 | Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band: Encyclopedia II - Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band - The band's foundation
Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band - The band's foundation
Unusually for a band, the actual date of conception for the Bonzos is known to us: September 25th, 1962. It was on that day that Vivian Stanshall (tuba, but later lead vocals along with other wind instruments) and fellow art student Rodney Slater (saxaphone) bonded over a transatlantic broadcast of a boxing match between Floyd Patterson and Sonny Liston.
Rodney Slater had previously been playing in a trad jazz band at college with Chris Jennings (trombone) and Tom Parkinson (sousaphone). Eventually they recruited Roger Wilkes trumpet and Trevor Brown banjo from the Royal College of Art as they slowly turned their style from more orthodox music towards the sound of the Alberts and the Temperance Seven. Vivian was their next recruit and on that fateful day in 1962, he and Rodney christened the band, The Bonzo Dog Dada Band. Bonzo the dog after a popular British character created by artist George Studdy in the 1920s and Dada after the early 20th Century art movement.
Not long after Vivian, Rodney and Tom were evicted from their shared flat, the band added two more faces to the line-up, Goldsmiths College lecturer Vernon Dudley Bohay-Nowell and his lodger, songwriter/pianist, Neil Innes.
The band had been working with drummer Tom Hedges before Rodney found Martin Ash, who later took the stage name of Sam Spoons and shortly afterwards got them their first pub gig, where they were noticed by Roger Ruskin Spear.
Ruskin Spear, who was a descendant of Victorian literary giant John Ruskin and son of the British artist Ruskin Spear claimed, "I couldn't believe anyone was that bad." He eventually changed his mind and, with his interest in the manufacture of early electronic gadgets/objets d'art and sound-making systems soon became an integral part of the band.
The line-up changed once again with the departure of Roger Wilkes, whose girlfriend demanded his resignation, and John Parry, the trombonist. The two were replaced by, respectively, Bob Kerr and "Big" Sid Nichols. The final 'classic' band member, "Legs" Larry Smith (their number one fan) joined in 1963, as a tuba player and tap-dancer (but later as a drummer), on Vivian's invitation.
The band's fortunes began to increase when their manager, Reg Tracey secured them a deal with Parlophone Records in April 1966. Their first single, a cover of the 1920s 'classic', My Brother Makes The Noises For The Talkies was backed with I'm Going To Bring A Watermelon To My Girl Tonight which was rather too risque for radio.
A second single, Alley Oop, backed with Button Up Your Overcoat followed in October of that year.
Other related archives1920s, 1960s, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1984, 1990, 1992, 1995, 1999, 2002, Adolf Hitler, Aynsley Dunbar, Bob Kerr's Whoopee Band, Bonzo the dog, Dada, David Jason, Death Cab for Cutie, Do Not Adjust Your Set, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Fillmore East, Floyd Patterson, General de Gaulle, George Studdy, Goldsmiths College, Isle of Wight Festival, Jim Capaldi, John Ruskin, John Wayne, Magical Mystery Tour, Mike Oldfield, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Neil Innes, Parlophone, Paul McCartney, Rodney Slater, Roger Ruskin Spear, Roy Rogers, Sonny Liston, The Beatles, The Kinks, The Rutles, The Who, Trigger, Tubular Bells, Val Doonican, Vivian Stanshall, banjo, jazz, lead vocals, presaged rap music, psychedelic rockers, saxaphone, sousaphone, striptease, trad jazz, trombone, trumpet, tuba
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The band's foundation", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
