Just an up-date on what's happening with the band (hopefully this may be of some kind of

interest to you!!) DC FONTANA.....we aim to be less lazy in terms of telling people

what we're up to from now on and into the future and for those who are interested feel free

to harrass me with emails and stuff if you want futher info:

 

Just wanted to announce that the band I play with (DC Fontana) is undergoing a whole new groovy

facelift!!

 

The new incarnation is a big, bold, vibed-up seven piece line up with a cooler, hipper, funkier nouveau northern (soul) heart &  featuring a sizzling new horn section (ex-Dexy's Midnight Runners/Specials), a new diminuitive but big-voiced blue-eyed female vocalist with a Swedish surname who dazzled scooterists, mods & soulies this summer at the Run To The Shires rally PLUS a teenage Hammond organist complete with Brian Wilson haircut!

 

Wendy Skoglund: Lead vocals, percussion

Neil Jones: Guitar, vocals

Mark Mortimer: Bass guitar, b. vocals

Nigel Horton: Drums

Ian Arnold: Hammond organ, keyboards

Peter Bacon: Tenor & soprano saxophones, flute, percussion, backing vocals

Lynn Thompson: Trumpets

trombone to follow???

 

In the years we've been together we've worked real hard at trying to establish ourselves as a "name" attraction on the (international) scooterist, mod & northern soul scenes (if you need some bags and tags then there you go!!) among others (!) and regularly play in Europe as well as the UK with our hard work and deep love of great classic dance music now paying off.

 

Hurrah!

 

Despite a catalogue of catastrophes including the theft of all our band equipment (worth £35,000) we've battled on doggedly and have found some kind of magikal inner strength to propel ourselves onwards and upwards.

 

This strength has been focussed and energised by the fact that throughout various line up changes since the band's inception in Tamworth, UK in the mid 90s the rhythm section of Nigel Horton, Neil Jones and myself has been a constant thread, welding the whole thing together.

 

This new, greatly improved version of the DC Fontana band is very celebratory and is all art & soul: lively, brash, colourful and a powerful combination of fizzy original tunes and classic oldies.

 

Of the non-originals, we tailor our own interpretations, re-sculptures and boil our own strange brews of varied 60s & 70s tunesmithery of only the finest quality ingredients (we are no human juke-box machine!)....

 

Admittedly some of these can be rather mainstream (like Small Faces, James Brown, Jackie Wilson etc) but don't you forget some are, perhaps, more palatable including the likes of Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & The Trinity, MVPs, Jacques Dutronc (I always knew my O-level French would come in handy one day!),  Nolan NF Porter, Tony Galla, Fleur de Lys, Spanky Wilson, Gloria Scott, the Action, Melba Moore, Lynn Collins, Georgie Fame, Bobby Womack, The Quik and even the Flying Burrito Brothers to name but a few!!.

 

At present we are putting together a new show which will be fired up, vibed-up and roadworthy from mid September onwards.

 

There are currently no new publicity shots with the new line up but we aim to have some taken by the start of September.

 

No current recordings of the new band exist (as we only started rehearsing in earnest a few hours ago) although in the past we have successfully released - to good critical acclaim - two limited edition CD singles including a Mellotron-peppered version of the (unbelievably obvious!) northern soul "classic" "The Snake" (a song we find difficult to play or even listen to now but hey! ho! you can't re-write your past!!) and the seminal psych/freakbeat classic "Father's Name Is Dad" featuring a chiming over-driven 12-string Rickenbacker (both CDs boasting different lead singers to our latest recruit Wendy) which nevertheless helped cement our (global) reputation.

 

Added to that there are plenty of original unreleased DC Fontana compositions recorded cheaply for posterity ranging from the sonic avalanche that was hi-octane guitar burn-out "Winona Ryder" through to the prettier, more thoughtful acoustic guitar & string quartet combo on Neil Jones' "Words Of Wisdom," not forgetting the (almost creepy) lounge psychosis of the clip-clop "Trouble In Toytown" where "Magic Roundabout" memories melt into a metamorphosed mind-warped circus nightmare.

 

There is also the cinematic John Barry-meets-Brel styled "A Man Could Get Killed" where lazy solo trumpet fuses with cheap harpsichord imitations and xylophones to create a soundtrack to a non-existent spy film. And then there's the Tams-meets-Dexy's-meets-Mel Wynn dancefloor original "Feel Your Touch". That's only the tip of the iceberg  - reminding everyone that DC Fontana have always been a lot more than just a good-time funky-assed soul covers band!

 

Anyway, I digress!

 

We do have a website (about to be updated to include info on the new line up) with loads of older pix, in depth info and grossly over the top historical facts etc etc - www.dcfontana.co.uk .....it should be updated within a week or so....

 

In recent times we've supported reformed Midlands Two Tone heroes The Beat and also Neville Staples (ex vocalist of The Specials), headlined the Run To The Shires scooter rally and were co-headliners of the last TWO annual Lambretta Day Festivals on the Isle of Wight.

 

In the past we've also headlined the delightful Paris Mod Weekender and had the pleasure of being top bill performers at deliciously diverse events such as the National Scooter Rally Of Scotland and the New Untocuhables Inland Mod Rally, being named "Band Of The Year" by the (Gawd Bless Her!!) BBC, headlining The Great Goo-Goo-Magoo Scooter Festival in Eire & a big sunshine soul event in Cyprus, entertaining clued-up guests at a wedding of two long-time mod/psych scensters in rural Leicestershire (!), performing at numerous mod & scooterist parties and being invited to play in the Middle East (very odd that one!!) blah blah blah!!

 

During these hectic times the band has also managed to fit in a brief and happy reunion with their ex-singer (and still close mate!) Nick Read and write a whole heap of exciting, new original material that's best described as a psoulful sonic stew, some parts country-soul-inclined, some parts psychedelicised and all-parts heartfelt and effervescent!