ALAN Price and Joe Brown have amassed almost a century of service to the British music industry between them, and the flame burns as brightly as ever.

Price, 67, is reconvening The Alan Price Set for the latest Maximum Rhythm’n’Blues tour, A Night At The Flamingo, bringing Zoot Money and Bobby Tench plus guests Chris Farlowe and Maggie Bell to the Grand Opera House in York on Tuesday.

“The Flamingo was the meeting place in Wardour Street for the bands who came down to London, and after the gigs, especially at the weekend, there would be all-nighters there,” says the former Animals keyboard player and singer, right, recalling his early 1960s’ exploits.

“It’s now one of those Irish theme pubs, but it was started in 1952 as a jazz club, and later Georgie Fame’s band and Zoot Money’s band were the two house bands; Bobby Tench played there, and Chris Farlowe too, so I thought it would be a good idea to give that Flamingo theme to this year’s tour.”

Happy memories indeed for Alan, who says: “You could see all the visiting American artists that ended up playing there, for free. We campaigned with missionary zeal so they knew it was a good place to go and they couldn’t resist playing.

“I remember playing London for the first time in 1963 at The Scene, around the corner, and they were very strange places as they were cellars that didn’t have drinks licences, so you’d buy a Coke and sneak in some vodka: it was like Prohibition-era America.”

Alan is enjoying his musical adventures as much as ever, even if a musician’s life will never be conventional.

“It’s a vocation as opposed to a profession. It’s a calling, though I do have sabbaticals for family reasons, but essentially your home is a hotel. It’s a bit like being in the army. I haven’t had a proper weekend off since 1963 in that sense,” he says.

“Playing is a labour of love. People ask me what my ambition was and what is now, and it was to play for as long as possible without being found out – and I’m still playing and I still haven’t been found out.”

Joe Brown shares that love of playing, as he will demonstrate at the Grand Opera House tomorrow. “You’ve got to keep going; I like doing it and it’s good to keep doing it,” he says. “I get towards the end of a tour and I think, ‘Blimey, I ought to give this a rest’, but then two weeks later, I want to go out and play again.”

Now 68, Joe celebrated 50 years in the entertainment business last year, and he reflects on a career that has even taken him into pantomime. “It’s a funny old art, pantomime. You mix with some of the great dames and you get to know what it’s about,” he says.

Honours and awards are coming his way: an MBE and a Mojo magazine gong were announced in the same week. “Who knows why they’re all coming along now. You get the OBE for still being alive,” jokes Joe.

“It’s difficult to know what the benefit will be. Maybe I’ll get a percentage off my plumber.”

• Joe Brown In Concert, tomorrow at 7.30pm; The Alan Price Set, Tuesday, 7.30pm. Both shows at Grand Opera House, York. Box office: 0844 847 2322.