the breathers

Stallion cd’s and The Breathers and Tich Turner’s Escalator singles supplied by Digger

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Supplied by Digger at the recent SMART meeting.

Mike Gingold… I played sax with Tich Turner’s Escalators back in the day. Great gigs – happy memories. Anybody know what Tich is doing now?

Alan Esdaile… Mike, Tich is with the  group, Mighty Mish Mash Band and playing gigs in London recently. Also with the group Hi-Fi Sneakers where he has released a couple of cd’s.

Iain Cobby… Love the artwork, any ideas who did it?

John Wilde… Iain, me.

Iain Cobby… Well done John, love it! ……… and I was there at the Roundhouse with the other guys of Damaris when you came on stage and blew the other acts away! We had a great night, sooo hot! great times, great music, will live forever.

 

 

 

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 – final line up 1981

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The Breathers in their final phase acting as support for The Sensational Alex Harvey Band at a gig in Mountain Ash, Wales. Red Ferrari gtr, Kevin Hoad drums, Bryn Gregory  vocals, Ric Hool bass.

The_Breathers_3 copy

The_Breathers_2 copy

Photos supplied by Ric Hool

Andy Knight….What about those long rehearsals at Fairlight Studios Rick and where are you now?

Ric Hool….Hi Andy, Yes, too true, the Fairlight rehearsals were measured in days, not hours, as The Breathers found replacements for, firstly, Steve Demitri and then Izzi Peptone.Kevin Hoad made good the drumming stool and heroically stuck it out with Red Ferrari and myself. The difference between the rehearsals above Steve’s cafe and those at Fairlight were well demarcated: the former being hugely creative in terms and the making of the Breathers whereas the latter were spent in reparation.

Mick Mepham….Isn’t that Jim Bell on guitar? Excellent player and nice guy too.

Tony Qunta….Yes it is – last time I spoke to him was about twenty years ago!

Kevin Hoad….OMG.Never seen this Photo. The singer was guy called Bryn.(Welsh you know) can’t remember surname.We did Welsh tour and support to Sensational Alex Harvey Band.The Famous Digger was our Roadie.Great Guy.

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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 – Windsor Castle photos from Allan Morrow

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all photos © Allan Morrow

John Wilde… Aww Steve. (photo 5) and the very cool Ric Hool (photo 2)

Jeannette Wilde… John, love the advertising on the wall there! Classic

Ric Hool… Individuals aside, we were just a fabulous unit: music, energy, presentation…
I don’t think we ever conceived a ‘possible audience’: we just did what we did…

John Wilde… quite agree Ric, The Breathers were special.

The Breathers graffitti, in Minder TV series 1980 & Intake Tour dates

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supplied by John Wilde

Could be The Marquee?

David Miller… He don’t minder the noise

The Breathers Intake Tour 1980

James Bell… sh#### that was intense!!!

Ric Hool… I recall most of the gigs vividly and for very different reasons. At The Green Tree, Bathgate the group turned up early to set up and sound check, our usual modus operandi, to be met by three beautiful women with trays of tea and fruit scones. That sort of welcome was not rare – it was absolutely unheard of ! The Breathers, as usual, were starving and got through several stacked trays of fare. The Green Tree, Bathgate was immediately earmarked, ‘must play again’. Sadly we never did. Elsewhere, Scotland took in The Breathers with open arms. People hosted us and gave us accommodation.
We were ‘strangers in a strange land’ but beautifully so, whilst the UK became hardened to the ‘dog eat dog’ climate of the Thatcher administration. For the night of the Herriot Watt Uni gig, we were put up by wonderful people who had every cupboard, and there were many, hung not with coats but huge bushes of drying cannabis. It was there I heard the Dire Straits’ lyric: ‘Rock away, rock away / From Cullercoats to Whitley Bay’. Raised in Cullercoats, I felt the full impact of location: being ‘of’ a place and coming ‘from’ that place. A lot further south, in Shrewsbury Music Hall, The Breathers played in an upstairs ballroom where the group and the audience shook the floor up and down. What a night ! We stayed in a beautiful loft at John Wilde’s mum’s house. The next day, returning to Hastings, the van engine seized…

Jeanette Wilde… Ric, brilliant piece thanks for sharing. Mum had loved putting you all up! Watched some awesome Breathers gigs.

John Wilde… What wonderful memories.

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.