John Storer/Tony Cox/Keith Hancock - Barnabus Interview
Barnanbus were a heavy rock/proto-metal trio from West Midlands/Warwickshire region of the UK that were active from 1970-1973 after the split up of Jay Bee Kay Pees. They later went on to win a few heats in a music festival that Melody Maker hosted with judges being no other than Ozzy, and Toni Iommi of Black Sabbath! Though their only record was never properly pressed until recently, they've made a remarkable impact on underground music that will be celebrated till the end of time. I talked to the guys about their early influences, live performances, their lives after Barnabus and recording their legendary sound. Enjoy!
When did you guys first begin playing music? What were some of the influences earlier on?
Keith: I started playing guitar with my cousin Bob chimes, JBKP, around 63/64. First song I learned like most kids of 13 was Burt Weedon's 'Apache' on an old out of tune, battered acoustic guitar. We had a Grundig reel to reel tape recorder and taped all the pop tunes off the radio so we were kept busy learning words and trying to fathom out tuning and playing chord shapes. My dad bought me a fab Cox Phantom guitar and I used the old tape player as an amplifier anyway! Influences were Tim Bogart, Jack Bruce and early Captain Beefheart vocals!
Tony: I realized I wanted to play the drums from an early age. I first started banging away on the arm of the sofa to the music on the radio using a pair of my mum's knitting needles as drumsticks! Those days it was early English pop groups like The Searchers, The Hollies and of course The Beatles. This would have been about 1961/62. My Dad eventually realized I was serious about playing and to save the wear and tear on the furniture, he bought me my first drum kit made up of old, odd drums and cymbals with a huge marching-band bass drum. I joined my first band in about 1964, called The Reasons Why, and then this band morphed into another called Generation X. We were just young, early teenagers, and didn't exactly set the world on fire.
I understand, John, and Keith you both were involved with a cover band called, 'The Jay Bee Kay Pees' aka 'TBKP'. Can you guys tell me a little about that? What were those shows like? What kind of selected covers did you play?
John: Keith and I formed the band JBKP in 1967 with Keith's cousin Bob Chimes (guitar) and Pat Brannigan on drums. This band was named after the initial of each member. We ended the band in 1969, but reformed initially for charity gigs in 2000 and continue to perform to this day under the name the Jay Kays Band. I am now the only original member. In this band we played hits from that particular time and the 60's in general. The Equals, Spencer Davies, Monkees, Beatles, Stones, Lemon Pipers, Ohio Express, Marmalade etc. Many of these songs I still play today.
Keith: I bumped into John Storer by chance at school and it turned out that he had been invited to a jam session in Leamington. We all met up with our various levels of capabilities and knocked out a few tunes. A cousin of mine was leaving a band and passed on a bass guitar, formally owned by The Searchers. As I'm one of the early left handers, you couldn't buy left hand basses and 6 strings were rare in those days. I found it much easier to get on with 4 string bass playing upside down. So I began playing bass and began fitting into various sessions. Not many young basses around in those days. I had a few lessons off my cousin and fate had it that the JBKP were formed.
Tony you were also involved with a pre-Barnabus outfit called, 'The Rockin' Chair Blues Band'. You guys played with some pretty choice acts in those days, can you tell me a little about those shows? There was a mix of original material, and old timey blues. Who was responsible for writing the original songs? Did you have a hand in that? DId you guys see each other play before starting Barnabus?
Tony: In about 1967 I was approached by 2 guys at my school who were forming a band. They played lead guitar and rhythm guitar. I brought in my mate from Generation X on bass, and The Rockin' Chair Blues Band was born. We were all into blues music by that time, and we did songs from old American blues men such as Howlin' Wolf, J.B Lenoir, Robert Johnson, T Bone Walker etc. We only really gigged at local venues, and never played with anyone famous, except for one local band, The Edgar Broughton Band, who we were friendly with. I was aware of JBKP at that time, but didn't actually know them and I don't believe I'd seen them play.
John: I saw The Rocking Chair Blues Band around 1968, playing at a local venue called The Pop-o-tek'. They played a lot of Blues songs. I thought the drummer, Tony Cox, was outstanding.
Tony: In about 1967 I was approached by 2 guys at my school who were forming a band. They played lead guitar and rhythm guitar. I brought in my mate from Generation X on bass, and The Rockin' Chair Blues Band was born. We were all into blues music by that time, and we did songs from old American blues men such as Howlin' Wolf, J.B Lenoir, Robert Johnson, T Bone Walker etc. We only really gigged at local venues, and never played with anyone famous, except for one local band, The Edgar Broughton Band, who we were friendly with. I was aware of JBKP at that time, but didn't actually know them and I don't believe I'd seen them play.
John: I saw The Rocking Chair Blues Band around 1968, playing at a local venue called The Pop-o-tek'. They played a lot of Blues songs. I thought the drummer, Tony Cox, was outstanding.
So, 'Barnabus Legge'... Why did your booking agent insist on this being the name? Even going as far as promoting, and heavily at that, shows to make it stick. You guys started off as a cover group, but quickly began writing your own material. When I first heard your music I was totally floored. It sounds like a war in the ears, it's so heavy. What were some of the inspirations for the material? It seems the chemistry between everyone was spot on, so I imagine when you guys got together it was on!
Keith: I was studying at Coventry College doing a case study on an 18th century murderer called, Barnabus Legge. I mentioned it to the lads at a rehearsal at Monty Bird Studio and they thought it a suitably heavy name for an early metal band, so that's how it came about. Our agent was ironically named Carol Nee and eventually she wanted us to drop the 'Legge' and Barnabus was birthed.
Can you guys tell me about Les Bates? When did you guys meet him? He wasn't an actual member of the band so to speak, but helped contribute his poetic wisdom. Is there still contact with him?
Tony: Les was friendly with John & Keith I believe, before I joined. We are still in contact with him, although he lives now in Scotland, and we are hoping to meet up with him when we play the last ever Barnabus gig, to finally celebrate the issue of the album, in October, pandemic permitting.
John: Our original material was co written by myself, Keith and Les Bates. Les was a local poet from Warwick, I read some of his poetry, changing the odd word to fit into a song format. In the Barnabus days, the lyrics were 60% done by Les... Me and Keith composed the rest and the music. Les would always come to all the gigs and 'roadie' for us. He relocated to Scotland in the 70's, but we still have contact with him, and he still writes his amazing poetry.
What was the 'Bird Sound Studio' experience like in '71? First time in the studio to record a real record, what was going through your guy's mind? How long did it take to record the full LP? What were the rehearsals like leading up to recording the album?
John: The studio, Monty Bird Sound Studio, was basically a hut (shack) no bigger than10mx3m in the middle of the countryside outside Stratford on Avon. The inside was all soundproofed with Hessian sacking. I can still recall that smell to this day! We used to rehearse here on a Saturday afternoon for 2/3hrs, many of our songs and riffs came together here. Tony's girlfriend, now wife, was always reading a book and it's actually her voice on 'Drifters Lament', singing backing vocals (Lalala). She did dabble in Folk singing, it was Keith who said we needed another voice to give it a Mediaeval feel, Kathy was perfect. The ten songs, including the 2 covers, were recorded here in November 1971. These were then put onto Acetate double LP.
"The inside was all soundproofed with Hessian sacking. I can still recall that smell to this day!"
A few months later, I was reading some of Les Bates Poetry, and two more songs were achieved. Myself and Keith put two of his poems towards 'Winter Lady' and I put another poem into the making of 'Mortal Flight'. On these recording we recorded using double tracking - acoustic guitars over electric guitars, we had never tried this before, but were really happy with the results. For some reason the first 10 songs were not recorded in stereo, the last two were.
Tony: I didn't really appreciate the experience of recording at the time. We just went into the studio and played as if it was a gig. There were a few slight 'oops' moments, as I'm sure you've heard, but we were pretty laid back about the whole thing. Personally, I never even gave a thought to the fact that one day the album would be "out there," and receiving such interest.
Keith: During this time my cousin wanted to sell and pack up so I bought his Hagstrom Coronado bass off him for £30! This guitar has a unique beast of a sound, but it wasn't till later when amplifiers started to "stack up" that it came into its own. John's mum and dad took over managing the band and our heavy sound was revealed when we were fitted out with the new Park amps. I used 2x15 cabs with a 75 watt head that sounded more like 150 watts with the Hagstrum. Tony Cox joined the band and I developed a style of down stroke playing that put emphasis on the lower notes which gave Barnabus the punchy deep growl on the heavy songs. I also have a very loud voice which I used on such tracks as 'War Drags On', 'Apocolypse', 'Drifters Lament' and 'America!'
Less than a year later in '72 you guys win the Midlands heat put on by the Melody Maker festival, and the judges are nonetheless... Ozzy, and Toni Iommi from, yes, Black Sabbath! This really helped with the immediacy of the band's forward trajectory. You guys began breaking away from the more local scenes, Coventry, and Warwickshire, to support acts such as Man, Hawkwind, Edgar Broughton Band as far as London... What were these experiences like for you guys? I gotta ask, did you guys party with them? I can't imagine seeing you guys when you were on fire, and opening for these bands. The energy in the room must have been lethal!
John: We actually wrote 'Winter Lady' a couple of weeks before we entered a competition organized by The Melody Maker called 'The Rock and Folk Contest'. We decided this song would be ideal to perform. Imagine to our surprise when we arrived at the competition venue that we found that the judge panel included Dennis Deathridge (Melody Maker), Ozzy Osbourne and Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath). When we finished our performance of 'Winter Lady', Tony and Ozzy leapt up to applaud us and they came over and shook our hands. What a feeling. We actually won that round, but not the next round. We were beaten by a cover band performing 'Black Magic Woman', not even their own original song!
I recall one great achievement, we supported Hawkwind at Coventry Locarno (this was THE place to perform at that time) as we went on stage, we could hear members of the audience calling out for 'Winter Lady' They must have seen us at another local Coventry gig in Coventry, called The Wallsgrave. What a great feeling! We never actually partied with any of the bands, but we knew the Broughtons, as they were local.
"When we finished our performance of 'Winter Lady', Tony and Ozzy leapt up to applaud us and they came over and shook our hands"
Tony: As regards opening for name bands, it may sound bizarre, but we were pretty blase about the whole thing. We didn't socialize with any of them, or rather they didn't socialize with us, except for the Broughtons of course.
May I ask what led to the eventual break up in '73? You guys were in full swing with the big bands, and then it all came to a screeching halt...
John: Our break up... Towards the end of 1972, we thought we would spend one day in London armed with our ten songs (not 'Winter lady' or 'Mortal Flight') these were still on tape, not on the acetate. We had appointments with 3 record companies. Islands Studios, who had bands like Free on their label, Decca, who had the Rolling Stones at the time, and I can't remember the third. Islands Records, we played some of the album to the guy there, his response was 'there isn't enough going on', and he could tell we were only a 3 piece, so no luck there. Then off to Decca Studios, played our songs, this guy was constantly looking at his watch then he said 'I can see your influenced by Deep Purple, listening to these songs, but if Deep Purple came to us to be signed, who would we pick, you or them?' Another rejection. We came home with our tail well and truly between our legs. Thinking we were doomed to fail (not so resolute at all!). Tony then decided to settle down and marry Kathy, he totally gave up drumming for over 30yrs, I think. Until we decided to have a reunion gig for charity in 2009.
Tony: The fact that we couldn't get a deal for the album was the clincher for me I think. I was newly married and had moved away from Leamington with my job. I think I believed that we had progressed as far as we were going to, and so I left. I must say I regret that decision now!!!!
Keith: After Barnabus folded I went onto play in many bands, Cupids Inspiration being the most famous, number 2 in 1968, but I retired on New Year's Eve 2020 with a few minor health issues. But mostly fed up with audience's attitudes these days
Can you guys tell me how the deal with Lee Dorian, Rise Above Records, came about for the official release? He brought the album out of its own kind of quarantine, what was the process for getting this much deserved masterpiece the recognition it deserves? Originally it remained on the reel to reel tapes correct? What was it like for you guys to see your work finally become a physical object? I imagine it was both emotional, and completely exciting!
John: I was the only one who had the Barnabus recordings on reel to reel, under my bed in a box. Apart from the acetates there were only 12ish copies of these and 'Winter Lady' and 'Mortal Flight' weren't on them... They were on a separate reel. Meanwhile, I was working as a teacher in 2012, and a fellow teacher who taught IT got to talking about my reel to reel and said he could transfer them onto CD for me. I copied them and sold quite a few. It was great to see people wanting to listen to the music after so long.
In 2016, I received a call from a company called Cherry Red Records. They were doing a 60/70's rock compilation album of signed and unsigned bands of the time. It was called, 'I'm a Freak Baby' and they wanted to include one of our songs 'Apocolypse'. This was a great boost of moral as we were alongside the likes of Black Sabbath, Fleetwood Mac, Hawkwind, Edgar Broughton, and Deep Purple. I believe you can still buy it!
We did another Charity gig in 2017, a friend of Lee Dorian (Napalm Death) was there and took one of the CD's to him. Lee has a recording company called Rise Above Records. He contacted me with regards to signing us and releasing our old recordings. Imagine, after all these years! The rest is history, although we are still waiting to set a date for the album launch over a year later, hopefully October of 2021. This will most likely be our last gig, age catches up with us all, and Tony is the oldest of us at 70!
With regards to us finally having our own songs on vinyl and cd, it is the most incredible feeling. I'm 68yrs old and have an album out, how mad is that!!!
Have you guys been working on anything aside from COVID, and lockdown restrictions? Can we expect anything new from this heavy trio in the foreseeable future?
Tony: Since getting back into the music business, I have been in a few local bands but Covid obviously put paid to gigging, and I think it's now time to hang up my sticks. So the Barnabus gig in October will be my last.
John: As a band, we haven't written any new material since the early 70's. I have continued to write songs, a couple with Les after the band split, and several over the years, which I still perform at solo gigs when we're allowed to gig again.
Dakota Brown
https://riseaboverecords.com/product/beginning-to-unwind/
