Gasworks
Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2012 8:50 am
Anybody remember this duo from the folk clubs in the early 70s? John Brown and Mike Draper purveyed an esoteric mix of romantic songs influenced by music-hall, played on a multitude of instruments including a phonofiddle, with incredibly funny introductions by John.
They also sold posters of their songs drawn by their manager and roadie, Bob Workman, which were great for student walls.
A friend of mine from those days, singer-songwriter Martin Stirrup, decided to dedicate a website http://gasworks.webs.com to their memory, and with a bit of detective help from me we were able to trace the band members and put them in touch after several decades, which was great. There's also a recording by me hidden on the site of one of their hitherto unrecorded songs (learned from the wall of my student digs!).
Martin's also traced a Radio 1 broadcast from about 1974, with Tony Visconti on bass, which is notable in that the last 40 minutes was unrehearsed because the main band din't turn up! Well worth a listen, if only to compare the introductory stories with those on the record stored at the main site. Here: http://soundcloud.com/martinstirrup/gasworksconcertv2.
PS - what prompted this post was that a saxophonist friend of mine has just told me she has a phonofiddle in her loft, rescued from a skip. I have a new instrument to learn.
They also sold posters of their songs drawn by their manager and roadie, Bob Workman, which were great for student walls.
A friend of mine from those days, singer-songwriter Martin Stirrup, decided to dedicate a website http://gasworks.webs.com to their memory, and with a bit of detective help from me we were able to trace the band members and put them in touch after several decades, which was great. There's also a recording by me hidden on the site of one of their hitherto unrecorded songs (learned from the wall of my student digs!).
Martin's also traced a Radio 1 broadcast from about 1974, with Tony Visconti on bass, which is notable in that the last 40 minutes was unrehearsed because the main band din't turn up! Well worth a listen, if only to compare the introductory stories with those on the record stored at the main site. Here: http://soundcloud.com/martinstirrup/gasworksconcertv2.
PS - what prompted this post was that a saxophonist friend of mine has just told me she has a phonofiddle in her loft, rescued from a skip. I have a new instrument to learn.