The itch from Accrington England

About The itch from Accrington England

Easter '92 - Brothers David and Colin Benmore decide to form a band. They enlist friends Pat Gallagher (lead vocals) and Mark Griffiths (bass) and the Technical Itch was born.

June '93 saw their first gig in a pub in Burnley - a few months later a three track demo of original material was produced.

12th June '94 - After taking a shine to the demo Jimmy Pursey of Sham 69 booked them to support him at The Mill in Preston.

July '94 - Jimmy Pursey invited the guys to his studio to record a new track 'Wigan To Brighton.' This track was later to be Reproduced by Rex Seargent (producer of some of New Order's tracks).

September '95 - A deal was struck with Detour records and 'Wigan To Brighton' was released under the bands new name 'The Itch.' It became radio 1's John Peel favourite, so much so, he rang Dave the bands drummer to say how much he liked it.

May '97 sees the release of their debut album - Avenue Parade on Detour records.

Friday 2nd January '98 - The Itch headline at The 100 club, London and were joined on stage by Chris Pope (of The Chords, fame).

Feb '99 Chris Pope produced a couple of demo tracks for the band.

The Itch did a remake of Secret Affair's - Time for Action (with Ian Page on keyboards and adding some vocals) and release it own their own record label 'Mod Inc'.

April '99 - Ian Page joins The Itch again for the launch of the single and performs Time for Action' with them in front of a sell out crowd at Rishton, Lancs.

2000 - The Itch perform at Mods Mayday event in Clacton and at Isle of Wight scooter fesival. Singer Pat Gallagher decided to call it a day, and the band's future hung in the balance. After and unsuccessful search for a replacement, bassist Mark Griffiths took on th extra duties, giving the outfit a new lease of life. Still popular on the live circuit the band returned to the studios with Ian Page (of Secret Affair fame) assisting on production, to record a new single 'Kiss You' written by the band.

With help from Phil Hendriks (The Stiffs) on production, 2 more tracks 'Upside Down,' and 'Different Faces,' were added to a single entitled 'Still Scratchin'.....

2006- The band, headlined at King Georges Hall, Blackburn to a 500 strong crowd. And had some dates supporting Casbah Club (support band to The Who).

Over the years The itch have supported the likes of:- Stiff Little Fingers, Sham 69, Bad Manners, Secret Affair, Buzzcocks, Eddie and the Hotrods, Casbar Club, From The Jam (featuring-Foxton and Buckler) and Edwin Starr to name a few.

March - 2012.. Mark Griffiths decides to call it a day (after 20yrs) and plays his last gig with The itch at The Pop Club in Accrington, England.

Back to a four piece band - Brothers Colin and Dave search, find and enlist two local lads John Lister to play Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals and Russ Lowe to do Lead Vocals.

They do a couple of gigs together, then find themselves requested to support Secret Affair at King Georges Hall Blackburn.

2013 - Record first track with NEW line up entitled 'She's (expired link) With Ian Page (Secret Affair) Producing the tune.

A number of gigs are booked for 2013, including one with the Buzzcocks on Sunday, 31st March, 2013 at KGH Blackburn, Lancs.

John Lister leaves the band due to musical differences/ideas in May, 2013. And Ste Horsfield (a bassist over the years for several local bands) is quickly enlisted as new Bass Guitarist/Backing Vocalist for The itch.

The itch go from strength to strength, building a new fan-base, and a ever increasing large number of gigs, one of them supporting Stiff Little Fingers.
They record record 2 tracks - 'Keep On Running,' and 'What Can I say.' With Ian Page once again producing both tunes.

16th April, 2016 - The sudden shock news, of the death of the band's Lead Singer/Frontman - Russell Lowe. May you Rest In Peace mate.......

Saturday 28th May, 2016. Solo artist/singer for many years, Kevin Tootle joins The itch after auditions, as the new singer/frontman.

27th September, 2016. Stephen Horsfield (Bassist), calls it a day with The itch for his own personal reasons/circumstances.

Johnny Oldham of the band White Riot hears of the predicament, with The itch having a string of gigs still to be fulfilled, and offers to join the band. He is quickly enlisted, has one rehearsal in the morning of Saturday, 1st October, 2016. Then does his first gig with the band that evening in Macclesfield. The band goes down a storm at the gig, despite all the tunes having to be covers. So another incarnation of The itch is formed.

The Original, The itch line-up of the band. The 'new' The itch line-up of the band, and a band Russell also sung for entitled 'White Riot'. Do a charity event for 'A tribute to Russell Lowe,' also selling the cd 3-tracks single (of the same title as the event) on Detour Records, of which Russell was recorded singing, on each track. The event was a complete sell out......

2019 - Over the past 3 years the new line-up of Colin, Dave, Kev and Johnny have supported Stiff Little Fingers, have been gigging extensively over Lancashire into Cheshire and North Wales, doing a set of their own material mixed in with Mod/Punk/New Wave covers. The new line-up also has recorded their their first download single/track, out on Detour Records, entitled 'Way Of Life.'

Monday, 15th August, 2022. Singer - Kevin Tootle, contacts, Colin, Dave and Johnny to inform them of his departure from The itch. He had suffered for some months after the untimely death of his wife Kirsten, that this had now impacted on his health, and he felt it safest and best to call time on his journey with The itch.

Saturday, 17th September 2022. The itch rehearses with a new singer for the band for the first time. All goes great, so Mark Morrison (Moz) joins 'The itch' on Lead Vocals. Moz sang for a Mod Band 'The Valiants', many years back, where Dave joined briefly on drums at the time with them too.

Gigs are now taking off again in 2023 for The itch, and the band are hopeful to start recording again this year too.