The Starving Gypo's

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Background information
Origin	Hounslow, Greater London, England
Genre(s)	Alternative Rock, Britpop
Years active	1996–2003
Label(s)	Touching Cloth Records
Members
James Thompson Vincent Makin Brendan Nevin Mark England
Former members
Nick Goold

The Starving Gypo's were a Britpop / Alternative Rock covers band from Hounslow, Greater London, England.

The band consisted of:

James Thompson: Vocals, Synthesizer
Vincent Makin: Bass Guitar
Brendan Nevin: Guitar, backing vocals
Nick Goold: Lead Guitar
Mark England: Backing Vocals.

The band reached their peak in mid 1997, before breaking up. Comebacks in 1998 and 2003 failed to lead to anything bigger, but there is still hope that the band will one day return to the stage.

1 History
2 Line Ups
3 Where are they now?
4 Lyrics
5 Influences
6 Tours
7 Discography
8 External links

[edit] History

James Thompson

[edit] Band formation

James Thompson (Jim), Vincent Makin (Vinny) and Brendan Nevin (Bren) met at school in Hounslow and along with friend Melvin Davis discussed the possibility of forming a band while on holiday in Benidorm in 1996. 'Starving Gypo' had been a popular cuss used by Melvin, and hence the name The Starving Gypo's was decided upon. Rough jamming sessions were scheduled for their return, and most of these took place at Melvin's address in Heston due to Melvin breaking his leg in a motorbike accident.

Melvin's whining vocals and Brigitte Nielsen style bleach-blonde flat top were not deemed to be appropriate for the direction that the band wanted to take, and Melvin was unceremoniously dumped in late 1996, and replaced by school friend Nick Goold. At this point Jim took over the lead vocals, Bren assumed rhythm guitar duties, Vinny bought a bass guitar, and Nick was asked to perform lead guitar.

Vincent Makin

[edit] Early sessions

A more appropriate location was required for practise purposes and sessions moved to the back room of a local club in Heston where Bren was working at the time. Transport to the venue was organised by school friend Paul "Toss" Cross who drove a TARDIS-like Metro which could fit all Bren and Nick's equipment and still have room for passengers. Sessions took place on a Monday night and during this time the band covered bands such as Oasis, U2, The Cranberries, The Who, Manic Street Preachers & Babybird. Nevin and Makin played a particularly moving version of the Bush track Glycerine. Thompson also presented many of his own songs during this period, including the seminal "Off My Tree".

Sessions continued throughout late 1996 and early 1997 with the band perfecting and honing their set list. The band experimented with Paul "Mouse" Melville on drums, but decided that Jim's keyboard was more reliable. Guest vocalists (male and female) were trialed to add variety and diversity to the bands music. In early 1997 the band felt ready to lay down some tracks onto tape. Studio sessions were priced, but a chance conversation at college led to the local studio facilities being booked for the now legendary Smarx session.

[edit] Smarx session

Smarx

The band assembled in the recording studio on a Thursday evening in February 1997 to record their first tape. Band Publicist Paul Brennan (who was later sacked for reselling flowers from graveyards around the local pubs) and producer Gavin Murphy organised the session with kind permission from the legendary Reilly (rumoured to be the original songwriter of Survivor's hit "Eye Of The Tiger"). Due to technical problems, Nick's guitar pedal board, who's sound defined the early bands material, was unable to be hooked up to the recording equipment and so the raw sound of the Smarx session was born.

The recording began with session staple "Pinball Wizard" by The Who. Nevin's jangling guitar (an original 1962 Fender Telecaster kindly supplied by groupie Ciara) was perfectly complemented by Goold's Townsend-esque thrashing of the distortion chords, and Makin's timely bass. Passionate vocals by Thompson evoked images of the deaf, the dumb, and the blind in the mind of the listeners, and the raw energy of the track was expertly caught by the sound engineers.

Oasis's "Wonderwall" continued the session and was followed by "Live Forever". Without the pedal board, Nick's solo was not as effective, but was intricately performed. R.E.M.'s "Shiny Happy People" was also recorded, but did not make the final tape. The Thompson penned "Off My Tree" unfortunately was not caught on tape during this session, and to this day has never been recorded.

Mark England

[edit] Momentum and split

The Chariot in Hounslow was at the time a Mecca for artists, troubadours, and wasters and this became a spiritual home to the Gypo's. Entourage at this time included Stuart "Moose" Amos and serial shaggers Richard Carpenter, Mark Tully, and Mark "Sharky" England. Groupies were shared, fought over and discarded, but the band's performances became stronger and stronger. Following public playing of the Smarx tape, the band's reputation was growing, and the public outcry for a live performance was gaining momentum. A public concert was needed.

Brendan Nevin

Sessions in Heston increased in frequency and a set list was decided on for the first public performance. On Saturday 21st February 1997, The Starving Gypo's took the stage at the Heston Club for the first time to rehearse their material. Guest vocalist Lucinda joined the band for a haunting version of The Cranberries "Zombie" and the performance was well received by the privileged few who were in attendance. Particular crowd pleasers were U2's "Where The Street's Have No Name" and Babybird's "You're Gorgeous".

But tensions within the band had reached a critical point. Rumours of groupie swapping, questions about the bass players musical ability, heavy drinking and rumours of drug taking led to the original line-ups ultimate demise. The split was cemented when Nick moved to Warwick and formed rival band Amber, who recorded the album "What You Make It" in 1999.

The remaining members of the band briefly relocated to Benidorm, but an argument between Bren and a member of the entourage over the positioning of a chair drew a line under the creative element of the band, and the members drifted apart.

Meadow Way

[edit] Meadow Way

The anticipation of Pink Floyd reforming for Live 8 was nothing compared to the atmosphere in Heston on the 4th August 1998 when Jim, Vinny and Bren reconvened in Jim's Meadow Way recording studio in Heston to jam for nostalgia's sake. Sharky was recruited to add dimension to the band, and Bren took over lead guitar duties from the departed Goold. Recordings from this session were released on the 1998 Meadow Way EP. Highlights included a Polyphonic Spree-esque version of U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name" and a 15 minute version of "Pride". Alas, the session was a false dawn, and the Gypo's were destined to drift apart once more.

[edit] Compilation

The Best Of The Starving Gypo's

Jim and Bren experimented with a new electro-rock sound in late 2000 and released the single Lullaby on Touching Cloth Records, but not under the Gypo name. The Gypo's (minus Goold) reconvened in Ireland in 2001 to celebrate Nevin's marriage. Rumours of a possible performance at the reception abounded, but didn't materialise. To mark the event, "The Best Of The Starving Gypo's" was released on CD and given exclusively to the hardcore fanbase. The Gypo's final public performance was in Nottingham's Monastery club in March 2003 where the band entertained revellers with a rendition of Coldplay's Amsterdam.

[edit] Line Ups

**The Starving Gypo's Line-Ups**
The Starving Gypos (July 1996 - August 1997)	James Thompson - lead vocals Nick Goold - guitar Brendan Nevin - guitar, vocals Vincent Makin - bass
The Starving Gypo's (August 1998 - March 2003)	James Thompson - lead vocals, drums Brendan Nevin - guitar, vocals Mark England - vocals Vincent Makin - bass