I come from the 20th Century. I was born in West London at the end of the fifties, and I swear that things really were in black and white back then. As a small boy with a love for Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, I remember seeing Doctor Who and the Beatles for the first time the same rainy Saturday afternoon in 1963. As I grew a little older I was exposed to the full impact of the Beatles, the Pink Floyd, the Avengers and the Prisoner. I was also introduced to the work of my softly-spoken, charming "Uncle" Terry. He turned out to be Terence Fisher, director of Hammer studio horror pictures. Listen, pal. I was a goth before you were a goth. Believe me..........After a series of largely unsuitable educational entanglements I moved to Northampton NN1 and took a job working as a legal secretary. In 1983, thanks to the kindness and reckless A&R policies of Dave and Julia Barker at Glass Records, I issued my first album. Like a big idiot I called it "The Jazz Butcher in Bath of Bacon". For over 20 years now I have been saying "We don't play jazz and we don't eat meat". Over and over again like a flapping zombie. Well, you get what you deserve..........As the Jazz Butcher I have recorded for Glass Records, Creation Records, ROIR (New York), Vinyl Japan (Tokyo) and Mercury (Canada).......... Right now you can get hold of a bunch of Jazz Butcher albums at I-Tunes. A Scandal in Bohemia (1984) and Distressed Gentlefolk (1986) are up there courtesy of Cherry Red. Glorious & Idiotic (Live in Hamburg 1999) is available courtesy of ROIR, and Cult of the Basement (1990) and Condition Blue (1991) are both available courtesy of Setanta..........For those of you who prefer Hard Copy, A Scandal in Bohemia, Distressed Gentlefolk and Rotten Soul (2000) are all available on CD by way of www.maxeider.com..........Over more than twenty years I have played in Europe, North America and Japan. I once met Chuck and Flav from Public Enemy in an elevator. Flav said "I been to London, Man. On TWO WORLD TOURS!" The elevator was in Los Angeles. I was there on a world tour. The next day we went swimming together. I have had half of Bauhaus in my band and Andrew Eldritch once jumped up onstage and sang Sympathy for the Devil with me in a Hamburg club. I have kissed Tom Waits' wife and I have watched Brixie Smith punch my pal Owen in the eye. My life is stranger than fiction............These days I promote a live music night at Northampton Labour Club on the first Friday of every month. It's called Masters of Budvar. We feature two live acts and a superstar DJ. We will feature literally anything as long as it's good. The running joke is that I run it for the artists, not the punters, but seeing as the night is always free, I reckon they get their money's worth. At our next evening on Friday 6th June I am shamelessly promoting my own band WILSON. We'll be laying on the full "evening with" schtick, playing live, deejaying and doing odd acoustic solo sets by way of support. We are bad dubbed-up muthas and you can check out our sounds at www.myspace.com/wilsondub I like to go out and play solo gigs of my own too. Sometimes I play completely acoustic, just man and guitar, but I do other shows where I turn up with an electric guitar and a laptop to play squelchy backing tracks for extra mayhem. I really don't have that much to do, so if you want to get in touch and invite me to play for you I'd be delighted to talk it through in the friendly and constructive fashion perhaps best exemplified by the cast of TV's "Neighbours"..........I am also the proprietor of New Barcelona Books in the Fishmarket gallery in downtown Northampton NN1. It's open from ten oc'clock on Thursday, Friday and Saturday each week. I'm right next door to Doc Shipman's excellent cafe, so we can enjoy coffee and cake when you stop by...........And, of course, if there's anything else I can do for you..........
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Thanks, Vodka Von Stroheim
