So, who's Me and Bobby? Well, Me and Bobby is Me, who is Nan, and Bobby, who is Bobby, and Fay, and David, and James, and Sholto, and Andy, and Genevieve. This is how the band has grown successfully since 2001. The story of the creation of the band varies, depending on who you ask. Bobby likes to tell the story of how boy meets girl under a butcher's awning during a fierce rainstorm in London, and how they write their first song even before they know each other's name.....as told in a BBC radio interview in 2002. If you ask Nan, however, you get the less imaginative story of how girl met boy in a bar in Notting Hill, introduced through friends and flatmates, and a conversation that went something like this: "Hi, so what do you do? Oh, you play the guitar and write songs? What a coincident, so do I. Wanna get together and play sometime? Great, see you then!" And thus follows the first performance at Crowbar's open-mic night. No comment on the nervous-filled performance.
And the name? The name is not, as often mistakenly assumed, taken from the Janis Joplin song, but a result of a rather rushed and semi-desperate decision before their first 'real' gig at 12BarClub on the infamous Denmark Street. But the name grew on them both, and, though still a source for some confusion (especially when Bobby says Me and Bobby, and people wonder who the other Bobby is, or when Nan is mistaken for the Bobby), the name prevailed, and now incorporates all the 8 band members. (For excited fans, please check out the surname of the man who mastered our first 7"single).
Throughout the years, M&B has done a lot and not so much. The 12BarClub became their second home for a long time, at one point doing a gig every other week, but the band had to stop playing there due to the growing amount of bandmembers - the last gig they did there, there were 6 of them, and 3 of them had to play their instruments on the floor next to the stage. For those who've been at the 12Bar, and know the size of the place, can probably imagine the senario. Now, the band is increasingly making a home of the slightly larger stage at the Spitz, which is a great venue to play (whenever people can keep their talking to a whisper) and that has the desired atmosphere and sound. But M&B has played oh so many other places, mentioning the Borderline, 100Club and Kashmir Club in London, in addition to a few selected places in Norway, and a few festivals, including a very strange experience in Kingston where they were the first band on at twelve o'clock noon, and their audience consisted of 3 people, which included the 2 sound engineers - and a spider spinning a web at Nan's left hand during one of their quieter songs. Needless to say: that was without doubt the quietest gig the band has ever done.
M&B has also managed to record and release a few songs over the years. The first release was a AA 7" single in 2002 with the songs September and Number 33, which aquired a nice little display spot at HMV on Oxford Street for about a week or so. Since then, home recordings have produced 'the Demos', where the songs Like Mercury and In This State (listen to them above) are taken from, and in 2004 M&B splashed out and did an intense two day recording in Konk Studios, owned by Ray Davies, who some may know from the Kinks. The sessions resulted in the 'EP' where the songs Circumstance and Capsized (or Circumsized as they sometimes mistakenly get called) are taken from. The band is currently recording more songs, so watch this space for new songs!
br / a
