonald claimed, echoing the opponents’ rallying cry of a few years ago.
Center: The new crewDead nearly 34 years, Bolan is “not here to defend himself against Paul Fenton shamelessly profiting from the misuse of the name,” she added. “As an American, I certainly don’t expect them trying to pull off this scam on our shores.”
Finn formed the first “tribute” band in 1977, calling it Mickey Finn’s T-Rex. After his death in 2003, the surviving members changed the name to T.Rex (A Celebration of Marc and Mickey). Amid the July dust-up, they reverted back to Mickey Finn’s T-Rex.
The current incarnation includes a would-be Bolan soundalike, Rob Benson. The guitarist is the founding member of Saxon, Graham Oliver. The set list is said to include “Telegram Sam,” “Children Of The Revolution,” “Hot Love,” and BOLAN’S biggest hit, “Get It On.”
Drummer Paul Fenton’s actual T.Rex credits include some supplemental drumming on several of the original band’s albums, and sitting in on a 1974 UK tour for Legend’s successor, Davey Lutton.
“We have never made a fortune out of the band,” Fenton once told an interviewer, “but we have gone round and celebrated their music without being a complete tribute band.”
Click here to follow Daily Voice Hackensack and receive free news updates.
