AS ONE of the seminal bands of the 1960s The Shadows helped shape the sound of a generation.

With songs like Wonderful Land, Atlantis, Kon-Tiki, Cavatina, Let Me Be The One and Bachelor Boy The Shadows inspired a whole new wave of musicians.

One such guitar player is Geoff Bearpark, who after picking up a guitar at the age of 10, now plays the songs of his favourite band on a regular basis.

Bearpark is one fifth of the Bootleg Shadows, who have been entertaining audiences around the country for the last 12 years with their renditions of the famous songs.

“Crowds keep turning up and wanting to hear the tunes that we play which is very humbling,” Bearpark tells The Gazette.

“Our audience just seem to love to relive the nostalgia of the 1960s so listening to us takes them back to that time.”

A night of foot tapping classics, celebrating the music of The Shadows and Cliff Richard, with plenty of humour is guaranteed when the Bootleg Shadows come to the Haymarket on Friday, 21 September.

But for Bearpark, being a fan of the Shadows and now playing their music is something he is still very humble about.

Talking about his introduction to the band he explains: “My Introduction to guitar music happened by chance in Christmas 1968 when my older cousins band gathered to play a few tunes in the front room to family members as a captive audience.

“I thought ‘wow I’ve never heard anything like this’ and they played some Shads songs and that was it and I went out the next day and got my first Shadows album.

“When the record was on It was a daily lesson that I put myself through and it was fun. I used to pick out songs and learnt a few chords and that’s how I learnt the guitar.”

Now reliving the classic songs of Hank Marvin, Bruce Welch, Brian Bennett, Mark Griffiths and Warren Bennett, the Bootleg Shadows are opening up the bands music to a new audience.

But staying true to the sound of the Shadows is the most important thing to Bearpark.

He added: “It is always gratifying to play the music of the Shads, because we are by no means look alikes, but it is the sound that we concentrate on.

“People do not want to keep hearing the same tunes, they want to have a good time and have a few laughs, so we try and provide a bit of light relief.

“Of course, there are the hits of the Shads as well as Cliff, but we try and give a bit of variety.”