Member Since: 2/17/2007
Band Website: camulos.com/festival/townwatch/waits.htm
Band Members: Colchester Waits has involved a large number of persons over the last 600 years. Some of them - mentioned in Colchester Court Rolls - are listed below.John Cole c. 1378,
John Colet c 1461,John Hogg c 1558,
Ezechiell Youll c 1558,
Jeffrye Wood c 1558,
John Garland c 1558,
Peter Sprott c 1558,Thomas Spratt c 1617,In modern times the tradition has continued with numerous participants contributing to the Waits activities.
Current active members include:Philip Manchester,
Paul Golding,
Trevor Deeprose,
Robert Brown.
Other occasional members include: David Shepherd (Blowzabella), Chrissy Truman, Chris Gutteridge, Lizzie Gutteridge.
Influences: The main influences on the Waits music are down to expediency - that is what can be played on the limited ancient instruments - usually in the streets. The high pitched reed (or Waits) pipe resembles a primitive oboe and is clearly related to similar reed pipes - mainly the shawm - from around the world.
Colchester Waits use a variety of instruments for street functions including the Pipe and Tabor, the bombarde (a Breton reed pipe), North African shawm and various percussive devices. The Waits Consort also uses stringed instruments including the violin, the bass viol and the hurdy gurdy.
More from: http://waits.org.uk/extant/index.htm
Sounds Like: Some say the Colchester Waits sound like a sack full of cats being swung in a hail storm. Ned Ward in the London Spy (c.1800) described the London Waits as 'a noise so dreadful and surprising that we thought the devil was riding on hunting through the City with a pack of deep mouthed hell hounds'. This is a pretty accurate description of Colchester Waits on a good night.
Record Label: Eastgates
Type of Label: Indie