Heavy metal trailblazer rocks the Status Quo in Clitheroe

But their hero is a relatively unknown guitarist, 58-year-old Dave Crawte from Suffolk, who plays Rick Parfitt in Status Quo tribute act The Quo Experience.

Crawte founded new wave of British heavy metal band Trespass in the eighties - and now fronts the Quo doppelgangers who come to the Grand, Clitheroe, on Saturday, August 25th.

Crawte said: “Metallica are the biggest metal band in the world, and James and Lars were one of the first people to join our fan club!

“Trespass’ sound was very heavy in parts and quite melodic too, and they enjoyed our music.

“I’ve met them many times and James says that Trespass were a big influence on Metallica and jokes that I’m their superstar.”

He added: “When Metallica are touring they invite me to stand at the back of the stage.

“It is usually the best view in the house and when I took my son to see Metallica’s show at the Sonisphere Festival at Knebworth, he stood there with his mouth wide open.

“And when James and Lars came over to chat before the concert then his jaw hit the floor.”

Crawte has been wedded to the musical life since seeing Status Quo churning out one of their greatest hits Caroline on Top of the Pops.

“I was at boarding school and then everything went out of the window when I saw Quo on TV,” he said.

“I just wanted to be Rick Parfitt and I eventually achieved that dream, playing Rick in The Quo Experience.

He says the biggest regret of my life is not meeting Parfitt, who died in 2016.

“I went to see Status Quo at Ipswich, near where I live, and Rick stopped outside to sign a few autographs.

“I was a yard away from him but I never said anything.

“I was a bag of nerves.

“Rick’s widow came to one of our gigs recently and when I told her the story she said that Rick would have loved to have met me and seen The Quo Experience live.

“She said that he would have been very proud.”

So why Rick Parfitt?

“I don’t know. It was just the look, his presence, and of course the way Rick played the guitar.

“We lost Rick, who for me was Status Quo, and I know lot of hard core Quo fans don’t like what they are doing now.

“I couldn’t go and watch Status Quo today.”

Former Status Quo drummer Matt Letley, Quo’s sticks man from 2000 to 2013, has played a string of gigs with The Quo Experience.

And with so many passionate Quo fans in the copyists line-up, plus the iconic wall of white Marshalls, the Quo Experience will be fully armed with all the hits: Rockin All over The World, Whatever You Want, Down Down, What You’re Proposing and many more.

“I want to keep Rick Parfitt’s legacy strong – and that’s what I want to do for the rest of my life.”

The Quo Experience, Clitheroe Grand Theatre, Saturday, August 25th.

01200 421599 or www.thegrandvenue.co.uk