By Simon Thorpe (BHCHS 1973-80)
This September, two 1973 Old Bucks will perform together in a new band, FUZZ KITCHEN – more than 50 years after they first formed a group while at BHCHS.
The music and songs – written by Simon – are in the style of ‘The Canterbury Scene’ of the 1970s
FUZZ KITCHEN will be playing at the Lexington, 96-98 Pentonville Rd, London N1 9JB on Monday 21st September
https://buytickets.at/hatfieldandthehealth/2205913
and at The Piper, 1 Norman Rd, St Leonard’s on Sea TN37 6NH on Thursday 24th September
https://buytickets.at/hatfieldandthehealth/2206018
The music that grabbed me at first as a schoolboy, after outgrowing the teenybop of bands like Slade and The Sweet – was the prog rock of Yes, Genesis, King Crimson and others. Sharing a love for music seems to help some school kids find their tribe, and I certainly found mine with two other boys in my class, Nick Allum and Jurgen Hobbs. We introduced each other to lots of bands of that time, and as I’m sure school kids still do, went to each others’ houses to hang out, annoy our mums, play our guitars and listen to all kinds of music.
Exploring further some of the musicians in those bands, along with recommendations from older boys, Nick and I gradually began to discover music of the so-called Canterbury Scene – bands like Gong, Soft Machine, Caravan, and lesser-known ones like Hatfield & the North, Gilgamesh, Egg, Camel and National Health. Only a handful of the musicians actually came from the Canterbury area in Kent, but these bands, and others like Henry Cow and Slapp Happy, became loosely associated together because of a particularly quirky combination of rock, jazz, pop, contemporary classical, Weill/Brecht-style theatricality, witty lyrics, electronic experimentation and outright avant-garde free improvisation. It was somehow very English, but often with the involvement of many European and American influences – and musicians. It could only have happened in the 1970s – an incredibly diverse and creative time in popular music.
Anyone who has read the excellent novel The Rotters’ Club by Jonathan Coe will have read about the protagonist Ben’s love for Hatfield & the North’s music (the book is named after the Hatfields’ second album). The novel describes Ben’s life as a schoolboy in surroundings which seem to me very much like BHCH transported to the West Midlands.
Hatfield & the North had a style of music unlike anyone else, with beautiful melodies, the unique sounds and chord voicings of keyboardist Dave Stewart (NOT he of the Eurythmics in the 80s), guitarist Phil Miller, drummer Pip Pyle (both from just up the road in Sawbridgeworth, and sadly no longer with us) and the velvety vocals of Richard Sinclair delivering witty, often risqué or poignant lyrics in a rather deadpan, tongue-in-cheek manner.
Back to Nick and me – in the 2020 lockdowns, we started recording, just for fun, some cover versions of music by Hatfield & the North and National Health (our favourite bands from that scene), along with keyboard player Eric Baumgartner, an old friend of Nick’s from his studies at Berkelee College of Music in the USA. We had such a great time recreating their music, we decided to play live. With me singing and playing bass, and Nick on drums, we recruited my great friends and musical colleagues Mark Ridout and Karen Sharp (on guitar and woodwind respectively) and played some gigs in 2022 and 2023 under the name Hatfield and the Health. The fans really enjoyed it and asked us if we had original music too, so I set about writing some music and songs in that style. We also invited Gabriel Keen to play keyboards with us. The result is the album, FUZZ KITCHEN, due for release in September, in time for our mini-tour.
For more about Fuzz Kitchen, visit their website: https://www.fuzzkitchen.com/
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