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FUMBLE
 It
seems that many of today’s rock revival bands have adopted a rather
cowardly attitude by sticking to the same old easy-to-sing numbers
such as Memphis Tennessee, Johnny B. Goode, Hound Dog and
A Whole Lotta Shakin‘ Goin‘ On rather than go in for songs
with more complicated arrangements and possibly stand the risk of
fluffing their efforts.
Fumble, a four-piece band based in the West country, are one of
the few groups around that have actually made an intense study of
exactly what went into the rock songs of the late 1950‘s and very
early 1960‘s. Because their research has been so thorough they are
now able to reproduce almost perfectly on stage and record such
songs as Ebony Eyes, Teenager In Love, Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen,
Breaking Up Is Hard To Do, Take Good Care Of My Baby and many
more.
"The arrangements of many of these songs are very complicated",
said lead guitarist and vocalist Des Henly. "For instance,
on It Might As Well Rain Until September the musicians
behind Carole King’s voice keep going up and down the musical
scales and on Take Good Care Of My Baby there are
odd notes and vocal bursts all over the place.
If you just listen casually to one of these songs you don’t hear
half of what’s goin on. There only seems to be the singer’s voice
and the basic arrangement. But we’ve literally sat for hours at
a time and just listened to one song and noted absolutely every
vocal or instrumental insertion and such like."
When Fumble first started playing the songs of those days Henly,
and the other members, Mario Ferrari on bass, Sean Mayes on piano
and Barry Pike on drums, wondered what kind of reaction they’d get.
"The reaction has been tremendous wherever we play,
whether it be in front of women aged about 25-30 and who
remember the days when the songs were popular, or kids of
about 16 and younger who have most likely never heard some
of the numbers we’re playing."
In keeping with the performers of 10 or more years ago, Fumble use
an absolute minimum of equipment. Henly said he doesn’t think that
a concert audience really wants to see stacks and stacks of amplifiers,
speakers and mixers all over the place.
To faithfully reproduce the sounds of yester-year Fumble have found
the necessity to use a mixer – a 12 channel Hi-Watt – and a Binson
echo effect panel.
Fumble’s first LP is soon to be released on the Sovereign label.
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More
articles:
Success for Weston Group in beat championship
(Local paper, 1967)
Baloons flying
high behind Iron Curtain (Local paper, 1968)
Fumble (Record Mirror,
1971)
FUMBLE (Beat Instrumental,
1972)
American Press (1972)
Fumble gain a firm hold (1972)
Nancy
finds out all about....
(date unknown 1973)
There's no flies on Fumble (NME,
1973)
Fumble flies to fame and fortune
( 1973)
Rumble, rumble...here comes
Fumble (Record Mirror, 1973)
Fumble begin to feel good (Evening
News, 1973)
Fumble US Tour (Record Mirror,
1973)
In a class of their own
(Sounds, 1973)
Under the influence: Des
Henly (NME, 1973)
Rollin' and Fumblin'
(Melody Maker, 1973)
The Raver
(Melody Maker, 1973)
Back
in time - Nutrockers! (Reading Rock 73)
Accident Prone (Music Star,
1973)
An
interview with Barry Pike (Drum Magazine 1974)
Rock'n'Roll band signs up (St.
Albans Midweek Recorder, 1974)
Record and Popswop Mirror (Record
& Popswop Mirror, 1975)
Robin Katz talked to Sha Na
Na and Fumble (Sounds, 1975)
Pop goes GLC decibel dosage
(Daily Telegraph, 1975)
Concert reviews:
Playhouse Theatre
(supporting Bill Haley) (date unknown)
Newcastle,
City Hall (supporting David Bowie) (Jan 7, 1973)
Philadelphia,
Tower Theatre (supporting David Bowie) (Feb 17, 1973)
London,
Greyhound (May 17, 1973)
Paris
(May 31, 1973)
London,
Speakeasy (June 7, 1973)
London,
Marquee Club (July 14,
1973)
London, Rainbow Theatre
(supporting Chuck Berry) (Sept 7, 1973)
London, Marquee Club
(March 1974)
Bristol,
University (Apr 27, 1974)
London, Kings Road Theatre (Dec
15, 1974)
Burton-on-Trent,
76 Club (Mar 29, 1975)
London,
Roundhouse (supporting Dr. Feelgood) (Apr 20, 1975)
Festivals:
The Reading
Festival 1973
Alexandra Palace
Music Festival 1973
Roskilde
Festival, Denmark 1973 (Sounds)
Roskilde
Festival, Denmark 1973 (NME)
LPs and Singles:
Fumble
(Sovereign) 1972 (Melody Maker)
Poetry In Lotion (RCA) 1974
(Disc, Melody Maker)
Alexandra
Park (Sovereign) 1973 (Disc Magazine)
Million
Seller (Sovereign) 1973 (Melody Maker, NME, Disc, Sounds)
Not Fade Away (RCA) 1974
(Record Mirror, Melody Maker, NME)
Don't
Take Love (RCA) 1974 (Sounds)
German / Danish articles:
 Fumble
ride the oldie-wave (fans magazine, 1973) translated
Fumble
- Nostalgischer Pomaden-Pop (Flash magazine, 1973)
Success through persistence (BRAVO
magazine, 1973) translated
 FUMBLE
(GO, 1972)
Sjoveste LP i lang tid (Some
Danish paper, 1972)
Kendt
beatgruppe i Diskotek Limelight (Danish paper, 1973)
Roskilde-festival en stor succes
(Berlingske Tidende, 1973) |
