Past Members: Fergus Crockford
Fabian Eason
Dave Crossley
Steven Martin
Willy Graham
Steve Mallaghan
Richard Joseph (deceased)
Andrew Macfarlane
Jacqui Roughley
Alan Roughley
Gerald Gilbert
Alasdair Blaazer
John (JJ) Johnson
Pat Smith
Fill Mills
Mark Ryder
Dominic Blaazer
Dave Colton
Kenny Bishop
Joanne
Liz Cook
Louise Dick
Influences
Roxy Music, The Cramps, Richard Dadd, The Divine Dali, Brian Eno, Bauhaus, Rema-Rema, Joy Division, all the good Post Punk stuff from 1978-80 (Section 25, Pragvec), Man Ray, Shriekback...
Stretch a wobbly thin red line of ectoplasm between the fecund hop gardens of Kent and
the Pirate Pubs of Wapping Wall, season with the estuarine whiff of the Medway Punk Scene (Dickens would have approved), shake in more than a few long hot summers and allow to stand for around 20 years...
The Skinbat Scramble are a post-punk random prog goth electro art school psychedelic band, who first dimly showed up on broken radar in the late 1970s. We recorded (in various spindrifting configurations) a prolific number of songs between 1981 and 2004, and performed at various London venues. After a layoff of some years, they recommenced various covert ops in this promising new century (including releasing the well-received double archive CD "VOLUME
5"); they began operate again in earnest 2007, after three key members of the last gigging version (1986) of the Skinbat Scramble (Mark Nicky and Gary) found themselves sprinkled amongst the lineup of The Old Dolphin Brigade in September. Handshakes ensued, Piers Eason was chained to the drum stool and Carl Gent the ODB leader added guitar. Magic flew around. A new robust set of performances began with a private showing at the Forum on 21st October 2007
Our past recorded work varies from full-on produced studio extravaganzas to field recordings in various living rooms and live tapes. The quality of work varies from "sublime" to "magnificent folly" via "ahead of their time". The archives (as well as new and related projects) are available on CD, fully remastered, in spiffy digital quality with smashing covers, booklets and all that. We are pretty confident that the new output* will more than match this yardstick.
At the time of writing the four pronged attack of *writing, rehearsal, recording and gigging is in progress; a new album is planned for 2008.
Bright young things can check us out at our facebook site, which has more pictures'n'stuff. Various offshoots and adjuncts to the Skinbats are still active in various (dis)guises throughout the South east:
Richard Joseph, died, 4/3/2007
It is with great sadness that the Skinbat Scramble acknowledges the death of its fomer contributor, Richard Joseph. Richard was a member/contributor of the Scramble for one night only, in 1986, when he lugged his monitor and sequencer/keyboard round to the flat in Wyfold Road Sarzi was living in at the time and there he programmed into it Eagu's bassline from "Eternity, Indecision and Death" and the riff from
"Personality Pirates". The resulting tracks - mixed on the spot to a Revox using only a Fuzz Face and two Copicats - became the almost completely unheard of proto-dance classics "The Train Music, Parts 1, 2 and 3" (which tracks Fabian and Steven of the Glo-Pilots used to dance to when they were 5 years old).
Richard earliest known band was CMU (Contemporary Music Unit) and he wrote the memorably named "Doctor Am I Normal?" for an album called (or by) Space Cabaret in the early 70s. Later in that decade he was one of the casualties of the music business when Prog-rock contracts were wildly axed in the mad rush to sign anything Punk in 1977. He never said what was the name of the group he was the singer for, only intimating that the band was along the lines of such classic mid 70s cultivated melodic rock outfits such as Metro and/or Racing Cars. After that setback, Richard eventually applied his superb musicality to the fledgling Computer Games industry via his ability as a keysman, becoming quite simply the BEST games music programmer there was (to those with discerning ears). Amongst his admirers and collaborators in that industry were Richard Leinfellner of EA, and Rupert Bowater of Binary Vision.
It is a typical feature of the Skinbat Scramble that someone whose tenure within it was so brief could yet be such a central figure in its psyche. Richard brought his old-school musicality to bear in advanced electronics (for their day) with his customary professionalism, leaving in its unassuming wake an indelible mark upon the post punk amateurs and itinerant art students that made up the rebellious racontic rabble that inhabited Elephant Studios and Sleazy's in Wapping (ie. the Skinbat Scramble). Indeed, "The Train Music" sequence wasn't even released until 17 years after its commission so disorganised was the Skinbat Scramble as a musical entity. It was typical of Richard's comet-like coming and going that he received a copy of the CD with the polite request that anything further done with the tracks be sent to him (specifically, he was referring to Fabian's dance remix/edit of "The Train Music Part 2", to date, not released), only to disappear once more into the firmament from which he came. Richard was a very intelligent, kind and considerate man, and we miss him already, just as we have always missed him. God Bless. The Angels are feeding back their electric harps leant in salute against celestial amps. Goodbye RJ.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Joseph
hi guys, thanks for the link-up, yes, we're really looking forward to it..! hopefully the weather will be good.. please come and say hi. are you guys playing..? peace, and best wishes, AURORA
IT..S DECEMBER. AS WE..RE GETTING CLOSER TO CHRISTMAS & NEW YEAR WE WANT TO BRING YOU SOME GIFTS, TWO NEW UPLOADED TRACKS, ‘OVER AND OUT’ & ‘SANITY CHECK’, WITH GENEROUS CONTRIBUTIONS FROM
Hi Friends! How are you? It..s summertime. After a long period of rain and more rain up here in the Northern part of Europé it..s finally sunshine today. Horray!!!
Music? Oh, we..re still so addicted. It occupies our minds. We listen to an awful lot of music, sometimes even to our own… If you haven..t heard any of it try whatever of it and find out if it suits the mood you..re in. Let the rest of the summer be nice and kind. Love from OaX ‘n’ YaN of Joxfield ProjeX
Loving the page Dad. Can you please show me how to do stuff on this website - my page is rubbish (this comment is deliberately calculated to make your page less cool, coz it's too cool)
But I would like to add, hat's off the Train Music Man, he did indeed have a big affect on me when I was young, and it was a privilege to be able to remix Train Music.
