Pat Fish
(Fender Telecaster, Fender Jaguar, Yamaha sf-800, 6 & 12 String
Acoustic Guitars, Keyboards, Percussion, Programming, Vocals) Richard Formby (Fender Jaguar, Gibson Firebird, Burns Electric X11 String, Programming, Tapes) Dooj Wilkinson (Wal Bass Guitar, Voice) Nick Burson (Drums) Peter Crouch (Fender Stratocaster, Fender Jaguar, Yamaha sf-800)
The
Jazz Butcher was the vehicle of prolific singer/songwriter Pat Fish, an
archetypal British eccentric whose sharp observational wit and melodic
gifts navigated the group through over a decade of constant line-up
shifts, stylistic mutations and even a series of name changes which
found the band performing variously -- and apparently randomly -- under
such titles as the Jazz Butcher Conspiracy and the Jazz Butcher &
His Sikkorskis From Hell. Fish was born Patrick Huntrods in London in
1957, and raised primarily in Northampton. He first began performing
while studying philosophy at Oxford in the late 1970s, fronting the
short-lived Nightshift; a subsequent band dubbed the Institution later
joined forces with their rivals the Sonic Tonix, establishing the
nucleus of players who later formed the core of the Jazz Butcher sphere.
Fish
first concocted his Butcher persona in 1982, quickly enlisting his
Oxford mates to join him in a band of the same name; even from the
outset, the group's roster changed seemingly on a daily basis, although
Fish found an early mainstay in guitarist Max Eider. The Jazz Butcher's
eclectic 1982 debut A Bath in Bacon -- including early skewed pop gems
such as "Love Zombie" and "Sex Engine Thing" -- was essentially a Fish
solo record, but by 1984's folky A Scandal in Bohemia the roster had
stabilized to include ex-Bauhaus bassist David J. Following The Gift of
Music, a 1984 compilation of single sides, the Jazz Butcher resurfaced
the following year with Sex and Travel, a marvelously odd set ranging
in sound from punk ("Red Pets") to cabaret ("Holiday").
After
David J left the band to join Love and Rockets, the remaining quartet
-- Fish, Eider, bassist Felix Ray and drummer Mr. O.P. Jones --
rechristened themselves the Jazz Butcher and His Sikkorskis from Hell
and recorded the 1985 live set Hamburg, followed the next year by an
EP, Hard. Leaving the rhythm section behind, Fish and Eider then
recorded 1986's Conspiracy EP, credited to the "Jazz Butcher vs. Max
Eider" and foreshadowing the subsequent shift to the Jazz Butcher
Conspiracy aegis for Distressed Gentlefolk. Eider soon exited to mount
a solo career, leaving Fish to team with guitarist Kizzy O'Callaghan
for 1988's Fishcoteque, their first release for the Creation label.
By
the time of 1989's Big Planet Scarey Planet, the line-up also included
the superb bassist Laurence O'Keefe, saxophonist Alex Green and drummer
Paul Mulreany; 1990's Cult of the Basement was recorded with the same
roster, but the usual disruptions soon left Fish essentially to his own
devices for 1991's Condition Blue and 1993's Waiting for the Love Bus.
Upon reuniting with David J, who produced 1995's low-key Illuminate,
Fish decided to lay the Jazz Butcher name to rest, and performed a
farewell performance in London at the end of the year. He subsequently
signed on to play drums with the Stranger Tractors, but in 1999
reunited with Eider for a Jazz Butcher Conspiracy tour of the U.S. The
live Glorious and Idiotic appeared the following year and Rotten Soul
was issued in fall 2000. ~by Jason Ankeny, all music guide
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