I am a musician. Have been for ages. Still playing. Some bands go back forever, Horace Batchelor & The Zeebra Kittens, Panama Grin, Burnt Ice, some a merely a decade (ish) like Walker Broad. There’s bands that came and went as well. My first band, Drivin’ Sideways is special too, I’ll post some of their stuff when I can. This page is going to grow. Maybe I’ll split it up. Anyway … here’s a bit of fun …
Early lockdown, 2020, my old friend Kev (Robinson/Eldon, depends on your perspective) called. “I’ve got a brief, can we do it?” he said.
“I want to write and record a song then put it over an obviously home made video.”
The idea was to create an entry for a spoof ‘Lockdown Eurovision’. Kev would be the French entrant.
“I reckon we can do that, how long do we have?” says I. “Friday,” said Kev. Good job it’s got to be home made.
We did it, Kev, Martin Bird, Geoff Webb, Alan Blackmore and myself. Here it is:
Horace Batchelor
Horace Batchelor was a man broadcasting on the radio in Britain during the 1950s and the 1960s. He was embedded into British culture if you were of the right age. Otherwise, you’ve never heard of him unless you’re a fan of The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band. If you’re not, you should be.
Anyway, there’s a line in a song by the Bonzos called Intro Outro that says, “What a team, Zeebra Kitten, Horace Batchelor on percusion.” That’s where the name, Horace Batchelor & The Zeebra Kittens (usually shortened to Horace) comes from. Now that’s that out of the way …
We are, Kev Robinson singing and strumming, Martin Bird and Geoff Webb working some sort of magic voodoo stuff on guitars, Alan ‘Blackie’ Blackmore drumming and me on bass.
We never meant to form a band, we just jammed together when we were young and we never stopped. We all do other stuff but Horace is like going home.
These two are a bit different and very recent. They are not covers, Kev wrote them.
We’ve never got around to recording an original until now, as far as I can remember. We’ve all worked on original material all our lives but, well, why bother when you want to play right now ‘cos your mates are all here, there’s lots of great songs already written and we all know how to play them? Which is just the sort of thing that the collective Horace beast would think. So, a long time coming …
Sunlight On The Sea written by Kev.
Recorded Spring 2021 at home(s) and at The Dug-Out.
Happy To Stay written by Kev.
Recorded Spring 2021 at home(s) and at The Dug-Out.
I’m going to look for old Horace stuff to post, it’s worth hearing, for now here’s some recently recorded stuff.
Teach Your Children Well written by Graham Nash.
Recorded Spring 2020, at home(s).
Stayin’ In written by Kev.
Recorded Spring 2020, at home(s).
Rockin’ in the Free World written by Neil Young
Recorded Spring 2010, at The Dug-Out.
I Wants To Be Loved written by Willie Dixon
Recorded Spring 2010, at The Dug-Out.
Panama Grin
Party time! We may do another gig somewhere, sometime but this is not a band for old geezers!
Graham Payne, singing and strumming, Jason Burley on rather lovely guitar stuff, Alan (again) hitting things, Keith Webb on drums and me on bass. The last few gigs have seen Johnny Payne on drums. There have been other line ups, all good, hard to remember all the details.
Surf’s Up can’t remember who wrote it, it’ll definately be Graham at least.
Recorded some time during the loved up period (I don’t even know which decade without thinking hard) at The Dug-Out.
Burnt Ice
Andy Broad – if you don’t know, look him up.
Matt ‘The Hat’ Beckwith on harmonica and a vocal.
That man Alan again on drums.
Me on bass.
Now this is a blues band. I can’t find any tracks recorded, I know there are some, I’ll get looking. This band is great and it’s been around a long time.