Hendrix, Clapton & Cream mix in Crawley

Frontman is Peter Orr who has been thrilling audiences throughout the UK and Europe for nearly three decades, mashing up classic riff-based rock anthems. He joins with rhythm section Jevon Beaumont and John Tonks whose credentials include Massive Attack, Duran Duran, Sting, Thunder, Bryan Adams, Fish, Stevie Winwood and Arthur Brown plus Eric Clapton Jack Bruce and many more.

Together they form the retro, rocking machine Voodoo Room, united on their mission to deliver the all-time great Hendrix, Clapton and Cream numbers. The band has been going around ten years now.

“In the first couple of years there were probably only a handful of gigs,” Pete says. “Getting something launched like this always takes a little while to get off the ground but actually we were really, really taking off just before Covid hit. We had just on a tour of Germany and that had gone down very well and the agent was really excited about booking us back again. Obviously it (was) only really (last) year that things started to get back again.”

The origins of the band lie in that frequent Melody Maker debate of 50 odd years ago: who was the better guitarist, Eric Clapton or Jimi Hendrix: “One time they would say it was Jimi and then another time they would say it was Eric but we thought really it was both of them. Jimi and Eric were really good friends. Obviously they had very different styles. I think Eric was attracted to Jimi because Jimi had studied with the blues masters. He was this guy who had actually worked with them. I guess that of the two Jimi was the wilder with all those antics on stage but I just loved both of them. The first album that I really dug was Disraeli Gears (the second studio album by the Cream, featuring Clapton, Nov 1967). And then not long afterwards you had Electric Ladyland (the final studio album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience and the final studio album released before Hendrix's death in 1970). I just don't think you can possibly choose.”