Tuesday 27th August

THE ALMOST BUT DIDN’T QUITE:

Just prior to pulling together the band of stolen boys

I’d been so enamoured with the Robert Johnson Band’s

performance on the Whistle Test that I’d searched for the

hottest bass player in town. I was introduced to a guy

called Tafe who was fast & fretless but we didn’t hit it

off, however, one group that almost existed was with

Pino Palladino on bass, a lovely man, a gentleman with a rich

tone of voice & bass who played like a dream & with most easy

going nature that made him instantly likeable. Everybody knew he was

the best bass player in Cardiff, in Wales even & when I told my mates

they just laughed that I would have the nerve to ask someone as great

a Pino to form a band. We met & discussed him bringing in his mate

Kenny Driscal, former frontman of the band Lone Star who was also an

excellent guitarist, I already felt on the backfoot but said

“OK”.

Pino got an offer to join Jules Holland’s band before we could even

get in the studio. He came round one night, very apologetic for

letting me down. It was a mark of a true gent, something I never

forgot & as I wished him the very of luck I said that we would record

together one day – he smiled, nodded & went off to be one of the finest

bass players in the world.

The bass player who almost stayed was Jake Bowie, another art school boy.

He lived in a jungle of giant Cheese plants in the front room of a

terraced house where live & exotic birds flew about freely. He played

fretless like no other I’d ever heard or have heard since – fast, sweet,

pin point accurate with a deliberate tone. His brother David played bass

with the Mekons, Jake should’ve been playing with Weather Report but

instead listened to indie records amongst the chirping of his jungle

birds. We recorded my songs, they sounded great, different, vibrant,

but his heart wasn’t in it, so we agreed to part as friends though I had

a sense there was unfinished business between us.

(K)

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