MUSICIANS from around Sussex are getting together to pay tribute to one of their favourite colleagues.

Drummer Steve Coleman, a mainstay of local bands around Worthing, Shoreham and Brighton, died in January, aged 43. Now fellow musicians from the area are holding a memorial gig with seven bands playing free to give him the kind of send-off he would have loved. The show on Easter Sunday will also raise cash for the cancer unit at Brighton's Royal Sussex County Hospital, where Steve was treated for throat cancer for more than a year. Guitarist Max Chetwynd, 48, from Southfield Road, Worthing, said Steve was even offering to play sessions with his band, Mad Max, shortly before his death. He said: "At Steve's funeral there were so many of us associated with bands that we said, come on, let's put on a show. I was quite knocked out, because everyone we asked said yes. "He was very well known and a good friend to a lot of people. And he was one of the most genuine people I have met in the business." Steve, who lived in Hammy Road, Shoreham, was probably best known as the drummer of Mother Carey's Chickens and also played with Mad Max. Both bands will play the gig at Flappers, in Chapel Road, Worthing, from 3pm on Sunday, April 12. They will share the stage with Desperate Dan, PC Green and the Traffic Lights, Passion Dance, Rattlebone and the SRV Tribute Band. Tickets will be available on the door, price £2.

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