Bernie Hot Hot

19 January 2006

Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings...

Bernie Hot Hot was the name of the band I formed in 1987, and of all the bands I've joined or formed, it was the band most likely to etc.

I got the name from hearing my Mancunian two year old son warning himself not to touch the oven because it was 'burny hot' ('burny' being pronounced 'bernie' in Mancunian).

Anyway, I've finally managed to find an aged audio cassette from 1988 - a copy of a copy of the second demo we recorded for the local radio station 'Piccadilly Radio', and I've added some samples from it to the previous music page on the site.

Those were exciting times. Just like the KLF said, I gave up my day job (what a good idea that is) and concentrated on running a band and performing the songs I'd written whilst singing my son to sleep (poor bugger).

The band you can hear was made up of:

  • Drums: David Dunne, now a DJ, who introduced me to Ruth - keep up please, that's my wife
  • Bass: Pete Condor and the other half of the Jazzrascals
  • Me: guitar and vox
  • Dawn: backing vox and handbag ( we used to joke that she would only dance on stage if we put down a handbag - ah... musicians' humour)
  • Keyboards: John Ellis, now a celebrated jazz organist
  • Sax: Neil Shorehulme
  • Trumpet: Bob Dinn (I just bobbed in etc - snigger)

Later incarnations included the wonderful Nicky Harrop on keyboards (another story I must tell some day).

Bernie Hot Hot was buzz of the week for a wee while in Manchester, playing the sort of gigs that celebrities come to. But it all started to peter out, no doubt because I tried to write ever more clevererer and funkierer songs. Let's face it, folks like a good tune. and isn't there a lesson there for us all?
OK, without further ado, here are the tunes:

Oh, and if you're reading this Nicky, thanks for the comment last time, but make sure your email address is right. No-one else gets to see it, but then I can send you my version of the story of your audition for approval before publication!