CLICK HERE TO ORDER THE NEW ALBUMWe thought that it’d be nice to find out some background information on the various band members (in the style of Smash Hits from the early 80s!). So, over to Dave, Steve, Ed, Michael
Full name: David Fenton
Birthday: 4th March
Place of birth: Redhill, Surrey, England
School attended (& college): Reigate Grammar School, Reigate, Surrey; Nottingham University; Guildford Law School
Instruments played: Guitar, keyboards, recorder
Other bands played in: The Vapors was my first band
Previous/other employment: Solicitor
Musical influences: Beatles, Stones, Small Faces, Kinks, Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Buzzcocks, Stranglers, Prince, Killers
Favourite albums: Marquee Moon by Television; Forever Changes by Love; Hunky Dory, Man who sold the World, Ziggy Stardust etc by Bowie;
Favourite films: Apocalypse Now, Highlander (Russell Mulcahy also directed the Turning Japanese video)
Favourite places: Sunny beaches, New York, Rome, Venice, Zante, London, LA,
Favourite food: Seafood
Hobbies/pastimes: Songwriting
Full name: Steven Peter Smith
Birthday: 14th June
Place of birth: Guildford
School attended (& college): School of Hard Knocks
Instruments played: Bass, keyboards, guitar, drums
Other bands played in: Shoot!Dispute, 1st, Cut, Frank Tovey, The Shakespearos, The Absolute
Previous/other employment: Sound engineer
Musical influences: Everything I’ve ever heard
Favourite albums: Kontiki – Cotton Mather, Hunky Dory- Bowie, Rubber Soul – Beatles, Sticky Fingers – Stones
Favourite places: Figueira (Algarve), Stamford Bridge
Favourite films: Quadrophenia, That’ll Be The Day, Easy Rider, Help
Favourite food: Italian
Hobbies/pastimes: Chelsea FC
Full name: Ed Bazalgette
Birthday: 29th May
Place of birth: Guildford
School attended (& college): Bishop Reindorp, Guildford
Instruments played: Guitar
Other bands played in: Ellery Bops
Previous/other employment: TV drama director (some examples The Last Kingdom, Doctor Who, Poldark, Endeavour, A Mother’s Son, The Guilty, Versailles).
Musical influences: …hmmm…really? You’ve got the time? Slade, The Who, Mott the Hoople, Simon and Garfunkel, The Beatles, Booker T, The Clash, Ennio Morricone, Mick Ronson, The Jam, Velvet Underground, The Skids, The Searchers, The Bee Gees, The Specials, Dusty Springfield ….can I stop yet?
Favourite albums: Anything from anyone above plus Forever Changes by Love, Shake Some Action Flamin Groovies
Favourite films: Badlands, Once upon a Time in the West, Saturday Night Sunday Morning, A Hard Days Night, Battle of Algiers, Do the Right Thing, Lives of Others, North by Northwest,
Favourite places: Hampstead Heath Mens Pond, Cuckmere Haven, Cornwall, Soho, Lake Garda… & next to Lucy…
Favourite food: Anything involving spaghetti
Hobbies/pastimes: Swimming, cutting wood, walking, swimming.
Full name: Michael Bowes
Birthday: Early part of the month of May
Place of birth: Kingston, Jamaica
School attended (& college): Lanfranc High School. Croydon ; Carshalton College; Crawley College (ONC Aerospace Technology); Croydon College (HNC Electronics); Sussex University (PGCert-teaching qualification); Middlesex University (Master’s Degree MA)
Instruments played: Drums & percussion (Michael is endorsed by Zildjian & has a Roland Artist Agreement); Keyboards only really when teaching Ear Training or basic Music Theory.
Other bands played in: B.L.O.W (Acid RnB originals); Airbourne (Heavy Dance originals); Bass Culture (Roots Reggae); Beats Working (Drum & Bass originals); The Tar Babies (60s covers band); The Reservoir Frogs (Pop/Rock covers); Moondigger (Progressive Rock Band); The Blunter Brothers (Funk/ Soul); Peachstone (RnB/Soul originals); TVC – The Vapor Corporation; Swaye (Reggae/Soul); Silk Tones (Reggae). I have also performed with various high profile major artists including: Nelly Furtado, Laura Mvula, Joss Stone, Heather Small (M People), James Brown’s Co-composer & Saxophonist Mr Pee Wee Ellis, Tears For Fears, Sid Owen (aka Ricky Butcher), Michelle Gayle, Amerie, Mario, Black Legend, Drum n Bass artist Adam F & Juanes (Colombian artist).
Previous/other employment: British & Irish Modern Music Institute-BIMM (Head of Department/Tutor); W.S.C.C Secondary/Primary Schools (Teacher); W.S.C.C (Youth Worker/Music Development Worker); Virgin Atlantic Airways (Aircraft Material Planning engineer – Aircraft Engines); MB Avionics Design Services (Aircraft Avionic Design/Development Engineer); British Airways (Aircraft Avionic Design/Development Engineer);
British Caledonian Airways (Aircraft Avionic Design/Development Engineer/ Aircraft Electrical/Instrument Technician Engineer)
Musical influences: Toots & The Maytals; Bob Marley & The Wailers; Sly Dunbar & Robbie Shakespear; James Brown; Sting; Michael Jackson/The Jackson Five; Omar Hakim (drummer); Phil Collins (drummer-Genesis); John Bonham (drummer-Led Zeppelin)
Favourite albums: Blood Sugar Sex Magik – RHCP; Santana – Supernatural;
Exodus – Bob Marley; Don Letts – Dread Meets Punk Rockers Downtown Vol. 2; Michael Jackson – Bad
Favourite places: Anywhere hot!!
Favourite films: Any film that’s a True Story; Sully; Happy Feet; Beauty & the Beast; Star Wars; Any Denzel Washington
Hobbies/pastimes?: Love hanging out in health clubs, so some gym, some classes, steam room and saunas. Yay!
Favourite food: Jerk Chicken & Rice n Peas; Curry Goat & Rice n Peas; all healthy eating – loving my oats porridge for breakfast every morning and my vegetable/fruit smoothies.
Full name: Daniel David Fenton
Birthday: 30th May
Place of birth: Farnborough, UK
School attended (& college): St George’s School, Harpenden & University of Manchester
Instruments played: Electric and acoustic guitar, dabble with bass, piano and violin
Other bands played in?: Rothman Jack (lead guitar and lead vocals)
Previous/other employment: Studying for a PhD in Engineering at Cardiff University, in the field of computational fluid dynamics
Musical influences: Queens of the Stone Age, Foo Fighters, AC/DC
Favourite albums: England Keep My Bones by Frank Turner, Like Clockwork by Queens of the Stone Age, Let’s Dance by David Bowie
Favourite places: Manchester, Budapest, New York City
Favourite films: Inglorious Basterds, Shutter Island, Back to the Future part II
Hobbies/pastimes: Listening to, performing and writing music, reading, both fiction and non-fiction; in particular the works of George Orwell, Steven Hawking and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Favourite food: Chicken jalfrezi