Erin Bardwell -
Erin has just produced a new album simply entitled The Erin Bardwell Collective Volume 3 (PATCD08). It is an organ driven instrumental set which features the recent single Fry Up (which gained national airplay on BBC 6 Music).
Erin has a few gigs planned for 2008.
He is currently writing, producing and recording new material for Pop-A-Top and he also DJ's with the reggae sound system "Shocks of Mighty".
Erin was born in London in 1973. Spent two years in Wales, then his family settled in Swindon in 1976. Armed with a black and white television and a few scratched LP’s he 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 and the soundtrack to the film The Harder They Come. It was 1979 and 2-Tone was the latest craze. 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. But the music he always closely followed was the ska and reggae sounds which were becoming more and more underground as the decade progressed. This included a keen interest into the activities of the faces of the post 2-Tone scene, as well as delving 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. He was making up for lost time.
In 1987 he started keyboard, organ and piano lessons. By 1990 he founded his first band, Ska Custard. The Skanxters followed and continued through to 1998. He teamed up with Recoldo Fleming and Matty Bane as part of the Unity/Caribbean project in 1999 and launched The More Specials the same year.
By 2001 he 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. Erin left this band in March 2002 to join the 60’s influenced group Roundabout to learn a different style of playing. This affair was short lived and announced his departure in December 2002 to focus on his recording.
Erin Bardwell had a load of songs and had an ambition to record a reggae/ska 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 music, it has already began to incorporate other artists and songwriters.
In 2003 The Erin Bardwell Collective Vol.1 was the album that launched Pop-A-Top Records. That same year 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 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 television appearance on the 'Earshot' music programme was also fitted in.
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, and Pete O'Driscoll on drums. With guest appearances from ex-Skanxter Jase Hill (bass), and ex-Tongue In Cheek man James Eddings (piano & voice).
In 2007 Erin released his compilation project Earth Scorchers (PATCD06), which gained much airplay including Radio 2 Steve Lamacq. 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 this release. Special guests at these shows included Colin Berry (trumpet), Yan Pugh-Jones (trombone), and the legendary saxophonist Preston Steel.
Check the News and Events page to find out what's currently going on in Erin's world.