On the 28th March 2001 Colin made a guest appearance in a folk club for the first time in nigh on fifteen years. He describes the experience as 'exhilarating'. Well - fear is fairly exhilarating isn't it. In fact he thoroughly enjoyed it.
For the evening he dug out many of his old songs such as 'Madmen Of Gotham', 'Sad And Lonely Clown', 'Lady Lovibond' and 'The Wedding At Stanton Drew' as well as newer songs from the 'No Choice For A Beggar' album like 'The Old King's Lament', 'Barney', 'Hold Me In Your Arms' and 'Preacher Ring The Bell'.

Any visit to Torquay by the one and only Dave Bubb always resulted in much golf, gin, vodka, laughing and falling over.  Here we see Colin and Dave at the laughing stage. Always regarded by Colin as a brother, sadly Dave died of lung cancer in January 2003.  This picture shows the influence Dave had on pretty much everyone he came in contact with.   Back to the top

Early in March 2002 Colin set off on a nationwide tour of Britain with the Jim Davidson 25th Anniversary Tour. There being too many pictures to include on one page, we thought it best to put them all in a collage for you to view at your leisure.

In May 2002 Ian Cutler took on his most ambitious project to date.  A live performance of his album 'Slaughterhouse'.  The concert took place at The Brook Theatre, Chatham Kent and featured no fewer than 15 live musicians and 1 Irish dancer.  It was a huge success and spawned the idea of repeating it on an annual basis. 
Once again, there being too many pics to include on this page, here is a collage.  For more pics and a full line up of those who took part you can always go to Ian's website by clicking here.

Dave with two of the loves of his life.  Damien and Sue Aked's two girls Jodie and Kristie. 

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We haven't had a picture of the surviving members of Colin's immediate family in these pages yet.  So, to put that right here is a snap of Colin, his mum (Muriel) and his brother Alan outside the family home in Mitcham, Surrey.  Alan lives in the NE of England (Newcastle) and Colin lives in the SW of England (Torquay), so, needless to say, the opportunities for a 'get together' are rare.  Although they all see each other at various individual times of the year, this was the first time the two 'boys' had been together with their mother, at the house where they grew up, since their father's funeral almost 34 years earlier.

Here's a pic of the two boys with their dad taken many, many moons earlier.  Happily, Colin didn't inherit the 'Old Man's' legs. 

In April Colin and Ian Cutler took a visit to Faversham Folk Club in Kent to surprise their old Bully Wee Band mate Fergus Feely.  Fergus was booked at the club along with Irish singer songwriter Sean Tyrrell. 
When the organisers of the club asked Colin and Ian to do a small support spot, it would appear that Fergus found temptation too much and couldn't resist jamming in with them. 
The result was virtually a standing ovation from the Faversham audience and three ex-Bully Wees unable to wipe the smiles from their faces for over a week.
Pictures of the resulting reunion tour are further down the page.

In May 2003 Jim Davidson called together his old touring band to appear on a one-off TV special coming from Glasgow.  This is a photo of the band (minus Colin who took the pic) just landed at Luton Airport.
From left to right are Allan Rogers, Rick Price, Lisa Faye, Yona Dunsford and John 'Smudger' Smith.

Once again, on the 19th June 2003, The Slaughterhouse Band, led by Ian Cutler, gave a magnificent performance at The Brook Theatre in Chatham Kent.
From left to right: Guido Rincon, Valerie Cutler, Martin Vincent, Carlton Hunt, Ian Cutler, Mike Peters and Colin Reece.

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The long awaited Bully Wee Band reunion tour featuring from left to right Ian Cutler, Colin Reece and Fergus Feely finally got under way at The Brook Theatre, Chatham, Kent in January 2004.  The tour was a resounding success, enjoyed by audiences and band members alike.
To see a few more pictures of this tour you can go to the Bully Wee Band website photos page for 2004 by clicking here.

Far be it from us to announce that in December 2003, Colin's long term fiddle playing partner Ian Cutler turned 50.  Ian obviously felt so secretive about this fact that he assumed it necessary to hold his celebrations as far away as Prague in The Czech Republic.  There are many more pictures of the celebrations in that beautiful city on Ian's website.  Well worth a visit.  (Both to the website and the city)

For the first time Colin took his Jim Davidson Band partner Smudger to the Rochester Sweeps Festival.    Also with them for the evening session were Ian Cutler (a joy to have Ian & Smudger playing together),  from Shave The Monkey was Guido Rincon on keyboards, Nigel Feist from the LA Doors and pictured here Mike Peters from the Hot Rats.  

On the 10th October 2004 Colin's buddy and neighbour put on a concert at the Babbacombe Theatre, Babbacombe to celebrate his 25 years as a musician in Torbay.  The concert was a virtual sell out and described by the local press as an absolute triumph, featuring a diverse selection of songs ranging from Marvin Gaye to Queen and Paul Simon to Poco.
For the record Drew's band consisted of Paul Matthews; keyboards & piano: John 'Smudger' Smith; guitar, fiddle & mandolin: Nigel Pike; bass: Jamie Darling; drums: Colin Reece; vocals, mandolin & guitar: Karen Taylor; vocals & percussion: Roger Morten; vocals & flute.

Drew's support for the concert were local duo Mozer (featuring Adam & Brett Morten) and Torbay's very own Karen Taylor.  Karen gave her usual impeccable performance with her jazz/blues band, but as a closing number chose to bring on Colin to accompany her with an acoustic version of the Eleanor McAvoy classic 'Only A Woman's Heart'.

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One year after Colin Reece, Ian Cutler and Fergus Feely embarked on their Bully Wee Band 2004 reunion tour, they decided to repeat the experience.  This time with the addition of original Bully Wee founder Jim Yardley.  The inclusion of Jim closed what little gaps the previous tour may have shown.  The general consensus being that the band now felt complete
To see a few more pictures of this tour you can go to the Bully Wee Band website photos page for 2005 by clicking here.

Through popular demand Ian Cutler has decided that, in 2005, he will host not one but two Slaughterhouse concerts.  The first of these was held at 'The Pav' in Broadstairs, Kent.  The band consisted of the usual team of reprobates except that, on this occasion, Martin Vincent, who had previous commitments, was replaced by the one and only John 'Smudger' Smith on guitar.  Here we see a pic of Ian and Phil Burkin during rehearsals.

Once again the annual May Day weekend celebrations of the Rochester Sweeps Festival got under way for Colin in the bar of The King's Head Hotel.  Billed as 'Colin Reece and Friends' it was a great night made all the greater by the 'Friends' that turned up.  From left to right: Smudger on mandolin and guitars, Colin, Mick Peters on bass, Ian Cutler on violin and, from Shave The Monkey,  Guido Rincon on Keyboards and various stringy things.

News of the reformed Bully Wee Band is spreading and they were asked to perform in July at The Guernsey Sea Festival.  The weather wasn't too good but they braved the elements long enough to pose for this harbourside shot.

The second week in August 2005 saw Colin return to the Broadstairs Folk Week as a booked artiste for the first time in about 18 years.  For the two days he was there Colin was booked to appear with fellow Bully Wee Band man Ian Cutler, but they were joined on the first day by Ian's fellow Hot Rat Mike Peters on bass.  Here they appear to be trying to either chase away rain clouds or seagull poo.  We're not quite sure which.

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There are times when a songwriter is so moved by a situation that it just has to be documented in words and music. Here is Colin's dedication to Mike Peters and his night of 20th April 2008.  Please click here.

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By the way if you want to see a photo of Jon from the 'old days' just click here.