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There's
no flies on Fumble
 Des
Henly looked confident as he started singing the first number of
the set. Sure, he noticed the rocker near the front who was drawing
his attention to his flies. But he wasn’t goin to fall for that
old trick – oldest one in the book , when the guy out the front
makes you believe you are undone.
Five minutes later, Henly manoeuvered his guitar into a "cover up"
position and, looking suitably embarrassed, pulled his zip up.
Such is life for Fumble – the band who specialise in playing
mouldie oldies from the late fifties/early sixties, and
who in recent weeks have developed a cult following.
Fumble aren’t cool and groovy – they don’t specialise in long guitar
solos or the like. What they try to do is bring it all back to basics.
Life, they have decided, has been taken far too seriously, certainly
by most people in the music business of late.
Simply because they play music of the fifties/early sixties era,
coparisons are bound to be drawn between Fumble and Sha Na Na. In
fact, Fumble say they are in no way a cheap carbon copy – nor indeed
a poor man’s Sha Na Na.
"We haven’t in any way tried to copy them," I was informed. "In
fact I’ve never seen them," Henly expounded, and then pulled a funny
face in case it should sound as if he wrote off Sha Na Na of no
significance.
The main difference between the two bands seems to be that while
for Sha Na Na it’s a big send up, Fumble do it for real. They like
the music of that era, and the feel it generated.
"When we do a number on stage we aren’t tryin to sound exactly
like the record – the important thing is to get the feelin
across. We’re certainly not trying to revive the songs –
just the nice feeling they had about them.
People had been so serious they have been missing out on so much.
Kids go along to a gig and worry – worry that the music they hear,
the band they see, should be something they are really into. It’s
even got to the point where it’s very cool to know about technique,
amps or whatever. Everybody’s a critic." Certainly, Fumble do have
a point. There’s been a lot of boredom.
One band who universally go people bopping last year were, of course,
Slade. And interestingly enough, Fumble have something in common
with Slade, in that both bands stick their necks out each night
on stage, trying to get something going in audience participation.
For Slade there’s now no problem – audiences are so bewitched and
bemused that they’ll do virtually anything. Noddy Holder commands.
And amazingly, Fumble, too, seem to have the same effect – getting
people to lose their cool (shoes, braces or whatever) and get down
to the business of bopping.
Their idea of a good gig was summed up by drummer Barry Pike as
"One where the audience get off on what you’re doing". Note he mentioned
audience – not "my drumming" or "Des‘ guitar playing". Fumble are
not self-indulgent.
"The important thing is the show – and trying to instill in everyone’s
mind that it’s for fun." Fun is perhaps one reason why we haven’t
heard of Fumble until comparatively recently.
Under the name of The Baloons, the present line up – Sean Mayes
(keyboard), Mario Ferrari (bass), Barry Pike (drums) and Des Henly
(guitar) – did a lot of work on the Continent. They liked travelling,
having a laugh, and as long as there was some food they were happy.
Money was a minor concern.- and playing bottom of the bill was no
hang up. "No one ever expects you to be any good so they are never
let down. An if you are good they seem to appreciate it more."
Perhaps the person mainly responsible for getting the band together
was their manager, John Sherry. When he first met Fumble, Sherry
was a man with one phone in someone else’s room, struggling to start
some kind of agency. Now he’s highly successful, handling people
like Wishbone Ash and Vinear Joe.
It was Sherry who said the immortal words to Fumble: "I can’t get
rid of you, you’re my friends." Which perhaps made them realise
while he was becoming successful, they were stagnating.
"Fourteen months ago we changed the name to Fumble and the whole
thing became more intense. On stage we knew we had something and
we knew it was good, but we had tended to be a bit lazy."
Fumble have certainly hit the right chord with a lot of people.
They sing songs of heartbreak ("Take Good Care Of My Baby"), sorrow
("Ebony Eyes"), wonder ("Poetry In Motion") – in fact any basic
rock number of that era fits any mood you care to name.
You can wallow in nostalgia with lyrics where boy loves girl, as
opposed to boy lusts for girl. Dwell on a time where the highlight
of the week was sitting in the back row of the pictures – or waiting
for your mum and dad to go to bed so you can have a quick grapple
on the sofa.
"Today’s audiences – say 11-year-olds, have very few lyrics to identify
with. Lyrics in most songs just don’t apply to them. The lyrics
of the old songs we do can still be identified with by any age group."
Certainly, Fumble are one of the strongest contenders to
do well in the coming year. Behind them they have a solid
musical background, a tight stage act and a lot of laughs.
The one drawback could be that they might become an "in"
persons band, which is all very nice but somewhat limiting.
However, I don’t think that will happen, because they seem to have
universal appeal.
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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) |
