frequently asked questionsHow long have you been together? Talon formed in September 1997 and played their first gig on January 28th 1998 at the Hunters Moon in Birmingham. Now, fifteen years on Talon have chartered the beautiful Fred Olsen cruise ship 'Black Watch' which sets sail in June 2012. Plus, throughout this very special year, over 100 theatres have been scheduled with the climax of the 15th Anniversary Show at the prestigous Birmingham Town Hall in January 2013. Where are you based? Talon are best known as a Midlands based band. Perhaps that's because the gigs in the early years were mostly around the Birmingham area. Also, the offices of Talon Music Ltd are based in Measham and the PO Box is in Hinckley. However, having said all that, Peter originates from London but now lives in Hinckley. Chris is from Nuneaton but now lives near Ashby de la Zouch. Tony's roots are to be found in Walsall although he now lives near Hull. Only Jonny still resides in his hometown of Redditch. Where did the name of Talon come from and why did you choose it? Talon is an Eagles claw and was suggested as the bands name by Paul Outen, a drummer and colleague of Chris & Peter's from their cruising days. When choosing the name, Chris and Pete felt it was important to give the band its own identity. They didn't want to play on the word Eagles or an Eagles song title. Where did the Talon logo come from? The first Talon logo was designed by original Talon bass player Mark Jones in February 1998. It was later updated to the one we use today in December 2009 by Anni Lloyd. How often do you rehearse? Because we are touring all year round, we only rehearse together for a few days before the Spring Tour when we introduce a new show. However, each member rehearses individually quite extensively before we get together. Do you play anything other than Eagles songs? Our show is called 'The Best Of Eagles' so therefore has to be Eagles or Eagles related. However, the Spring of 2005 saw Talon release their debut original album entitled 'Better Than Before' with a subsequent Tour the following Autumn. In February 2009, Jonny, Chris, Peter and Talon guest musician Keith Buck played a few intimate gigs in the Midlands performing some of their favourite acoustic covers by James Taylor, Simon & Garfunkel, Cat Stevens and many others. They enjoyed it so much that the four guys played more gigs the following year with even greater success. The Acoustic Collection is now an established part of the Talon calendar and an album is in the pipeline. Why did you choose to pay tribute to The Eagles? Chris and Peter's vocal quality has been the foundation for many projects over the years. They wanted to build on that. The Eagles were the natural choice giving them the challenge to work with five part harmony and musicians that have the ability to double on several instruments. With Jonny and Tony, Talon achieved the perfect line-up. It was also their judgement that enough people would want to listen to the Eagles recreated to such a standard that to get any closer you'd have to hear the Eagles themselves. Have there been any line-up changes? Yes. The original line-up was Chris Lloyd, Peter Anderson, Mark Jones, Conrad Carpenter and Simon Millest. Jonny Miller replaced Mark in January 2000, Tony Vegas replaced Con in September 2003 and Si retired from touring in May 2010. Have you ever met the Eagles and do they know of Talon? No. However, in December 2009 Chris and Anni flew over to California to meet Jack Tempchin. Jack Tempchin is a legend in all things Eagles having written classic songs such as 'Peaceful Easy Feeling', 'Already Gone', 'Girl From Yesterday', 'Somebody' and many more. Jack is also the best friend of Eagles founder member Glenn Frey. It turned out to be an inspired move because four months later Jack Tempchin appeared as Talon's special guest star in April 2010. The tour was a massive success so you can be pretty sure that if the Eagles didn't know of Talon before they most certainly do now. We are now very proud to call Jack our friend and look forward to him returning to England and appearing with Talon again. Do you have to pay the Eagles to sing their songs? Yes, we pay a percentage of every performance to the Performing Rights Society. Is this all you do? Yes. Talon keeps us busy all year around. Being a self-promoting band, all our time outside of touring is spent working on the next tour. Booking, marketing, finance and logistics. It's a big job just to keep the vehicles in good order and have the hotels booked. All venues require marketing material as well as newspapers and radio. Venues are booked about 6 - 12 months before the actual event, and of course we have to keep on top of our performance. We are continually endeavouring to improve the quality of sound, lighting and production of the show. In January 2001 Chris, Peter and Simon started their own Production/Management Company called 'Talon Music' to look after all the bands business affairs. In April 2004 the Company went 'Limited' before Simon left the Company in July 2010. Chris and Peter are now looking at raising the Talon profile, as well as representing other artistes and Producing more shows for theatre. What does the future hold in store for Talon? In the short term we will be enjoying our 15th Anniversary year. In the long term, we have always maintained that as long as we feel we can keep up the high standards we have set for ourselves and also that our audience keeps turning up to support us, the show will continue. Whilst we are all fully aware that there will be an end to this beautiful journey eventually, we sincerely hope that it will not be any time soon. Here are our top ten questions that we refuse to answer
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