Cliff Chapman, Robin Vick, Steve Grainger, Gary Webb and Bernie Fox were the members of
3 Portsmouth bands; Propaganda fronted by song writer and singer Dave Saunders: 7up, a short lived outfit fronted by Dave and Rick Le Page; and the Dodgers fronted by Rick.
No one remembers how The Scratch Band started but it was probably as an antidote to the singer-writer regime.
Also, a signi?cant factor was the studio Cliff
had built at the bottom of his garden which
meant that the band could get together and work
on instrumental music.
Most of the ideas came from Cliff and Gary
Although everyone contributed
In the Late 1970’s and early 80s the band were
given the chance to record b y Dave Hardcastle at
his Toucan Studio. Many thanks are due to
Dave for his generosity and the enormous
learning curve it allowed the band.
In between rehearsing and recording, the band
played sporadic gigs in pubs and clubs; one of
the most unusual was supporting a solo set by Richard Thompson at Portsmouth’s Centre Hotel.
Some time after this Robin Vick Left the band
to get married and around the same time Steve
Grainger left to join Culture Club leaving a big gap in the line-up.
Bassist Robert Milner and saxophonist Stuart Mason were duly drafted in.
Because the band played purely instrumentals Music it was always difficult to get gigs so to remedy this the band asked Barbara Brown, a friend and excellent singer, if she would guest on a few songs, which she did and also wrote lyrics for some of the numbers, giving the band broader appeal.
The last line-up change was Darren Dumbleton taking over the bass chair from Robert Milner. All these folks made a big contribution to the band as friends as well as musicians.
The band folded in the late 80’s but got together again a couple of years ago to play for a friend John Walton with the original line-up.
All of this led to the band deciding to record again, this time with our old pal Steve Hampton at the controls.
Some of the old tunes were revisited plus some newer material. Thanks to Steve for his help and know-how, which has been invaluable.
The Scratch Band 2022
|