Brand X

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Brand X is a classic jazz fusion band. Most of their albums were recorded in the 1970s and 1980s. In the 1990s, original members John Goodsall and Percy Jones formed a new version of Brand X.

In 1999, John Goodsall reformed Brand X with fretless bassist Mick Stevens replacing Percy Jones. This version of Brand X includes keyboardist Kris Sjobring who performed with the touring version of Brand X in 1998.


The liner notes to Missing Period, indicating that Goodsall and Jones have owned the Brand X name since 1978.
The liner notes to Missing Period, indicating that Goodsall and Jones have owned the Brand X name since 1978.

Contents

[edit] 1974-1981

The liner notes for The Plot Thins: A History of Brand X, 1976-1980, as written by Chris Welch and reproduced on the Phil Collins official web site [1], state that the band was formed in 1974 when guitarist John Goodsall met keyboard player Robin Lumley, who had been rehearsing an album project with bass player Percy Jones. When they started rehearsing at Island Studios, ex-Melody Maker critic Richard Williams took note of their music and wrote down "Brand X" in the studio diary, since the group lacked a name at the time. Their first drummer, Phil Spinelli, quit the band to work on a singing career. Drummer Phil Collins, who engaged in prolific session work during this period, sat in for some guest sessions and eventually decided to join the band. He was already committed to Genesis, but he felt he could fit in time for recording and gigs with Brand X as a side project. (Collins, in fact, only recorded with Brand X during two main periods, the initial 1976 period and the 1978-9 Product period.) Bill Bruford was also involved in the band's early days, but never recorded with the band. Goodsall, Jones, Lumley and Collins all also appeared on 1976's Marscape, released by Jack Lancaster and Robin Lumley and recorded around the same time as the first Brand X album, Unorthodox Behaviour.

When the band was doing recording sessions in 1977 through 1979, other musicians performed with the band at various times:

  • Kenwood Dennard (drums)
  • John Giblin (bass)
  • Mike Clark (drums) - Sometimes spelled with a terminal -e as "Clarke", but this is not the Michael Clarke of the Byrds.
  • Peter Robinson (keyboards)
  • Chuck Burghi (drums)

During recording sessions for Product and Do They Hurt?, two different versions of the band recorded in the same studio at the same time, working in shifts. One band included Mike Clarke with Peter Robinson and Percy Jones, while the other featured Collins, Lumley, Goodsall, and Giblin. The musicians were interchangeable between each other's sessions, and some 20 different songs were recorded. (Brand X did not record in the studio again; the next two albums were outtakes from these sessions.)

After the 1981 album, Is There Anything About?, the band split up after they felt they had reached the end of a creative cycle. (In essence, they had already split up. About? was outtakes left over after the previous two albums. Note "Modern, Noisy, and Effective" is simply the backing track to "Soho" with a new keyboard line.) Robin Lumley says:

“ It was great that everyone really got on well, from beginning to end. Funnily enough there was never really a leader. People recognised Phil as a figure head and he had his own status, but generally it was a band without a boss. We were all very good friends socially, and we all shared the same sense of humour. Yes, there were some very silly episodes with Super Glue on the road! I refuse to take all the blame for that. But I did manage to get some industrial strength glue that was used for sticking aeroplanes together. So as far as sticking hotel room furniture to the ceiling was concerned - that was easy! ”

Lumley addressed the reasons for the breakup as follows:

“ The fact is we wore it out. We certainly didn't hate each other. We could no longer write any-thing together that made us happy and we just got on with other things. Phil of course went into his solo career, which became fantastically successful. The interesting thing is that now the old Brand X records are selling really well. I guess they are appealing to people who have worn out their vinyl copies and want the CDs! We never objected to being called a jazz-Rock band, but really we were playing rock 'n' roll with jazz bits in it. ”

[edit] 1992-1998

Goodsall and Jones later got back together in 1992 with drummer Frank Katz under the Brand X name again for the Xcommunication album. This version of the band featured Goodsall performing on guitar and MIDI-guitar. The 1997 album Manifest Destiny also includes Goodsall, Jones, and Katz, as well as Franz Pusch on keyboards and other instruments, Marc Wagnon on MIDI vibes and other percussion instruments, Ronnie Ciago on percussion, and Danny Wilding on flute.

[edit] 1999

Percy Jones departs Brand X to concentrate on his band Tunnels and is replaced by fretless bassist Mick Stevens

[edit] 2000

Drummer/percussionist John Holmes and Brand X touring keyboardist Kris Sjobring are enlisted for their "X2K" U.S. West Coast tour. The unreleased CD "X2K/live at the House of Blues" is recorded.

[edit] 2004

Veteran drummer Brock Avery joins; the first new studio CD in almost 10 years is planned for release in 2007.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Studio

[edit] Live

  • Livestock (1977)
  • Live at the Roxy LA (1979, released 1995)

[edit] Compilation

  • X-Trax (1986)
  • The Plot Thins: A History of Brand X, 1976-1980 (1997)
  • X-Files: A 20 Year Retrospective (1999), compilation including side projects
  • Timeline (2000)
  • Trilogy (2003)
  • Macrocosm: Introducing...Brand X (2003)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Welch, Chris. Brand X - A Brief History. Phil Collins - Official Site for Phil Collins. Retrieved on 2006-07-25.

[edit] External links

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