HOBO - Coventry Music Magazine

THERE ARE A NUMBER OF PROFILE BLOGS PUT ON HERE FROM THE TOP BLOG ON HOBO AS SPACE WAS REQUIRED. I'LL GET AROUND TO RE-EDITING THEM ALL INTO ONE POST AT SOME  STAGE - MEANWHILE YOU'LL GET THE GIST OF THE SITE FROM THESE VARIOUS POSTS BELOW!

NEW PROFILE BLOG 9th Nov 2007
ONE YEAR ON!!

These archives are the story of a post war generation from a bombed-out city struggling to make some kind of better world based on love, peace, creativity and cooperation through songs and music and art and other unfunded grassroots community structures.  It's a story of their struggles against the odds to make things happen - something Underground maybe - but still 'Phoenix' like. This is only part of the story - others have their contributions too.

Coventry's famed for Two Tone, Pete Waterman, Hazel O'Connor, Beverley Martyn (Kutner), Frank Ifield, Vince Hill, Dando Shaft, Indian Summer, Reluctant Stereotypes, King, The Primitives, Punjabi MC, Stereo Nation etc.but there was so much more! Musicians who never made the main stream, or who never aimed for it but worked for an alternative, more collective scene for musicians and artists in the city. This site is busy reconstructing what happened in Coventry in 60's and 70's that forms part of the background to the development of it's internationally known artists and alternative structures.

........2007

Wow, it's nearly  a year since I started the Hobo blog (Nov 30th 2006) and so much has happened through it - it's unbelievable really. (I'll keep the original profile on under here).

Originally I was just going to upload my extensive archives from my mis-spent youth on the Coventry Music Scene during the 1970's rather than throw the material away or just leave it in the Coventry Archives. I no longer reside in Coventry and that goes for quite a lot of Coventry musicians featured here. Although I kept in touch with people in Coventry during the 80's eventually I lost all touch with anyone but my family. It seemed an age ago and I wasn't sure if I dreamt it or not! I really never expected that so many of the musicians from back then would discover the site so quickly and respond. The power of the net! And no small thanks to Vox for the ease of uploading media with blogs and the comments box which has transformed this in to an interactive site.

There are too many to name them all but notably Pete Chambers (dubbed by Pete Waterman as the "Ambassador of Coventry Music", The Broadgate Gnome (The Diggers) - an earlier Coventry Alternative magazine and so many musicians who have spread the word through their networks. They are all featured here somewhere.

The result has been that this is now not only an archive of those youthful days on the Coventry music scene but an interactive site, not only with musicians who were around in the days before Two Tone put Coventry on the music map, but with later and contemporary Cov musicians and indeed musicians on Vox from anywhere in the world. Such is this cyberspace that past and present can coexist simultaneously and create dynamics and interactions not previously possible.

Even better, not only is Hobo a magazine again (albeit a cyber one) but it has been a springboard for new projects and collaborations with musicians finding each other again through this and similar sites on here. There have been a number of on-line musical collaborations and an exchange of techniques and software tips / approaches.

COVENTRY MUSIC EXHIBITION 2009
Both myself and Pete Chambers had ideas towards the creation of a Coventry Music Museum. Through the site we exchanged thoughts on this and Pete managed to convince the Coventry's Herbert Museum and Art Gallery that this might be a good idea. As a result meeting and work is going ahead to create a Coventry Music Exhibition for 2009. Not only that but 2009 is the 30th anniversary of Two Tone, which will obviously be a central feature of the Exhibition. Neol Davies is hoping to reform the original Selecter for a celebratory concert and discussion is moving toward combining the two for the Exhibition launch. Perhaps a week long celebration of Coventry music with Cov bands past and present playing the pubs around the city culminating the Two Tone concert and the Launch of the Exhibition.

THE GNOME LABEL
If that wasn't exciting enough the Broadgate Gnome who started their way back in 1970 (at least in a printed form) have, as a result of discussions and interactions on here, created the GNOME LABEL AND GOME FEST - based on co-operation has now kicked in. The original idea of an Alternative Music label was mooted in Broadgate Gnome in 1970 along with the Tribal Rock Co-operative initiative (a proto-type of the later music collectives of the 1980's). The idea didn't fully come to fruition back then but, with the internet and modern technology, much more is now possible. The Gnome have been working very hard to create this new  Co-operative label.

TREV'S NEW ALBUM ON GNOME
In addition to this I also created a Vox blog (Songs of Trev Teasdel) and My Space around my own songs - mostly home recordings, not to attract any kind of record contract but just to have an outlet for songs written in my youth and more recent ones, and because often there's a Coventry story behind some of them which fits in with this Hobo site. Such was my surprise when The Gnome label wanted me to put out an album of some of these songs on the Gnome Label.

RETRO-COV PODCAST
We also talked about creating a album of Coventry music - bands that never made but whose music was part of the scene and deserved a wider audience. As a result The Gnome Label are now creating the first stage of a Retro-Cov Podcast, and more Cov musicians are being encouraged to dig out those 'lost tapes'.

I decided to use Vox to upload my Coventry archives because because it was by far the best blogging facility I'd found (thanks to Rocking Brian who pointed the way to it). It looked good, had the ability to load audio / visual material and phot0s and link to Amazon and so forth. All that I was looking for really and Vox has continued to improve on it throughout the year. However, at first, the site seemed out of place with most people doing the normal blogging and not so much about or with music. Along the way Vox annoucnced that Sony BMG were to use Vox as the basis of their digital A & R work and suddenly we were joined by lots of musicians and Vox is at the forefront of  changes in the way the music business operates. The decision to use Vox for the site seems  to have been good therefore for yet another reason because it has provided the right environment for such a music archive and has further helped to develop some of the projects that are taking off from the group of Cov music sites around Hobo
.
WRITERS CAFE
In addition, I decided to put the Writers Cafe (which I now run in Stockton on Tees) on Vox and as such have created a buzz between to two projects. We had our first Coventry up to the Cafe in October - Rob Halligan for example and Vox has provided us with quite a few artists such as Odi, Karl Elland, Susie Wilkins, Surianne.

Along the way, I'd like to thank everyone really who contributed, read, commented, sent in material, and helped create some of the developments from the site or sites. In particular The Broadgate Gnome, Pete Chambers, Pete Willow, Kevin Harrison, Mick Gawthorpe, Jim Pryal. Ann Wainwright, Colin Cripps, Dennis Burns and Fresh Maggots, Dave Birdsell and many others.

....................
This has been taken off the front post and replaced here to save space.

ABOUT HOBO
Hobo magazine and Hobo Workshop happened between 1973 and 1975, but the archives cover a wider period from 1969 and beyond.
There were other important magazines before and after Hobo. Before in 1970 there was Broadgate Gnome and after there was Folks and Alternative Sounds. They are well represented on this site. This site is here for anyone writing on, researching or curious about the Cov Music scene, or who want to contribute memories and information. It provides some essential source material and a sound track. The great thing is that it's not just one person's perception - others are contributing too. Even better - musicians are collaborating musically on-line and there are potential musical projects in the offing too - a Co-operative Record label and a possible Coventry Music Museum and a Coventry Compilation album.  Some of the Cov musicians have their own Vox blogs now - there's a good Cov Community here - come and join us - tell your own Cov music story and link to us. Hope you enjoy it. Trev Teasdel 2007


ORIGINAL PROFILE BLOG OCT 2006

As the former editor of Hobo - Coventry's Music and Arts Magazine & Workshop in the early to mid 1970's, I will be attempting to chart the history of the Coventry music scene in those days using the Hobo Magazine archives and related material. Making it available to anyone who wants to know more or who is researching it. Not a normal blog I agree!! I began as a songwriter in my teenage years and got involved with organising venues and promoting local bands via Hobo magazine. Venues include The Coventry Arts Umbrella / Walsgrave Pub (Pete Waterman's venue - I did the door duty!) / The Hobo Workshop (Holyhead Youth Centre and later the Golden Cross). Hobo was produced on a shoestring budget as and when I could afford to put it out but somehow managed to bring the scene together more and promote local bands, poets, artists and venues. It's heyday was 1973 - 75 but the material being uploaded relates also to earlier and later involvements on the music scene. It will document to bands, venues, discos, festivals, people and more. Some of the musicians and bands written of in Hobo later became famous or semi-famous (even infamous) later. Most famous is Pete Waterman who wrote a soul article and provided a soul chart for us; some later were associated with Two Tone bands - Horace; Brad; Neol Davis. Paul King - later of the 80's Group King; Neil O Connor of Midnight Circus / The Flys was Hazel O'Connor's brother and later joined her band. Martin Jenkins of Dando Shaft later played with Bert Jansch - that's just a few - so not all the musicians in this blog are unknown! This blog will give you a taste of the thriving Coventry music scene which these artists came out of.

 Although I don't live in Coventry anymore, the current music scene seems just as vibrant. There are several strands this archive - photo gallery / Coventry Arts Umbrella archive and maybe more. They will all come together on Hobo My Space fronts page. Links will be placed on this blog as and when they are set up. There will also be links to my literary work on Teesside (OUTLET / THE WRITERS' CAFE venue and my Music MY SPACE. Hope you enjoy it. Trev Teasdel (Former Editor of HOBO - Coventry Music & Arts Magazine & Workshop)