jim bell

The Breathers – Jim Bell’s photo collection 1

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supplied by Jim Bell.

Ric Hool, Jim Bell, John Wilde, Steve Demetri

Diane Knight… I remember them rehearsing in our studio in Fairlight Avenue…one recording went on all night.. pretty sure it was the same verse

James Bell… they were long rehearsals sometimes. The same verse was probably me getting it wrong.!!!! Thanks for being understanding, you guys were always supportive. Have a great Xmas jimx

Ric Hool… Rehearsing wasn’t optional with The Breathers. Chanced acts of creativity – there are those who will call them ‘mistakes’ – were pounced upon and used to flavour an established number differently, or else be the seed of a new song. Rehearsals were never solely concerned with dotting an ‘i’ and crossing a ‘t’ – they were much, much more than that. The Fairlight Studio was haven and heaven for us. Thank you for indulging us Diane.

It’s a lot faster than it used to be…

 

 

The Breathers at The Crawdaddy Club and other photos by Allan Morrow

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Photos © Allan Morrow

Steve Demetri, John Wilde, Jim Bell, Ric Hool

Ric Hool… The Crawdaddy Club. This was the first public outing of ‘No Beginner’. I’m pretty sure the gig was recorded – wonderfully RAW! Getting back to ‘No Beginner’… This, Roger (Carey – and Hi!) is the song with the chorus
indelibly imprinted on your grey cells: my apology. Every song written for The Breathers was special so in one sense
‘No Beginner’ is no exception… but it is. But before I launch into that, I have to make known that as the group’s
lyricist and tunesmith, I brought some raw fudge that The Breathers cooked into what became fabulous songs. We never ‘played’ them; we were inside them punching them out in every performance: rehearsal and actual.
Jim, Steve and John were right there and right into it. Back to ‘No Beginner’…

The Chorus:
‘You’re a breather
A soul survivor
A racing driver
A man of action
A space ship captain
An outright winner
And no oh oh oh oh beginner’

Checked out each group member but as soon as John released it on stage there became a realisation of those words moving out to the audience in the very first word of the chorus: You’re That word; that song found complete connection. It said, you are all these things… and more. It shared a limitless inspiration. ‘No Beginner’ was the ever-developing live song, in the vocal of an ‘in the moment’ singer: Izzi Peptone. Fun; engagement; field holler; call and reply, absurdism primed for exploration.

‘You’re a breather
An ice-cream cornet
A nest of hornets
A ghostly spectre
A train inspector
A Surrealist painting
An actress fainting
A rhino charging
A misspent farthing’

To infinity… The Breathers should have taken it there… and beyond. Ric Hool

John Wilde… spot on Ric, those songs were a call to Action! I would love to hear them again.

Alan Esdaile… Action!

Grant Young… I’d love to hear these recordings

Jim Bell… Good news, I’m looking to restore all of the Breathers catalog over the summer holidays.

 

The Breathers – Jim Bell’s photo collection 3

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Supplied by Jim Bell

Ric Hool, Steve Demetri, John Wilde, Jim Bell.

Alan Esdaile… Second photo is at the recording of ‘Living In The Age Age’.  Not sure who the guy with glasses is but seem to recognise the guy in the red shirt? What had you done to your arm John?

James Bell.. They were exciting and creative times. I would like to say thanks Alan for putting this group together, it’s wonderful looking back. From this the remaining Breathers have all being in contact, and are going to try and get together sometime in 2022. One thing though, Can’t remember Kermit being in the band. Cheers Jim

Ric Hool… Hi Jim, you might recall, the frog had a failed auditioned: he had no ‘Kermitment’…

James Bell… Ric, That made me laugh out loud. X

Roger Carey… Good pictures! I remember attending one of The Breathers’ first gigs at the Carlisle upstairs- they had a contemporary modern approach at the time with shorter snappier songs and looked good doing it!

John Wilde… Ric was a good song writer.

Roger Carey… John, Still recall that chorus “you’re a breather, a man of action, a racing driver “etc!

Alan Esdaile… Roger, so do I!

Tony Qunta… Great band!

Phil Gill… The guy in the red shirt is Jim Tatham, he and Digger were roadies/sound men for Tich Turner’s Escalator, and presumably, The Breathers.

The Breathers – Windsor Castle London 1980’s by Clive Pierce

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photo supplied by Clive Pierce

Jim Bell (Red Ferrari), John Wilde (Izzi Peptone),  Clive Pierce and Ric Hool

Clive Pierce… I would just like to clear a few inaccuracies up In relation to my short spell with The Breathers. I was contacted quite out of the blue by Simon Davies, who had been one of the A&R managers at a subsidiary label of EMI called Cobra Records. I was in a group called CRAZE who were signed to Cobra. Everything was going well until for reasons unbeknownst to me, Simon and his co A&R partner Tony Squires decided to jump ship leaving all the artists signed to Cobra floundering. We were passed on to EMI Harvest but we weren’t anyone’s baby anymore so consequently were neglected and through this Craze split. I was asked by Simon if I would like to try out for the vacant drummer position in The Breathers so off to Hastings I went to meet the guys in the group and to see if we could click. I found them all very amicable and was made to feel part of the group almost immediately after my audition. It is true that I did consider at this stage to becoming a session drummer and had started to earn quite good money but I absolutely hated every minute of it. I was 18 years old and was playing sessions on tracks that I had no affinity with whatsoever, so The Breathers were a breath of fresh air ‘pun intended’. Even though I gave The Breathers my best shot I was still in love with CRAZE so just slipped slowly away but with no hard feelings. Lovely guys and Izzi was an absolute character. Rick was very accommodating and friendly. I stayed at his place in Hastings while we rehearsed for a mini tour of the North and even stayed at his parents house up in Newcastle….I love the folk from the North East. One thing i must say that did not sit for me very well concerns the single they released. I have no idea why their original drummer Steve Demetri left but I have to take this chance to say that it was him and not I who played the drums on Living In An Age Age even though I am credited on the sleeve as doing so. It was done without my consultation and it was too late to have my name removed after they had gone into production. That was just not right and embarrassing for me.I would have been livid if it was the other way round. If I had my way Steve’s name would have been on the sleeve and not mine. Anyway….thank you guys for the fun. Clive.

Phil Gill… That poor man has no shirt. I’d have given him back one of those he gave me in 1976 if I’d known.

Alan King… I lost mine on the 3:35 at Lingfield perhaps he did too

Ric Hool… Clive Pierce was a crisp drummer, sharp to The Breather’s material and if I never said so before, thanks Clive. Yes, Steve Demetri was the drummer on Livin In The Age Age. Once heard, you couldn’t mistake Steve’s unique style. It’s gracious of Clive to put the record straight. That tour Clive mentions, I think, went into Scotland – Edinburgh, Bathgate, Glasgow… Every gig outside of Hastings was virtually always north and most often a long, long drive so putting a tour together, though we never made money, put enough petrol in the van to keep us going. Friends were made along the way who put us up overnight and, as Clive mentions, when possible, staying with family was a luxury. Motorway eating was far too expensive but as soup was the cheapest item on the menu we got through a lot of it. John (Izzi) and I, in desperate times of hunger, used to scan the tables to see what other customers were leaving and make a dive for the scraps as soon as those tables were deserted. Typical of most groups trying to make it: Lords on stage; Beggars off stage. Best Ric

John Wilde… Hi Boys. Great to see posts from Clive and Ric.Thank you Clive for your keen presence all those years ago. They were great times. So, thank you Ric for inviting me on board. We were a tight unit, I wish I had paid better attention and focussed more on the music instead of preening my feathers. I wish both Ric and Jim (Red Ferrari) all the best and Clive, thank you for your graciousness.

Janie Watson… Would you by any chance be the Johnny Wilde who used to dance amazingly onstage at The Cobweb, c1969/70? Usually to Grooving With Mr Bloe? Apologies if not!

John Wilde… yep that was me. Great times.

Stuart Moir… They were the good times when the gear was perched on beer crates

Tony Davis… Strange to see this now. During my recent local music show on Hastings Rock Radio I decided to dig out some legacy tracks and was extremely grateful to Julian Deeprose for letting me have a copy of Age Age. It was great to here again and if anyone has any other Breathers tracks I would love to play them. Great days

Dave Allan… Hi, I also covered some gigs in the drum seat for the lads when they were working up’t North. I’d previously worked with Jim & Ric in a band called Telephone with Brendan Healey and Chris McPherson (don’t mention that Renault 4 🙂 )and then ultimately with Brendan in a band called The East Side Torpedoes. Sadly Brendan’s no longer with us, but it would be great to hear what Ric and Jim are up to these days. Take care everyone. Dave

Dee Hellier… (in reply to Dave Allan) Hi Dave, well I can tell you that Jim is well and living in London now.  He has never hung up his guitar and is as excited about music now as he was then. He has his own studio located a short walk up the garden, where he writes, records and develops loads of new artists. He also teaches at BIMM London! He is still very much living in the age age!  Dee x

The Breathers – Living In The Age Age biography

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The Breathers:  Livin In The Age Age

ACTION!

Ric Hool and Jim Bell (aka Red Ferrari) moved to Hastings from Newcastle, in late 1978, on the back of an abortive management deal with Brian Leahey, who was working at that time from East Grinstead: Brian managed musician friends in the group, ‘Goldie’.

A few weeks after arriving in All Saints Street, Old Town, Hastings Steve Demetri called round to check-out the Geordies, apparently steered that way by Tich Turner.  Steve returned a few days later with John Wilde (aka Izzi Peptone) – they were musical celebrities of Hasting. There was an instant recognition of energy.

Daily rehearsals soon began above Steve’s parents’ café on the seafront, on the corner of St Mary’s Crescent: things got tight. It was a purple patch of creativity for each member and Ric was pushed forward as the song writer, exploring and synthesizing the musical capabilities of the group. It might be said that these pre-gig days were the best and most joyous.

Steve introduced a keyword to the group, ‘Action!’

He would say it, animating the word with an arc of his fist in the air, as if delivering a left hook. It became an uplifting statement and a vital gesture to The Breathers.

A name had to be found.

Izzi Peptone burst in one day and declared, “We are The Breathers.”

Nothing to argue about.

‘Livin In The Age Age’ was written on demand by Steve and Izzi  who wanted an all-out 120mph post-punk thrash but without any compromises on good lyrics or instrumental and compositional integrity.

Ric had picked up on facts that medical science had increased the human life span and that 45% of the UK population were over the age of 45 years (1979). The social comment and sci fi overtures were right for the embryonic Thatcher years.

Simon Davies, ex EMI and United Artists A&R man signed The Breathers to Curly Management, working in tandem with the brother of Chris Squire (Yes) and  operating out of the York Street, London W1 office of Ric Lee (Ten Years After).

Regrettably, Steve Demitri left The Breathers before the recording of ‘Livin In The Age Age’. The session drummer at Ambience Studios in 1980 was Clive Pierce.

‘Livin In The Age Age’ b/w ‘Count On Counting’ was produced by Dave Foister & The Breathers, engineered by Allan Morrow and released by Diversion Records.

The Breathers original line-up:

Izzi Peptone (John Wilde) vocal

Steve Demitri                      drums

Red Ferrari (Jim Bell)         Guitar

Ric Hool                                 bass

supplied by Ric Hool

Tony (Anthony) Davis… I can remember the guys in the Breathers hanging around the Golden Hind a lot, probably because Stevie D owned it. I was DJing there at the time and remember that I often played a demo tape – wish I had it now! Also remember going to the Windsor Castle pub in London to a great gig. Like everything Steve and John did – filled with energy!

John Wilde… Ha. Thanks for the memories. Bless the Soul of Steve. Best wishes to Ric and Jim. It was a blast.  Sorry I was so fucking ego tripped. L O V E x

Yvonne Cleland… Blimey! I remember these guys. Derek Bolland and me met them when they’d just moved into that gorgeous house at the bottom of All Saint’s Street. They invited us back to talk about how they could get into the local music scene. All I can remember now is their lovely accents, how they were really into Buggles’ ‘Video killed the Radio Star’, and how amazing that house was. That was in the days when me, Tich and Derek used to hang around a fair bit…. Derek must have put them onto Tich, and now I know what happened afterwards. Cool.

Darren Holmes…  remember Jim he used to teach my mate Michael Delpeache and myself the guitar in the 80s – I think he called himself Jim Dubelle at the time and his lead singer then was his girlfriend Dee

Dave Nattress… Really interesting story – nice one. Thanks for posting. Knew a bit about The Breathers and the connection with the wonderful John Wilde and Stevie D but this fleshed it out wonderfully.

Clive Pierce… Hi All, I am Clive Pierce who played the drums briefly with The Breathers. I very much enjoyed my short stint with them and agree they were lovely guys. If anyone is interested I have a photograph of The Breathers in action at The Windsor Castle gig mentioned above. Just let me know how and who to send it to and I will gladly do so. All the best Clive.

John Spence… I saw the band at the Golden Eagle pub in Blyth, Northumberland in late 1980, really enjoyed their set so I bought Livin in the age age off the band that night, I still play it now as I think it’s catchy and a cracking song.

Darren Holmes… I’ve actually played Jim’s Les Paul pictured above, what a fantastic guitar.