Steve Bayfield

Welcome

2011-07-17T00:57:00.015+01:00

This site is a history of, and tribute to, the many musicians and bands I have worked with over a period of more than 40 years. It includes information on each band with photos and a complete list of every gig I have played, including locations, band members and full instrumentation.

Dust My Broom

Hardtime Millionaires | Myspace Music Videos

Open Mic Nights

2011-06-25T21:32:00.015+01:00

Steve Bayfield, Mark Hankins

The Star Inn, St Just, near Penzance, Cornwall .....from 9pm every Thursday since 2006 !

Steve Bayfield, Dave Jenkin, Bob Henley

photo - Mariella Capasso

Rebecca Hutson, Steve Bayfield, Dave Jenkin

Hardtime Millionaires

2011-06-24T00:00:00.009+01:00

Dave Jenkin, Steve Bayfield

I am now working with the amazing blues guitarist Dave Jenkin, who has rekindled my passion for playing live music in small and intimate venues. I'm developing the technique of playing fretless bass guitar and bass drum together. Bluesy slide guitar, harmonica, bass, drum and vocals on a variety of tunes from pop and blues standards to jazz and rock classics.

Dave and I also play occasional dates with St Just legend John Turner – on main vocals and electronic drums. We play a variety of '60s music by The Stones, Spencer Davis, The Kinks, and some classic rock n' roll tunes. This line up is called Long In The Tooth.

Hardtime Millionaires on Myspace.

Ian & Steve

2011-06-23T00:00:00.006+01:00

Steve Bayfield, Ian Payne

I started playing fretless bass guitar again in June 2006, and this led to jam sessions with Ian Payne once more. We played some occasional 15 minute slots on the open mic nights at our local pub, the Star Inn. These continued until the end of 2006. I then returned to playing acoustic guitar and singing some of the old Earthforce songs from the 1970s, along with a few well-known covers.

Gobfest 2006

2011-06-22T00:00:00.009+01:00

Gobfest 2006

A reunion and jam session for the bands Gobi Desert Yachting Club, Vanishing Point (aka Living Space), Sheep In Fog, The Wire Band.

On Saturday 22 April 2006, Murray and Oliver Cheesman organised a group reunion for the bands they have played in over many years, at The Maltings arts centre, Farnham, Surrey. In total, thirteen musicians were able to attend and participate in an improvisation session that ran from 1pm to 7pm. There was also a small invited audience, consisting of friends and family of the various groups. There were some who were unable to attend, and others who were not contactable, as it had been over 20 years since most were involved playing music together. The people who did make it came from locations as far afield as Vancouver, Western Ireland, Glasgow, Cornwall, Dorset, Brighton and London. An epic number of miles had been travelled in the days leading up to this event and many had little idea of what to expect.

After the initial introductions and slight problems of recognition, it became apparent that the jam session itself worked best when all intended connections and references to original compositions were abandoned, in what became at times, a high-energy exploration of totally improvised passages. I am hoping that some of the 'good bits' have made it onto the limited recording systems available. There was no engineer available to do a proper job, as is so often the case in such situations. Many photographs were taken at this event, and a selection which best represents what happened appears on these pages. It was light-heartedly agreed by everyone in attendance that we shouldn't leave it another 20 years before we do it all again!

The musicians attending the event were:

Murray Cheesman : electric guitar, vocals, drums and organisation

Oliver Cheesman : ex-drummer, organisation and 'Director of Photography' (video)

Alex Forsythe : saxophones

Noel Taylor : clarinets

Gus Garside : double bass

Simon Gardner : drums

Steve Bayfield : electric guitar

Derek Cottrell : djembe drum

Paul Hyland : acoustic guitar, electric violin

Steve Walsh (Muffin) : acoustic guitar, dulcimer, vocals

Erik Moore : electric guitar

Steven Edwards : electric guitar

Nick Parratt : bass guitar, drums

Session

There was also an outdoor acoustic event, running parallel to the main jam session, taking advantage of the glorious spring weather. This featured Paul and Muffin.

Our thanks go to the people at the Farnham Maltings who provided the facilities and made us all so welcome. To Murray and Oliver Cheesman for the inspired concept of a reunion, and the sending out of countless e-mails to provoke such a wonderful response to their invitation! My personal thanks go to each and every person who attended the session, and those who made it to the excellent meal and wind-down/chill-out provided by the Thai Lord restaurant in East Street. We must do it again. And sooner . . !

Always Points North

2011-06-21T00:00:00.006+01:00

Don Miucci, Steve Bayfield

I began working with Don Miucci (bass guitar) in 1998 in the three-piece Vibe Warriors. We decided to continue as a duo after the departure of our drummer. In 1999 we were using an Alesis SR16 drum machine but then decided to go for a bigger, more arranged format using a Yamaha QY22 sequencer. This provided a great supplement of sounds - piano, organ, strings and even a brass section on some songs!

Although we were playing mainly cover versions of fairly well known material, Bowie, Sting, Dire Straits etc, many of these were all-new arrangements, just loosely based on the originals. This was a great opportunity to develop new skills in producing a different sound to what we had in mind at the beginning - and it took two years before we had enough material to take it on the road. This is why the mission statement 'Covers Jim, but not as we know them' became our slogan.

The sound was built around the Zomax 15-inch bass bin with its distinctive woody sound. The highlight of the four gigs we played in St Just was definitely Lafrowda Day on 21 July 2001 - some party!

Vibe Warriors

2011-06-20T00:00:00.005+01:00

In 1998 I began writing and arranging some songs on guitar. One of these was a bluesy lament entitled Absent Friends, dedicated to the late friends and musicians I have known. After sax player Ian Caple died in May 1998, I did a performance of this song at his wake, featuring David Bickley on keyboards. This song formed part of the set for a new three-piece band I began working with - Don Miucci on bass and Pete Mathias on drums, using the name Vibe Warriors.

Don Miucci, Steve Bayfield, Steve Dyer, John Bland

We played one gig at the end of June 98 and were billed to play the St Just music festival Lafrowda Day in July but had to cancel when Pete urgently had to move back to Wales. We did play one other booking for this year, at an outdoor event in Peterchurch, Herefordshire in August, with Steve Dyer on guitar and John Bland on keyboards and sampler. We used a Drumatix to provide rhythms.

Don and I continued to seek another drummer for some time, then considered working as a duo. Many local pubs were by now promoting live music and two musicians was the maximum number permitted at these small venues.

Rude Dog

2011-06-19T00:00:00.005+01:00

Paul Hutson & Steve Bayfield, Helen Hutson, Tony Bonner, set-up

In late 1996, Paul Hutson asked me to play bass in a new band he was working with. I was more into guitar at this time but by the end of the year decided to give it a go. With his wife Helen, Pete Mathias on drums and Tony Bonner on lead guitar, we became known as Rude Dog, playing many gigs around West Penwith in 1997, including two on the Isles of Scilly.

Hyper[Borea]

2011-06-18T00:00:00.005+01:00

In 1994 I played some electric guitar and bass guitar on the Hyper[Borea] album Serpentine. These were the early recording sessions from mid-September that took place in Newlyn, Cornwall where I was working alongside David Bickley, producing the grooves and samples that became the framework for many of the songs. The majority of the album tracks were recorded in Dublin, Eire, late 94 and into 1995. I went over to Dublin in January, contributing a couple more sessions on guitar.

In September 1995 I worked with David on a jungle track groove that became Dans Maen on the Magnetic Jungle EP-length CD. The album Serpentine was launched in early April 1996. Sales did well in Eire but it was never released in the UK. As a result of co-writing two tracks with David, and one with vocalist Úna O Boyle, I became a member of IMRO (Irish Music Rights Organisation).

The most recent album from the band was Gaelactica. I recorded my guitar parts on to CD, alongside the relevant backing tracks, in my studio in West Cornwall between 5 and 12 August 2001. The CD was released in February 2003.

Raindance

2011-06-17T00:00:00.005+01:00

In October 1991, Ian Payne asked me if I was into playing a one-off gig. He had been invited to play some live music at the wedding reception of Sandra and Colin McClary (who became a councillor and was later Mayor of St Just) to be held at the Star Inn. We quickly got together some of the old Tom's Island songs, with a few from the Storm Dogs repertoire and arranged them for just a duo with a Drumatix rhythm box. We played in the afternoon and were then invited by landlady Rosie to play again in the evening. This was the beginning of amplified bands playing at this venue, a tradition that has continued to run in parallel with the Monday evening Celtic folk music.

We continued to play Saturday nights once a month well into 1992. The duo had now grown with the addition of Seth Marshall on drums, followed by Pippa Lewin on vocals, Graham Walden on harmonica and occasionally Alan Burton on fiddle. The band never really had a proper name - known sometimes as Skin Flint or Raindance.

There were many occasions when we featured guest vocalists such as Helen Hutson, joining us for a Fleetwood Mac or Eurythmics song. Pauline Cowham also appeared doing backing vocals. At one gig, at the Commercial Hotel in St Just, Graham also sang and played guitar, and as a bonus, Hami Hocking did a short set in the interval on the didgeridoo. In 1992 this was quite a rare instrument to be seen played close up and during the performance, you could quite literally have heard a cigarette butt drop on the floorboards! Hami got an amazing and very positive reaction. As a local musician, he is greatly missed by us all.

On the last gig in July 1992, we played at another wedding reception at Dowran near St Just. Pete Marshall joined us on semi-acoustic guitar and sang a couple of songs, and Charlotte Gunn provided backing vocals. Pippa Lewin (sister of local artist Paul Lewin) went on to study at Falmouth College of Arts. Colin and Sandra went on to run the Star Inn at St Just from 2004 to 2006.

Wyan

2011-06-16T00:00:00.005+01:00

During 1986 I was playing bass guitar, with Steve Dyer on guitar and vocals, Chrissie Jacobs on keyboards and vocals, with guest appearances by David Bickley (keyboards), Ian Caple (sax) and Rob Hawman (harmonica). These events happened alongside, and sometimes shared, gigs or venues with my other commitment to Tom's Island.

By April 1987, I had acquired and started gigging with, Alison Reynolds's old Manson fretless bass. This enabled a more fluid style to emerge and worked well with the funky and laid-back feel that developed within Steve and Chrissie's collective song writing. The band had a pretty fluid line-up, starting life being called One. By August the name Wyan had been launched, at the time of the Harmonic Convergence party held at the village hall in Sancreed. This was a massive gig involving Steve, Chrissie and myself, along with David Bickley, Alison and Med Reynolds (now based near Lamorna), the late Ian Caple, Rob Hawman and Tito (vocalist and percussionist with Zambula), Hami Hocking, plus Ian and Seth from Tom's Island.

Chrissie Jacobs

Steve Dyer

Steve Bayfield

At one of the Wyan gigs at Sancreed Village Hall we did an impromptu set under the name Spearing Fish using some sequences produced by David Bickley (who played keyboards and saxophone live) and were joined by Seth Marshall on the drums. In the spring of 1988, Alan Burton joined us on synthesizer and sampler keyboards, and later went on to establish an excellent reputation for playing uillean pipes on the Monday night Celtic music sessions at the Star Inn, St Just.

Steve Dyer is currently based in Totnes, Devon, studying performance art at Dartington. Chrissie lives at Newlyn and produces relaxation music. Alan Burton is at Bath, Somerset, working with the Celtic-Hungarian band Fianna.

Tom's Island

2011-06-15T00:00:00.005+01:00

Jamming at Nanpean Farm

As a result of the St Just Collective's public response, it was decided to set up a smaller nucleus, to work on a more constructive musical approach. This hardcore unit featured Ian Payne (vocals and guitar), Alison Reynolds (fretless bass guitar - the same instrument that I later acquired), Seth Marshall (drums) and myself on guitar.

After Seth moved to London, the line-up changed considerably when his twin brother Pete took over on drums and I switched to bass when Alison was unable to continue. This group became more workable when we were joined by Gavin Nichol (ex-Sadig Sadag) who had a good writing and playing relationship with Ian Payne. By July 1986 this had become the line-up of the band Tom's Island and we started gigging by the end of that month.

I had become interested in bass playing over a period of many years and after Alison Reynolds moved away, the demand exceeded the supply. I also played bass with Steve Dyer and what was to become the Wyan band. During this time David Bickley continued to visit on a regular basis, often jamming and gigging with the band, playing a variety of instruments - synthesizers, piano, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet and percussion. One of the great successes in August 1986 was the Dance Away for Ethiopia gig that Charlotte Gunn organised at the St Just Town Hall, to raise money for famine relief in Eastern Africa. This was the first of many gigs we played in St Just and established the band very strongly in the area.

I also played with Steve Dyer's band that night. It was halfway through the Tom's Island set that Seth Marshall made his return to the band and took over playing the drums for us. Pete devoted more of his time to playing guitar and photography, studying at Dartington College, and later formed local band Freakish Ways.

In September, Gavin moved to Wales to study arboriculture and we were fortunate to find a replacement in Alan Burton, playing percussion, rhythm guitar, doing backing vocals and even playing his uillean pipes on a version of Lyonesse played at the Greenpeace gig we did in December 1986. At this time, Tessa Weaver joined us as second backing vocalist and by 1987 the band was reaching its peak in sound and energy.

In March we did a charity gig at the St Just Town Hall to raise the initial funds to start off the Nancherrow Project - a local committee with the purpose of purchasing and setting up an arts and music workshop in St Just. It worked. One of the local bands of the late 90s, Blew, began at the Nancherrow Centre, then following a move to Manchester they changed the name to Haven and became a local success story.

Throughout the summer of 1987, Fred Quale stood in for me on bass guitar at the gigs I couldn't make, while I was away doing long distance trucking. This was a necessary ploy to earn extra money for a new instrument and amplifier and speaker set-up. The last big gig Tom's Island did was another charity fund-raiser, this time for Green-peace at St Just's Town Hall.

I was now playing fretless bass guitar, which I continued to do with Steve Dyer's Wyan band for some time. 1989 saw a new band with Ian Payne and Seth Marshall, this time with a sax player known simply as Stefan. However its future was short-lived due to conflicting ideas of musical direction. We did two gigs under the name of Storm Dogs. Very wild and funky in its early stages of development, Seth and I believed it had great potential, but the general consensus was not inspired in this direction. It could have been excellent . . .

St Just Collective

2011-06-14T00:00:00.005+01:00

During the summer of 1985 I met Ian Payne, who hosted regular jam sessions at Nanpean Farm near Cape Cornwall. By this time I'd had a few jam sessions down at Sancreed, with Malcolm Starr (guitar and vocals) and Geoff Tresidder on fretless bass guitar. Ian had played in many local bands - Sid's Taxi, Harmonix, Zambula and Sadig Sadag.

Steve Bayfield

In September, Steve Dyer moved to St Just from Bristol. We worked together in the studio and were both very interested in forming a band for live performance. This happened in January 86 and included local mystics, Alison and Med Reynolds (who later formed Thelemic Pulse), plus Ian Caple and Ian Payne. The resulting ensemble became known as the St Just Collective / All Saints / New Town Band. We played twice at the Trewellard Arms, a few miles from St Just. At this time it was the only location in the area where it was easy to put on gigs. However, the line-up involved around a dozen people and proved to be near impossible to manage for organised rehearsals, but the public response endorsed the need for a local band.

Dancing Stones

2011-06-13T00:00:00.005+01:00

From the start of 1985 I was based in St Just near Penzance in western Cornwall. My motivation for moving here from the south-east of England, was inspired by the landscape, the wild jagged line separating sea and land, and the Bronze Age remains of stone circles and standing stones. Shortly after arriving, I set up a small 4-track studio, with the intention of exploring and developing my own style, with no other motive than to create a record of my journey away from conventional music.

In the early months I was often visited by David Bickley (by then based in London) and we attempted to express the stunning landscape and history that surrounded this place. One of the major events that influenced my move to west Cornwall, was a night spent at the Merry Maidens stone circle near Lamorna, where David and I both observed the stones doing a repeated 'dance'. This was on the night of 13-14 September 1984. We were both amazed.

The Stone Dance

Without commenting on what we saw, we alternately asked each other to describe what we were seeing. The outline of the stone circle appeared to be shimmering and vibrating - each pair of stones would, over a period of several seconds, lean towards each other, to an angle of 45 degrees, return to upright, and then lean away, towards the other stone next to it. This sequence repeated many times and the cycle ended by each stone stopping in the upright position and then rotating through 180 degrees. I am pretty convinced that the stones, seen in moonlight, were not actually moving (!) but suspect the apparent motions could have been caused by an aura or energy field surrounding the stones, that was oscillating to some natural rhythmic pattern. We were spellbound. One of the pieces I recorded, inspired by that night, was titled The Stone Dance (Dans Maen).

Spearing Fish

2011-06-12T00:00:00.005+01:00

It was during 1982 that I first met David Bickley. He had formed a jazz-funk unit called Klat Pans Tac which included the guitarist Steve Edwards who I had worked with in the Unusual Tree Arrangement collective, and it was he who invited me to a session with David's band. I continued to write and record with David during my time with Sheep In Fog and we also gigged together with Dolphin Lust. Another Dolphin Lust member, Andy Sliwa, also joined us at the end of the year to play in the New Rays of Radiance band.

In the early part of 1983 I did a number of recording sessions with David, producing music to accompany an exhibition of photographic images of the island of Malta, that were publicly displayed at the Commonwealth Institute in Kensington, London in March. I also contributed to the sound-track of a video that David wrote and produced, The Rite of Rain, which won a Sony Award when shown at the National Film Theatre at London's South Bank Centre in October 1983.

In 1984 I did (an intended) one-off gig with David Bickley, Erik Moore and Simon Godfrey as Spearing Fish. We spent two months working on a short 'EP length' set, featuring David and Erik's interplay (synths/clarinet and electric guitar), dancing over a repetitive, looping rhythm section, with myself on rhythm guitar and Simon's percussion, mixed in with drum machine and bassline patterns. Strangely tribal and more than a little trancy and laid back, it was based on one of David's artistic concepts - "this should only be heard once and not repeated".

David later moved to south-east London and with Simon Godfrey, started the Synchroma studio and music library for the film and advertising industry. At the end of 1984 I moved from Hampshire to West Cornwall.

Green Coyote

2011-06-11T00:00:00.005+01:00

In June 1983 I hired a generator and filled a van full of equipment and headed for Glastonbury Festival. The intention was to have a bit of a jam session in the camping field. In the early 80s mixed camping was the norm, with vans, cars and tents scattered all over the public areas.

The organised music never got started until the Friday evening, whereas many people had usually arrived and set up camp by the Wednesday. We decided to (at least) play a bit of a pirate gig on site. The people involved were to include every-one from the Dolphin Lust/Red Mess collective who could make it there for the weekend. I travelled down with David Bickley, met up with Marten Ingle and did a brief improvised set on the Friday evening and played again on the Saturday afternoon with Ian Walker, Marten Ingle and Andy Sliwa.

Andrew Sliwa, Ian Walker

Steve Bayfield, David Bickley

Marten Ingle, Andrew Sliwa

We were later invited to fill a vacant spot on the small stage at the bottom end of the main theatre tent field at 5pm on Sunday 19th. This was the day that Curtis Mayfield and King Sunny Adé closed the festival on the main stage. We played, under the new name of Green Coyote, an assortment of songs written by Marten (one had even been composed that morning on Glastonbury Tor) that were very improvised and not previously rehearsed. A typical Dolphin Lust/Red Mess output - however, this was the last time that we all gigged together.

Winter Solstice Trucking Company

2011-06-10T00:00:00.005+01:00

From December 1982 to December 1983 I was working with Tony Pettitt again (from Earthforce, 1977), now based near Carmarthen, South Wales and Bob Phillips from Farnborough, Hampshire. Two poets who had worked together before, doing performance poetry under the banner Winter Solstice Trucking Company, gigging at the West End Centre, Aldershot back in 1976. This new concept was a much expanded live performance unit with the intention of staging an assortment of songs, sketches, poems, dance and musical interludes.

The general theme was of an anti-nuclear nature, forming a statement of protest aimed at the world governments who indulged in the 'race for supremacy / total overkill' school of thought which prevailed in the early eighties.

Rob Dingley-Linton

Tony, Bob and I began working with percussionist Rob Dingley-Linton from North Wales and a growing number of contributors based around the Carmarthen and Kidwelly districts, including from Glyn Abbey, Jim Greer (set design) with dance choreography and performance by Janet and Sue Bilsborough and Diane Greer. I first met Rob back in late 72, in the days of Planet Oa at Fleet, Hampshire. Bob Phillips and I made many journeys down to South Wales from Hampshire to work on this ambitious programme.

On the last of these occasions in December 1983, Rob was unable to make it. Days later while in Bristol news came to us of Rob's untimely death following a motorcycle accident, we just had time to make it up to Llansilin to attend his funeral. Any enthusiasm we had for the on-going project dwindled away while we came to terms with this sad loss.

Sheep In Fog

2011-06-09T00:00:00.006+01:00

Towards the end of 1979 I met with Paul Hyland and Murray Cheesman. Murray played drums with John Lathey and Nigel Rolfe in the Jaffi band, back in the late sixties. Paul and Murray were both playing in the Gobi's (full name Gobi Desert Yachting Club, a local jazz-rock band) and were keen to form an experimental writing / jamming collective. We had regular sessions from November 79 to January 80 under the loose title of Unusual Tree Arrangement. It also involved Alan Shipgood on bass, a guy called Mike from Selborne on electric piano, Steve Edwards and Erik Moore on guitars and Derek Cottrell playing bass and penny whistle. It never became a fully fledged band but laid down a useful foundation.

In November 1981 I again jammed with Paul Hyland (violin, guitar) and Oliver Cheesman, brother of Murray. It was at this time that I started using the Roland GR300 guitar synthesizer, a cumbersome analogue device, difficult to tune in cold weather, but capable of some pretty impressive (for that time) brass and orchestral string sounds, particularly when connected to the RE201 Space Echo. It was quickly superseded by the programmable digital models, which proved more stable, but it did open the door to new possibilities and gave me, as a guitarist, a greater awareness and understanding of electronic music.

Steve Bayfield

Noel Taylor

Boz Warnock

Oliver Cheesman, Erik Moore, Paul Hyland in the Wire Band

Paul Hyland and I began a period of more productive writing in early 1982 and were soon joined by Noel Taylor (clarinet and piano), followed by Erik Moore (guitar, fretless bass guitar) and a french horn player from Iceland named Polly. Once we had the ball rolling and sufficient material, Oliver Cheesman joined us on drums and we began to get the whole shape of the music into focus. This became Sheep In Fog, the name chosen randomly from a book of collected poems (one by Sylvia Plath) plucked from a bookcase. The band varied in number - from five to a maximum of nine, playing a vast assortment of instruments (see Gig List for details). The style was different to other bands I have worked with - a mix of jazz flavoured rock, which could break into bizarre spells of discordant anarchy, or lock into cycles of rhythmic trance. We played many gigs in 1982, but decided collectively to dis-band when Oliver moved to Scotland.

Sheep In Fog tracks:
The Gobi Desert Yachting Club on Myspace.

Dolphin Lust

2011-06-08T00:00:00.005+01:00

In January 1981 I had a jam session with old friend Ian Walker (guitar) and his American-born cousin, Christian Lunch (keyboards). Chris was then based in Hamburg, Germany and had worked with Jello Biafra around the time the Dead Kennedys were a big band on the American punk scene. We decided the music was pretty crazy and that we ought to arrange it enough so we could do some gigs. I suggested we could name the band after one of Chris's songs, Dolphin Lust.

The line-up varied quite a bit over time (as did the name), degenerating into what became known as The Red Mess. Chris Lunch was also doing some gigs with London scene band, The Flying Club, and one of their prominent members, Steve Hayle, also gigged with us a few times (see Gig List for details).

Chris Lunch did an album entitled Shark Bait while based in Hamburg, and had previously recorded The Witch Trials with Jello Biafra. We continued to do occasional gigs during 1982 and 1983. Chris is currently based in San Francisco.

Christian Lunch : The Witch Trials, Unreliable Sources

Home Brew

2011-06-07T00:00:00.005+01:00

Steve Bayfield, Mick Marsh, Malcolm Marsh

By the end of the 1970s more pubs were having live music and the opportunity to get gigs greatly improved. In October 1979 I did a one off gig with Alan Shipgood, Mick and Malcolm Marsh and Tony Wright. Malcolm and Tony were already working as a duo in the East Hampshire area and were interested in developing a rock/pub band to run in parallel.

In March 1980 we started up again under the name Home Brew (quite amusing to see on the events boards in public houses!). We gigged from March to November, Mick Marsh and Nigel Watts-Plumkin played drums, Alan Shipgood on bass, I played second lead and rhythm guitar behind Malcolm's excellent lead guitar and backing vocal. Tony fronted the band as lead vocalist. The material we played were all cover versions, ranging from Dire Straits to Joe Cocker. The Hell's Angels regulars at the Coach & Horses in Farnham, Surrey seemed to like it !!!

Earthforce

2011-06-06T00:00:00.007+01:00

It was during 1976 that I became a little disillusioned with the electric rock category which most music had to fall into, if it was to have any chance of being played to an audience. Maybe it was due to the long hot summer in England that year, but I felt it to be the right time to pursue a quieter and more meditative approach to music. I sold my amp and electric guitar and bought the sitar and later, a 12 string guitar.

Having become familiar with a new style of music, I thought it time to 'test the water' early in 1977 and got into a few jam sessions during March, with Alan Shipgood and James Gleave, and early in April, with Alan, Tony Pettitt and Mick Marsh. Jenie and Raymond Critchell were also into the idea of this musical collective. However, the basic working unit became - myself (on sitar and 12 string guitar), Alan (on bass guitar and tabla) and Tony (on harmonium). We played one gig at a large indoor festival at Battersea Arts Centre, London on 28 May. At this time James was playing in Ken Hyder's Celtic-roots jazz band, Talisker.

By June it was becoming apparent that the larger collective idea would not come about - Jenie and Raymond were planning a move to France, Tony was about to move to Carmarthen, South Wales and James later departed for Europe.

EARTHFORCE RECORDINGS

In July 1977, Norman Jon Kissoon and I discussed the technical possibilities of making a recording to incorporate the music and ideas of all the people who had been involved. The first session took place at Farnborough, Hampshire on 30 and 31 July. We were unable to get all the music on to tape that weekend. Three weeks later, on Saturday 20 August, we completed the remaining tracks at Merrow near Guildford, Surrey.

By the end of August we had the design for the cover (three trees near Glastonbury Tor), sleeve notes, and the running order/splicing of the quarter-inch reel-to-reel master tape completed. The first cassettes were ready for distribution early in October 1977. In all, 60 copies were produced - spreading as far as USA, France, South Africa, Papua New Guinea and Australia.

The final event was a gig at the Bellerby Theatre, Guildford in November 1978, 'An Evening with Earthforce'. On the bill were John Lathey, Simon Rowan, Savourna Stevenson (on Celtic harp), myself on sitar with John Bland on tabla, and the electric band - blurring the Oa Band into Earthforce with the Oa line-up plus Nic Griffiths on saxophone.

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THE BAND MEMBERS

Steve Bayfield : 12 string guitar, electric guitar, sitar, vocals

Alan Shipgood : bass guitar, tabla

James Gleave : electric piano, synthesizer

Tony Pettitt : harmonium, synthesizer, acoustic guitar, percussion

Jenie Critchell : acoustic guitar, vocals

Raymond Critchell : 12 string guitar, vocals

John Lathey : acoustic guitar

Mick Marsh : drums, percussion

John Bland : percussion

Kirsty Anderson : violin on Wild Mountain Thyme

Norman Jon Kissoon : recording and mixing

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SONG OF THE MORNING
(Trad / lyrics S Bayfield)

Standing upon a hillside, awaiting the sun
Standing upon a hillside, awaiting the sun
The day is breaking, new life awaking
Day is a-breaking, the flow has begun

Wind blowing seaward, no cloud in the sky
Wind blowing seaward, no cloud in the sky
A smile is a greeting, in the garden of eden
Smile with a greeting, but leave with a sigh

Time long since passing, when truths were laid bare
Time long since passing, when truths were laid bare
The ways of nature, gifts from the maker
Ways of all nature, were songs we could share

So sing for the sun, and let's sing every day
My heart is a seed, and your love is the rain
In the valley of life, our place may yet be
Where woman and man and the earth
May find harmony

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CARNMENYN
(T Pettitt, J Gleave)

Blow soft, my children of the wind
Grind down this history
This urchin, ragged land
Feel the pull of moontide in the pagan heart
Hear the roar of kings in battle-fine array
Upon Preseli's lonely moors
The purple of the heather
Like some sunset, swelling sea
That breaks forever
On some craggy, unknown shore
The hermit sleeps in a six foot cave
Somewhere deep beneath
The wizard's self sealed stone
And up, above the island hills
My zephyr children dance with clouds
And I hear still their singing in my hammered ears
And cracked lips move in mute refrain
The harmonies to sound

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WANDERING
(S Bayfield, MCPS)

In my wandering -
I have swum in the seas of destiny
And drunk from the sparkling river of eternity
In my wandering -
The road I travelled, day upon day
'Til a passing smile led me the other way
Now the sun shines on my face, taking me away . . .

In my loneliness -
I believed the stars were my only guide
To help me find the trail to my other side
In my loneliness -
Yesterday was for evermore
And today must always wait on a distant shore
'Til the wind blows on my brow, and carries me away . . .

For my ladylove -
I would build a house made from willow boughs
With a pathway to the sea and windows in the clouds
For my ladylove -
I would sing a song that would help me say
My love for you will last . . .
For the sun shines on your face, and carries me away . . .
Yes, the sun shines on your face, and carries me away . . .

................................................................................................................................................................................

A SOLSTICE SONG
(S Bayfield, MCPS)

Meetings of the spirit
Places we have all known
To explore the two-fold meaning
Travellers coming home
All along the dusty highways
A million miles to roam
To find the lost connection
Somewhere in the land of stone

There's a vacuum in the city, there's an island with no sea
There's a gentle wind a-blowing, all the way to Glastonbury

The festival is over
To celebrate the sun
Brought us closer to the seasons
So it's only just begun!
And time will lead us, through the mountains
To yet another where and when
Come together as one family
To be nearer home again

Much to learn from what we're doing, many places we can be
So we got to keep on a-moving, doing what comes naturally

................................................................................................................................................................................

JENIE'S SONG
(J Critchell)

As I walk, a cloudless day
Begins to haze and lose the way
High far away I dream a senseless dream
Far in a world or is it reality

Here I am, the things I see
In cobbled streets and people free
All around the faces which appear
Far from delight and closer to fear

The sky around is red and mauve
The stillness dusk becomes untold
To share the silence is a wondrous thing
For people never know and realise it's for them

As he walks, he talks to me
I understand and try to see
The light in the sky is for eternity
And always understand for you and me it's free

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EARTHFORCE CD

During the years 2002 and 2003 I digitally remastered a selection of Earthforce recordings, based on the limited edition cassette from 1977 and some of the live performances in 1977 and 1978. I then chose the best 11 tracks for release on CD (total running time 60 minutes). Recorded between May and August 1977 with the exceptions of Raga recorded live at the Bellerby Theatre, Guildford, Surrey on 26 Nov 1978, and A Solstice Song recorded on 10 Dec 1979.

Dawn
Song of the Morning
Carnmenyn
Wandering
Keep Moving
Carnmenyn (slight return)
Raga
Wild Mountain Thyme
A Solstice Song
Jenie's Song
Moonrise

"Ultra rare mid-70s UK acid folk rock recordings. Features sitar, moog, acoustic and electric guitars, assorted percussion instruments to create a Popul Vuh like soundscape. If you can imagine the perfect blend of Eastern trance/psyche and English hippy acid folk rock, this would be it. Very cool and freaky."

"Earthforce were an offshoot of Ebling Mis and Oa Band formed by Steve Bayfield. Hailing from the UK, the band was influenced by a wide variety of music including English folk and acid rock. This release is culled from sessions that have never been released before, and they sound like a cross between Popul Vuh and Gong. Very tasty, very spacey and mystical vibe throughout. Liner notes and photos galore, a very nice package."

Sound engineer: Norman Jon Kissoon of Atom Heart Visual Sound
Digital remastering: Steve Bayfield
Final mastering: Jeff Risdon
Produced by: Richard S Patz for ShroomAngel Productions
Cover design: Jilaen Sherwood of Dreamland Design
Release date: 14 May 2004
Released and distributed by ShroomAngel Productions
Catalogue no. SAP 002

Jenie Critchell 1957-1995
The Earthforce CD is dedicated to the music and memory of Jenie Critchell.

Enquiries and further information: Earthforce CD

Oa Band

2011-06-05T00:00:00.005+01:00

Towards the end of 1975, I again teamed up with John Bland on drums, Alan Shipgood on bass, and were joined by James Gleave on keyboards and synthesizer (the early days of), writing all our own stuff in a continuous suite approach. It went under the name of Oa Band as a continuation of the Planet Oa vibe of 1972-73. There was however a noticeable difference in the overall style of music - a more jazz influenced form of rock, aiming for a greater dynamic range in content and intensity. I think we all learned much during this period, developing an under-standing, and friendships which continue to the present day - more than 30 years later.

Steve Bayfield

Alan Shipgood

James Gleave

John Bland

With hindsight, it is possible that our approach to writing and performing was too serious and we may have benefited from more of our light-hearted jam sessions, such as Uncle Oa's Last Freakout, an improvisation that happened while we were awaiting the arrival of James at a session in Greatham, Hampshire. It's usually the case that, when forming a band there has to be a general consensus of where musically, you are trying to get to. It would perhaps have been more interesting to just allow things to develop and for the band to find its own direction and identity. However, John moved to the Durham area in the spring of 1976, and that marked the end of this particular venture.

Steve Bayfield

Logos & AHVS

2011-06-04T00:00:00.005+01:00

I moved briefly to Brighton, Sussex in 1974 and switched to playing bass in the extra-ordinary Logos band, with Mick Wilson, vocals and guitar, and Andy Gray on drums. Mick had written songs and instrumental numbers for the first part of a rock opera entitled The Garden of the Earth and was working on the second half. The general theme of the story was one person's journey across a strange and wondrous planet, towards an unknown goal and ultimate enlightenment. We played one gig doing a support for Global Village Trucking Co. I worked with them for several months. This proved, for me, to be a new direction in writing and playing, becoming aware of music as a more overall performance, and less of a collection of individual songs or tunes.

Later that year I spent the summer travelling around Cornwall with my brother and began writing pieces of music that were to become part of a complete 'suite' which reflected my all night experiences with nature at the Old Winchester Hill reserve near Petersfield, Hampshire. I attempted several times to record the entire piece, with the help of John Bland (drums), Paul Ellis (piano), Alan Shipgood (bass) and Norman Jon Kissoon's recording set-up from AHVS. Over the years I have made alterations to the music notes and score, and one day it may be possible to find time to sort through them all and try to complete the task.

ATOM HEART VISUAL SOUND

During the period 1974-75, I devoted much time to helping Norman Jon with the mobile recording side of AHVS, in and around London. Using a 10-inch reel-to-reel half-track, we recorded such bands as Henry Cow, Ian Carr's Nucleus, Steve Hillage and Gong, Robert Wyatt, Hatfield and the North, plus many theatrical events with Julian Glover, Isla Blair and Derek Jacobi.

Ebling Mis

2011-06-03T00:00:00.006+01:00

Steve Bayfield

I was playing a rare old Del Rey guitar with Paul Coaker on bass (a Gibson EB 0, I believe). We were renting a large house in Fleet, Hampshire with John Bland, famous in the area as the DJ who fronted the Plastik Rock Disco and who then became our drummer, and Carole and Keith Lewis. Keith with Neil Soames ran Cosmic Amoeba Lites, one of those amazing light shows using coloured oils heated between glass slides. This house became known as Planet Oa or The Planet.

Paul Coaker

Paul, John and myself rehearsed and jammed solid for three months and finally started gigging with the new band Ebling Mis in early 1973. Loose and raw, it sometimes tripped out and sometimes tripped up, but never played safe. We did an assortment of gigs, from pubs such as The Crown in Alton, Hampshire (where Keith remembers us being kicked out for playing too loud!) to the larger free festivals in the summer of 1973 - including University of Surrey Free Festival, Windsor 73 (the band that opened the festival and appeared on an Open University film clip!) and Trentishoe Whole Earth Fayre where we were first on again. An amusing trip was had by one and all, as I recall.

John Bland

In July we played a gig in Guildford for the College of Art, where we supported a band called Phoenix featuring one, Roy St John - by this time he was based in London. He later moved back to St Louis, USA but has since returned to England.

WINDSOR 1973

The second Windsor Free Festival, organised by Bill Dwyer and Ian Jones was the most memorable of the three. Events started on Friday 24 August when we took charge of the generator and got John's record decks and PA going in the wooded area where the 72 Festival had been. This started after dark and ran well into the night. By 11am on the Saturday we had moved the van and gear to a spot which faced down the hill (to a place where the main stage was finally located) and here it was that Ebling Mis started the festival proper.

Steve Bayfield

John Bland, Paul Coaker

We also played on the Sunday night / Monday morning but this set bordered on disaster (as many did!) due to the mist and damp soaking into all the electronics and effects pedals. Later that night Ian Jones asked me to take over his duties as stage manager (I was the only person he recognised still awake who he could trust to do the job). This proved to be a most rewarding occupation and an opportunity to put into practice my belief that 'all bands are equal' and nobody had the right to jump the queue because they were more professional. It worked well. Every band, except one, contributed their PA system and John Bland somehow managed to wire them all together to produce a system that just about got the job done. It was estimated that between 10 and 15 thousand people attended.

WINDSOR 1974

The last Windsor Free Festival was in 1974. This turned to anarchy with running battles with police trying to force eviction, resulting in a compromise agreement that the festival would move to an approved site near to Stonehenge the following year (1975) and not be deemed 'illegal'. It continued there until the early 1980s when the government of the day decided it was to be stamped out.

................................................................................................................................................................................

One of the classic self-penned songs of the period
dedicated to Virginia Duncan

ARE YOU READY?

Tomorrow's sun rose from out of your eyes
The native dances and the fireflies
Mysterious moons that hypnotise
Are you ready, are you ready?

With your smile you scatter love all around
The lowly tramp wears a golden crown
All your memory banks are solid sound
Are you ready, are you ready?

In your heart you carry no shame
I want you to see that I feel the same
Everybody smiles when I say your name
Are you ready, are you ready?
Are you ready to love again?

Swamp & Rocharch

2011-06-02T00:00:00.003+01:00

In the early part of 1971 I did a few more gigs with Roy St John at folk clubs but we then decided to try a band format again. Roy had many songs that justified being played loud and with more of a rock arrangement. Chris Hall joined us on drums and we formed Swamp. We played the Rainbow Club several times. Attendances were now much larger than in the early days, particularly at the all night gigs. Steve Crossley (formerly with skinhead band Bootlace Fungus) later joined us on bass guitar. Roy St John did return to the US and was living in St Louis, Missouri, but he has since moved back to the UK. Later that same year I began jamming and writing with vocalist / pianist / bass guitarist Simon Wiltshire.

This marked the beginning of a more experimental approach to music - avoiding the obvious and conventional rock styles. Chris Hall again joined us as drummer - however, Simon's career in teaching meant a move from Alton, Hampshire to London and much of our labours never bore fruit. Simon and I did a couple of local gigs at the end of the year, still using the band name Phoenix Gnasha, but before he departed he did put me in touch with a couple of local lads, Paul Coaker and Kev Wilcox, who were planning to get a band together. I started jamming with Paul (on bass) and Kevin (on drums) at the music workshop near Fleet, Hampshire, and with Stan Bailey on guitar. This became the line-up of the band Rocharch. We did a few gigs, including one at the end of the Santa Pod drag strip in Bedfordshire but we split up when Stan left to pursue his main ambition to become a classical violinist.

WINDSOR 1972

Paul and I played the Windsor Free Festival that August with a stand-in drummer called 'The Baron'. Eventually, John Bland joined us as regular drummer and this became the Ebling Mis band of 1973.

Farnham Wall of Sound

2011-06-01T00:00:00.011+01:00

Heba Evans, Roy St John, Steve Bayfield

I began playing guitar in the sixties. The late Michael Heba Evans was the first person I jammed guitars with on a regular basis. In 1969 we started rehearsing with Roy St John (aka Chandler Holmes), all three of us playing guitar and doing some singing, and with Terry Murphy on drums. This became known as the Farnham Wall of Sound (a pun on the astonishingly small amount of equipment we had). We played one gig at the Guildford Civic Hall on 8 April 1970.

I did more gigs in 1970, playing acoustically at folk clubs in north-east Hampshire, some with Roy St John, and again playing electric guitar with drummers Rob Reeves and Dennis Roberts, and with John Lathey and Heba Evans on bass guitar. I also jammed with Cosmic Capers. This marked the beginning of the Rainbow Club evenings and the all night sessions held at Farnborough, Hampshire. Formerly called The Blue Moon, it was a ska club in the late 1960s and became a rock venue when George Collins took over its management (he also played some fine harmonica at some of the sessions). Other acts that appeared regularly, as I recall, were Arthur Bowstead and Tony Shaw, Tonk and Cold Fusion (later Fusion). Neil Soames, I believe, also had a hand in controlling the lighting.

Finding any venues in those days was virtually impossible - it usually meant someone having to hire a town or village hall (with no bar) and putting up posters or paying for advertising. It was normal to lose money on such ventures. For this reason the Rainbow Club was a gem of a place!