Clear White Light

Original Line-up

Dale Rumbold	Vocals, piano, drums
Terry Burrows	Bass guitar, rhythm guitar, keyboards
Mick Barker	Lead guitar, acoustic guitar
Kevin Bowers	Drums, acoustic guitar, vocals
Philip Nunn	Piano, vocals, general poncing around

Clear White Light , as everyone knows, were the seminal Ipswich progressive rock band of the 1970s. The roots were in a trio formed in 1975 at Northgate Grammar School for Boys, composing Rumbold, Burrows and pretend-guitarist Bryan Ager, which initially took the name Arkwright. Almost immediately, the name Arkwright was stolen by pop impresario, and latter-day jailbird, Jonathan King, and the decision was taken not to contest this in court but instead to choose a new, and improved, moniker. So it was that Termite Reformation was born. Then things got complicated : Ager left the band, because The Risk was too great, and Bowers and Barker were "borrowed" from another Northgate outfit, Risky Stuff. It soon became clear that the way ahead was for a combined 'super-group' and so the 4 above, together with concert pianist Nunn, became Clear White Light. The Termites continued in parallel, with the distinction being that CWL were the progressive arm, producing fine high-fidelity productions of their own compositions and classy covers, whereas TR were the 'pop' arm, with low-budget and amusing covers of well-known classics. The other noticeable difference was that TR recorded at Hamster Records studio in Colchester Road, Ipswich, while CWL preferred the more rural out-of-town tranquillity of Rushmere St Andrew.

As time progressed, further changes were made to the line-up : Nunn departed one afternoon on a fag break, complete with 2 local groupies, and never returned. His place in the publicity shots of the time was taken by a full-size replica of Peru's most famous marmalade-sandwich consumer, and many of the fans felt that this was no bad thing. Paul Smith was always around as a cormorant to both bands, occasionally lending backing vocals and laughter bag.

In 1977, the band fragmented and terminated. A poorly thought out decision to change the name to The Jan Kunk Wincyette Trouser Press signalled the beginning of the end. So-called ‘quality’ musicians, such as Trevor Sharman, Mark Nicholls and Dave Knipe, were brought in to try and revive the band's flagging fortunes, but the departure of founder member Rumbold in November 77 marked the end of a dream. Kunk continued for some time afterward, but the magic and freshness of the early days had been lost, and eventually Kunk too went down the pan.

In recent years, the name Clear White Light has been mostly associated with an exceptional Information Technology consultancy : however in the last year there has been a significant and renewed interest in the band’s music, particularly from a new generation of fans at a leading Ipswich high school, where “penguin song” can now be heard echoing through every corridor! Lead singer Rumbold has been making guest appearances with other bands at the same venue. Follow the link at the top of this page to see just how fabulous he is !!

So here are the tracks from the classic album, The Last Word ( in .WMA format : better quality and smaller files than MP3. You need Windows Media Player for these) :

intro ; cold steel rail ; penguin song ; symphony to a friend ;

purple wallpaper - cold steel rail reprise ; rum n raisin, party political (i scream) ; the ending

And here are the tracks from the Easter Tape, 1976 (still stereo but poorer quality through re-recording) :

Here, there and everywhere ; Brain damage ; I can help (take 47) ; Whispering grass ; Destruction of Mrs Jones

Click here for Termite Reformation page

Click here for Daley’s Homepage