Silver (band)

Silver was an American 1970s country-rock band, best known for their 1976 pop hit "Wham Bam," written by country songwriter Rick Giles.

Members of the group included John Batdorf (formerly of Batdorf & Rodney), lead vocals and guitar; Brent Mydland (later of the Grateful Dead), keyboards and vocals; Tom Leadon (brother of the Eagles' Bernie Leadon), bass guitar and vocals; Greg Collier, guitar and vocals; and Harry Stinson, drums and percussion. Phil Hartman designed the cover art for Silver, the quintet's only album. The band's recordings were released on the Arista record label.

The single's title, "Wham Bam", was shown as "Wham Bam Shang-A-Lang", and made #16 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1976. It is ranked as the 70th biggest hit of 1976.Arista executives gave the band the song to record, after concluding that none of the other tracks on the album they produced had single potential. Arista head Clive Davis himself co-produced their sole album.

Chicago radio superstation WLS, which gave "Wham Bam" much airplay, ranked the song as the 80th biggest hit of 1976. It peaked at number eight on their surveys of October 23 and 30, 1976.

British brass band

A British brass band is a musical ensemble comprising a standardised range of brass and percussion instruments. The modern form of the brass band in the United Kingdom dates back to the 19th century, with a vibrant tradition of competition based around communities and local industry, with colliery bands being particularly notable. The Stalybridge Old Band (still in existence) was formed in 1809 and was perhaps the first civilian brass band in the world.

Bands using the British instrumentation are the most common form of brass band in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, and are also widespread in continental Europe, Japan and North America. The tradition for brass bands in the UK is continuing, and local communities and schools have brass bands, such as The Ouston and Pelton Community brass band, which draws their new members from more than seven local schools. A selection of brass bands can be experienced at the annual Durham Miners' Gala.

Silver band

The term, silver band, is synonymous with brass band in this sense; the vast majority of bands termed either brass or silver incorporate musicians playing both lacquered and silver-plated instruments. In the days when brass instruments were not as costly as silver plated ones, the term, silver band, implied a band that could afford the latter and thus were a more successful band. Now, however, the costs are similar and the distinction between brass and silver bands is generally not made. There are, however, some brass bands who carried the name, silver prize band, as a result of their successes in contests and competitions. As time went on, some kept the name, silver but not necessarily the instruments. Nowadays, the only real difference is that silver bands are located mainly in the south of England and brass bands in the north, although some silver bands do still exist in the North and many brass bands exist in the South.