The A Band - ProfilesArchive

About Me

(quoted from The Wire magazine, September 2005 issue, page 38)"The importance of The A-Band to the UK rock underground is commensurate with the explosive impact that groups like AMM, SME or The People Band had on the free jazz and Improv set. An ever-fluctuating group of artists, dole boys, punk conceptualists and record collectors, they were the first UK ensemble to anchor a free drone music in the muscle and scorchof the most high-energy rock, while keeping it as untutored as the most elemental folk."on that same page, Richard Youngs says "The A-Band started up because there was this guy, Vince Earimal, who was a saxophone player and wanted a backing band. Eventually it was formed and it began with the letter A. Then there was another concert and a different band was formed, again beginning with A. Then there was a third one and that's when I started showing up every so often in the line-up. [NOTE: Richard is wrong, his debut was the 2nd concert] It became this thing where there had to be a different line-up and each time it had to begin with the letter A. No one was there every time except possibly Jim Plaistow and Neil (Campbell) [NOTE: true for the first ten concerts, less so thereafter]. They were the only constant. It became a really fun thing to do, as it was always 100 per cent improvised and with no discussion. Just gonna do it. Jim was a joiner and he had a frame he had made from which he hung all these tools that he would hit. But aside from that there fairly limited instruments, so you had to play whatever was at hand. I mostly played guitar, a reed at one point, whatever. ...............We were a load of people in a room. The sound of that. Having said that, we all belonged to a rock generation, so that dictated how we played to a certain degree and maybe helped steer us into something new."

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 4/21/2006
Band Website: http://theaband.50g.com/
Band Members: 1-6-90 "Arachnid" - Vince Earimal, Jim Plaistow, Neil Campbell 4-6-90 "Advent" - Richard Youngs, Stream Angel, JP, NC 13-7-90 "Anglegrinder" - Stewart Walden, JP, NC 28-7-90 "Awkward" - Neal Pates, VE, SW, SA, JP, NC 20-8-90 "Anusol" - David "Kostas D'Lary" Large, Andrew "not a typo" Fletcher, NP, RY, SW, VE, JP, NC 2-9-90 "Artex" - Niggle, Tim Barker, SA, VE, SW, JP, NC 28-9-90 "Agrippa" - Tricky, Paul Walker, Will Irvine, TB, SA, SW, JP, NC 6-10-90 "Alison" - Isabel Scott-Plummer, NP, SW, SA, JP, NC 3-11-90 "Airbomb" - Jon Lander, Sticky Foster, SW, JP, NC + 1 4-12-90 "Ack-Ack" - Simon Wickham-Smith, ISP, SF, WI, PW,TB, NP, SW, SA, RY, JP, NC16-1-91 "Armageddon" - ISP, WI, SW, SA, NC + 2 28-1-91 "Anniversary" - TB, NP, VE, JP, NC + 3 1-3-91 "All Welcome" - Andrea Boden, Christine Smith, Sarah Attridge, Scorzonera, Neil "Lenty" Lent, TB, SA, VE 29-3-91 "A Lot" - Paul Clemens, Roger Caney, NL, S, AB, SF, ISP, TB, NP, SW, SA, RY, VE, JP, NC 31-3-91 (first studio session) - Mick Horton, SF, ISP, TB, NP (final appearance), SW, RY, SA, VE, JP, NC, (engineered by Niggle)I'm bored now, but you get the idea. Later members included Sharen Woodward, Norwegian Pete, Andy Williams, Jean-Emmanuel Dubious, Dave Higginson (of "who is Dave Higginson?" fame), Stewart Greenwood, Paula Rogers, Dylan Bates, Simon "Spacehopper" Crich, Jai Abbott, Morgan Caney, Helen Goldman, & various members of "Idiot Joy" & "Wholesome Fish"
Influences: finding things, losing things, borrowing things, throwing things away, sarcasm, that moment when you realise you've forgotten what you came in here for, cricket with fruit & veg, boredom & excitement, fan-letters from people we never heard of, bits of slate, Bainie, squeaky toys, cycling, trampled flowers, sellotape, cake, cardboard boxes, babies, Rolf Harris (pre-mid 70s), sneezing, bells, laughing, falling down the stairs, waiting for a bus, watching paint dry, eggs, creaking floorboards, being tickled, the sound of sausages, rusty farm machinery, tunes (help you breathe more easily), in-jokes, inertia, failing to stop at the scene of an accident, horsehair, bellybutton fluff, who can we annoy next?
Sounds Like: No idea. Try writing your own list, and then throw it out the window.
Type of Label: Major

My Blog

a message board

http://www.hostingphpbb.com/forum/theaband.htmlEaster Sunday 2009 - our new message board started.Easter Sunday 1991 - our first single was recorded.
Posted by on Sun, 12 Apr 2009 02:51:00 GMT

big a, little a, bouncing bee

We've started a new blog, filling up with reminiscences, letters, obscure details, and the unlike. Take a peek.http://theaband.wordpress.com/
Posted by on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 06:00:00 GMT

"The A Bands accidental"

There's a new online article about us, at The Wire's website.http://www.thewire.co.uk/articles/2263/A few out-of-context quotes from it:"The A Band highlighted the common""The A Bands revolving,""The...
Posted by on Mon, 23 Mar 2009 02:41:00 GMT

A little website

We have a little website. It's still a work in progress, but has potential to become something special.http://theaband.50g.com/
Posted by on Thu, 11 Oct 2007 14:43:00 GMT

Alphabet / Again

28th September at The Arts Organisation in Nottingham.The A Band returned to Nottingham for the first time this century. In the audience were faces from the past: Edd, Emily, Roger, Jamie, Mr Ov...
Posted by on Sat, 29 Sep 2007 15:55:00 GMT

American Evil - 19th August 2007

30 minutes of craziness. Lots of new band members.Two minutes on youtube:http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7k_5654mUU
Posted by on Tue, 21 Aug 2007 15:21:00 GMT

Now remorphed - looking for gigs

It's "official" - The A Band (or whatever the hell we choose to call ourselves when we play) have remorphed (thanks pascal!) and, as we are idealogically opposed to practicing and usual...
Posted by on Fri, 22 Jun 2007 06:35:00 GMT

Afterclap

AfterclapSaturday 16th June 2007, Pyramid, Warrington33 minutesNeil, Sticky, Stewart, Andrea, Megan, Sharen, Lenty, Jon, Dave, Dylan, Pascal, Joincey.Filmed by Tim & Rachel (for forthcoming docume...
Posted by on Mon, 18 Jun 2007 14:49:00 GMT