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DEREK JACOMBS |
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| VOCALS / GUITAR | |
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There seems to be more than enough stuff about me on our site already, so I'll keep this short and confined to music, and maybe add to it later. (NB. All dates are subject to the imperfections of my addled memory!)
I came out to NZ from England sometime in the early '80s after dropping out of University to play music full-time. Just another refugee from Thatcher. Then toured the country for about two and a half years playing music in a duo with a great friend from the UK, Pete Matthews. I've been involved in music ever since - written music for theatre and a little for TV; was Director of the NZ National Festival for almost a decade; been a promoter for bands and events; recorded with and produced albums for many people; and played music with many more. There have also been a number of bands. For now I'll just use this page to mention three of my favourites: Hard To Handle (1987/1988) - I spent about a year in the original line-up along with John Michaelz, Tipi Elkington, Paul Higgins, and Nick The Russian. It was always a good band but I think the later line-ups (after I left!) were better. They recorded Don't Worry 'Bout Me (found on the Stromboling album we made with Tracie de Jong) and The Working Class Shuffle (found on Kokomo's To Be Or What) when the band finally recorded and released an album in 1995. I also played a bit of electric slide on it. Hard To Handle had split up by then so it was more a labour of love, but the album - The End Of The Beginning is great and well worth hearing. Email me if you're interested and I can probably track one down. The Jones Boys (1989) - I think that's what we were called. Anyway, it was Ritchie Pickett's band, which I played with for a year or so along with Sid Limbert and Paul Kunak. Learned a lot from Ritchie - a fantastic performer, frontman and songwriter - good and bad, and I'm grateful for all of it. And playing with Sid was fantastic. He's still my favourite bass player in the world (along with Nigel of course!). The Disturbance (1990) - Tauranga's first "supergroup". An 8-piece with three singer/songwriters - of whom I was (quite rightly!) the least featured - 2 keyboard players, and 3 horns. Ritchie Pickett (v & keys), John Terry (v & bass, and the man who wrote Freight Train for Kokomo), Grant Winterburn (keys), Damian Forlong (tromb), Ricky Harris (sax), James Fleming (drums), various trumpeters. It was an awesome band, playing all-original music, but a goddamn logistical nightmare. Even arranging rehearsals was like a military campaign. And there were certain "ego problems".... After that the 3-piece line-up of Kokomo Blues was a blessed relief, as well as the chance to really immerse myself in the old blues that I love, and I took up acoustic guitar full-time rather than electric. The story of that bit continues on the band's history page. And that's all for now. Perhaps this page should be personal stuff about the "songwriting process", my wine cellar and stuff I do in my spare time... maybe another time. |
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