History
A not so brief history of “The Golgis”
Towards the end of 2001 Tony had a couple of songs on a CD and thinking that there would be a launch gig, decided to get a few people together to play the songs. With his colleagues from previous bands primed, Martin on bass and Graham on percussion, he got in contact with Ade to ask him to play 12 string guitar (Ade had previously played drums with Tony and Martin in Blister). After a couple of rehearsals Graham dropped out, then the launch gig never happened. They decided to keep playing together as The Golgi Apparatus with the idea of travelling light with acoustic instruments rather than humping big black boxes around! After failing to recruit a replacement percussionist, Martin switched to percussion with all 3 members taking it turns to play bass. A few gigs and many open mics later, they met a jazz saxophonist named Richard playing solo at an open mic. He accepted an invitation to come to attend a Golgi Apparatus rehearsal and by early Summer 2002 The Mk1 line up was complete.
A couple of weeks later the first recordings were made by Niall Hone, a six track demo which became known as Ee Pee. It’s track listing was Pahoehoe (Ade), Making Mountains (Tony), All Around Me (Tony, lyrics by Alex MacDonald), Little Kids (Ade), Why Must You All Be (Tony) and I Left My Hot Water Bottle in Stepney (Ade). Pahoehoe is the only one of these they still play. They continued attending open mic nights in Brighton and Worthing and played many gigs in Brighton, Worthing, Shoreham and beyond. Gradually the amount of instruments increased with Richard adding melodica and percussion to his usual fare of alto sax, Ade and Tony both occasionally playing percussion with Ade adding one by one the ‘flutey thing’, soprano recorder and a nose flute! In the late Summer of 2003 Martin announced his intentions to move to Croatia. The band went into Church Road Studios, Hove, for a few days to record as much of the set as possible, presided over by Paul Beat. The outcome was self released as Pa-pa Smejesko (Croatian for Cheerio Chuckles, Chuckles being one of Martin’s nicknames). The CD comprised Finger Lickin’ (Tony), Bit of Rough (Ade), Wayne (Tony), Monster Feeling (Tony), A Slight Misunderstanding (Tony), Idiot Boy (Ade), The Girl in The Park (Ade, lyrics by Alex MacDonald), Negative of You (Tony) and Lady Caffeine (Ade). Martin put the artwork together as he continues to do for all Golgi and associated releases. This album can be purchased online here: https://thegolgiapparatus.bandcamp.com/album/pa-pa-smjesko
The following New Year’s Eve, Tony was playing a few numbers on his own when a gentleman, with hair resembling an enormous mushroom which caused him to walk through doors sideways, joined him on bongos. This was the entrance of Wolfington Stanley esq. a punk drummer by trade who was the unobvious choice as bass player/percussionist! His sense of humour fitted in immediately and the Mk2 line up slowly, tentatively began being a trifle amusing! Richard purchased a tenor sax and after much encouragement from Ade (who himself had dusted off his highland bagpipes), began playing it simultaneously with his alto sax.
During the January 2005 they entered a now long defunct recording studio in Worthing for a disastrous recording session. The live room was unheated and therefore uncomfortably cold and the engineer struggled with The Golgis simple demands! 4 songs were recorded but even after a remix, Same Old Trouble (now known as Viv’s Song) was unusable. Demoralised by the experience, the next session took place back at Church Road Studios, again with Paul in January 2006. Another 7 songs were recorded with the former 3 remastered. Gruntled & Whelmed was released on the imaginary Ziff label (cat no 003 as it was their third recording) with the first 50 CDs individually numbered. It comprised Mr. Fisher (Tony), Toothbrush (Ade), The Other Pair of Don Alfonzo’s Tweezers (Ade), Parachute (Ade), Doc’s ‘Tache (Ade and Tony), The Unnecessary Trifle (Tony), Pretty Street (Everyone), Ugly Street (Ade), Not Keeping You Up Are We (Tony) and a new recording of I Left My Hot Water Bottle in Stepney (Ade). This album can be purchased online here: https://thegolgiapparatus.bandcamp.com/album/gruntled-and-whelmed
By 2006 the theatrics had increased to the point where the stage resembled a fancy dress competition. For example, at an American Independence Day event they appeared as a Vietnam Vet, Ronald MacDonald, an American tourist and an inmate of Guantanamo Bay. Wolf and Ade would often find themselves running through the audience during songs and springing unexpected props upon one another and their bandmates. By the end of July doubts were expressed on the future of the band which resulted in Richard leaving and them going on hiatus for the Summer.
After a month or two Ade, Tony and Wolf had a rehearsal to see how it felt and decided to carry on with an expanded line up to increase the possibilities for comedy. After much patience the first expanded line up failed so they played some shows as a trio. In mid January 2007 Ade invited a banjo player, Avery, to come and see them play at an open mic as he had expressed an interest in playing with them at a previous show. Avery brought a drummer, Whitney, along and they became the Mk3 Golgi Apparatus’ new members. This new sounding Apparatus was filled with fresh impetus and more theatrics became a regular feature including the inclusion of Ade performing a striptease whilst riding a unicycle during Finger Lickin’ also playing hosepipe and teapot and a recently acquired tenor horn (albeit very badly!). During July they went back once again to Church Road Studio and recorded It’s a Stick Up (now known as the Ballad of D B Cooper), British Actually (aka Can’t Dance Fast) and a new version of Doc’s ‘Tache. During late Summer Whitney was not available so Nigel stepped in for a gig or two. Regular performances continued with varying line ups ranging from just Tony and Ade, Tony, Ade and Wolf, the trio plus Whitney, the full quintet or even more with Richard occasionally sitting in or Martin visiting from Croatia. In March 2008 Ade switched to electric 6 string guitar, having previously introduced ukulele. In late spring Jesse James (Avery), Van Calvez (Ade), Hagfish (Ade) and The Real Kochanski (Tony) were recorded by Rupert Cobb.
By July the line up was fracturing and the final Mk3 gig at the Six Bells, Chiddingly was recorded by Foz who Ade had been playing with in various projects. With Avery and Whitney about to be unavailable for a few gigs Nigel was already primed to step in accompanied by Ben Salter on guitar and bass. The interregnum line up of Ade, Tony, Wolf, Nigel and Ben did a couple of shows and were then joined by Foz on ukulele and banjo for 2 more gigs. The first of these was a riproarious performance at Rox Festival on Bognor Regis seafront where Foz and Ade as sad clown and jolly ringmaster respectively, featured on the front page of the local paper. After the second of these on bank holiday weekend August 2008 there was a discussion about keeping this line-up, changing the band name and dropping half the material. Not everyone was interested in this option and consequently Ade decided to call it quits to concentrate on solo performances initially on ukulele and 12 string guitar. He went on to develop his unicycle striptease into a standalone cabaret complimented by assorted bizarre juggling acts as Count Adriano Fettucini, which led him to performing throughout the UK and Europe in cabaret, burlesque and theatre shows.
Meanwhile the remaining trio continued to carry the Golgi baton in a new band opting for more of a rock sound with Tony on electric guitar and lead vocals, Wolf on bass guitar and backing vocals and Nigel on drums and animal impersonations. The first name chosen was ‘The Pentapeptides’. This lasted for their first gig at the Lido in Worthing, then, realising it was a stupid name, changed it to The Logical Hairs which seemed to fit in a strange sort of way. Many new songs were written and performed throughout Sussex and Surrey. They built up a following in Horsham, where the original music scene is much bigger than in their native Worthing. They were soon playing there a couple of times a week, culminating in possibly their biggest and best performance at The Capitol Theatre to a sold out crowd.
Wolf left in March 2014 and was replaced by Rolf, a mutual friend and master bass guitarist. They continued to write new songs and played many gigs with varying degrees of success. Over the years, 18 songs were recorded by The Logical Hairs. 15 of these can be found online, on Spotify, Apple, Amazon etc etc etc…..and in 2019 a best of CD album was released with all 18 songs included. They also recorded 5 music videos in the form of short comedy films. These can be found on youtube https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=the+logical+hairs
Between Christmas and New Year 2016 The Logical Hairs were booked to play at a venue close to Ade’s residence. Martin happened to be over visiting so Tony decided to invite Martin, Ade and Wolf to join himself, Nigel and Rolf for the gig. The performance began as a trio which gradually expanded to include everyone. As it was a splendid success, it was decided to play some shows together, initially as The Logical Golgi Hair Apparatus, then simply as The Golgi Apparatus. During 2017 the line up varied from 4 to 6, Richard joining for 4 shows and Nigel and Rolf missing one each. For 2018 it seemed sensible to continue with a fixed line up in parallel to The Logical Hairs (currently on hiatus). The name was shortened to The Golgis and Tony, Ade, Wolf and Nigel opted for no bass in a live situation. This line up went from strength to strength and during 2018 and 19 recorded the CD An Assortion of Selectments (Ziff 006) and won Horsham Battle Of The Bands (acoustic originals) in 2019. An Assortion… comprises of Telepathic Tina (Tony-music, Tony and Susan Chewter-lyrics), Leyat (Ade), The Ballad of DB Cooper* (Tony), Southwick Bullet (Ade), Ken (The Conscientious Refuse Collector) (Tony), Mike (Ade), Roy The Whippet Man (Tony), Bit of Rough* (Ade), Wayne* (Tony), Hagfish* (Ade), and Viv’s Song* (* new versions) and is available here https://thegolgis.bandcamp.com/album/an-assortion-of-
selectments
In November 2019 they claimed part of their Horsham BOB prize by recording the singles It’s Still a Hoover (Tony) and Eat Your Own Brain (Ade) at Audiobeach Studios, Brighton. They were released on the AWAL label as online singles on 17th January 2020.
With many gigs booked and plans to record a follow up album, all was thwarted in March 2020 by the first covid lockdown. The Golgis managed to play a couple of shows between lockdowns in the Summer and in Spring 2021 spent 3 days in Audiobeach Studios with Forbes Coleman to record 6 new tracks. Following this there was a successful Kickstarter to raise funds towards the pressing of a limited edition 10” vinyl only release of all 8 Audiobeach tracks (the 6 recently recorded tracks will not be released digitally).
The Bench! Will be available during the winter of 2021/22. It will comprise… Side 1: Eat Your Own Brain (Ade), It’s Still A Hoover (Tony), Unko Museum (words Wolf, music Ade), Over 50’s Assisted Living retirement Home (Tony) Side 2: The Bench! (Tony), Moody Band Photo (Ade), Le Petomayne (words Wolf, music Ade), Napoleonic Tiolet (Tony)
The return to live performance has seen some songs filled out with the addition of electric bass guitar and on occasion, electric guitar. This gives The Golgis the flexibility to mutate to suit each occasion by playing entirely acoustic, entirely electric, hybrid sets or even one set of each.