User:Bachdenkel

Bachdenkel came to life in and around the King's Heath area of Birmingham. Evolving out of a combo called "U No Who". Peter Kimberley(bass), Colin Swinburne (guitar), Brian (I've been to Hambourg and can screen-print) Smith (drums) and lyricist manager Karel (I've been abroad too) Beer, soon ditched the married members of the band and after an ecounter with a computer came up with the name Bachdenkel and quickly side-stepped into the sit-ins, free concerts and the counter culture of the Midland's underground. After a vain attempt at trying to get it together in the country they decided to get it together out of the country where rents were cheaper (free) and a real live, good for nothing, English rock band was still a novelty. Especially if they had a light show, which they did thanks to the inky patience of the late great Fred (I like your trousers) Smith.

So in the spring of 1969, it came to pass that the bemused minets and minettes of the Romeo Club on Bd St Germain were exposed to "White Bicycles", "Morning Rain" and Vanilla Fudge-drenched versions of "Homeward Bound" "Dear Delilah" and "I Can't Let Go". These highly emotional dirge-like numbers did little to improve the audience's dancing skills but no doubt did have some effect upon their neurons. Next stop after the mandatory visit to the out patients ward of the American Hospital was the Alps and hopefully a residency in a snow bound club. The old Morriss van made it up to the top of Alp d'Huez and even faster made it down again to Grenoble and the Birdland Club, amost impressive manor owned by a jazz fanatic who also had a penchant for pea-cocks, a pond full of trout, doberman pincers and a Nazi's ear in a wooden box. Clearly this was a vast improvement on Birmingham, a city where Nazi's ears were and still are, few and far between. At least it was until, during breakfast one of the dobermen bit the guitarist's hand ! The incapacitated lead guitarist meant that an important gig at Paris' Golf Drout had to be put on hold, the unforgettable rogue Jean Besnard who had been whipping British beat groups in and out of shape for almost a decade shipped the band off to a newly opened pizza-teque in St Aubin between Nogent sur Seine and Troyes. Run by an amiable bunch of opportunistic north africans who were not concerned that the band had a one-handed lead guitarist, the club Le Tabou was set in a tiny village surounded by acres of beetroot plantations. A row of sleeping bags on the attic floor was to be home for several weeks. A marked drop in standards from the Birdland in Grenoble but with less distractions the group started to write many of the songs that would later figure on Lemmings. On one of the numerous excursions to Paris the band ended up playing in the Oasis Club in a northern suburb called Sarcelles not far away from the aptly named town of Stains. Here they met an aspiring record producer/label owner named Chou Chou (or cabbage to the power of two) and a certain Bernard Szajner who was starting to dabble in light shows which was timely since Fred Smith had by now taken his Amoeba light show back to Birmingham. ChouChou having got his hands on a real live english band soon arranged to put them in a recording studio and have them make a single. "Through the eyes of child" and the first recorded version of "An appointment with the master" were chosen is titles to record, not so much for their commercial value but probably because at least one of the songs lasted less than 3 minutes. Not long after these recording sessions the band was introduced to avant-garde Argentinean danser and choreographer Graziella Martinez who had previously worked with The Soft Machine and Mark Boyle's light show. These were serious references and before long Graziella and her troupe were working with the band on a ballet entitled "Translation" after which one of the newly composed songs would be called. Contemporary danse financed by a bonkers banker who housed the group in a drug-store multi media complex in Orsay (South of Paris) was a very attractive proposition for the band. Sleeping and living in a slimmed down cultural department store was another step in the right direction. The band may have been locked in at night but with a fully stocked bar and fridges full of goodies the lack of freedom was easily compensated for. Within a few weeks the ballet had moved into the American Center on the left bank in Paris and so had the band. The American Center may have been dry from an alcoholic perspective but it was equipped with a swimming pool and run by some wild americans who used it like a water-bed without the plastic casing. In 1970 the band recorded their first album "Lemmings"

www.bachdenkel.com

to be continued