Founder members Nidge & Rob guitar and bass respectively came from a mixed background of music and first played together back in the early 80s in the now legendary "nick bread & the chip butties" Nidge later went on to play in "fat jack's garage" while Rob moved to Germany to play in the well known folk outfit "homebrew"
10 years later "The last chicken in the shop" was formed by Rob & Nidge and included the original line up of Nick "fatsly" Astley on vocals, Craig "florist" Lucas on non rhythm guitar and Dave Cambridge on drums. This was the original and possibly worse sounding line up of any UK based band and combining such skills as forgetting words by Nick and shocking guitar performances by Craig & complete drunkenness by the rest of the band it wasn’t long before we haD a loyal following of up to 4 people.
Dave Cambridge was first to leave as his wife made him sell his drums and let’s face it he was becoming a bit of a chubber anyway and was eating more than his fair share of any buffet we received.
Phil Storton replaced Dave on drums in about 1995. Phil's background was poodle rock and big hair bun jovi type stuff but we were desperate for a drummer and needs must, so we allowed a Yorkshire man to join the band. Although Phil is a mediocre drummer his drinking lets him down, he talks big but one sniff of a shandy and its goodnight Vienna, this has led to countless embarrassing moments and we are actively looking to replace him with a drum machine.
Fatsley was next to leave due to artistic differences and he was replaced with Simon "The Face" Morris who brought a whole new image to the band with his boyish charm and good looks (we knew he would have to go sooner or later as he got the best looking birds and we got the mingers) (funnily enough we still got the mingers after he left, must be a curse). This mid 90s era became known as the wedding band phase and we were being booked all over the North of England to play crappy covers of Rolling Stones type stuff and got as drunk as possible at as many free bars as we could organise.
Si being a Doctor was offered a job on a cruise ship and the thought of strutting round in a white uniform was enough to tempt him away from the band so he left mid 90s.
We set up auditions for a new singer and didn’t find anyone suitable until Stu "Davros" Rouse came along. Stu had been more of a groupie come stalker of the band and had usually caused trouble or fights at our gigs so we were very dubious when he asked to audition, unfortunately he could sing so we now had a man mountain of a singer that looked like Davros (The mutant dalek leader from Dr Who) We have tried to get him into a half dalek costume for many a gig and will succeed one day so keep your eye open. please dont heckle him as he has a habit of getting a bit stroppy after a couple of beers
Next to go was Craig "mucus" Lucas. The final straw was seeing Craig rocking away with his guitar unplugged and his amp in flames not noticing that anything was going wrong behind him.Craig has been sadly missed but was easly replaced with a fifteen quid fuzz box
With Si & Craig now gone the band dynamics had changed the fun times of The last chicken in the shop were no more, this will always be looked back on as a great and drunken time for the band, but things had to change.
At this point the new name "Grim Beaver" came about from a perverse conversation that only the chosen few can ever know about and we degenerated to playing a more harder rock style of music including a catalogue of over 200 covers and 30 original tracks. We are still looking for any venue that will have us but would rather play at lingere fashion shows,lap dancing clubs,swingers partys, or any reputable pie tasting events, please e mail for availability
Please note that bookings for 2007 are getting packed out and we only have 365 available days left.
The band is still in the same format now with the inclusion of a sound engineer "Buddha" who constantly messes up the sound for us and enhances our feedback skills.
Grim Beaver are-
Nigel " The Feedback" Atherton on guitar.
Rob " I've got a new thunderbird" Brooks.
Stu "Davros" Rouse.
Phil " Yorkshire drinking puff" Stourton.
Andy "sweaty Teccy" Birchall.
That is our history................. So far
»-(¯`v´¯)-» Design your MySpace with MyLook «-(¯`v´¯)-«