Music for all

...The hKippers …

 

‘ Music at the fun end of the cutting edge ;‘ The Guardian

 

Formed 1987 Stoke Newington by  Oscar winner ( for Shakespeare In Love score ) by Stephen Warbeck  played theatres and benefits  e.g. Anti-Apartheid at The Hackney Empire supporting The Pogues, Cuba Lives ,Highbury fields, Rwandan Survivors Fund, Brompton Oratory and Miners benefits , once at Camden Irish Club  ended up backing one of the Temptations !

Played residencies at; Sidoli’s bar ( gone)  where The Tiger Lilies used to support us;

The Black Horse,Kilburn ( gone)  the old Vortex Jazz Bar( moved) where once a leak fused the place and we moved the gig to Ryan’s bar along the street !  Supported; Norwegian poet Oystein Wingaard Wolf and Miss Norway, 100Club, John Otway, Waterman’s. Head-lined Marquee Club ( moved) Headed a Friday night at the CAMRA Beer Festival, Earl’s Court playing to 7,000 drunks.

 Played gig at The Queen Elizabeth Hall in 1998, where sell-out audience on cue burst 1200 paper bags to the song Telephone & Trees.

 Bizarrely topped the bill above Hank Marvin and the Nuno Bettencourt ( ex-heavy metal

 band Extreme ) at  Docklands Arena Mad About Music Festival !

 

Festivals include; Cambridge Folk Festival; Sidmouth; ; Towersey;  St.Ives;  Hatherleigh

; Trowbridge (where a woman stormed the stage and removed Paul Bradley’s shirt;  Walton-on-the-Naze-where the brass section bought togs to swim in which turned out to be see-through; King’s Lynn; Bradford; Cookson County Country Festival! ; Pontardawe; Tyneside; Enfield; Bradford; Darlington; Belfast and Margate (rebooked for 2007)

 

TV Appearances; Top Of The Pops ( for Children In Need ) The Big Breakfast; The WOW Show; The Kenny Show (Northern Ireland); Smillie’s People. Weekending-Radio4.

 

Line-up;

 Stephen Warbeck –piano/accordion/vocals ; Paul Bradley-vocals, guitar sellotape** ( ex-Nigel of EastEnders, ex- Holby City.Founder member of the band Mully Ully Gue, the Manband ) Andrew Ranken-drums/vocals  ( The Pogues. Municipal Water Board , the Manband ) Sarah Homer-clarinet /whistles/bells(Dagmar Krause/ Django Bates/Shopping Trolley) ‘Professor ‘John Eacott-trumpet (Loose Tubes ) Dave Berry-Double Bass/bassoon-( Albion Band)Richard Henry-Trombone( NT bands) The Dai Pritchard Brothers -clarinet/flute/whistles (-Pasadena Roof Orchestra ,loose tubes)-claims that his uncle killed Glenn Miller! Steve ‘Hear No Evil’ Parr-percussion-( Jimmy Cliff ); Rob Townsend-saxophones ( Hungry

Ants/ Steve Hackett).

Occasional hKippers; Johnny Miller, John Parricelli, John Etheredge, Roland and Dylan Bates, Errolyn Warren, Martin France, Richard Lee,

 

Have recorded ; An earful of hKippers 1990 / Gutted ‘96 / Filleted  ’99 / 4 Miserable songs ‘2005. A Question of balance 2001 ( recorded in Montpelier, France but unreleased)

 

The hKippers play Stupid World Music; bizarre lyrics about fish, hats, plaster, beer, cowboys and more fish set to a tight up-beat,klezmatic Euro-jazz-folk groove combining flights of inspired soloing and melodies your children will sing in the car home. The Bonzos Go Womad !

The staggeringly surreal hKippers are brilliant fun, the music is wild and sure to get people dancing while the lyrics and musicianship will keep you entertained ‘

 

 

** (website still under construction) but check out Youtube for live videos

 

so off I went to the relaxed congeniality of this small Jazz club on the Kingsland High Street. I'd never been there before. And to be honest I don't go to a lot of Jazz clubs either. So I was expecting it to be cool. Little did I know how cool it would be. Practically Baltic. They seemed to have a problem with the air conditioning, so it was that we all were sitting around in hats coats and scarves. 

Now, you may have never heard of the hKippers. Nor had I. I was told that one of the members was in Holby City. Which is nice for him, but I've never seen it so as far as I was concerned he may as well have been a fisherman from Cleethorpes. But it turns out I did know who he was. His name is Paul Bradley. You (and I) will know him as Nigel from Eastenders. But that's actually unimportant. 

So who are the hKippers? They describe themselves as progressive folk. Erm. Ok. Not familiar with the folk establishment, but progressive I guess means that I'm going to see some new, maybe experimental stuff right? Well. Yes. You may have never seen anyone play sellotape. Or gaffer tape. But you can if you see the hKippers. And my goodness it works. You'll have to trust me on this. 

A lot of the material that the band have is frankly indescribable. It really is quite unique. So I'll try and describe them as a band. They're an 8 piece. Most of the band do vocals, but there's a drummer, a brass section, clarinets (1 or 2 ), a piano, a piccolo, an accordion, a bass and a guitar. And other instruments that take their fancy. And anything will do for an instrument. 

Given the comedy and conviviality in the band, you'd be forgiven for thinking they're a bit amateurish at first sight. But they are far far far from that. Oh my goodness. These guys can play. And that's no surprise. One of them plays with the Pogues. One has an Oscar for his musical talent. One's a talented producer. Another's performed with Symphony orchestras. I'm sure they've all done lots lots more. But that's not the point. The point is the performance. And these guys give it their all. And love every second of it. 

So what makes it? Well, watchng them tonight I really did have the thought that clearly Bradley isn't the musical one, but like a great front man he holds it all together and adds a touch of genius to it all. Without him you'd hear a band that can play great music. With him you see a band play great music, and you laugh as smile as you do. It doesn't take away from the music, rather it adds to the whole thing. And please don't get me wrong. Paul loves his music clearly and I'm sure his friends in the band wouldn't put up with crap either if he was awful. But I think he brings something that's unique to him. And that's what makes it all work. Each and every member has something to bring. Personalities are brought to the fore. But the music is always, always king. 

As to the Progressive folk thing? Well there's obviously folk there, but there's also a lot of trad jazz in there too. And the highlights of the gig are when the band play as only a bunch of friends can play (much as the Arctic Monkeys showed the day before). If you've ever seen New Order play when Bernard Sumner and Hookie weren't getting along you'll know what I mean. So it was good that the venue was so compact and the sound was good. They got the audience going and we all loved them. I will definitely go see them again given the opportunity. 

One final thought - I love seeing bands in small venues. I was particularly touched by Paul shaking my hand and saying thank you for me being there as I left. Wow. Imagine if that happened at every gig you went to. 

PS - If you want to spread the word about the hKippers then please remember the 'h' is silent. Don't make a fool of yourself when you ask for their album in HMV and pronounce the 'h'. That would be embarassing.