Tom Szakaly – back performing after five year hiatus

Tom Szakaly (right) with Keith Emerson

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Rochdale musician and sound engineer Tom Szakaly is back performing after taking a five year break. Tom and his band Noddy’s Puncture will be performing their first gig back in Rochdale on Friday 11 April.

Noddy’s Puncture is a tribute to progressive rock band Emerson, Lake and Palmer (ELP).

Tom said: “I was in a band called Shanghai and they thought they were going to go far and they wanted me to quit my job. At the time I had a good job as a sound engineer and was working in TV so I didn’t want to quit my job. That is how Noddy’s Puncture came about. I had always been a fan of ELP and thought why not start a tribute band."

The band, which started in the early 90s, includes drummer Steve Roberts, from Cardiff and Ed Blaney, from Newcastle, on bass and vocals.

Music is something that Tom has always had an interest in and started having piano lessons at the age of six. He added: “I don’t see this as work. It is an expensive hobby for me.”

Noddy’s Puncture has played up and down the country and Tom had an opportunity to play with Keith Emerson from ELP.

Tom said: “I knew Keith from a few years back and he came down to one of our gigs one evening and got up and played with us. That was in 2005 so that was pretty good. We went on to release a CD of a recording of that performance.”

Keith even enlisted Tom’s help acquiring organs for his shows. “They played their last gig at the High Voltage festival in London and Keith got in touch with me and asked me if he could use our Hammond Organ. To know that ELP used one of our organs in their last ever show is brilliant,” said Tom.

Unfortunately, Tom sustained very serious injuries to his foot as the result of a motorbike accident in 2009. Every bone, bar one, in his foot was broken and during his stay in hospital, Tom had to undergo surgery to repair the damage.

Since the accident five years ago, Tom has only performed a number of times with the band. Tom added: “Due to circumstances beyond my control, I haven’t been able to perform regularly for a while so I am looking forward to getting back out there.”

The gig will be at the Ukrainian Club in Rochdale and will be his first gig back in front of a home crowd. “We used to hire out the Hungarian club for gigs but that has gone and so this time we have hired the Ukrainian club and are hoping for a good night. I am apprehensive because it has been a while but I am looking forward to it,” said Tom.

Tom says the gig will be very visual and will be using a number of his trademark show stopping moves to give the crowd a night they won’t forget. He added: “I think we might use some pyrotechnics and I might throw some knives at the organ. I want it to be a very visual show.”

The gig in Rochdale is the start of a number of shows for the band. After playing in Rochdale the band will move on to Cardiff, Wolverhampton, Darlington and Leicester throughout the summer.

Tickets for the Rochdale gig can be purchased on the door at a price of £10. Doors open at 7:30pm with the band scheduled to take the stage from around 9pm.