| Dates connected with James: | 1982 |
| Contribution/Role/Speciality: | Violinist |
Mysteriously named violinist who appeared on an early demo tape, played a few early shows and then disappeared, never to be heard of again.
Category Archives: Person
Eno, Brian
| Dates connected with James: | |
| Contribution/Role/Speciality: | Producer |
Producer of the Laid and Wah Wah albums and involved in the production of Whiplash and Millionaires, Eno is not just a music producer although his CV boasts the likes of Bowie, U2 and Roxy Music. He lectures in science, has produced many ambient albums of his own and is a celebrated diarist, amongst many other things.
Bostock, Gerry
| Dates connected with James: | 1988 |
| Contribution/Role/Speciality: | Drummer |
Drummer of Manchester band Easterhouse who stood in as the band’s drummer at a number of shows in late 1988 after Gavan’s dismissal from the band.
Blanco Y Negro
| Dates connected with James: | 1986 - 1988 |
| Contribution/Role/Speciality: | Record Label |
The offshoot of Sire Records that James released both Stutter and Strip-Mine.
Blue Grape Merchandising
| Dates connected with James: | |
| Contribution/Role/Speciality: | Merchandising Company |
James official merchandising company that runs an on-line ordering service for t-shirts and the Folklore biography – click on this link to go to their site.
Hunter, Mark
| Dates connected with James: | 1989+ |
| Contribution/Role/Speciality: | Keyboards, Percussion, Drum Programming |
Birthday : 5th November
Band Nickname : Chunney Lad
First gig : Gary Numan
Mark joined James in the spring of 1989, having been recommended by Mick Armistead who had played keyboards on One Man Clapping. He was nineteen at the time and working in Preston where he had done sound engineering for the likes of The Membranes and the infamous Macc Lads.
At Mark’s first session with the band, he recorded the piano intro to the original 12″ version of Sit Down without being aware he was being recorded. He made his live debut at Liverpool Royal Court on June 16.
When asked about Mark in 1993, Tim said “The quietest man I’ve ever met. It took us about two years to get a sentence out of him. Now, actually, he’s much more chatty. You never heard what he played – you never hear what he plays, ever, until you get to the studio. At first it used to really bug us, but now no-one cares, because it’s always bloody good.” This has become a running joke within the band that Mark never says anything.
During the band’s hiatus between 2001 and 2007, Mark worked with The Bluetones as well as Ainslie Henderson, initially through the Fame Academy BBC tv programme.
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Alper, Chloë
| Dates connected with James: | 2018+ |
| Contribution/Role/Speciality: | Backing Vocals, Guitar, Percussion |
Birthday : 13th September 1981
Joined James as part of the touring band when Debbie Knox-Hewson left.
Find out about Chloë on Wikipedia.
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Gilbertson, Paul
| Dates connected with James: | 1980-1984 |
| Contribution/Role/Speciality: | Guitar, Lyrics |
Paul Gilbertson was the inspiration behind the early years of James. Some of the philosophies that the band still encompasses today – taking risks on stage, improvisation and never knowingly sounding like anyone else – come from Paul, who was the band leader in the early years and the man who came up with the band’s name back in 1982.
Paul was in the same class as Jim Glennie at Yew Tree High School close to Man City’s Maine Road ground and were almost inseparable during most of their childhood years. Paul developed an interest in and introduced Jim to the punk scene developing in Manchester in the late 70s which encouraged him to buy a guitar and to convince Jim to buy a bass.
In the early years, Paul wrote the lyrics to most of the band’s music, which was developed from jams. He also took the responsibility for organising live performances, developing close ties with members of both Orange Juice and The Fall, and choosing the band’s personnel.
However, as the band developed, through releasing their debut single on Factory in 1983, Paul had started to overindulge in the drugs scene that was taking a hold on the music and club culture in Manchester at the time. He would turn up for rehearsals catatonic and developed a penchant for trying to play the guitar left-handed or upside-down.
Things came to a head after he went to Cornwall for six weeks in the summer of 1984 and came back a completely changed person. The band tried to cover for him, even to the extent of bringing Larry, who Paul had ironically brought in to give the band guitar lessons, in as a second guitarist, but the situation got worse rather than better. After a shambolic gig at Deville’s in Manchester, he was told to steer clear of drugs for two weeks before the band’s next show or risk being kicked out. He didn’t comply and had to be told when he turned up for the soundcheck for the gig at the Hacienda that he was no longer in the band.
Paul now works as a taxi driver in South Manchester and has had virtually no contact with the band for almost fifteen years.
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Whelan, Gavan
| Dates connected with James: | 1980-1988 |
| Contribution/Role/Speciality: | Drums, Percussion |
Gavan Whelan was the original drummer in James from their inception through to his departure in late 1988. Older James fans still remember him fondly for his great energy and enthusiasm and his peerless mastery of the drums and sonic contributions to the early James sound. After his departure, Gavan retreated from the industry after a brief spell working with Green On Red and as a drum tech with the Happy Mondays.
Gavan is back in the music industry, working as a producer for an upcoming band called Alive, producing their forthcoming single and playing drums on one of the tracks. He’s also been known to join the band on stage for their storming rendition of Sit Down. He has also recently signed a publishing deal.
His own story about his time with James and his departure and activities since remain surrounded in mystery and mystique. But noone can doubt the lasting contribution that Gavan made to James both in terms of recorded output and band philosophy.
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Kulas, Michael
| Dates connected with James: | 1997-2001 |
| Contribution/Role/Speciality: | Guitar, Percussion, Backing Vocals |
Birthday : 27th January 27th 1969
Band nickname : “Pablo, clean your Kulas”
Previously in a band called The Sea, Canadian Michael Kulas met Saul through a mutual friend who worked in a Toronto music shop in 1994. At the time he was playing in various bands in the area. Saul offered to produce Michael’s debut album which he was about to record. “Mosquito” was a success on the Canadian independent radio circuit.
Michael then provided backing vocals and some guitar work on some Booth and the Bad Angel tracks in 1996 which never eventually saw the light of day. When Brian Eno suggested that James enlist a backing vocalist to support Tim live on the Whiplash tour, Michael, who had been asked by Saul if he was interested in doing some guitar-tech work on the band’s US tour, was contacted and made his debut “on trial” on the Letterman show and on some small US club dates in February 1997.
Michael made significant contributions to the band’s sound during his time with them, both in adding backing vocals and additional guitar and production and songwriting ideas – the opening section of Runaground is an example of Michael’s work. He has also demonstrated his versatility in supporting Tim on piano, keyboards and guitar at acoustic stripped-down performances.
On the solo front, Michael has continued to write and demo material of his own and has just released an independent album in Canada in March 2001 entitled Another Small Machine. There are no plans at present for a UK release or any major promotional work for the album.
Find out about Michael on Wikipedia.
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Davies, Saul
| Dates connected with James: | 1989+ |
| Contribution/Role/Speciality: | Percussion, Guitar, Violin |
Birthday : 28th June 1965
Band Nickname : Bob
First gig : Isle of Wight Festival 1970
Football Team : Barcelona
Born in Oldham, Saul moved to Scotland when he was a child before moving to Hull in 1980 where he met Adrian and the two became close friends, Saul replacing Dave Rotheray (of the Beautiful South) on drums in Adrian’s band.
Two years later, Saul was expelled from Manchester University’s law school in 1982 after six months for taking speed in the faculty toilets. Saul then spent several years travelling Europe. He did however manage to complete his degree in 1987.
Saul joined in 1989 just before the first version of Sit Down came out. He was discovered by Larry at the Band on the Wall in Manchester at an improvisation night on the day Dave had finally agreed to join James. Saul walked in with a violin and Larry was immediately intrigued. Saul was leaving Manchester at twelve the next day so Larry called a rehearsal for ten and Saul was offered the job on the spot.
He allegedly had never even heard of James and had to ask his friends who they were. He saw the move into James as purely a stop-gap measure initially. Tim described him as the “last of the international playboys” as “he lives all over the world and knows how to enjoy life. He’s very flamboyant and will go for it onstage. He’ll take risks onstage, visually, and in terms of like, flying. He wants to fly a lot on his violin – his natural style is to play masses and masses. He’s got so much talent and he’s just dying to get it expressed, and then to have to work through – working in a band which is hard at the best of times and patience is the biggest thing you need – I think it’s probably been hardest for him”
Saul is instantly recognisible by his widely varying hairstyles – bald, dyed bleach blonde, floppy bob, long with a dodgy beard – and his (usually drink-fuelled) taunting and provoking the audience in the live arena.
Since Larry’s departure, Saul has become more prominent in the songwriting of the band – he sketched 20 or so base tracks for the Millionaires album at his home in Scotland before presenting them to the rest of the band. With his insecurity hidden by his flamboyant stage persona, Saul was afraid the band would hate the material. His contribution is recognised by Jim in the credits to Millionaires – “Jim Glennie would like to personally thank Saul for his work on this album over and above the call of duty.”
Outside of James, Saul has participated in the Money offshoot project and also worked with Youth on his Celtic Cross project. He has also produced albums by Priya Thomas and Michael Kulas’ debut “Mosquito”.
Find out about Saul on Wikipedia.
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Oxaal, Adrian
| Dates connected with James: | 1996-2001, 2015+ |
| Contribution/Role/Speciality: | Guitar, Backing Vocals, Cello |
Birthday : 20th March 1965
Band Nickname : Mr Pastry
Born in California of Norwegian / American / Guyanan parentage, Adrian is a long-term friend of Saul, the two having attended the same school in Hull and it was this link that helped Adrian when the band were looking to replace Larry.
After leaving school, Adrian went to the University of Sussex in Brighton, where he still lives, to study music. Before joining James after Larry’s departure in 1996, Adrian was in a band called Goat that signed to Beggars Banquet before becoming guitarist and cellist in Sharkboy, a Nude Records band that produced two albums in the early eighties and had supported the likes of Suede.
An accomplished guitarist, Adrian says and does very little but play guitar on stage. The band have tried to bring Adrian out of his shell, but with little success so far.
Despite a reputation for laziness, the band acknowledge Adrian’s brilliance with a guitar in hand and amp plugged in.
Read Adrian’s bio on Wikipedia.
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