GARY FLETCHER: Bass Guitar
& Vocals
NB:
Gary's own site is at:
www.garyfletchermusic.co.uk
Gary was born in
London in the early ‘50s and is probably best known as the bass player
in The Blues Band, although his songwriting talent is respected
by many. The band’s encore anthem, his song Green Stuff, has been
a constant in their live set since the Ready album was released
in 1980, and has been covered by bands throughout Europe. The band’s
latest (17th) album, Stepping Out, features Gary’s song
Stepping Out On Main, another big winner with audiences.
Although he bought the
With The Beatles album when it first came out in ’63,
Gary’s preoccupation with cars, trains & other Boys’ Own hobbies meant
that it wasn’t until the later years of the Sixties that he made his next
album acquisitions – notably Eddie Boyd with Fleetwood Mac and
Cream’s Wheels of Fire double album. Exposure to these
blues-oriented records sowed the seeds of his musical aspirations and he
gradually began to play around with his sister’s humble Spanish guitar.
Though left handed, he didn’t let the fact that the instrument was a right
handed one stand in his way, and to this day plays a guitar strung for
normal right hand use - left handed, ie upside down. Few others play this
way although the late, great, blues player Albert King was similarly
afflicted.
On the basis of knowing
no more than the riff to Willie Dixon’s Spoonful, Gary got the job
in his first band, The Breath Of Life. Together with a bunch of
local Streatham musicians, his next band, Garfield Row, was formed
…. a semi-acoustic folk rock band who played regularly in a local pub
owned by the father of Jethro Tull’s bassist, Glenn Cornick. Glen gave
the band much encouragement, lending them some top class amps & guitars.
They eventually went their separate ways and Gary went on to sustain work
as a musician in a variety of bands from Blues/Rock to Folk/Rock to Soul,
to playing in a Country band at Wembley Arena, to writing/performing in
Rock band Panama Scandal.
In the mid ‘70s he
joined long running Blues/Rock band, Sam Apple Pie, later known as
The Vipers. Alongside this, Gary and his old mate and songwriting
partner, Steve Gurl, landed a separate recording contract and together
with the third partner in the songwriting team, Hilary – Gary’s wife, a
publishing contract.
Gary met Dave Kelly in
late ’78 when they both played in a band put together by Wilgar Campbell,
the ex Rory Gallagher drummer, called The Wildcats. He then played
bass on a track on Dave’s Willing album and was suggested by Dave
for the bass job when, together with Paul Jones & Tom McGuinness (ex of
Manfred Mann), plus ex John Mayall drummer Hughie Flint, The Blues Band
first got together. The success of The Blues Band was almost
instantaneous and they were soon playing to packed houses, releasing their
first album, appearing on TV and radio regularly, including the celebrated
Euro-wide Rockpalast, and headlining at Glastonbury. Seventeen
albums & countless tours later the demand continues to grow for their
special & personal interpretation of the blues, thousands of excellent
reviews have appeared in a variety of publications - The Times referring
to them as a 'top flight group of seasoned professionals' - and early
editions of their first album are now collector’s items. As the band enjoy
the celebrations for their 25th anniversary in 2004, new
chapters are still being added to their story.
Concurrent with The
Blues Band during the past 25 or so years Gary has continued to write and
record his own material, and has contributed songs to records by other
artists. His 'pop' side project, The Relatives, released the Feud of
Love album in 1997 although the record had been in the making since
the early '90s. He is also currently performing with and has written for
The Dave Kelly Band. It is only in the past year or two that Gary has
started to perform solo after receiving encouragement to do so from
positive audience reaction to the tracks on recent Blues Band albums on
which he has sung lead. A couple of songs sung by Gary are now a regular
feature of The Blues Band’s shows. To step forward to the lead vocal
microphone after so many years working behind the band’s legendary two
principal voices, ie Paul Jones and Dave Kelly, was a daunting task but
the strength of good original songs sung by their writer has proved an
audience pleaser, and Gary has been enjoying the opportunity to stake his
claim as a singer-songwriter in his own right.
His The Official Gary
Fletcher Bootleg Album CD (on the Hypertension Music label ref
HYP4227) features 16 tracks, a full one-hour running time plus a Friedel
Muder designed 20-page booklet, which includes extensive background notes
and the full lyrics to each track. Many of the tracks are the original
writer's versions of songs which have been recorded by The Blues Band
during the band's career. Green Stuff, which has become something
of an anthemic 'classic' for the band over the years, is featured in a
totally stripped back acoustic guitar & voice version, whilst Bus To
Nowhere appears in a much less aggressive mode than it does on the
recent Stepping Out album. You've Got To Choose is a song
recorded back in 1991 by The Blues Band but to date never released, whilst
Watch My Lips is a tune written for the band which never got
through the 'selection committee'! Written in October 2001, the emotive
World Gone Crazy already features in The Blues Band's repertoire
and responds to the events of both September 11 and to the serious
accident which Gary's son suffered three days before. Also present are
brand new songs, one or two of which may be recorded for the band's next
studio album but which in any event will certainly be featured in Gary's
increasing schedule of live performances.
Gary's next studio
project is the recording of an album featuring a collection of his latest
songs performed by his eclectic new semi-acoustic band, The Gary
Fletcher Band, which features Gary on acoustic & electric guitars, his
son Jack primarily on bass, his fellow Blues Band rhythm section partner,
the superb Rob Townsend, on congas (and full kit as required), and new to
the wider blues scene, the sublime John Evans on lead guitar. As at
Summer 2004, the sessions are going very well indeed and it's hoped to
have the CD finished and released by Autumn 2004. This line-up commences
live work in April 2004 and, subject to Blues Band commitments permitting,
will be working extensively in both the UK, Europe & beyond.
(Click on thumbnails to
see larger versions of pics.)
The following pics were taken in June
2004 during the recording of Gary's next album. The pics feature Gary,
his son Jack on bass, Rob Townsend on drums, John Evans on guitar &
co-producer/engineer, Bill Gautier.
