Carnival gives groups their chance
to shine
* SF-Control are : back Lynda Orbell; middle Roland Alderson; left Dave Stewart; right; Derek Vann.
notice the roar t shirt
(Picture by Jensen Photographic)
by Denis O'Donoghue
Monday's Luton Carnival gives five bands the chance to show local music fans what they can do.
And the line-up which will play in the car park under the flyover
at Chapel Street is drawn from just about the widest possible
spectrum of modern music.
The bands who have been recruited by Paul Jolly of Luton Arts
Centre are Skyjuice, Click Click, SF-Control, Madrigal and Turkish
Delight.
Paul of course will be playing as saxophonist for Skyjuice. One
of Luton's favorite bands. Skyjuice started as a lovers' rock
outfit but while reggae still plays a big part in influencing
the music, the band have developed their own style over the years.
Paul will be joined by guitarist Colin Land, bassist John Boyle,
drummer Martin Norton, percussionist and toaster Mick Davis and,
hopefully the new vocalist for whom Skyjuice have been advertising.
One of the area's newest bands is Turkish Delight. The festival
will be one of the first gigs the band will play although they
were on the road for a couple of years with different line-ups
as the Statics.
There line-up is Eric on guitar , Dennis on drums, Dave Hannah
bass synth and Lol on keyboards and vocals.
At the moment, Turkish Delight are still writing material and
working towards a style of there own.
Lol won't be the only girl in the line-up; Lynda Orbel, 22 is
the bass player for SF^Control.
Lynda comes from Dunstable and works at Don Larking's Studio in
Luton, is joined by guitarist and vocalist Derek Vann, 22,from
Leicester who is an insurance salesman; drummer Dave Stewart,
27, a Glaswegian who is a computer programmer and Roland Alderson,25,
from Toddington, who is a freelance graphic designer.
The band evolved about four months ago from a combination of the
Roarr, Jo Lystroda, Galaxy and Personal Column.
Lynda said that SF^Control should have been called TF Control
after a computer program being worked on by Dave. but when Roland
came to design the logo, the band reckoned "SF" looked better!.
Said Lynda: "Now everybody thinks we're
something to do with Science Fiction but as we call our music
New Rock it's worked out well."
The band draw from there own influences- Roland likes any synth
music. Lynda Human League and some jazz funk, Derek some 60's
sounds and Dave Squeeze and Dire Straits.
They add there own touches to the music and - voila! - there's
SF^Control!
Brother's Derek and Adrian Smith, also known as Click Click ,
will be providing synthesizer music with the help of a tape machine.
But anybody expecting music in the Tears For Fears mode is going
to be disappointed. Said Derek, who is the drummer: "Our
music is not soft, wet, wimpy and safe. We are trying to head
synthesizer music forward and not backward as so many band seem
to be doing". As well as making music. Derek also provides it.
He and a friend Rick take over Doubles in Park Street each Saturday
night to run the Stingray Club. It's not a disco as such-"The
dance floor is small and we're not dependant on dancing for entertainment,
says Derek- but a place where people can come together to listen
to music- "from Cabaret Voltaire to T.Rex" - or just talk if they
want.
There are even two rooms set aside with noting but tables and
chairs where people can go purely to talk. The hard rock side
of the festival will be provided by Madrigal, who started life
as one half of the now defunct Dying Sun.
Drummer Mark Compton and bassist Paul Meaton have been joined
by guitarist Paul Fittes and vocalist John Nicholson, while keyboardist
Amanda Daines is currently "on trial". Said Mark: "We played our
first gig at the Wheatsheaf recently and it was a bit of a disaster.
Paul's bass went wrong and he had to sit it out while the rest
of us played on. But the crowd were very sympathetic.
"We were only half as good as we can be but we'll be OK on Monday!"
