My world turned Juke when I discovered the band back in 1978. I’ve never been the same since! I can remember how astonished and thrilled I was at hearing Southside’s voice for the first time and how the sound of the horns sent shivers down my spine. Thirty years later and they still get me the same way.

On October 27, 1979, I got to see the band live for the first time at The Odeon in Birmingham. Strangely enough I have very little memory of that evening, apart from the fact that I got to meet Steve Becker, who gave me one of the drum sticks he’d been using during the show. Although I saw La Bamba and Ed Manion as part of Little Steven’s Disciples of Soul in 1981 and 1982, it wasn’t until 1984 when I saw The Jukes again. They played three shows at the Venue in London, one on the first night and early and late shows on the second. By this time I’d become friends with La Bamba (even swapping Christmas cards for a couple of years) and he gave me a backstage pass for one of the gigs: it felt like I’d joined the ‘A’ list! Unfortunately soon after that, having emigrated to France, I lost touch. During what I now call ‘my wilderness years’ there was one notable show in Cheltenham, England in December 1992 when I flew home for what turned out to be a rollicking joint birthday and Christmas party rolled into one. There was even a food fight on stage as I recall!

In 1995, after some personnel issues, the tragic loss of a close friend and a fire, which just about destroyed everything I owned (including my entire Jukes collection,) I hit rock bottom. Two of my best buddies knew there was only one thing that could help me get out of the mess I was in. So at the end of December that year they flew me out to the USA to see The Jukes at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia and at the Count Basie on New Years Eve. Seeing the band over those two nights was the best therapy anyone could ever have.

If the 90’s seemed barren, the millennium in comparison brought an incredible turn around in fortune for me. Firstly, along with Mike Saunders, I went to New York City and saw the Jukes on the ‘Blues Cruise.’ Seeing the band playing on a boat sailing around the tip of Manhattan, with a back drop of the Statue of Liberty, was astonishing, That trip we also got to see La Bamba’s Big Band at The Cutting Room. Then in 2001 we were present at the incredible weekend in Tinton Falls that was ‘Jukestock.’ It was here that we met so many great folks who shared the same passion for the band as we did. We also had the good fortune to get to know Hood and Joe Prinzo and Sean Giblin. That same year, the band decided to tour the UK…twice. We decided to go to every show that we could; little did we know that we would be doing the exact same thing for the next seven years! We began the tour as mere fans, progressed to helping haul the equipment onto the stage each night, and ended up as an accepted part of the road crew…’The Druids’ as Bobby Bandiera called us, amongst other things. (Believe me, it could have been worse!) We’ve now notched up over 80 shows working with the band and well over 100 shows in all. We’ve witnessed some amazing highs: The Cardiff and Sheffield shows of 2001 (the latter included in an incredible, never to be repeated, 11 shows in 13 days); the Count Basie show of the same year; Beverley 2002; the amazing show in Utrecht 2003; Atlantic City and Stone Pony shows of 2005; Paradiso, Amsterdam 2006; BB King’s 2007; and the recent ‘Hearts of Stone’ 30th Anniversary performances. It is a proud feeling to be amongst so many great musicians that we can now call friends.

Thanks to everyone I’ve met along the road…Dale, Clive, Dan, Holly, Ellen, Ann, Debs, Mick, Norma, Miss O, Stan and everyone at Morgan’s Bar at the Holiday Inn, Tinton Falls, The Jukettes, Jackie Sheehan, Pete Owen, Deb Elliott and many, many more. Thanks to Hood, Joe Prinzo and Sean (God bless you brother). Thanks to fellow Druid Mike. Thanks to Southside and The Jukes.

- Dave Percival