Special Birthday Surprise

Last Saturday, I had the surprise of my life when I was whisked away, blindfolded, to a secret location. It turned out to be a surprise birthday party for me organised by my family. It certainly was a surprise - I knew absolutely nothing about it and as the blindfold was removed there were friends and musicians (not that the musicians aren't also my friends!) dating back to my schooldays. As this is a music blog, I won't dwell on the wonderful food, drink and friendship but concentrate on the music. Being led by son to the venue

The blindfold is removed. Absolute shock at 70 people in front of me

The session started after lunch.

Joining in were members of the Oxford Fiddle Group, The Haddenham Shamrocks, 8 past and present members of the Kinderhook Barn Dance Band and a few others!

3 generations of musicians in this picture - Andrew on whistle in the middle, his father on banjo in the foreground and his grandfather on accordion in the background.

The session continues

Adrian and Rita

The Ian English Boodlum Band doing a spot - keyboard, washboard kit, guitar and phono fiddle!

@'The Sailor with the Navy Blue Eyes' - making me rather wet after attempting to vent and drink water at the same time??

Stuart, all the way from Exeter to play the musical saw. Stuart led the jug band I joined in 1967. You can see a picture of him in 1967 on the 10 Oct 2010 blog. He's on the extreme right, next to me on the double bass.

A duo waiting to do their spot! Eve with her great-grandfather.

Jug Band Music revisited

In 1967, I was one of a group of boys at the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe, Bucks who formed a Jug Band and performed in concerts at school and for other local organisations such as Youth Clubs, The British Legion, Women's Institute, Folk Clubs, Charity Groups etc.

Jug Band Music, for those who don't know, was American Music played in the twenties and revived in the sixties. It's a mixture of blues, ragtime and jazz played using some improvised instuments like a jug, washboard, washtub bass as well as easily obtainable instruments like guitar banjo, harmonica and kazoo.

School friend Trevor Toms was in the jug band and I've played in bands with him ever since.

A chance meeing with Roger Martin-Fagg, another 1967 jug band member in August 2010 has caused us to get together to play and record some of those old tunes. Below is a publicity photo of the jug band taken in December 1967. Trevor is on the extreme left reading a book, Roger is in the centre with his hand up and I'm next to him with the double bass.

Roger has a recording studio in the loft of his garage so yesterday we had our first session and put down four tracks - Jug Band Music, Boodle-Um Stomp, Take Your Fingers Off It, and San Fransisco Bay Blues.

In the recording studio
The instrumentation is Roger - keyboards, Trevor - guitar, banjo, ukulele, jug, backing vocals and me - double bass, mandolin, phono fiddle, swannee whistle, watering can and lead vocals.

The afternoon can only be described as tremendous fun bordering on schoolboy hysteria!

Trevor and Roger
Two more recording sessions are planned to complete a CD. Watch this space!

Roger with me, reunited musically for the first time in 41 years! Trevor trying to relive his talents on the jug!

The One String Phono Fiddle

The first photo shows me with my one string phono fiddle after a performance outside St Michael's Church in Oxford.
I have two one string phono fiddles believe or not! The one in the first two photos was my grandfather's and was handed down to me by my grandmother after his death. The second two photos are of my second phono fiddle which was saved by my father-in-law when helping an elderly neighbour clear 'rubbish' she no longer wanted out of her loft. The horn of the instrument was in rather a state but has been restored by Steve Harper, A tin whistle maker from Gawcott, Bucks.
Phono Fiddles were made by the English 'Stroh' company between 1910 and 1942 along with other strange instruments like the Stroh violin, 'cello, guitar and mandolin.
The design uses a pin bridge bearing on a diaphragm, the resulting sound being amplified by the horn. This is the same principle as used by the wind-up gramophone of the same era. Recording equipment of the early 20th century was primitive and required a loud output from the performer. Stroh believed that the louder sound of their instruments directed towards the microphone would improve recordings. It never really caught on!
The second photo above shows how to play the instrument. There are knee grips to hold the phono fiddle between knees. This phono fiddle is the 'Parlour' model. The other one is the 'Concert' model (see the 4th photo). It is slightly larger and louder.
I performed 'Danny Boy' on the phono fiddle in a Granada Television programme called 'Nice Time' hosted by Kenny Everett and Germaine Greer in 1969. They requested phono fiddle players to write in to appear on the show. My grandmother wrote in nominating me but unfortunately she died before I passed the audition and appeared on the show.
I've played the phono fiddle in various bands: Yogi's Ragtime Jug Stompers (1967-1969); Pond Street Grog Bottle Blowers & String Ensemble (1969-1972); Boodle-um Jug Stompers (1972-1982); Sunnyside Serenaders (1984-1988) and Ian English Boodlum Band (1992-present day).
The type of band name gives you a clue to the type of music suitable for the phono fiddle.
FiddleOn magazine ran an article on the phono fiddle and me in the Winter/Spring 2008 issue-
(http://www.fiddleon.co.uk/).

The Ian English Boodlum Band

The above shows the IAN ENGLISH BOODLUM BAND, currently on their GATEWAY TO OBLIVION Tour.

The band has been described as follows:
“The Ian English Boodlum Band’s show is packed with so much zany humour, offbeat music and parody that you definitely won't leave wanting more!”
“With their own brand of wacky songs and offbeat humour, these musicians are all soloists in their own right, and it’s only when they play together the trouble starts.”

The line-up is: Ian English (vocals/keyboard), Adrian Broadway (vocals/double bass/phonofiddle/mandolin/watering can), Trevor Toms (vocals/ukulele/guitar/banjo/jug) and Dave Reece (vocals/drums/washboard),

The band metamorphose into heavy-mental legends 'BAM!' for the final part of the act. BAM! finish off the evening, in every way, with tracks from their album ‘It’s So Easy To Rock And Roll’. Fans travel a long way when BAM! are gigging, although not always in the direction of the gig

The Ian English Boodlum Band are appearing at The Court Theatre, Pendley, Tring, Hertfordshire on Tuesday 24 June at 8.30pm Tickets are £8
See http://www.image-house.co.uk/CourtTheatre/Pages/shows/ianenglish08/ianenglish08.htm for more details.