No Love Lost

From the Baby Lemonade camp comes this announcement that Love will be touring without Arthur Lee, as the Love Band. It's been heartbreaking to watch this happen. That first show at Spaceland was as gorgeous and moving a rock and roll moment as I've ever been privvy to. But I was also at the UCLA show when, I think, they first added Echols back into the mix, and it was a disaster. Guess it stayed that way...

To all Love fans,

As many of you may already know, Arthur Lee chose not to participate with Love on a tour of the UK and two festival shows in Germany and Spain this July. In the band and management's view this was an unforgivable and premeditated act of contempt towards Johnny Echols, Baby Lemonade and moreover, his adoring fans. Despite great pressure from many venues to the contrary, and indeed some cancellations, the band felt it would be in the best interests of the fans who wanted to hear the music to honour the shows. We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all of those fans who attended - it meant a great deal to us all knowing we had your support.

Sadly, Arthur Lee's mental and physical health has been in steady decline since the Zombies/Love tour of last year and combined with several disastrous performances both home and abroad, Johnny Echols and Baby Lemonade have now decided to move forward and continue to perform as "The Love Band". We would like to confirm that Arthur Lee will play no part in this new line-up and that Glenn Povey/Second Wave Promotions is no longer representing Arthur Lee.

To think of Johnny Echols and Baby Lemonade performing without Arthur Lee may not seem as strange as it sounds. Many fans have already welcomed the new line-up with open arms as it has allowed the band to perform, with unbridled pride, tracks from the Echols-era catalogue including many that have never been heard before. Johnny Echols now shares lead vocals with a more than competent Rusty Squeezebox in much the same way as he did with Lee in the original line-up. Moreover a new studio album is promised combining the talents of both Baby Lemonade and Johnny Echols which is an exciting prospect for all fans of Love both past and present.

The LOVE Band comprises:

Johnny Echols: Guitar / Lead Vocals
Rusty Squeezebox: Lead Vocals / Rhythm Guitar
Mike Randle: Lead Guitar
David 'Daddyo' Green: Drums
David Chapple: Bass Guitar / Harmonica
(Glenn Povey: Management)

Please note: A tour of the USA as "Love with Arthur Lee" had been scheduled for September/October this year. Unfortunately, and without the band's permission, some venues had gone on sale. This has obviously already led to some confusion and therefore in view of the above we would advise caution when purchasing tickets as some venues may not be aware of the change in circumstances. It is more than likely the tour will be postponed completely until later in the year or early 2006. These will be billed as "The Love Band".

We hope to see you at one of our shows soon.

With much Love,
Johnny, Rusty, Mike, Daddyo, Dave and Glenn