The Band
Whilst Flash Company are a morris side: the dancers and the musicians performing as a whole, special mention needs to be made of the freaks and miscreants that make up the band for the sake of scientific research.
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'Buzz' Fairholme is the lead squeezebox
player of Flash Company.
Rescued from a government research centre in Northumberland, Buzz can play any tune on the melodeon. Try him out next time you see him - he buys anyone a pint whose tune he can't play. |
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| Steve 'Leadfingers' Calvert couldn't
afford a trip to the deep south to meet the devil, so instead a crossroads
on the Yorkshire Moors had to do.
After the deal was done, the man with the horns chuckling to himself, Leadfingers found he could play any blues tunes a morris side could wish for. The mainstay of the band, Leadfingers keeps the rythmn going and the tune rocking. |
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Rich 'Blackmore' Bowman is the envy of
Bass players throughout the land.
On his highly crafted and designed bass, Rich provides a deep and satisfying bass line to the Flash Company tunes. Often asked to accompany other sides and bands, we've had to resort to a 30 yard dog lead. (although he does seem to like the studded leather collar!?) |
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| Snozz, apparently the 'Indian Rope
Trick' of Flash Company, also plays the squeezebox , providing unique harmonies with Buzz on numerous tunes.
Now often seen with a fiddle, he is in fact attempting to 'persuade' the band that bagpipes really can play the blues. Snozz has a nasty habit of dropping exploding hamsters and blowing up the bass player. |
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'The Admiral' (Hornblower if you're
wondering why - we've already got someone called Richard, so it was that
or Emily).
The Admiral makes the mundane sound of any morris band suddenly lift and make people pay attention. Not coming from a folk / morris background, the Admiral has no idea of the rules of folk music, so walks all over them, with fabulous effect. |
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| 'Rusty' Harp had to be different. Thinks
the Sepia makes him look 'youthful and sensual'.
The bastard offspring of Kenneth Williams and Harpo Marx, Rusty provides the harmonica and unicycle section of the band. Along with the Admiral, Rusty provides that little bit extra that makes the Flash Company band sound unique and exciting. Listen out for the playing off between the sax and the harmonica next time - it's scarily accurate! |
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Although he looks the youngest member of the band, Alex is in fact well into his 70s. Abandoned by the Glenn Miller orchestra he was forced to fend for himself. We found him in a seedy bar in Berlin, entertaining European businessmen with his songs and dances, but an enterprising rescue and a large sausage and he was ours. Always a hit with the ladies, Alex and his Large Trombone are a guaranteed crowd puller. Alex is pictured here during the breakout from Wormwood during the 1987 riots.
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