List of Brand X members
Brand X were an English jazz fusion band from London. Formed in late 1974, the group originally featured vocalist and percussionist Phil Spinelli, guitarists John Goodsall and Peter Bonas, bassist Percy Jones, keyboardist Robin Lumley and drummer John Dillon. After Spinelli, Bonas and Dillon left, the remaining members and new drummer Phil Collins became a largely instrumental outfit. The latest lineup of Brand X included only one official member, Goodsall, alongside keyboardist Chris Clark, percussionist Scott Weinberger, and drummer Kenny Grohowski, and ended in 2021 with Goodsall's death.
The official Brand X website has asserted that the only official legal members of Brand X since its reformation were original members Jones, Goodsall, and Lumley. All other musicians during this time period are described as legally being "employees" and "guests".[1]
History
[edit]1974–1980
[edit]Brand X were formed in 1974 by Phil Spinelli, John Goodsall, Peter Bonas, Percy Jones, Robin Lumley and John Dillon.[2] Before the end of the year, Dillon had left,[3] and was replaced on a part-time basis by Genesis drummer Phil Collins.[4] After recording an album for Island Records in February 1975 which is shelved, creative differences lead to the departure of both Bonas and Spinelli, leaving Brand X an instrumental four-piece.[5][4] The group's debut album Unorthodox Behaviour was recorded between September and October 1975 and released the following year.[6]
At the end of 1975, Brand X made their live concert debuts at several shows in and around London. For the performances, they added former Yes and King Crimson drummer Bill Bruford on additional percussion.[5] Shows at the beginning of the following year saw Isotope's Jeff Seopardie in place on Bruford for a couple of shows, followed by Andy Ward of Camel for one, and finally Preston Heyman from late-February.[5] This lineup recorded one album, which was released as Missing Period in 1997.[7] After a final appearance at Reading Festival, Heyman was replaced by Morris Pert.[5]
After recording the band's second album Moroccan Roll, Collins took a break from Brand X for the Genesis Wind & Wuthering Tour. He was initially replaced by Karma drummer Joe Blocker for a string of rehearsals,[8] before Kenwood Dennard took over for shows starting in June.[9] By April 1978, Lumley had followed Collins as the second core member of Brand X to step back from the band, opting instead to focus more on his work as a record producer. He was replaced by J. Peter Robinson in June, at the same time as Chuck Burgi was brought in to take over from Dennard.[10]
In July 1978, during the tour in promotion of the forthcoming Masques, Goodsall was forced to leave temporarily after suffering tendinitis, with Mike Miller taking his place for the rest of the year.[2] For the North American leg of the tour starting in October, the unavailable Burgi was replaced by Mike Clark.[11] In April 1979, Brand X recorded with two lineups – the first with Goodsall, Jones, Robinson and Clark; the second with Goodsall, bassist John Giblin, Lumley and Collins.[2] The material was released as Product in 1979, Do They Hurt? in 1980 and Is There Anything About? in 1982.[11]
Following the recording of the three albums, Brand X toured with a lineup featuring Goodsall, Jones, Lumley, Robinson and Collins.[12] For a month-long tour the following month, Collins was replaced by Clark.[11] Following these dates, the group stopped working together and began to focus on other projects, although they never officially disbanded.[13]
1992–2021
[edit]In 1992, Goodsall and Jones reformed Brand X with new drummer Frank Katz, releasing X-Communication and returning to live performances in December.[14] They remained a trio until February 1996, when they recorded Manifest Destiny with new keyboardist Marc Wagnon and other contributors.[15] For the subsequent tour, Katz was replaced by Pierre Moerlen due to problems with his passport, while Kris Sjobring took over from Wagnon.[14] After a final tour in 1999 with Mick Stevens in place of Jones and John Holmes in place of Moerlen, the band broke up for a second time.[14]
Seventeen years later, in the summer of 2016, Goodsall and Jones reformed Brand X for a third time, adding former drummer Kenwood Dennard and new members Chris Clark on keyboards and Scott Weinberger on percussion.[16] The following year, Dennard was replaced by Kenny Grohowski.[17] Founding member John Goodsall died on November 11, 2021. Following Goodsall's death, the two founding members Lumley and Jones confirmed Brand X's disbandment on November 14, 2021, via Facebook.
Members
[edit]Final line-up
[edit]Image | Name | Years active | Instruments | Release contributions |
---|---|---|---|---|
John Goodsall |
|
|
all Brand X releases, except Live from Chicago (2015) and Live from Stockholm (2016) | |
Chris Clark | 2016–2021
(touring, unofficial member)[1] |
|
| |
Scott Weinberger | percussion | |||
Kenny Grohowski | 2017–2021
(touring, unofficial member)[1] |
|
|
Former
[edit]Image | Name | Years active | Instruments | Release contributions |
---|---|---|---|---|
Percy Jones |
|
|
all Brand X releases | |
Robin Lumley |
|
|
| |
Peter Bonas | 1974–1975 | guitar | none | |
Phil Spinelli |
| |||
John Dillon | 1974 |
| ||
Phil Collins |
|
|
| |
Bill Bruford | 1975 | percussion | none | |
Jeff Seopardie | 1976 | |||
Andy Ward | ||||
Preston Heyman | Missing Period (1997) | |||
Morris Pert | 1976–1979 (died 2010) | all Brand X releases from Moroccan Roll (1977) to Do They Hurt? (1980), and from Timeline (1999) to Live from New York (2016) | ||
Joe Blocker | 1977 |
|
none | |
Kenwood Dennard |
|
| ||
J. Peter Robinson | 1978–1980 |
|
| |
Chuck Burgi | 1978 |
|
| |
Mike Miller | 1978 (temporary substitute) | guitar |
| |
Mike Clark |
|
|
| |
John Giblin | 1979 (studio) (died 2023) |
|
| |
Frank Katz | 1992–1997 |
|
| |
Marc Wagnon | 1996–1997 |
|
Manifest Destiny (1997) | |
Kris Sjobring | 1997–1999 |
|
none | |
Pierre Moerlen | 1997 (died 2005) |
| ||
Mick Stevens | 1999 | bass | ||
John Holmes |
|
Timeline
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/timeline/2kcg0bzsnp0zp0fnp0yxf0fois6o24e.png)
Lineups
[edit]Period | Members | Releases |
---|---|---|
Mid – late 1974 |
|
none |
Early 1975 |
| |
Early – late 1975 |
|
|
November – December 1975 |
|
none |
January – February 1976 |
| |
February 1976 |
| |
February – August 1976 |
|
|
August – December 1976 |
|
|
Early 1977 |
|
none |
April 1977 |
|
|
Spring 1977 – April 1978 |
|
|
May – July 1978 |
|
|
July – August 1978 |
|
none |
August – October 1978 |
|
|
October – December 1978 |
|
|
April 1979 (recording lineup #1) |
|
|
April 1979 (recording lineup #2) |
| |
Summer – late 1979 |
|
|
Early – mid-1980 |
|
none |
Band inactive mid-1980 – mid-1992 | ||
Mid-1992 – February 1996 |
|
|
February 1996 – early 1997 |
|
|
Early – summer 1997 |
|
none |
Spring – summer 1999 |
| |
Band inactive summer 1999 – summer 2016 | ||
Summer 2016 – spring 2017 |
|
|
Spring 2017 – October 2020 |
|
|
October 2020 – November 2021 |
|
none |
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Brand X thieves".
- ^ a b c Kelman, John (26 May 2018). "Brand X: Locked & Loaded". All About Jazz. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
- ^ "Brand X". Wolfgangs. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
- ^ a b Collins, Phil (20 October 2016). Not Dead Yet: The Autobiography. New York City, New York: Random House. p. 156. ISBN 978-1473536142. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
- ^ a b c d Gerlach, Steffen. "Brand X: An Unorthodox History (Part 1)". Genesis-News.com. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
- ^ Connolly, Dave. "Unorthodox Behaviour - Brand X: Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
- ^ Budofsky, Adam (17 April 2014). "Brand X Missing Period". Modern Drummer. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
- ^ "'X' rated drummer" (PDF). Record Mirror. London, England: Spotlight Publications. 23 April 1977. p. 4. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
- ^ McGee, David; Taylor, Barry (18 June 1977). "New York, N.Y." (PDF). Record World. Vol. 34, no. 1564. New York City, New York: Record World Publishing. p. 16. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
- ^ McGee, David; Taylor, Barry (3 June 1978). "New York, N.Y." (PDF). Record World. Vol. 35, no. 1614. New York City, New York: Record World Publishing. p. 79. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
- ^ a b c Gerlach, Steffen. "Brand X: An Unorthodox History (Part 2)". Genesis-News.com. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
- ^ Bogucki, Bruce (16 October 1979). "Brand X: Roxy, Los Angeles" (PDF). Billboard. New York City, New York: Billboard Publications. p. 46. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
- ^ Prasad, Anil (2017). "John Goodsall: Blazing new trails". Innerviews. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
- ^ a b c Gerlach, Steffen. "Brand X: An Unorthodox History (Part 3)". Genesis-News.com. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
- ^ "Brand X "Manifest Destiny"". Guitar Nine. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
- ^ Smith, Sid (30 October 2017). "Brand X: We never took ourselves too seriously". Prog. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
- ^ Mettler, Mike (7 June 2017). "Brand X Let Us Know 'But Wait... There's More! Live 2017' Is Coming on July 20". Hi Res Audio Central. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
- ^ "Percy Jones quits Brand X". 3 October 2020.