ALWAYS Hit "ReLoad" or "Refresh"for latest update. Anyone included in the photo's here who would like better quality images of larger size should contact me below and I'll be happy to send them back by return. Geoff' Bowers ...from a Bluegrass egg to mangey old bird! Announced to the public, on stage, at his first Special Consensus concert in '98, as "The Godfather" of the Gotham City Bluegrass Band! - hopefully due to his relative seniority (born 1944,) and not to the company he keeps! His first brush with bluegrass was around 1962 when it began to creep into the folk clubs of Nottingham. The main protagonist in the area then was a young art student singing around the folk clubs and coffee bars called "Spike Woods" (of today's "Cats Cradle!") Geoff's first serious foray was a duo, then trio called "The Country Preachers" who ran a small coffee bar folk club. The other half of the pair was Pete' Turner. Bill Griffin, a fine and much-maligned banjo player, made up a trio of the same name. Bill, also a karate freak, would amuse us by hammering in a loose fifth string tuner - onstage or off- with his head! ...and this was for real! Bill now lurks in Whatstandwell in Derbyshire and plays a 7-string banjo which he refers to as "The Beast!" Another duo, with a Geoff on banjo / mandolin / guitar and friend Jack Fletcher on guitar ran a good few years doing Blue Sky Boys and Reno and Smiley type material.
Jack Fletcher (Right) During this time they supported, then ran a thriving C&W club in Bulwell. This was at the "360 Club" which was originally formed by Roy Seymour aka "Sunny Ford" and Pete Turner. Here's an ancient photo from the Brittannia Inn, Nottingham showing Geoff, Pete, Sonny and Don Cogin.
Another stalwart of the club was Johnny Vere, a headmaster who was just the best square dance caller around. (3rd from the left front row.)
The 360 Club's trip to Basildon. This duo of Geoff and Jack grew into a four piece band named "The Barnstormers" after the classic banjo album "Homer and..." One Ted Gordon on banjo was the driving force behind the band who finally fled to Scotland. He's been extradited back again in '99 though to Brinsley, North Nottingham and is back in the swing of banjo playing again and making mischief! Next came a very successful band called "Corncob," also featuring Ted Gordon, together with one very notable Dave Brailsford on fiddle, aka Dave Ford, who had a successful history of performing square dance and western music in general. (His long-time singer/guitarist partner Roy Seymour aka"Sunny Ford" has sadly now passed on.) Dave was - and is, a real live-wire both on and off stage. Many in the Nottingham area in particular, will recall happy days of square dancing to Dave's calling and fiddling. Dave was very much the mainspring of the band with his infectious spirit. Pete Turner played guitar and Pete Wade, Corncob's original mandolin player, moved on to dobro to complete the full line up. Corncob did regular and some serious-distance bookings, local radio and even made the BBC TV at Birmingham! It is interesting to note that when the "Gotham City" fiddler Mark Tindle, first drove in to Nottingham from his previous home in London, he heard his first taste of bluegrass on Radio Nottingham which was Corncob! Click here to download a Real Audio clip of the beginning of the show that night doing an old timey number, Ragtime Annie. (It's a large file - 2686kb!) Throughout the time with Corncob, Geoff played two different mandolins which he fabricated composite from the necks from banjo-mandolins and the bodies from violins. These had a really good "chop" and a splendid tone. (This turned out to be a precursor for many years later when he trained at Newark Violin School to be a luthier - see "Geoff's other life...") It may be worth a mention that should anyone know of the whereabouts of either of these instruments, Geoff would be most happy to buy them back as a happy momento of those times. There are heart-shaped facets (soundholes) on each of the shoulders, From that same era: Eric Kwiatkowski, multi-instrumentalist and demon guitarist and is still a valued friend of Geoff and Pat's. He recalls a very memorable concert that Eric and he did at Newark Violin School supported by their own house folk / bluegrass band - our finest hour! (How could he know that decades later he would be a student at the same violin school!) Eric is probably the best kept secret guitarist in the bluegrass world. In spite of enormous talent, he has to be "prised out of his pen with tyre-levers" to appear in public! A complete guitar addict, he is usually content to hide his considerable light "under a bushel!" He has been known to shine on several gigs with Reg' Cooper of local notoriety! Together with Geoff and his wife PAT on double bass, Eric performs well at some very pleasant regular picking sessions. Eric has been a regular supplier of good-quality guitar music and tablature for North West Bluegrass News in recent years and also won a years subscription to Guitar Magazine for his valued contribution. He also ran a fine guitar-based CD supply business, "Rick's Records." Below is a faded photo of CORNCOB taken on Woodthorpe Park just before Geoff joined the band. From left to right are Ted Gordon, Pete Wade - who graduated to dobro, Pete Turner, Dave Brailsford and Steve Reed.
When this group finally disbanded, Geoff did a couple of years on the Country scene on electric bass and some solo appearances on guitar / fiddle / mandolin. His more recent incarnation as one of the founder members of what was originally called the, "Gotham City String Band," began in late '96 but, as he said - "Nobody's perfect!" In the picture below, the mandolin player on the left is Mark Tindle who's tragic death shocked everyone on September 11th 2004.
The Gotham City Bluegrass Band at "The Ramblers" Edale, on one of their Bluegrass Train Shows.
Here's most of the band at the first of their Heart of England Bluegrass Venue appearances. Geoff left this band just before Christmas '99. In April 2000, Geoff accepted the kind invitation of the top-flight band,THE DOWN COUNTY BOYS to join them. Click on their photo below to read a current report in NWBN by Peter Parker, of their record-breaking UK Band history:
Above: The DCB's at the "Night of the Noah's Ark Floods," at Todmorden. Below: Geoff at the first official outing with the DCB's at the HOEBV in May 2000.
In January 2001 Geoff regretfully resigned from the Down County Boys. This followed a season of much hectic travel and some enjoyable times and pre-empted serious health problems for a few years that are thankfully, (and hopefully) firmly in the past now.
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Geoff and Pat's main contribution to the bluegrass scene is in the form of promoting the excellent American bands that come across from time to time. This time and cash-consuming occupation has become something of an obsession for Geoff with the "Holy Grail" being the never-ending quest for sound system perfection! It is a great source of pride to them both. The first of these concerts was in '98 and was the Special Consensus - a spectacular Illinois band headed by Greg Cahill. They've since made a return visit and incredibly managed to shine even brighter! The amazing Schankman Twins and their bands have also appeared twice with majical performances which will stay with the sell-out crowds who were fortunate enough to be there. Sharon Cort and Bill Keith have shown us a wonderful night too. The Dick Smith & Mike O'Riley Band opened up the latest venue in fine style at The famous TBI - Trent Bridge Inn - in Nottingham. The Czech band "Relief" showed in great style that not ALL the best Bluegrass Bands have to live in the US! Much to the disappointment of most of the population of West Bridgford, Nottingham and the Bluegrass crowd, the TBI had a similar fate to the Test Match... It was "improved" out of the running for our concerts! Will these breweries never learn? The silver lining was that it forced Geoff to approach the Old Vic, a renowned music venue in the heart of the City of Nottingham. Thus, after the year-long hiatus in US bands following the September 11th tragedy, the first US pair of Jeff Midkiff and Curtis Jones "christened" the "new" venue in great style. The high spot of 2002 was definitely the tremendous night that was witnessed by all who saw "The Lost Highway." What a night to remember that was...
Special Consensus have appeared here in Nottingham five times! Chris Stuart three, Dick Smith and mike O'Really three times also. The Bluegrass Patriots showed us a truly memorable night. Valerie Smith and Liberty Pike have just knocked our socks off and we have had the privilege to host GoldHeart the wonderful family band with Jens Koch sizzling on banjo.
These concerts have
continued to the present and now have a most selubrious venue of the Comfort
Hotel, George Street, Nottingham. (Formerly the George Hotel.) For
forthcoming concerts... Geoff has built up an appreciative band of happy bass-playing customers for his own "BigWood"™ acoustic bass transducers both at home and overseas and continues to manufacture and sell these as their reputation gathers acclaim. To learn more click here> "BigWood"™ Geoff's other life beyond Bluegrass!!! LAST UPDATED: 26/02/03 |
