TOWARDS the end of next year, the stunning new Herbert will play host to a music exhibition that goes all the way back to the birth of rock 'n' roll.
Provisionally titled More Than Two Tones, it will tell the tale of music in Coventry and Warwickshire. It is planned to include many angles of this great scene of ours.
The team behind the project is working on ideas and concepts, all aimed to bring the whole thing to life. It promises to be spectacular, but partially reliant on what exhibits we can obtain.
This is where you, my Backbeat friends come in; I'm asking people to be part of this by contributing to the exhibition. Be you an amateur or professional musician, a player or a fan, in a band now or an artist in the past six decades, we are looking for your help.
So what are we looking for? Well, anything with a musical connection. Be it with a national, international or local connection.
* RECORDS: What would music have been without all that lovely black flat vinyl? Yes long before we had the curse of the innocuous MP3, music had a bit of a fun factor about it, even in its packaging. I for one, recall the ride home with that new LP. Delicately removing the inner sleeve from the cover, and the joy of discovering that a lyric sheet was included.
So now is the time to drag out that almost-forgotten record box, and find that special album. We are not looking for your common garden LP, EP or single. We want something that has a tale behind it. Maybe it was your band on the disc, or as a fan you met the record's artists and got it signed.
* POSTERS: Probably the most highly-priced music collectible these days. I've seen Beatles posters outselling a complete set of the Fab Four's signatures. The very essence of a poster was to promote that one-off event, then discard it. The clever ones did no such thing, and hey presto, a collectible is born.
I have a few local posters in my collection, Covaid, Blitz Kreig Zone 2020 and Attrition. You may have one from a Coventry Theatre show, or Tiffany's, or even more exciting from the Orchid Ballroom. Remember, it doesn't have to be advertising a local artist; the exhibition will focus on any music that has a connection with the area. Including acts that played the city.
* CLOTHING: This is always an exciting one, you can roughly deduce what records and posters are likely to be available. Not so with clothing. Already we have pledges of some very interesting items. Such as Paul King's famous red suit, an amazing military-style coat from Edgar Broughton, and Tom Long has offered us the chance of borrowing his blue Gino of Will Brookes tailored stage jacket he wore when he was a member of the hit Rugby band Pinkerton's Assorted Colours.
You may have an original teddy boy drape coat, or have kept hold of your stage costumes, or even some 70s platform shoes that you wore to a gig. We are looking for many types of interesting clothing - male or female.
AWARDS: An interesting one; I'm talking about gold discs and the like.
I know that we already have people such as Coventry's Mark Rattray who is happy to loan his precious Opportunity Knocks Trophy. Cov legend Hazel O'Connor has pledged the loan of gold discs and her Best Soundtrack BAFTA she got for the Breaking Glass movie. Producer Roger Lomas is on the committee, so we may even get to exhibit the Grammy award he won for his production of the Lee Perry album Jamaican ET.
* EPHEMERAL ITEMS: Literally means lasting just one day. Like posters, this section will include throwaway items that never were thrown away, such as flyers, hand-bills, postcards, business cards and ticket stubs.
* PHOTOGRAPHS: The key to any exhibition. I'm happy to have a large picture collection of local music as part of my job as a local music historian. Though many of those images have already been seen, and I'm excited by what other photographs exist out there. So now's the time to get the photo box out, and have a good look at what you may have.
* INSTRUMENTS: Grand pianos and church organs don't really fit this bill. Guitars certainly do though, and maybe an odd drum kit (or a bass drum at least). Some may have concerns at lending such precious irreplaceable items. The Herbert has assured us that, as always, all items will be stored securely and will be well looked after in gallery conditions.
* GO ON SURPRISE US: Above is a broad outline of what we are likely to see, what we really want is the public to surprise us. To offer something we had never thought of.
I have every faith in the great Coventry public and I know we are going to get at least a few items in this category.
So what happens next? OK, what we want right now is a rough description of the item (or even better a photo), please don't send anything in at this stage. Letters can be addressed to me: Pete Chambers, at the Coventry Telegraph, Corporation Street, Coventry, CV1 1FP, or via my e-mail at tencton@hotmail.com
Kristy, you seem to be highly regarded and popular on the Cov Scene but how did you get started - what inspired to give it a go?
I just love playing and playing a few open mics at the age of 16 seemed to lead from gig to gig and i haven't really stopped since. Having just turned 22 i'm enjoying it more now!
You have a great guitar style or rather styles. How did that develop, what were your influences?
I think just playing in general will shape and develop your own style. I learnt with Clive Layton a truly brilliant Coventry musician for 7 or so years, teaching me songs i love and different techniques. In the last year or so i have been playing with Dave Bennett a fantastic and well respected ragtime player based in Coventry. Dave has had me listening to Mississippi John Hurt, Reverend Gary Davis, Joan Baez just to name a few and i have enjoyed experimenting mixing them all and playing in a completely different style out of my comfort zone.
You have a distinctive songwriting style, as if the listener is privy to an interesting but private conversation, or even the receipient. It kind of draws you in and involves you in the song. Tell us about how that developed, the influences etc.
From the Music i enjoy listening to, Tori Amos, Shawn Colvin, Suzanne Vega they all have very distinctive writing styles and certain 'tricks' that pop up from song to song. It's quite a natural develpoment for me, i don't think you can force that type of writing because everyone's style is different and if it is forced it doesn't sound natural and therefor untrue. I write from the heart from things i have experienced or have witnessed.
You have a folk style delivery in your live performances but on your new album - Emotional Gun - I noticed a developing jazz ballad style delivery that was full of potential. Is that a conscious direction or influence?
The Jazz style tracks on the album were all written in the same time period where i was listening to a lot of Madeleine Peyroux and Diana Krall at the time learning their songs and this was reflected in my writings at the time.
You've obviously worked hard on your live performances, how hard has it been to get regular gigs and build up your reputation, and does yet extend outside the Coventry area?
Like i said before i have been very fortunate and one gig seems to lead to another, venues in the area are constantly changing and am very thankful for the support that has built up in the West Midlands area of people coming to gigs. I am branching out further though and have a gig at the Regal Rooms, Hammersmith, London on the 29th August.
What would make a difference now, both in terms of the Coventry scene and in career opportunities for your music?
I have just graduated from a Music Composition Degree at Coventry University and am now set up as a full time Professional Musician so in career terms i am very fortunate to be able to do what i love doing. I am also a promoter in Coventry and have two weekly nights, one at the Earlsdon Cottage and one at the Tuns. The Coventry scene has been very kind and supportive to me and by putting nights on in the city i hope to be giving a little back.
Lastly, where can people buy the album? (The shameless plug question!)? Go for it!
sister's age. By the time Hobo was up and running in the early to mid 70's she was playing Coventry folk clubs. It was at the Charterhouse pub, Terry Rd. in Coventry I first saw her perform with her guitar to great acclaim for her young voice. Around 1974 her name cropped up in many of the folk club posts in Hobo.
At the time she was a rising star on the local folk club circuit but I never knew what became of her until the other day, when searching for another Coventry act, I came across her website and e mailed her. Gilly now lives in New Zealand and her website biography makes intersting reading.
You can read of her musical adventures and download her music via her own website but here are some of the main highlights to tempt you to visit her page and to document her success on the this site.
Gilly says her singing career started in school, joining various groups and then forming her own all girl group called Mosaic.
Gilly also started to "perform solo at local folk clubs in her home town of Coventry, she was still only 14. Gilly was a rebellious pupil and left school as soon as was possible, to join an Irish showband of all things. She had a great time learning the ropes, and was well chaperoned by the boys in the band."
At 16, she answered an ad in Melody Maker "for girl singers to form an English equivalent of the "Three Degrees". Gilly got the job! Along with two others, she underwent the star treatment doled out by "MCA" records and "Bell" records. However, as with a lot of these record company fiascos,(at one point Gilly was the only one singing all of the parts and the other two were just to create a three girl image), it all went botty up and Gilly was once again solo.
After that Gilly returned to the folk scene and joined Streetband who were about to do a busking tour of Europe. She had a great time despite being arrested twice (busking was illegal then)! Eventually she returned to England as a soloist and the Streetband became the One Eyed Jacks with bass player Martin Allcocks.
Soon she would hear " Waterfall", Keith Donnelly and Martyn Oram, perform at the Lanchester Poly in Coventry. She
fell in love with the songs (mostly written by Keith Donnelly), This started a new chapter in Gilly's life and career,and a partnership with Keith that lasted for nearly 20 years.Though they no longer perform together Gilly and Keith are still great friends, and Gilly still performs a lot of his material.
They became very popular on the folk scene both here and abroad. A highlight at this time was to open Cambridge Festival on Main Stage1. Gilly remembers it particularly well as she had taken up skydiving and had to be helped on stage with crutches due to a slightly mistimed landing!
Waterfall toured constantly throughout Europe and further afield, including trips to Belize, Cyprus and the Falklands. They also did a T.V. special for the BBC called "This Is Waterfall." Definitely worth seeing for the ridiculous outfits that they came up with on a shopping spree in London! The trio released two albums to much acclaim, "Three Birds" produced by Johnny Coppin, and "Beneath The Stars" produced by Phillip Goodhand-Tait.
After Martyn Oram left Gilly and Keith toyed with several new names and for a while were called "Little Aeroplane", releasing an album of the same name, this time produced by Richard Digance. Then they changed the name again and became "Nothing By Chance", the name of a Richard Bach book that Gilly was reading at the time.
Once again a new chapter began as "Nothing By Chance" were taken on by Jasper Carrotts' management company, after a succesful tour with him. They went on to support such noticeables as Van Morrison, The Hollies, and Tori Amos, to name but a few. During which time they appeared at almost every major venue throughout Britain and Ireland, with numerous T.V. appearances, including several on "Pebble Mill At One".
They were spotted by a BBC producer whilst doing a Phil Cool support, who loved what he saw and wanted to turn them into huge, and I mean huuuwwwwwwwwg T.V. stars. They had their own T.V. special for the Beeb which received critical acclaim, (a clip was shown on "Points of View") and was swiftly shown again at a prime time on BBC1. Gilly and Keith then spent 6 months working with the people at BBC Pebble Mill on a six part series. At the last minute politics between London and Pebble Mill meant that the TV series was vetoed.
Undaunted Gilly and Keith then made an album called "Ghosts Of Love". The album was produced by John "Bonny" Acock and Mick Dolan at Stevie Winwood's fantastic studio down in Gloucestershire, and features many fine guest musicians including Phil Beer of "Show of Hands" fame and Al Marnie, bass player with Chris de Burgh, This was swiftly taken up by "Chrysalis" records. They started a 90 date country wide tour in their own right. The album was receiving rave reviews, and receiving radio 1 and 2 air play. Unfortunately "Chrysalis" were being bought out by big bad nasties "EMI", Nothing By Chance became tiny, tiny fishes in a huge sea, got sucked through some other fishes gills, and ceased to exist!
Gilly returned once more to a solo career which she is still doing, including some major festivals around the world.
Her first solo CD "One", is really a showcase CD, trying to show some of these differing sides to her voice, though mostly aimed at the "folk scene". It was recorded totally live at the famous Red Lion folk club in Kings Heath, Birmingham. The infamous Jim Mcphee who ran the Red Lion F.C. signed Gilly up for his agency, Acorn Entertainments, as soon as he heard her doing a resident spot at the club. This is what he had to say about her first appearance there:
She had everyone so captivated that- 1. I forgot to start recording untill she'd nearly finished the first set. 2. The audience were spellbound - you could hear a pin drop. 3.The latecomers entered the room and stood silently, transfixed until she'd finished her song - AND THAT'S NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE! 4. I forgot to start the recording for her second set. All in all I was so gobsmacked that I said I would try and get her some work. Unfortunately Jim underwent a major operation and decided to end the agency.
Gilly incorporates many different genres of music into her sets, believing that a beautiful song is a beautiful song no matter what genre it comes from, and that if she believes the words the audience will too. With her ability to "feel" a song and to pass that feeling on to her audience, genre is often transcended. Her haunting voice was used for the title track, and incidental music for the BBC drama "The Tennant Of Wildfell Hall" which has been shown worldwide, and by the same composer, Richard G. Mitchel, for a video of the World Cup,(The Coupe de la Gloire-also available on CD) during which he referred to her as Gilly te Kanawa!! Listen out for her Kiri impression on track 6, "Sunday Prayer".
More recently Gilly has joined up with Maart Allcockfor some gigs. The few they have done so far have really taken the audience by storm, including The Mill, Banbury, Godiva Festival, Coventry, and Warwick Festivals.
The demo Maart and Gilly did for the BBC producer was made MP3 of the month for October 2001 on Folking.com This is what they wrote...
MP3 Of The Month...Gilly Darbey- "Ain't No Use Baby"
"Dim the lights, I want to set the scene. It's August and we're at the Cropredy festival, Fairport Convention has just gone off stage and the chatter of well contented, happy people are all around us. Most people are heading out of the main site for either their tents or transport home. We're not leaving the field - We're going to wait for something magical to happen. We walk to the left hand of the stage and pass through the security gate. At the back of the stage there is a tent. Artists and their friends are milling around outside it and the sound of the blues floats out. Inside the tent is "Sugarland Slim" cranking out an impromptu session featuring the extraordinary voice of Gilly Darbey who we have chosen as our MP3 of the Month for October. "Ain't no use now baby" features the talents of Maartin Allcock and hopefully will be included as one of the tracks on a planned collaboration album in the not too distant future. Sugarland Slim have also hinted that Gilly may guest with them on their next release."
And indeed she appears on Sugarlands new CD "Texan Calypso". A song Sean wrote especially to duet with Gilly, called "Dirty girl, Lousy Guy". After recording the track Sugarland had a gig locally and invited Gilly along. This is a review from Relayer. A web site dedicated to bands in and around Bedford, though the reviewer had travelled much further afield to see Sugarland Slim.
".... and then the singer announces a short break .... and invites Gilly Darbey to get up and entertain us. Gilly and Sugarland Slim got together in the small hours at the Cropedy Festival, and they were equally knocked out with each other.... playing and singing through the night. Gilly has been invited to duet with Sean on a number on the new CD.... I'm looking forward to that - she has a superb voice with an incredible range, and treated us to a short set, mostly solo's (guitar/vocal) ...... Jeff solo's on a couple.... great sound! "You'll have to excuse me, I'm a crap guitarist!" she says, before playing very well indeed! Loud applause, from a smallish, but very appreciative crowd ...Wow, what a singer ..... very enjoyable indeed!" The CD is now due out, so check the guys web site for release details.
The year 2000 saw her expanding her horizons with a successful tour to Australia and New Zealand. Since that first tour Gilly has returned several times to growing enthusiam from the audiences in the southern hemisphere. Appearing at some of the countries most prestigeous folk and blues festivals and venues.
Spring 2004 saw the release of her second solo CD...."Blues Movin' In", which is more bluesey than the first solo CD and has really captured the essence of Gilly's voice. Spring 2004 was spent touring in Australia and New Zealand, with the prestigeous Australian National Folk Festival over Easter in Canberra, and a live appearance on National Radio in NZ. Gilly went down a storm at the National, especially the huge 3000 seater Badewang Hall where she sold out of CD's at the first concert. Then a return to the UK for more gigs. Summer 2004 was spent moving to NZ where Gilly now resides. Autumn gigs included Hong Kong Festival and the end of the year saw her at the huge and wonderful Woodford Festival in Queensland, Australia
2006 saw Gilly recording some songs for Gordon Giltrap and performing them as his guest at the Symphony Hall, London in March. Gordon Wrote of her.......
"You are and always will be one of the finest singers I have ever had the privilege to listen to"
2006 saw her embark on another tour of New Zealand, including a live spot on TVNZ "Good Morning Show". Then back to Australia for the National Festival in Canberra.
2007 and Gilly is now making a name for herself in her new home New Zealand, with great reviews for her appearance at the Queenstown International Jazz Festival, Waipara Wine and Food Festival, and the Alexandra Blossom festival, one of the largest festivals in the South Island, she has also just been confirmed to appear at the Parihaka International Peace Festival in 2008, which is a real honour. Check out their website at Parihaka Festival.
Her new CD recorded in Australia at Rob Longs wonderful studio in Newcastle, with Rob playing guitars and drums and Liz Frencham of Jigzag playing double bass, has received rave reviews in NZ Musician. October 07 sees her embarking on a tour of NZ with her band to promote the new CD, see date sheet for details. Gilly has recently joined up with Dunedin based Texan musician Terry Ebeling and the band are starting to get gigs around the wine and food festival, corporate circuit.
Gilly also has a My Space (although I haven't yet found it) Will post it when I do!
Note of meeting re Coventry Music Exhibition, 5.3.2008
Present: Pete Chambers, Neol Davies, Dave Fisher, Peter Walters, John Dawkins, Huw Jones, Erin Hollis, Martin Roberts
Apologies: Trevor Teasdel, Roger Lomas, Richard Elms, Roger Vaughan
1. Exhibition development
Pete circulated a list of pledges so far, which included costume, instruments, gold disks, poster, etc representing a number of bands and performers. He also passed round some scanned images of objects, posters, etc. This represents a really good start and will help to determine the structure and design of the exhibition.
Pete is also going to write a column appealing for information and objects.
Neol has material relating to Selecter, including a gold disk and cuttings.
Trevor has agreed to begin a timeline of Coventry bands since the 1950s on the Hobo website. He will also start to compile a list a list of possible interviewees for the exhibition.
A couple of people have been contacted by a company who are interested in making a film of Coventry music history. This is something Richard has suggested we do for the exhibition.
It was agreed that for publicity and marketing purpose, we should concentrate on Two Tone, as there is a large following for this and it is likely to attract visitors to the exhibition, including from further afield. Dave suggested a title for the exhibition could be 'More Than Two Tones' and it was agreed to adopt this as a working title. Dave is going to put together a poll for the Mercia website, asking people to nominate the bands they would most like to see featured in the exhibition.
2. Project Plan and Milestones
There were no further comments on the document issued at the previous meeting.
3. Funding
It was agreed that a formal approach should be made by the Herbert to EMI to try to obtain a favourable deal for music and film clips and to persuade them to support the exhibition generally. John agreed to supply contact details for the Herbert to follow up.
Peter has spoken to a colleague about a possible funding application to Advantage West Midlands. The project does potentially fall within their remit.
Dave will follow up the Ricoh re sponsorship. The Coventry Building Society don't sponsor the arts. Cassidy's were also suggested as potential sponsors and John agreed to look into this.
John suggested staging a concert as the Ricoh as a fundraising activity. This could involve a number of local bands and it may be possible to get the venue at reduced cost. All agreed to think about this.
The Herbert's move to trust status is due to be confirmed in July – it will then be possible to set a budget for the exhibition.
4. Events programme
Jo,the Herbert's Events Officer, has recently moved on to a new post elsewhere. However she has left detailed notes about the ideas for events which have been discussed so far, for her successor to pick up when they are appointed.
Neol expressed his willingness to lead a 'masterclass' event. It was felt that the Herbert's new Studio space would be an ideal venue for this type of event.
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