The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown
London Queen Elizabeth Hall - 10th June 2011
The band line up for the show
Arthur has had many band formations over the last 45 years, the band he has assembled for the past couple of years includes some of the best new talent in the world. Please note there will also be some special guests T.B.A.
Arthur Brown
In a career of over 45 years Arthur has gone from the clubs of Paris, to the London underground scene then on to world stardom where Fire was his most well known hit, then making cutting edge music with Kingdome Come that influences everyone from Bruce Dickinson to The Damned.
With his band Kingdom Come, in 1973 Arthur became the first person to front a band where the rhythm-section was not drum and bass, but bass and drum machine. This was the first band to use the drum machine without a drummer in sight. Arthur played the Bentley Rhythm Ace himself thus paving the way for all future bands who used the drum machine as the basis of their sound.
Amongst fans of this were, for instance, Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks, Gary Numan and Klaus Schulze. This music was highly regarded and led to the band opening , for instance, for Duke Ellington. The last 70s saw Arthur touring Europe with Klaus Schulz before making his own electronic albums with Craig Leon and having an MTV hit in the USA with Busha Busha in 1982. Returning to the UK in the late 90s Arthur has been a big hit on the festival scene with regular appearances at festivals such as Glastonbury and Guilfest and a tour with Robert Plant putting Arthurs name firmly back on the map.
Jim Mortimore – Guitar and Musical Director
Guitar player. Jim says of playing with Arthur "You listen to Arthur sing a song, and all you can do is be drawn in, he's one of those rare guys who can just rattle your insides when he lets out one of those screams." Jim first played with Arthur on the Tantric Lover album playing guitar with the more acoustic line up then. With the current line up Jim is playing electric Guitar that has a split pick up system so the the bass strings feed a bass amp and treble strings feed a separate amp. This is giving an original sound to the trio which Arthur loves, the more crazier and different the better with Arthur. Their will also be at the Meltdown show an extended line up with special guests adding to the "Crazy World Of" sound...
Lucie Rejchrtova - Keyboards
Lucie Rejchrtova is a classically trained pianist,
and keyboard, accordeon and blues harmonica player. Her style ranges from old blues and boogie-woogie to modern jazz, rock and funk.She studied jazz and classical music at Jaroslav Jezek Jazz Conservatory in Prague.Before moving to London, she was a resident pianist at Prague's "Red Hot and Blues" with Kansas City blues singer Cleanhead Phil.
Lucie also plays keyboards for Joe Carnation, the guitarist of the legendary Czech band the Plastic People of the Universe, celebrated by Tom Stoppard in his playRock'n'Roll.
After moving to London, for several years she made her living by busking in the London Underground, which would be one of her ways of getting gigs and band-joining offers.One of her London engagements was playing at the birthday party of the actor/comedian Matt Lucas. She also performed at London's Royal College of Art.
She has recorded two albums with London based psychedelic band Instant Flight, and toured with them in the UK and Europe.
Since 2003, Lucie has been performing with The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. (She met Arthur while busking in the tube) They have shared the stage with e.g. Eric Burdon and the Animals, Yardbirds, Country Joe and the Fish, Hawkwind, Procol Harum, Pentangle, Focus. They played Glastonbury 2010.
Another act she is involved in is performing with the"Voice of Kings Cross", the legendary underground poet Aidan Andrew Dun, with whom she plays compositions influenced by Debussy, Stravinski and Satie, but even nu-jazz and hip-hop.
Sam Walker - Drums
In demand across Europe as a percussionist and drummer, Sam Walker is also a multi instrumentalist composer and singer, fronting his own project The Muel. Sam has been with Arthur for the last couple of years.
Angel Flame – Dancer
Angel Flame the legendary dancer. The fire goddess ignites the stage, bringing the "True Spirit of Space Rock dance alive. A Trailblazer amongst the psychedelic tribe. She has trail blazed space rock dance over the years with many from the psychedelic tribes these include, Nik Turners Space Ritual (founder members of Hawkwind), Inner city Unit, MOAB, Gong, Steve Hillage, Here & Now to name a few.
Clem Clempson - Guitar
This man needs no introduction from the Harvest band Bakerloo Clem went on to be a key member of Coliseum and Humble Pie. Clem has been touring with Arthur and the Hamburg Blues band in Germany over the last year.
Z-Star - Vocals Z-Star's first encounter with the delectable Arthur Brown was at the Brighton Music Awards last year, where she had the extreme pleasure of being presented with "Best Live Act 2010" by the Fireman himself. And they will now be performing some tunes together for the first time exclusively at Ray Davie's Meltdown. |