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April 16th was a blues/rock band, formed in Surrey circa 1984, by guitarists Chris Harris and Lawrence Mills. Drummer John Fisher and bass guitarist Eric Puffett were joined by vocalist Dave Russell, and began rehearsing at One Two One Studios in Croydon. Bucking the trend of being a tribute band, April 16th wrote and performed their own material. Their first gig was at The Cottage of Content pub in Carshalton, Surrey, supporting another local band, Deliverance. After several more local gigs, it became clear that April 16th thrived in a live environment, and soon picked up a loyal following, including 'The Fulham Mob'. The band continued to develop, and cut a demo tape, 'Cherry Jam', which showcased the talents of lead guitarist Lawrence Mills, who proved to be the band's leading light, heavily influenced by Hendrix and Iommi, incidentally both 'lefties'. After relocating rehearsals to Nomis Studios then Frank's RMS Studios in Putney, the band played the Marquee Club in Wardour Street three times, supporting Kooga, Strangeways and Blue Blud, and the Kent Custom Bike Show twice, and ventured across the border to Wales, to Bogiez in Cardiff on numerous occasions. A session for the Friday Rock Show, and an appearance on ITV's Six o'clock Show from The Star in Croydon emerged, but after the release of their only album, 'Sleepwalking' on French indy label High Dragon Records, they seemed to run out of momentum. Mills and Harris left the band to form Matrix, ironically with Dave Crowe, vocalist in Deliverance, the band April 16th first played with, and after one gig at The Cartoon Club in Croydon as a four piece called 'Ramp' with new guitarist Tony Smith, Russell left the band and moved to Norfolk. However new vocalist Andy Smith replaced Russell, and Gunslinger was born. They released a demo CD and continued to gig for around a year before disbanding around 1995.