VIBRASONIC HISTORY by Simon Jones
S.J (left) & V.F (right)
Vibrasonic
was formed in
I had been making instrumental home recordings & experimenting with sounds since 1985 & had just
begun studying
Indian Classical Music & Sarod with Vajahat
Khan.
Victor who I had known for 5 years had been playing in
a band called
“The Sound Asleep” & had made a couple of singles
with them before they decided to call it a day.
We began recording ideas on my 4 Track cassette machine
in January 1990.
Vic singing in a cupboard
which were heard by the owners of Target Records who asked us
if we would record an album for their label.
The 1st release was an instrumental track
which featured a taped drum track with Vic on Organ & Backwards guitar,
Simon - Theremin & Tremolo guitar. This was released
on a flexi disc 7” as Target Records Sampler with 3 other bands from Target
label.
In May 1991 we travelled from Brighton to
on an 8 Track
at friend Darryl Bowers` house for a few days.
Tracks recorded at this time were:
Don’t Leave Me
Tired
V. F - Vocals,
Fuzz guitar, Slide Guitar, 12 string Vibrato guitar, percussion
S.J – Electric
Sitar, Bass Guitar, Tremolo Bass, Tremolo/Wah guitar, Theremin
Rich Cook
- Drums
The Unloved Insane
V.F – Vocals,
Percussion, Electric Sitar (at end)
S.J – Sitar,
Electric Sitar, Fuzz Vibrato sitar, Bass Guitar, Theremin & Backwards
effects.
Darryl Bowers - Vox Organ
Rich Cook
- Drums
All That Glitters
(Backing track)
V.F – Bass
S.J – Electric
Sitar
Rich Cook
– Drums
We returned to
One of these being the backing track for Kingsley
J with
V.F - Rhythm
Guitar
S.J – Bass
Guitar
R.H jnr –
Drums & Laughs.
Cover of 1st single
Don’t Leave Me Tired & The Unloved Insane were the
only tracks we’d finished so Target Records
released
rough mixes of these 2 tracks as the 1st VIBRASONIC vinyl 7” single
in May 1992.
We parted company with Target soon afterwards so they
didn’t get to release an album.
The rest of 1992 was spent making 4 Track recordings
& in summer we added some overdubs
at my home
to “Kingsley J.” backing track - Simon
- Theremin, Backwards guitars & a Leslie guitar
Vic - Leslie vocal track & organ in middle break.
April 30th 1993 saw the first appearance of
VIBRASONIC as a live instrumental band
at the “The
Bubblegum Factory” go-go club in
featuring
S.J on guitar & Theremin, V.F - guitar, Tony Riordan - Drums & Rondo
Hatton jnr - Bass guitar.
We were approached by Yep! Records later in the year
who’d heard some of our demos
& said he’d like to release a single by us. We agreed
to let him release “Kingsley J.”
if we could
go & add some stuff to it in a studio, we’d heard Toerag
in
to go there
& do it.
We arranged to take my instruments & equipment to
Toerag Studios in
so that Vic
could add more vocals & I could add some extra Guitars & Sounds by
transferring
the 4 track
tapes onto the studios 8 track recorder.
Here we overdubbed V.F – more Leslie & Tremolo vocal
tracks, S.J – more
Backwards guitars, Sarod (at end) & effects.
After additions we mixed the track & added more echo.
We cut the record at Porkys
in
Kingsley J. was released in 1994 with b - side “Blast
Off to Splashdown”,
an instrumental
recorded by S.J & Rondo Hatton
jnr in 1986, with Theremin & Astronaut effects added later.
V.F (left), S.J (right) 1994
We returned to Toerag Studios
in summer 1994 for 1 month, taking almost the entire contents of my apartment
which included
Sitar, Sarod, Oscillators,
String Organ, Reverb/Tremolo Units, Fuzz Pedals, Echo’s, Tape Machines, Guitars
& Amps.
We also took with us Drummer Tony Riordan with whom we
recorded “The Sea of Stars”, “Tijuana Marijuana” & “The Twango”.
A performance of Vibrasonic
“Tijuana Marijuana” was filmed & shown by BBC News for a report on old
ways of recording.
Tracks recorded & mixed in Toerag
Studios were
The
S. J – Lead
guitar, Backwards guitars, Fuzz guitars, Theremin, Tremolo Bass, Leslie Drums
(in middle), effects.
V.F – Rhythm
guitar, Twang guitar (after middle break on last verse), percussion.
Tony Riordan
– Drums
Ed “Shadoogie” Deegan – Bass Guitar
S.J – Lead
echo guitar,Leslie guitar,
Tambourine
V.F – Accoustic rhythm guitar, Bass guitar, Castanets
Tony Riordan
- Drums
The Perpetual Motion Machine
V.F – Vocals,
Bass guitar, Keyboards,
S.J – Lead
guitar, Theremin, Backwards/Forwards effects
Malcolm Catto - Drums
All That Glitters
V.F – Lead
Vocals, Organ, Bass guitar
S.J – Sitar,F/wds
& B/wds Tremolo guitars, Tablas, Theremin
Malcolm Catto – Drums
Sexton Ming
– vocals
Cloudburst
V.F – Vocals,
Organ, Accoustic Guitar (Lead in Eastern Middle
bit), F/wds lead in guitar break, Percussion.
S.J – Sitar,
Sarod, Drums, Bass guitar, Cymbals, B/wds Guitar, Leslie lead guitar (at end).
David Kraft
– Strings
Liam Watson
- Drums
The Twango
V.F – Lead
guitars,Percussion
S.J – Leslie
guitar. Accoustic rhythm guitar, Bass guitar,Tambourine
Tony Riordan
- Drums
Back in
& a live track “Surfin`Secret Agent a Go- Go” recorded in summer
1993 was added featuring -
S. J – Lead
Reverb guitar
V. F – Rhythm
guitar
Neil Palmer
- bass guitar
Laurence
Arnold – Drums
The tracks Don’t Leave Me Tired & The Unloved Insane were added to complete the album & it was released in March 1995,
CD version featured “Kingsley J.” as a bonus track.
We cut the vinyl album at Porkys
again so we could put it through his equipment, all
vinyl albums included a free Locked Groove with every copy.
VIBRASONIC 1st Album Cover 1995