WHO ARE BOTU?

I had never met Dave, when he lived over the road from me when we were kids but he has always been there.

We played the same games, raced our bikes, ran past the house where the witch lived, stole from Hamley’s, fought with the kids at the other end of the street and then, one day, discovered rock n roll.

Elvis, Queen and Bowie were our staple diet, then came punk – mainly The Clash, then came Bobby Zimmerman and Neil Young.

Dave’s dad was one of the first people to have a video player and we rented West Side Story over and over again. We went to the NFT and watched Apocalypse Now and the Deer Hunter as often as they showed them. We’d go for pizza after and Dave would hold up the menu to catch the sun’s rays like ‘Lance on the forward 50s!’ 

Dave called to my house one day when me and my mum were living in a squat off the other side of the Walworth Road to say he’d found this cool studio by St Georges Roundabout – he had discovered the legendary Sunday School Studios.

At a time when most keyboard players had banks of synths and mullets, one band at the Sunday School called Buddy Curtis and the Grasshoppers had a keyboard player who played soul and R N B piano and Hammond like Ray Charles and The Faces. He was armed with shades and razor suit. 

His name was Tony or I christened him The Chairman of the (Key)Board. A long and lasting friendship began, but somehow we never played in the same band for a few years yet. He was a typical South London boy; short fuse, sharp clothes, knew his cool from the 1940s onwards, and regardless of the odds, you knew he’d be at your side when things kicked off.

And so to the Engine Room. Now working at the Sunday School, when entering the studio after bands finished, the air would be thick with spliff smoke and one band seemed to be more smoked out than any other; Under Two Flags. This group of reprobates, who were guilty of this and many other misdemeanours, were a group of Theatre Of Hate fans who had formed into a group.

The drummer was a lovable Artful Dodger with a military style of drumming, with the economy of Max Weinberg and the chops and drive of Topper Headon. 

On bass was Martin Campbell, with chiselled cheekbones of a Hollywood actor and the playing of Norman Watt-Roy meets Jah Wobble. They supported The Clash and sold me knocked off guitar pedals – their place in my heart was reserved forever. The three of us played for a few years in a 3 piece called Union Sundown later adding Dave as lead guitar. Dave doubled his duties while fronting Lightning Strike and travelling between New York and the Old Kent Road.

Then, somehow, we all went in different directions – ‘Life’ they call it.

Fast forward to 2011. Dave came to the studio where I was recording a third Solo album at the Fortress Studio (home of the legend that is Scud Harvey) and he took the producers chair almost by accident. He suggested we bring in Tony to add some keys and our friendship with ‘TC’ was rekindled. Sitting on the business side of a mixing desk spurred Dave to write three songs ‘Like and Elvis Song’ ‘Little Mystery’ and ‘Shifting Sands’.

He met at Tony’s to home demo them one sunny Saturday, there was definitely something there. We knew we had to form a band. Dave rang a few days later and said he’d been in contact with Martin and wondered where we should look for a drummer, then as one we said “it’s got to be the Bob ‘The Boy Wonder !”

Rehearsal and recording went along side gigging across London, the South, Manchester and Berlin. When we began going through the songs we had been working on with a view to making an album, it became apparent that a single album was not an option. Many tracks in progress were held back and we focused on what we had.

He also played on the intro of the first track ‘Invincibles’. ‘Time…’ also featured a further guesting appearance by Rag Reed, sax player and band brother who had played across LWH album. He was to resurface often until we finally netted him.

And so to Covid. The world held its breath, literally. We all locked down. My mum passed, my dog died, I got covid, then lymes disease… I was like a one man country song gone wrong. 

Tracks were written, shared, stacked ‘n’ backed up. But also as IT and media connected people, so the band created and shared ideas. Bob bought an old electronic drum kit and began “Songs from the Kitchen” where he would play electronic drums along with unlikely tracks.

One such track being ‘Know’ by Nick Drake, so I scanned his stream onto my 8 track, wrote a new riff over the track, took off the track, laid a lyric and created some feedback across the track (done mainly to annoy my neighbours). I added a voicemail from Dave through a fuzz pedal over the end. 

Once back in the studio an incredible walking bass line was added by Martin, Dave wrote a poem to replace the voicemail and TC added some Floyd style keys. Dave and TC collaborated on some loops and samples to create ‘Starting Over’, with Dave instructing me to “give it some Ravi Shanka” on the guitar. My son Jake created a loop from an Arthur Baker track and the gospel dance track ‘Shine’ was born.

Lockdown coincided with the Black Lives Matter movement, Dave getting involved with some stateside musicians. Back at BOTU Towers he wrote Picture on the Wall, Set Them Free and Charlottesville addressing the subject. A weekend in my studio in Wiltshire working on the songs once meet ups were allowed again, they were added to the new material and the mini album ‘Top Of The Range’ was born.

Gaps in the grooves meant we needed some programming assistance and friend of TC’s, one Dave ‘Pez’ Vickers was called. Dave Vickers replaced one drum take completely and embellished others, TC adding physical percussion and drum kit. Wanting to kick start the band out of lockdown, the decision was made to release the mini album.

The last touch was bringing in my sister Claire to add backing vocals. A 60’s Stax style cover and the album was ready. The mini album Top Of The Range was released. A new dawn, or so we thought….

Tensions in the band reared their heads. The divided politics of our time; of vaccines, two of us losing our mums, others having parents in declining health, terminal diagnosis of family member, the suicides of friends, unemployment, growing children, mortgage repayments, financial hardship and our own physical and mental health; life and the world outside the band began to take its toll. Just as our song subjects reflected our political times, marriages, relationships, faith, it seems we were not immune to the world.

The world walked in through the studio door and some left the room. In the spirit of love and friendship, like a harmonious divorce, the Clash Against the Right gig under the Westway in the shadow of Grenfell was to be the final gig of the original line up. Martin took the decision to retire from live music and Bob took the decision to focus on caring for his family.

“I’m proud of what we’ve done” Bob wrote in his farewell text. As fate would have it the week after the gig I took my mum’s remains home to Ireland and scattered them into the Atlantic off the coast of Mayo. Symbolism of endings was all around.

Back in England TC, Dave and me looked around for some New – back to the three amigos, back to TC’s living room, forward to….?

It was obvious really, Dave Vickers was a multi-instrumentalist who had worked with Dave (Earl) on his solo album and on the TOTR mini album. The main problem was having two people called ‘Dave’ in the band. Poor Dave Vickers, being the new Dave began being called ‘Pez’ after the sweet dispenser for reasons I cannot publish here.

Also sometimes called ‘The Vicar’, he had already contributed to the band directly and now was playing bass, adding backing vox and occasional guitar in the band along with programing. The search for a drummer continued and old friend from Sunday School Studio days Nick Burton was recruited.

Nick was known to us from his days in Temple Slang, Westworld and Jah Wobble. He looked meaner and leaner than his Sunday School days, presenting for all the world like a latter day Levon Helm reborn from the coalmines of South Wales. Nick gigged with the band and played our comeback gig at Dingwalls and we began recording the new album. Nick is an absolute sweetheart of a man while being a beast of a drummer.

Sadly, Nick’s work commitments which took him all over the UK Europe and the World meant he could not commit to the band. Recording continued using click tracks, loops and guide drums, the search for the permanent drummer continued. Keiran McAleer a friend of TC’s was asked to sit in for a Brighton gig and he fitted the bill.

He rehearsed once and was ready to come to recording at Perry Vale Studio to add his drums to the album tracks. He settled quickly and shared our humour and musical tastes. He played with musicality that reflected his ability to play many other instruments, he also carried a fine singing voice.

All looked shipshape and Bristol fashion…but Keiran’s work commitments meant he could not commit to the bands schedule and once more a fine, seemingly perfect fit was gone. Nick and Keiran’s drums sat side by side on the new album Cheap Ride to Heaven perfectly. Without their input creativity and hard work, the album would not sound as damn fine as it does…. Did I mention we released a new album?

The name of the album Dave found in an interview with Keith Richards. Again, I’m not going to go into depth, it’s here with its excellent reviews on the website, so read the reviews and go listen – you wont regret it.

Just as we released the Album ‘Cheap Ride to Heaven’, we lost our ‘George Martin’ Pat Collier. Pat was more than our producer, engineer and headmaster, he was our friend. Only Pat could control our egos, tell what to play and what not to play. We respected him. We listened to him. We loved him, we still do. It was a shock and heart breaking to lose him. We’re still not over it and I think it’s right that we never will be. We will always miss him, of course we will - he’s worth missing.

And now to the future. A new album is underway, Bill Bevan is our new drummer. Bill is our Pete Thomas, our Gilson Lavis. He knows all the chops and licks. He can play rock, soul, funk, jungle, lounge…. And if that were not enough Rag Reed is our new sax player – do you remember him from earlier?

And then there were SIX! “Another level” said band friend Monty as he left our most recent gig. Someone once reviewed the band and compared us to the Waterboys, someone else compared us to Sandanista era Clash, someone else said “if the E Street Band came from the Old Kent Road, this is what they would sound like”; we will take that.

As I write this, we have 4 tracks on the boards at Perry Vale. One a lazy summer stoned out old school RnB, one a disco funk floor filler, one a 6/8 Bowie-esq mini movie and one that could be from Dylan’s Street Legal. We can’t wait to finish them and the rest of the album and let you hear it. Until then, keep listening, please share our music, send us feedback and requests,  but above all strive to be happy in yourself, increase the peace, build some bridges, look after mamma nature and share love in our life.

Peter