ON YER BIKE J R R Tolkien’s ideas for “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” were formulated when studying the classics at Exeter College, Oxford. Less well known is the fact, for the last 30 years of his life, he rode a bike in preference to owning a car. I doubt he would have been the slightest bit interested in the incredibly contrived ‘coincidence’ I’ve created in that, 60 years later, Audience would play Exeter College with Orange Bicycle! Out of some weird sense of embarrassment, I didn’t introduce myself to the Bicycle, for which I’d unsuccessfully auditioned a few years earlier when they were called the Robb Storm Group. I’d been disappointed at not landing the job as they were an excellent harmony band, coming close to a chart hit with a cover of The Beach Boys’ “Here Today” and with a busy secondary career as backing band for Paul and Barry Ryan. I remember knowing I’d blown it with misplaced falsetto harmonies on the audition piece – The Four Seasons’ “Let’s Hang On”. And who got the job instead of me? None other than Lewis Collins, ex-bass player for The Mojos and future heartthrob Bodie in TV’s “The Professionals”. Unlike Tolkien and Bodie, Orange Bicycle never made it big, although their guiding light, multi-instrumentalist Will Malone, pedalled on to a successful career producing and arranging for a vast range of acts from Kylie Minogue to Iron Maiden, Faithless to Take That, Peter Gabriel to Olly Murs and many more. https://youtube/watch?v=PqoCMn8z4zU
Posted on: Fri, 30 May 2014 07:23:27 +0000
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