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Nigel Burch and the Flea-Pit Orchestra
Alternative / Folk / Punk

"The Manic Minstrel And his Musical Misfits"

London,
United Kingdom

Profile Views:  28411




Last Login:  7/17/2008
View My: Pics | Videos

   Contacting Nigel Burch and the Flea-Pit Orchestra

 MySpace URL: 
  http://www.myspace.com/nigelburch  

   Nigel Burch and the Flea-Pit Orchestra: General Info
Member Since4/22/2006
Band Websitefleapitorchestra.co.uk
Band MembersThe present line-up is Nigel Burch - vocals. banjulele. harmonica, Dylan Bates (violin - who has played on nearly all the gigs and recordings), Richard Lee (double bass), Steve Blake (drums and percussion). The Flea-Pit Orchestra has always been a bit of a moveable f(l)east and over the years various musicians have performed and recorded with Burch including Andrew Ranken (drums), John Edwards (bass), Oren Marshall (tuba), Adrian Stout (double bass + musical saw), Mary Morrison (cello), John Eacott (trumpet), Marc Jordan (trumpet), Stephen Warbeck (piano and accordion), Dean Brodrick(accordion,bassoon) Lol Coxhill (sax), Ben Nichols (double bass), Alison Blunt (violin), Matt Scott (accordion), Roberto Bellatalla (double bass), and Roy Dodds (drums). Burch often performs solo, or with Dylan Bates as BURCH & BATES. They recently returned from Berlin where they played a string of concerst as a duo. (See www.myspace.com/burch/bates.) P>Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
InfluencesKevin Coyne, Tom Waits, Max Beckmann, Jake Thackray, Tony Hancock, W.C.Fields, J.G.Posada, George Formby, George Grosz, Alfred Jarry,William Saroyan, John Cooper Clarke, Charles Bukowski, Bertolt Brecht/Kurt Weill, Leonard Cohen, Jaroslav Hasak, Max Miller, Fritz Lang, Raymond Chandler, Ian Dury, Leadbelly, Kurt Vonnegut, Randy Newman, Otto Dix, Hank Williams, Samuel Beckett, Les Dawson, Rudolf Schlichter, Tommy Cooper, Venedikt Erofeev, The Pogues, Tom Lehrer, Franz Kafka, Johnny Cash, Max Wall, Big Bill Broonzy, Loudon Wainwright, Damon Runyon, Bob Dylan, Billy Bennett, John Fante, Aki Kaurismaki, Lonnie Donnegan etc.
Sounds Like..

Solo.. ..

Record LabelFLEA (UK) Bad Taste (Russia)Type of LabelIndie




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   About Nigel Burch and the Flea-Pit Orchestra
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'A cross between the music of Ian Dury, Brecht and Weill, an Irish pub band and a 1950's skiffle group. Songs of urban-alienation with plenty of fierce spontaneous playing.' (THE GUARDIAN.)

Although NIGEL BURCH started performing at the age of 10 in his first band The Blackouts his serious(?) career began writing and performing in the seventies and eighties with a number of new-wave/punk outfits such as The Outpatients and Figures of Fun. During this period they shared the bill with bands such as The Damned, Sham 69, The Members and Crass. In the mid-eighties - solo and armed only with a ukulele and a scary pair of tonsils (billed as "The Troubadour Of Urban Angst") he stormed the stages of the pub/club/cabaret scene like some demented neo-George Formby. He appeared alongside the likes of John Cooper Clarke and Patrik Fitzgerald and released a stark and uncompromising solo vinyl album called "Fascists In The Snug Bar". (Faintly amusing - The Morning Star.) He continued to perform his set of strange and unsettling songs, now occasionally accompanied by string-players and percussionists. Later he assembled around him a collection of musicians from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines. Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

In 1997, with an expanded sound that included such instruments as the violin, double bass, cello and drums this eccentric ensemble now known as NIGEL BURCH AND THE FLEA-PIT ORCHESTRA played their first performance. The banjulele bashing bard and his musical misfits play twisted skiffle and bar-room ballads - Cockney-Weimar cabaret style. Gritty inner-city ditties you can drink and dance to - punkdiddley Brechtian hoedown, spit-and sawdust vaudeville: The Existential Knees-Up. Humorous and horrible, poignant and debauched. In London they have played The Hackney Empire, The Borderline, The 100 Club, The Spitz, King's Head Theatre Pub, The Klinker, The 12 Bar Club, The Hope & Anchor, The Buffalo Bar, The Arcola Theatre plus countless other pubs and clubs and anarchists's balls. They have also toured in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Ireland and Moscow - where they are very popular, seeming to appeal to the Russian alcoholic sensibility.
The band has appeared three times on BBC London radio once on the Peter Currin Show and twice on the Mel And Sue Show. Nigel has appeared solo on Viva Radio and resonance.fm. They have been featured on the Round the World play-list on Spirit FM and make a live appearance in the up-and-coming short film Percy Circus. They were interviewed for Moscow TV and an interview with Nigel Burch appeared in The St Petersburg Times in an article called Songs For When You Want To Weep And Waltz. Burch has also acted in both musical theatre (once as one of Santa's secret agents in The Legend Of Chocolate with The Sofa Trio) and in a number of short films - most recently making a very brief appearance as a harem guard in the dark erotic fantasy Prayer Cushions Of The Flesh.

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The CD BOTTLE SUCKER featuring Flea-Pit favourites such as 'Love Letters Down The Toilet',' Me And All The Other Vegetables' and 'I Used To Be Mad' is available from gigs and on request. The follow-up CD MR DOO-LALLY will be released shortly and includes 'The Pub With No Name', 'Bad To My Body' and of course 'Mr Doo-Lally'. Nigel Burch is also a published poet/illustrator and his work has appeared in a number of magazines including DOG, Iron, Ape, The Rialto, Liar Republic alongside Irvine Welsh and Billy Childish, amongst others. His first collection was called Sentimental Monster (Echo Room Press). Charles Bukowski described his writing as "the best cure for a hangover I ever lucked across." As a graphic artist he has shown his work in England, Germany, U.S.A, Switzerland and Austria. His last London exhibition was at The Stairwell Gallery and called "Old Hat." See: www.fleapitorchestra.co.uk for details of band and solo gigs. <


   Nigel Burch and the Flea-Pit Orchestra's Friend Space (Top 24)
Nigel Burch and the Flea-Pit Orchestra has 1668 friends.
 Joseph & The Jellied Eels 


 Burch & Bates 


 Kevin Coyne 


 The Cholmondeleys 


 Dylan Bates 


 Adrian Stout 


 django bates 


 Jake Thackray 


 The GYPSY HOTEL Club (next party 19 July!) 


 Al Duvall 


 Otto Feather 


 Paul Seacroft 


 BUKOWSKI 


 CORNELIUS... the illustrated ape 


 Sexton Ming 


 George Formby 


 The Urban Voodoo Machine 


 Builders Crack 


 The Immortal Johnny Dance 


 Tom Waits 


 Bukowski 


 LADY ANE ANGEL 


 SWINGLISH 


 Dotti Colvin 





Nigel Burch and the Flea-Pit Orchestra's Friends Comments
Displaying 50 of 308 comments  ( View All | Add Comment )
bob





Jul 13 2008 12:29 PM

thanks for the addition..
Jonny





Jul 6 2008 3:56 PM

thanks for the add...

well done for Friday very impressed.
Al Duvall





Jul 5 2008 4:53 PM

He's finally arrived:
stranger than paradise





Jul 1 2008 12:17 PM

hey my darling! you oughta check out this cute venue.. you wanna play for us on the 26th? Same place xx
stp july 5th
SKA Burlesque @ the Barfly 3rd July





Jul 1 2008 12:49 AM



Sweet Hollywaiians





Jun 26 2008 7:58 AM


ALOHA!!!
will





Jun 14 2008 1:37 PM

i swear to god nigel does th ebest version of little boxes ive ever heard!
The Clarences





Jun 14 2008 11:46 AM

The Clarences love & support Nigel Burch And The Flea-Pit Orchestra!!!!
Hot In Hats





Jun 12 2008 6:50 AM

Rock on pal...
Best regards from...
CHUMAHO DRYU radical ethno-shanson





Jun 9 2008 2:33 PM

Thx for add! perfect songs and great pics! loving you! "Bottle sucker" -Cooll!
Come to us in St.
Peters or Moscow again!


The Severed Limb





Jun 2 2008 9:14 AM

Come see The Severed Limb perform!
xx

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KEVIN COYNE





Jun 1 2008 4:01 AM

An Evening Celebrating Kevin Coyne- his words and music
THE POETRY CAFÉ

22 Betterton Street

Covent Garden, London WC2

Thursday 5th June

An evening celebrating the writings and music of

Kevin Coyne

Artists taking part include Nigel Birch, Dave Russell, Goodie Sweeney (who will be reading some English translations of Kevin’s German stories), Big Mehr and Joey Stack, Stumble On The Valves - plus Razz and Frank Bangay. Clive Product, author of Beautiful Extremes: Conversations with Kevin Coyne will be sharing memories of his friendship with Kevin. As Clive lives in Berlin, and cannot make it to the gig, Barry O'Brien will read on his behalf. Clive has also sent Barry some memories from the last time he met up with Kevin alive. Kevin’s most recent book That Old Suburban Angst will be on sale

Evening starts at 8pm

Admission £2 50; £2 Concessions, £1 Floorspots

Organised by Frank Bangay, in collaboration with Survivors Poetry

Flyer designed by Dave Russell
CORNELIUS... the illustrated ape





May 28 2008 10:34 AM

I am proud to announce the imminent arrival of the BEST EVER compendium of photos and words (I can say that modestly because the contributors made it with minimal interference from my monkey self) So... PREPARE FOR CULTURAL ANNIHILATION! THE END OF RUBBISH PHOTO ZINES IS AT HAND! The first ever Illustrated Ape PHOTOGRAPHY issue is coming: PHOTOGRAPHERS OF THE URBAN APOCALYPSE, designed by the incredible James&Joe, featuring exclusive photography by David Sims, Paul Wetherall, David Hughes, Holger Pooten, Alessandra Tisato, Marcus Oakley, Kristoff Verscheuren, Daniel Sannwald, Modern Toss, and other geniuses of the flashbulb, with Honey Manko, Amy Winehouse, Chrys Columbine, Natalie O'Conner, featuring searing words from Kim Rickcord, prize winning poet Tim Turnbull, Molly Doolittle Slade, Haruko Haga, Jack Gabriel, Ian Armer, Dina Begum, Vanessa Pelz-Sharpe, Nigel Burch, and Tim Wells.
Check out www. theillustratedape. com for more info.



Because I love every last one of you!

xxx Cornelius
Hot Time Harv's Rollercoaster of Kicks





May 28 2008 3:15 AM

Howdy Nigel!

Cuz yer da Man, here's our little tribute to ya!



Our fondlest regards . . .

Harv & J Boy




Lastelle





May 14 2008 6:30 AM

Hi Nigel, it was great to meet you & see the show at Artliner's. Hope the rest of the German tour went as well.
When do we get to hear "the bastard whose doing her now?" Hope to see you again over here, Chris L
BONANZA





May 13 2008 10:26 AM

Really hope you can make it to
Tripping In The Country's 1st Birthday party.

(Free Champagne...FOR THE EARLY BIRDS!!)

Thursday 15th May 2008
Bonanza Presents:
A 'Cosmic Ladies Night'
Featuring:
Mary Epworth & The Jubilee Band
Gemma Ray
Brigid Power-Ryce
+Guest DJ:
'Spooky Lady's Sideshow'

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Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket..
Edrie (One of the Broken Toys)





May 13 2008 8:45 AM

cLICK my Bum
Thanks for finding me on MyHell!
- Edrie
(One of the BrOKen ToYs)
PS: cLICK my bum - go on do it!
ChiassoMozzoProject





May 13 2008 7:41 AM

I love your sound! Yaaaaah!
G.
Burch & Bates





May 13 2008 3:05 AM

Lobster Quadrille Magazine





May 12 2008 9:17 AM

Hi Chaps
You can read the review of your brilliant set at The Macbeth here!
Sepiachord





May 12 2008 5:37 AM

"The Pub With No Name" by Nigel Burch and the Flea-Pit Orchestra is the Sepiachord Song of the Day.

Nigel Burch and the Flea-Pit Orchestra

Lillebjørn Nilsen





May 10 2008 3:42 AM

Great ukulele!

Lillebjorn in Oslo
The GYPSY HOTEL Club (next party 19 July!)





May 7 2008 1:45 AM

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Slim's Cyder Co.





May 5 2008 12:29 AM

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o





May 3 2008 8:21 AM


BURCH/BATES

The Bladdered Balladeers
live in Ausland, 3.
Mai 2008

Lychener Str.
60, S- & U-Bahn Schönhauser Alle



'A cross between the music of Ian Dury, Brecht and Weill, an Irish pub band and a 1950's skiffle group. Songs of urban-alienation with plenty of fierce spontaneous playing.' (THE GUARDIAN.
)


Unplugged Cockney-Brechtian folk-punk cabaret from Nigel Burch, the banjo-bashing troubadour of urban angst accompanied by Dylan Bates, fiddler extroadinaire.



Spit-and-sawdust vaudeville...

Shot By Both Sides





Apr 30 2008 4:35 AM

Fantastic, deliciously deranged stuff yesterday sir. Thank ye kindly, and for your lyrics for the magazine.

Would be delightful to have you back with the Flea Pit Orchestra in the very near future...

Shot By Both Sides
xXx
lady gaby





Apr 28 2008 4:27 AM

hey..good to hear you are coming to Berlin..will try and see you maybe at the King Kong Klub..
all the best
lady gaby
Shelly





Apr 25 2008 8:50 AM

Sending love to the Flea-Pit crew.

Keep making music!

And check out my music video for a smile. (On my page or: http://www. youtube. com/watch?v=nU3FMI7voYo)
this week i am mostly listening to Talking Heads..