Biography

The story so far…

Jozi Days

45 Reasons w a s originally formed in Johannesburg by Mike Dorea, Nikki-Lee Dorea, Glenn Welman and Jon Buckley. “We had all played in the club and pub scene for years, but were getting fed up with playing the same old tired covers. We all wanted to try and experiment with songs that WE wanted to play and that could possibly become ‘future classics’ , after all, those crusty old pub songs were ‘new songs’ at some point.” Shortly after forming the band, Jon left due to committments at his studio and Glenn’s brother, Clint stepped up to play guitar in the band. During the rehearsals with this version of the band, recordings of some of the covers were made in Glenn's studio. These included a rocked up half time version of R.E.M's Losing my religion.

JHB To Cape…

Before the band had the chance to play a gig, Mike and Nikki-Lee moved to Cape Town and reformed the band with CT guitar aficianado Pete Stanford and groove meister, Robbie Webb. It was this line up that helped forge the bands sound, with Robbie and Mike providing a solid rhythm section and Pete's funky ska influenced Telecaster completing the distinctive funky rock sound. Nikki-Lee, Mike, Pete and Robbie are all accomplished singers and all of them take turns at the lead vocals in the band and provide awesome vocal harmonies on some of the songs. A couple of years later, Lutz Frerichs, keyboard player for Nikki's old jhb band Tantalus, moved to Cape Town and joined the band. This introduced a new element to the band and allowed us to perform some of the more keyboard driven songs that were not previously possible without keys. Lutz is a well established player with a great ear and he and Pete compliment each other allowing both of them the freedom to be more experimental in their playing.

A change is as good as because of a Holiday

In 2016, Pete took a year's sabatical to England and local rock guitar legend, Alessandro (Alex) Batazzi filled in while Pete was overseas.

In a nutshell…

The philosophy of the band is that we are not out to do exact replicas of the songs we cover, if song is well written, and if the "essence" of the original song is there, then people will get it, then a song sounds good in any style. Each person in the band bring their own falvour to the band and through this, we create our own sound and this comes through in the covers we do. Nikki-Lee - Vocals Nikki-Lee formed her first band in 1999. It was a Cape Town based blues/rock outfit called “Nikki Lee and Blue Jam” and played covers and original material. In 2000 she formed the band “Nikki-Lee and Undercover”. The band concentrated on rock covers dating from the 60’s through to present day material. Nikki–Lee relocated from Cape Town to Johannesburg to focus on her music career where she started a band called Tantalus, which was very successful in playing live music for functions all over the country and as far away as Mozambique and Malawi. While in Johannesburg she also sang for three smaller bands as lead vocalist. She spent her week nights teaching singing from home. Nikki-Lee has also been involved in various recording projects such as singing backing vocals for Robin Auld, Roger Khoons and singing all vocals for “Guitar for All” on their training cd’s. She’s performed on session work for various TV and radio ads and joined Johannesburg based Melodic Rock band, Off the Edge as a backing singer in August 2004. As well as singing Nikki-Lee plays guitar and percussion and is comfortable singing virtually any genre of music. Pete Stanford – Guitar and Vocals Pete started playing the guitar at the age of 8, and played his first paying gigs at the age of 18. He has played with bands, trios, duos and as a solo act all over South Africa since the mid 80’s. Being an Eastern Cape lad, he has a leaning towards the reggae, ska and Afro type groove, but also enjoys playing rock and acoustic guitar folk music. He’s at his happiest in the engine room of the band, but doesn’t mind getting “let out his box” occasionally to sing a few songs! Pete is also a guitar teacher and songwriter. Mike Dorea – Bass and Vocals Mike Dorea started playing Bass at the age of 15 and, in addition to numerous cover and original bands has played bass on various sessions for both radio and television advertising. He has also appeared on various popular local TV shows and has performed at most of the Barnyard Theaters countrywide, appearing in over 500 performances of Clint and Co’s Tribute to Creedence Clearwater Revival, and a very successful 6 month run of “The Midnight Hour” at Richard Loring’s Sound Stage in Midrand, and a further 3 month run of the same show at the Marcellus Theatre in Emperor’s Palace. Mike has played bass on many original recordings, among them; Toxic Shame's "Kicking and Screaming", "Detox" and "V", Scarlet Box's debut album, Clint and Co’s "Creedence Clearwater Revival" and "Test of Faith" albums, Geran’s "Stuck on Sullivan" album and Eden Michelle's "Broken Truth" album. Some of the bands that Mike has played for are “Midnight Blue”, “Climbing Walls”, “Trylogee” and “Clint and Co”. He was also the bassist for local original bands, “Toxic Shame” and “Off The Edge.” Robbie Webb - Drums and Vocals Robbie Webb is a self-taught, self confessed “Wrinkly rocker” drummer. Music has been the love of his life for as long as he can remember and he has dabbled in many areas like the piano, bass guitar, recording and writing. He performed as a bass guitarist in a two man band in the early 80’s in Jhb at places like “Sleepy Hollow” and “The Ballalaika”. He was the drummer in his unit entertainment band in his army days in Heidelberg. He has played as a drummer in part time cover bands like “Small Talk”, “The Under Cover Band” doing the pub circuits in Cape Town for the last 20 years at least. He has also been involved in original projects for periods, such as “Groovy Train”, “Vanessa Nolan” and some school productions. Currently playing with 45 Reasons, loving the synergy and looking forward to be part of this relatively new line-up’s future creative endeavours. Robbie did sound engineering at SABC TV centre in Auckland Park, and in later years had a 16 track analogue demo-tape studio in Cape Town. He likes “touch” and expression in drumming and although he lacks the rudiments needed to be a virtuoso jazz drummer, listening to jazz and classical music has probably tempered his rock drumming approach. Lutz Frerich - Keyboards Lutz has been playing keyboards/piano with various bands and solo artists since about 1989. Mainly cover bands, but also some with original tunes thrown in from time to time. In the past he has performed at the following venues: Balalaika Hotel Sandton, Foxys’ Rivonia, Falcons’ Crest, Millers Rivonia, Spats Sandton Sun, Banbury Cross, Sheraton Gaborone, Hilton Addis Ababa, Polana Hotel Maputo, Sun City Valley of the Waves, Inn on The Square, the De-Waal Hotel Oyster bar, La Med Camps Bay (now The Bungalow), Woodstock Holiday Inn (now Garden Court), Quay 4, The Rockwell Hotel Waterkant, Plur Café in Table View, Portuguese Club Milnerton, Casa Do Mar Table View. He is also a veteran of many Bike rally gigs with rock band Tantalus having played at the Impala rally, Paradise Rally and Rhino Rally. Lutz has also worked with solo artists over the years including: Steve Hofmeyr, Louise Carver, PJ Powers (Janis Joplin Show), Zayn Adam, George van Dyk (Wozani), Dax Butler. In between performing with bands, he also performs as a solo keyboardist/piano player, and plays the likes of Michael Buble, Frank Sinatra, Sting, Dave Grusin, David Foster, Elton John, Joshau Kadison, Toto, Michael Franks, Al Jarreau, and more.