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The Erin Bardwell Collective -
'The Erin Bardwell Collective' is Erin Bardwell's latest reggae band. Established 2003 (studio) & 2004 (live). Currently a 5 to 6 piece line up plus guests. In 2008 Neol Davies from The Selecter made his first special guest appearance with the band. This was repeated in 2010. See 'Events' page for latest gig details. Erin Bardwell's latest production is a 12" vinyl 331/3 r.p.m. - The One Rhythm E.P. (PAT011) - 4 songs, 4 artists, One Rhythm! Released July 2010. See 'Mail Order' and 'Releases'.
Erin Bardwell Collective Myspace
Photo by Jason Moore
(L-R) Sandra Bell, Erin, Pete OD, Pete Fitz, Sunny & Ed
The Erin Bardwell Collective have three studio albums to their name, and one 7" single. All released on Pop-A-Top Records.
Discography :-
Erin Bardwell is currently writing, producing and recording new material for Pop-A-Top and he also DJ's at the "Shocks of Mighty" reggae club nights. See 'Events' page for latest dates.
Erin was born in London in 1973. Spent two years in Wales (where his parents managed to take him to an open air show by Bob Marley & The Wailers - although Erin has no recollection of the memory! - must have been an influence on his sub conscious later in life perhaps!) His family settled in Swindon in 1976 (or more specifically Groundwell Farm, near Penhill, just on the northern outskirts of the town, where they lived until 1992).
In the late 1970s armed with a black and white television and a few scratched LP’s Erin moved into the world of music. Thursdays was Top Of The Pops on TV and at the weekends the old stylus blasted out The Specials, The Beatles, Irish folk music, Toots & The Maytals, Jimmy Cliff, and Desmond Dekker (due to a guy living in their house having the soundtrack to the film The Harder They Come.) It was 1979 and 2-Tone was the latest craze.
During the years from 1981 - 1983, Erin Bardwell spent periods of time in Holland (Netherlands), Germany & Austria, where his parents were working & touring with their theatre group (The European Theatre Of War). After one of the Dutch trips he also spent a bit of time in Denmark with his mother, before meeting up with his father in Amsterdam. After they all returned to England Erin soon settled back into school and went through a bit of stability. Something he needed! The 2006/2007 Bardwell compositions Copenhagen and Boss Train and the unreleased Returning Home were inspired by this period (all versions on the same rhythm - organ, sax and vocal respectively). To hear them in their correct order go to the Erin Bardwell Collective Myspace
Erin's love of music carried on through the eighties, engulfing much of the pop that was around at the time (chart and alternative), as any teenager would. He got to see many groups around this time at festivals and gigs including The Specials, The Swinging Cats, Madness, UB40, The Fun Boy Three, Misty In Roots, Black Ururu and Musical Youth. The music he naturally followed were the ska and reggae sounds which were becoming more and more underground as the decade progressed.
Father Christmas delivered a Toots & The Maytals cassette into Erins stocking around the mid 80s and a shopping trip up to London resulted in adding to his reggae collection. The 'Island' label at the time were issuing the Reggae Greats series which led to Erin discovering Third World, some more Jimmy Cliff (after a tip off from his dad), and stocking up on some more Wailers and a compilation including King Tubby and Augustus Pablo.
Erin also had a keen interest into the activities of the faces of the post 2-Tone scene including Voice Of The Beehive, Fine Young Cannibals, and The Colourfield.
By 1989 the roots of 2 Tone were soon discovered. Erin soon delved into the influences of these musicians, which led back to the original sounds of rocksteady and blue-beat. Erin quickly found himself rooting around at record fairs and second hand shops buying up obscure West Indian records from the 60's and 70's. This led back to artists such as Laurel Aitken, Derrick Morgan, Prince Buster, The Pioneers and The Skatalites. He was making up for lost time. He also discovered bands who were reviving ska in the late eighties such as The Potato 5, The Deltones, The Trojans, The Loafers, The Riffs, Natural Rhythm, Maroon Town, Mark Foggo, and The Hotknives. Erin went to many gigs in London and Oxford around this time.
In 1987 his mother bought him a Casio keyboard (which they picked up in a collapsing run down fibreglass three wheeler Robin Reliant, or the 'Plastic Pig', as it was known). He soon started keyboard, organ and piano lessons. By 1990 he had founded his first band, Ska Custard. By 1991 this had evolved into The Skanxters.
Skanxters Discography :-
The Skanxters had many different line ups with Erin on keyboards, Carl Humphreys and Andy Paton on vocals, brothers Jase and Vinny Hill (guitar & bass), saxophonists Rowena Cameron and Nina Gale/Prothero, drummers Gerry Pannell, Paul Rose and Recoldo Fleming, and later on, guitarist Mark McLaughlin, and bass players Dean Sartain and Gavin Simms.
The Skanxters split in September 1998.
Erin teamed up with Recoldo Fleming, Dean Sartain, Andy Paton and Matty Bane as part of the Unity project in 1999. Unity was a spin off from The Skanxters put together by Recoldo Fleming which toured England and the Eastern Caribbean during 1999.
During the 1990s Erin was spotted on stage with The Swindon Ska Trek. A loose ska / R&B / rocksteady scratch jam band ensemble of musicians with many different line ups. They played around the Swindon pubs and venues at the time. Their claim to fame being Desmond Dekkers support band at The Monkey Club in 1995.
In the summer of '99 Erin launched The More Specials (a tribute to The Specials). Erin gigged with this group all over the UK.
By 2001 Erin was writing songs again and the 'buzz' to do original material had set in. By September the same year the recording sessions had started and were based around using the people in his band at the time (The More Specials). These included Jimmy Adamson, Johnny Rench, Dean Sartain, Nevil Banton, Yan Pugh-Jones, Colin Berry, Solomon Holgate and Matty Bane. Erin left The More Specials in March 2002 (although he did return to gig with them in 2004 on occasion when their new keyboard player couldn't make it).
Erin joined the 60’s influenced group Roundabout in 2002 to learn a different style of playing. Roundabout were run by Rob Dady who now runs '208 Records' (who incidentally have brought out two Pop-A-Top recordings through i-Tunes). Erin's time with Roundabout was fairly short lived and announced his departure in December 2002 to focus on his own recordings. Although a Roundabout EP did surface on the legendary ARC label during 2002 with Erin featured on Farfisa organ. See below -
Farfisa VIP 255
Erin Bardwell had a load of songs recorded and had an ambition to release a reggae album. The idea of searching for a record deal come 2002 seemed a headache so he decided to release it himself. To take the focus off the artist and shine the light on a record label seemed an exciting venture. Although the label initially started as a platform for Erin to release his own material, it soon evolved to incorporate other artists, producers and songwriters (people Erin had met and worked with over the years from previous music projects and bands).
In 2003 The Erin Bardwell Collective Vol.1 was the album that launched Pop-A-Top Records. Selected tracks featured the Farfisa VIP 255 organ (now sold from our studio - see picture below)
Above is the Farfisa VIP 255 organ
It included a whole host of musicians including Pete Fitzsimmons (electric bass & double bass), Eddie Frankis (guitar), vocalist Sandra Bell, Jase Hill (guitar & bass), Mike Davies (sax), Recoldo Fleming (drums & voice), Mandi Blackwell (flute), and guitarists Asa White, Nigel Gwennap, Vinny Hill, and Lorien Bardwell (Erin's brother). It involved a lot of people! It was a selection of mainly Erin's songs, but also included other writers such as Recoldo Fleming, Solomon Holgate, Mike Perkins, Eddie Frankis, as well as a collaboration with his father Robert Stredder. In the summer of 2003, just after the albums completion (but before its release), Erin took a trip to Kingston, Jamaica to record at the Byron Lee owned Dynamic Sounds Studio. These sessions included a day with legendary Studio One engineer Sylvan Morris. Erin was there as part of the Recoldo Fleming studio band.
By 2004 The Erin Bardwell Collective had evolved into a live concern. Featured musicians in the live line up in the early days included Matty Bane & Johnny Rench on drums, Dean Sartain on bass, guitarists Pat Luszcz, Chris Lipscombe & Jimmy Adamson, Mike Davies (sax) and singers Recoldo Fleming, Sandra Bell & Nevil Banton. An HTV / ITV television appearance on the 'Earshot' music programme was also fitted in (see mainpage)
Other Pop-A-Top releases followed in 2005 with Erin featured on keyboards. These included the compilation EP Man Cool Man Rides Again (PATCD02), and Recoldo Fleming's Kingston Experience (PATCD03), which was the results of the recording sessions in Jamaica.
In the 2005-06 period the live line up for The Erin Bardwell Collective evolved once again to include Pete Fitzsimmons on bass (who had appeared on the Volume 1 album), and Pete O'Driscoll on drums. With guest appearances on bass guitar from Jase Hill (ex-Skanxters / Lazyboy), who also played on Volume 1, and pianist / vocalist James Eddings (one time member of 80s chart act 'Tongue In Cheek', and session player in the live line up of Heatwave).
In 2007 Erin released his compilation project Earth Scorchers (PATCD06), which gained much airplay including Radio 2 Steve Lamacq, Radio 6 Tom Robinson, and BBC Radio Wiltshire Geoff Barker. It was a collection of different productions Erin had been working on with other artists at studio Pop-A-Top.
Later in 2007 with Pete Fitzsimmons on double bass, Pete O'Driscoll on drums, Jimmy Adamson & Pat Luszcz on guitars, and Sandra Bell & Nevil Banton on vocals, he took his Collective band out live to promote these two releases. Special guests at these shows included Colin Berry (trumpet), Yan Pugh-Jones (trombone), and the legendary saxophonist Preston Steel.
Farfisa VIP 255 organ (live favourite at the time!)
At the beginning of 2008 guitarist Jimmy Adamson moved abroad so was replaced by Eddie Frankis (who had played on and co wrote the Panama song on the 2003 Volume 1 album). Eddie had played in The Swindon Ska Trek in the 90s with Erin and he was a member of The Hoover Juniors in the 80s.
In February / March 2008 the Fry Up single was released which earned The EB Collective a session for the BBC. They were invited down to London to do a live BBC session on the Tom Robinson Radio 6 show on 22nd April 2008. They did this as an 8 piece (Erin on keys, Pete O'Driscoll on drums, Sandra Bell & Nevil Banton on vocals & percussion, Pete Fitzsimmons on double bass, Eddie Frankis & Pat Luszcz on guitars, and Preston Steel on Sax). Three tunes were performed - Slaving For Bread, Spray It & Burn It, and Guns, Bombs & Madness, and an interview with Erin took place. Slaving For Bread and Guns, Bombs & Madness were repeated on Tom Robinsons 'Introducing' show in June 2008.
Also during this period (early 2008) Neol Davies (original founder member, songwriter, and guitarist from The Selecter) got in touch with Erin. He asked if he could come down from Coventry and guest at a Swindon gig. Of course Erin said yes and a rehearsal was organised. And in April Neol played at a packed out gig with The Collective band (the launch night for the Fry Up single) at The Vic in Swindon.
An instrumental album soon followed (the Volume 3 in the series), and live shows to promote this release were played. More airplay on BBC 6 Music followed with Evaporator from the new album being spun by Gideon Coe (July 2008). Musicians on the Volume 3 album included Jase Hill, Matty Bane, Jimmy Adamson, Pete O'Driscoll, Pete Fitzsimmons, Preston Steel, and Pat Luszcz. This LP featured the classic sound of the 60s Farfisa Compact Duo (see picture below). This organ now lives in Rome, Italy.
Farfisa
Compact Duo
By October 2008 'The Erin Bardwell Collective' live line up changed again with the departure of Preston Steel and Pat Luszcz and the inclusion of guest percussionist Sunny Boy Gambia. But by November Nevil Banton also took a break from live work and the line up shrank down to a 6 piece (all be it a non gigging one).
But the gigs continued on during Nov & Dec with a semi-instrumental spin off project 'The Erin Bardwell Quartet' (which was Erin on keyboards, melodica, percussion & vocals, Pete O'Driscoll on bongos & drums, Eddie Frankis on guitar & vocals, and Pete Fitzsimmons on bass/double bass).
During the 2009 gigs (the band now functioning as a 6 piece) special guests included Vinny Hill on bass (ex Skanxters). Vinny played guitar on the Happiness song on the Volume 1 album back in 2003. Other guests at the gigs included Richard 'Skiddy' Skidmore on drums. An ever evolving line up of people coming and going, just as the 'Collective' name suggests!
The gigs continued through 2009 with Pete O'Driscoll (drums), Pete Fitzsimmons (bass), Sunny Boy Gambia (djembe), Sandra Bell (vocals), Ed Frankis (guitar), and Erin Bardwell (organ). They visited Bath, Bristol, Swansea, as well as home gigs in Swindon, and support slots with Dreadzone, Pama International, and Baraka.
Check the News and Events page to find out what's currently going on in Erin's world.