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electric fiddler

About Me


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In 1976 or thereabouts, after my art college first year foundation, I somehow became the violinist in 'Bandit', a working semipro country rock band on the South coast.
Dennis sang and played guitar, Eddy was the bass player, and Mick the Sticks was on drums. The band did about half covers, and half Dennis's own songs. Bob Dylan's 'Desire' had recently been released, (Hi Bob!), and we covered several tunes off the record, quite a few fine Jackson Browne songs, and even a Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks tune as well.
I seem to remember playing pretty much every night for up to a year. The Beach Hotel in Eastbourne was a memorable Saturday night residency, oh, and Frasco's winebar on a Thursday lunchtime, The Six Bells, Chiddingly, at the time a legendary venue, and so many I can't remember. Tha band shared a big old house down there, and I think we made about enough money to pay the rent and buy bread.
Ashley and Magee, I remember seemed to be just about always there at gigs, and times were good, if a little hazy. I've really been in pursuit of that vibe ever since. Sooner or later, I got replaced in the band by a sax player. I went back to college at Medway college of art, now Kent Institute of Art and Design, and spent three further years completing my four years of art college education.
Billy Childish and the Pop Rivets were kind of our adopted college band, and I think Tracey Emin was around with Billy on the poetry reading circuit. After college I set up a studio locally and worked a little for myself, then for an established potter on the Essex Suffolk borders, then I went and fell in love again...

I've now been here in London for 25 years. I worked for a Chelsea based architect for a time; that was good. Then I was involved with short life housing ; that was not so good. I was next door to the Hypnotics for going on 10 years. I've selectively forgotten that era, thank heavens.
I recently stopped working as a carpentry contractor for a local authority, something I did rather well for the last 10 years.
I set up a website or two a year or two ago, and am trying to, I guess, kind of rationalise my musical abilities and desires, in some kind of contemporary framework.

I've gigged a bit these last couple of years, previously with a 4 piece band with vocal, guitar, violin, bass and drums, and at the moment I'm enjoying playing with a smaller outfit accompanying a singer songwriter. See elsewhere on this page for details and links.

I kind of hope, that by having this space up here, I may someday hear again from the guys in Bandit. Back in the '70's, I was 19 or 20, the baby of the band, and all the guys were like, 30, which then may as well have been a hundred to me. There was no internet back then, no MySpace or anything like that. So, the band was 'BANDIT' in Eastbourne, and I'm BARRY TARGETT...

Please do check my YouTube channel (Link opposite, on the left of this page), where I have 40 odd mostly violin videos....
Thanks,
Barry.


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My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 6/9/2007
Band Website: http://www.youtube.com/useryug
Band Members: Currently performing and having huge fun with excellent English singer songwriter Andy Smythe, Les Elvin, the amazing bassist, and Barry on fiddle and guitars as the Andy Smythe Trio. We're booked well into next year... come and see us for some friendly and polished electroacoustic original folk with a few popular covers thrown in... from gentle ballads from Andy's piano and vocal to footstompin' guitar tunes, we'll (in the nicest possible way!) rock the house from folk to blues n jazz. - Check out Andy at www.andysmythe.com . Discography, upcoming gigs, album reveiws and sales, and general news ... current gigs posted opposite - come and say hello!
Influences: Mother, Roddy, Moyra, Sarah, Alice.... ...I guess this box could include bad influences as well as good ones - hmm... ...may well expound further later....
Sounds Like: I'm a fiddle and guitar player. I like to accompany vocalist/ guitarists. I try to enhance the feeling that's already there. I used to like trying to emulate David Lindley, violinist on many of Jackson Browne's '70's records. - Used to cover Scarlet Riviera's style, from Bob Dylan's 'Desire' with a band years ago. Grapelli's my hero, obviously, and Don 'Sugarcane' Harris, Joe Venuti, Florin Nicolescu, Ed Alleyne - Johnson, - Bobby Valentino, previously of the Fabulous Poodles is undeniably cool. He plays locally. Perry Leandro, of the Killer Blues band in the US makes fabulous use of an electric violin with wah. Check the killer blues band on Youtube. There are some incredibly skilled bluegrass players in the US, just unbelievable.

Record Label: Unsigned

My Blog

BLOG STUFF, NEW VIDEO, BAND MYSPACE, AND SUCH

Not a huge amount to entertain you with since my last post, gentle reader, but rather some questions. Firstly, here's our new vid;  footage from Escapade Studios of us recording Andy Smythe's 'Kids' l...
Posted by on Wed, 18 Mar 2009 04:49:00 GMT

JAMMING AT HOME, and RECORDING AT ESCAPADE

Monday the 9th March, here at home. The record we're doing at Escapade in Greenwich with the Andy Smythe Trio is coming on very nicely. 9 tracks down so far, and some pretty big string arrangements re...
Posted by on Mon, 09 Mar 2009 06:16:00 GMT

RECORDING

Well, looks like we're on for an all day session in the studio on Saturday 14th of this month... several of Andy's newer songs are hopefully gonna get laid down, and I must admit, it's all sounding pr...
Posted by on Thu, 05 Feb 2009 18:43:00 GMT

MissDiagnosed solo exhibition

One month exhibition of Artwork photography, and visuals by MissDiagnosed, opening 7.30pm Monday 2nd February at; The Sun and Doves, 61 Coldharbour Lane, Camberwell, LONDON, SE5, UK
Posted by on Wed, 14 Jan 2009 01:27:00 GMT

BRIDGE AQUILA and OCTAVE ELECTRIC VIOLINS.

I've at last finally upped my game a bit for the future by equipping myself with two new electric violins, a Bridge Aquila, and a Bridge Octave. Though my old Antoni has served me well in the most dem...
Posted by on Fri, 11 Jul 2008 06:04:00 GMT

RECENT GIG REVIEWS

 Recent gig reviews page - click on the link below                 http://www.barrytargett.info/page3.html One of Andy Smyth...
Posted by on Thu, 19 Jun 2008 02:04:00 GMT