Bonzo Dog Band

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Biography

The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (also known as The Bonzo Dog Band ) are a band created by a group of British Art school|art-school denizens of the 1960s. Combining elements of music hall , trad jazz , psychedelic rock , and avant-garde art, the Bonzos came to the attention of a broader British public through a 1968 ITV comedy show, Do Not Adjust Your Set .

History

Formation and early years (1962-1966)

Unusually for a band, the actual date of conception for the Bonzos is known: 25 September 1962. It was on that day that Vivian Stanshall ( tuba , but later Singer|lead vocals along with other wind instruments) and fellow art student Rodney Slater (musician)|Rodney Slater ( saxophone ) bonded over a transatlantic broadcast of a boxing match between Floyd Patterson and Sonny Liston .

Rodney Slater had previously been playing in a trad jazz band at college with Chris Jennings ( trombone ) and Tom Parkinson ( sousaphone ). Roger Wilkes ( trumpet ) was the founder of the original band at the Royal College of Art, along with Trevor Brown ( banjo ). They slowly turned their style from more orthodox music towards the sound of The Alberts and The Temperance Seven . Vivian was their next recruit and on that day in 1962, he and Rodney christened the band, The Bonzo Dog Dada Band . Bonzo the dog was a popular British cartoon character created by artist George E. Studdy|George Studdy in the 1920s and Dada after the early 20th century art movement.

Not long after Vivian, Rodney and Tom were evicted from their shared flat, the band added two more faces to the line-up: Goldsmiths College lecturer Vernon Dudley Bohay-Nowell and his lodger, songwriter/pianist, Neil Innes . According to Neil Innes' website, the Bohay-Nowell was added to Vernon Dudley's name by Vivian Stanshall.

The band had been working with drummer Tom Hedge before Rodney found Martin Ash, who later took the stage name of Sam Spoons and shortly afterwards got them their first pub gig, where they were noticed by Roger Ruskin Spear .

Ruskin Spear, the son of the British artist Ruskin Spear , claimed, "I couldn't believe anyone was that bad." He eventually changed his mind and, with his interest in the manufacture of early electronic gadgets/''objets d'art and sound-making systems soon became an integral part of the band.

The line-up changed again with the departure of Roger Wilkes and John Parry, the trombonist. The two were replaced by, respectively, Bob Kerr and "Big" Sid Nichols. The final 'classic' band member, "Legs" Larry Smith joined in 1963, as a tuba player and tap-dancer (but later as a drummer), on Vivian's invitation.

The band played up to five pubs a week in the London area, becoming popular with landlords for their "drinking" music& mdash;i.e., people stayed and drank more beer when they played. Reg Tracey spotted them at the Tiger's Head in Catford, and offered to help them.

The band's fortunes began to increase when Reg Tracey secured them a deal with Parlophone Records in April 1966. Their first single, a cover of the 1920s classic, "My Brother Makes The Noises For The Talkies" was backed with "I'm Going To Bring A Watermelon To My Girl Tonight" which was rather too risqué for radio.

A second single, "Alley Oop", backed with "Button Up Your Overcoat" followed in October of that year. Neither single sold well.

A move from jazz to rock (1967)

Although the Bonzos had started out playing jazz, they decided to embrace rock in order to counter claims that they were beginning to sound like The Temperance Seven and The New Vaudeville Band . (In fact Geoff Stephens asked the Bonzos to perform as the New Vaudeville Band. They declined. Former Bonzo Bob Kerr (musician)|Bob Kerr joined The New Vaudeville Band and went on to create his own band, Bob Kerr's Whoopee Band , which combined the lunacy of the early Bonzo sound with music having a great deal in common with the Temperance Seven).

As the Bonzo Dog band's popularity increased, they were asked by Paul McCartney to appear in the Magical Mystery Tour (film)|Magical Mystery Tour film at the end of 1967, performing " Death Cab for Cutie (song)|Death Cab For Cutie ". Around the same time, they were hired as the resident band on Do Not Adjust Your Set , a comedy show notable for starring several future members of '' Monty Python's Flying Circus ( Eric Idle , Terry Jones and Michael Palin ) and David Jason in the cast. The band performed every week as well as sometimes participating in sketches.

After signing with the US-based Liberty Records label, the Bonzos released their first album, Gorilla (Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band album)|Gorilla (1967), produced by Gerry Bron . The LP included "Jazz, Delicious Hot, Disgusting Cold" which savagely parodied their early "trad" jazz roots and featured some of the most deliberately inept jazz playing ever recorded — the record company only allowed two hours of studio time per track, so it was completed in a single take to allow for the far more complex "The Intro and the Outro" in which every member of the band was introduced and played a solo, starting with genuine band members, before including such improbable members as John Wayne on xylophone , Adolf Hitler on vibraphone|vibes , and J. Arthur Rank, 1st Baron Rank|J. Arthur Rank on gong , Prime Minister Harold Wilson , The Wild Man of Borneo , Val Doonican , Horace Batchelor , and Lord Snooty|Lord Snooty and His Pals .

The first album was recorded on a multitrack recording|four-track tape recorder, as was typical for 1967. Due to the limited number of tracks, most of the non-band "personnel" are simply faded in and out, and few notice they are absent in the later stages of the track.

Several years later, Stanshall was to provide the voiceover on Mike Oldfield 's first instrumental album, Tubular Bells , which echoed the style of The Intro and the Outro .

Urban Spaceman and beyond (1968-1970)

They had a hit single in 1968 with " I'm the Urban Spaceman " produced by Paul McCartney and Gus Dudgeon under the collective pseudonym "Apollo C. Vermouth". The Beatles were great fans of the group. The anarchic twelve bar blues "Trouser Press" — featuring a solo by Roger Ruskin Spear on a genuine trouser press he had fitted with a pickup — gave its name to an American anglophile rock magazine Trouser Press . "Can Blue Men Sing the Whites? " lampooned the British blues boom, and tap dancer/drummer "Legs" Larry Smith was an onstage hit with his lubricious dancing (he had actually trained as a child in tap dancing). Many of their songs parodied parochial suburban British attitudes, notably "My Pink Half of the Drainpipe" on the album '' The Doughnut in Granny's Greenhouse (a euphemism for an outside toilet, still common in the United Kingdom at the time).

In 1969 they released their third album Tadpoles (album)|Tadpoles . Most of the songs on this album were also performed by the group on Do Not Adjust Your Set. The same year they also released their fourth album Keynsham (album)|Keynsham and appeared at the Isle of Wight Festival . Keynsham is a small town near Bristol in south-west England. The name of the album was almost certainly derived from an advertisement on Radio Luxembourg (English)|Radio Luxembourg for a dubious method of forecasting results for football matches (and using these results in football pools ). In the advertisement, which was of great length, Horace Batchelor , inventor of 'the amazing Infra Draw method', would repeatedly spell his postal address of K-E-Y-N-S-H-A-M for those listeners who wished to purchase his secret.

The Bonzos toured the United States with The Who and also appeared at the Fillmore East with The Kinks . Introduced as a "warm-up act" for the real show, the Bonzos rushed out and did a series of frenetic calisthenics . True to the dada spirit, Stanshall performed a mock striptease and Roger Ruskin Spear, with a platoon of robots (including one that sang " I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles " while actually blowing bubbles), did whatever he did without regard for what the rest of the band was doing. They undertook another American tour at the end of 1969. The band had a meeting and decided to split on their return to the U.K. The group played their final gig in January 1970.

First reunion (1972)

While the group formally disbanded in 1970, their record company compelled them to reunite in late 1971 to fulfil a contractual obligation and record a final album. Titled '' Let's Make Up And Be Friendly '', the album was released in 1972. The edition of the Bonzo Dog Band that made the "Friendly" LP featured only Stanshall, Innes and bassist Dennis Cowan from the "classic" earlier line-ups, although Roger Ruskin Spear appears on one track, and "Legs" Larry Smith on two. Rodney Slater is also listed as appearing "in spirit" in the album's credits.

Second reunion (1988)

Various members of The Bonzos (including Stanshall and Innes) reconvened in 1988 to record a new single, "No Matter Who You Vote For the Government Always Gets In (Heigh Ho)". The recording was meant to tie in with a current British election, but was not released at the time; instead, the single came out just prior to the next British general election in 1992.

Coincidentally, one of the Bonzos' song titles, " Cool Britannia ", was revived as a media label for late 1990s United Kingdom under Tony Blair.

The "No Matter Who You Vote For" single was Stanshall's final recording with the band; he died in a house fire in 1995.

Third reunion (2006-2008)

On 28 January 2006 most of the surviving members of the band played a concert at the London Astoria , to celebrate the band's official 40th anniversary. Neil Innes, "Legs" Larry Smith, Roger Ruskin Spear, Rodney Slater, Bob Kerr, Sam Spoons and Vernon Dudley Bohay-Nowell appeared. There were also a number of special guests attempting with various degrees of success to be Vivian Stanshall , one of two members of the band not still living (the other being bass player Dennis Cowan). The various Stanshall impersonators included Stephen Fry , Ade Edmondson , Phill Jupitus and Paul Merton (who needed to read the words to " Monster Mash " from cue cards at the show). The classic Bonzo stage antics were very much in evidence, including performances on the Theremin Leg and Trouser Press. The show was filmed and was broadcast on BBC Four and also released on DVD in May 2006.

A countrywide tour, with Ade Edmondson and Phill Jupitus, followed during November 2006, starting in Ipswich and ending with two nights at the Shepherds Bush Empire , where Paul Merton and Bill Bailey joined in for a handful of songs. David Catlin-Birch (lead guitar and vocals) joined the band for the tour; Catlin-Birch has also been a member of World Party and The Bootleg Beatles .

Officially calling themselves The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band again, the group released a live double CD of the Astoria concert titled Wrestle Poodles... And Win! on 13 November 2006.

On 10 December 2007, the band released their first new studio album in 35 years, a 28-track album titled '' Pour l'Amour des Chiens ("For the Love of Dogs" in French).

The reunited lineup were due to perform again in 'The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band Christmas Show' on Friday 21 December and Saturday 22 December 2007 at the Shepherds Bush Empire in London, but the shows were postponed without explanation. The shows were later played in 2008. Since then it has transpired that the full membership have decided to go their separate ways and do separate projects, making such a full reunion unlikely again.

Present times

Rodney Slater, Roger Spear, Sam Spoons and pianist David Glasson (ex Whoopee Band) have been performing regularly as . Forming in October 2008, they have undertaken regular gigs (about two or three per month) as a kind of "Bash Street Bonzos" (Roger Spear). They have included appearances from "Legs" Larry Smith and Vernon Dudley Bohay Nowell and thus now constitute the largest number of surviving Bonzos playing together on the planet. The Three Bonzos and a Piano have a new CD "Hair of the Dog", which is due to be launched at the Bloomsbury Theatre, London on 6 February 2010, featuring new numbers from all band members and some re-workings of older favourites. Larry and Vernon will be at the Bloomsbury gig.

Neil Innes toured the United States in 2009 and 2010, having performed a number of shows in 2009 in the UK. He currently plays with the Idiot Bastard Band, along with Phill Jupitus, Adrian Edmondson, and Raw Sex drummer Rowland Rivron . They play a mixture of original comedy songs and covers, including some Bonzos numbers.

In 2009 Angry Penguin Ltd published the first history of the band, Jollity Farm , written by Bob Carruthers and edited by David Christie, with comprehensive interviews with all the core members of the group. The first release also included a limited edition DVD featuring the band's 2007 reunion performance at the Shepherds Bush Empire, which included several performances from that show which had not been previously released.

Band members

The core members of the group for most of the band's career were:

Vivian Stanshall (1943–1995): trumpet, lead singer|lead vocals

Neil Innes (b. 1944): piano, guitar, lead vocals

Rodney Slater (musician)|Rodney "Rhino" Desborough Slater (b. 1944): saxophone

Roger Ruskin Spear (b. 1943): tenor sax and various contraptions

"Legs" Larry Smith (b. 1944): drums

The band's onstage line-up varied, sometimes on a weekly basis, and they also invited a number of guest musicians into the recording studio. Additional members of various duration include: Vernon Dudley Bohay-Nowell , Martin "Sam Spoons" Ash , "Happy" Wally Wilks , Tom Parkinson , Chris Jennings , Claude Abbo , Trevor Brown , Tom Hedge , Eric Idle , Eric Clapton , Elton John , Paul McCartney , Leon Williams , John Parry, Raymond Lewitt , Sydney "Big Sid" Nicholls , James "Jim Strobes" Chambers , Bob Kerr (musician)|Bob Kerr , Dave Clague , Joel Druckman , "Borneo" Fred Munt , Chalky Chalkey , Dennis Cowan , Aynsley Dunbar , Jim Capaldi , Anthony 'Bubs' White , Andy Roberts (musician)|Andy Roberts , Dave Richards , Pete Currie, Dick Parry , Hughie Flint and Glen Colson .

Stanshall and Innes were the band's principal songwriters, with occasional contributions from Spear, Slater and Smith. After the band's demise, both Innes and Stanshall became founding members of Grimms along with the members of The Scaffold .

Discography

Studio albums

1967 Gorilla (Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band album)|Gorilla (as The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band )

1968 '' The Doughnut in Granny's Greenhouse (chart #40) (released as Urban Spaceman in the US.) (as Bonzo Dog Band )

1969 Tadpoles (album)|Tadpoles (chart #36) (as Bonzo Dog Band )

1969 Keynsham (album)|Keynsham (as Bonzo Dog Band )

1972 '' Let's Make Up and Be Friendly (as Bonzo Dog Band )

2007 '' Pour l'Amour des Chiens (as The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band )

Singles

1966 "My Brother Makes the Noises for the Talkies" / "I'm Going To Bring A Watermelon To My Girl Tonight" (Parlophone R5430)

1966 "Alley Oop" / "Button Up Your Overcoat" (Parlophone R5499)

1967 "Equestrian Statue" (Liberty LBF 15040)

1968 " I'm the Urban Spaceman " ( UK Singles Chart : #5) (Liberty LBF 15144)

1969 "Mr Apollo" (Liberty LBF 15201)

1969 "I Want To Be With You" (Liberty LBF 15273)

1972 "King of Scurf" (U.S.) / "Slush" (UK)

1992 "No Matter Who You Vote For the Government Always Gets In (Heigh Ho)"

Compilations and miscellaneous

1970 The Best of the Bonzos

1971 The Alberts, The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, The Temperance Seven

1971 Beast of the Bonzos

1974 The History of the Bonzos

1983 Some of the Best of The Bonzo Dog Band

1984 The Very Best of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band

1990 The Bestiality of the Bonzos

1990 The Best of the Bonzo Dog Band

1992 Cornology

1995 Unpeeled

1996 Everybody Loves Irony

1997 Buddha Is On Mars

1999 Anthropology: The Beast Within

2000 New Tricks

2002 The Peel Sessions (Bonzo Dog Band album)| The Peel Sessions

2006 Wrestle Poodles... And Win! (live album)

In popular culture

The psychedelic rock band, Poisoned Electrick Head , took their name from the last three words of the Bonzo's song, "My Pink Half of the Drainpipe".

Indie-rock band Death Cab for Cutie took their moniker from a Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band song by the same name.

When British actor, David Threlfall , appeared on Mastermind (TV series)|Celebrity Mastermind in 2010, the Bonzo band were his specialist subject.

Copyright Citations

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1. Neil Innes 2. The Rutles 3. Ronnie Lane 4. Larry Smith 5. Monty Python 6. Rutles

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