‘O’ yes: the band’s getting back together

Tuesday 03 July 2018

For one night, and one night only, a local band who rose to fame in the 70’s are going to play together in Jersey for the first time in over four decades.

A Band Called O, who played on popular music show, ‘The Old Grey Whistle Test’ back in the 1970’s, will be re-forming for a special one-off performance at the Watersplash in August.

This blast from the past will form part of the line-up for event ‘Off the Hook’, hosted by Groove Collective and Stinky Bay Brewing Company on 4 August.

The founder-members of A Band Called O all hail from Jersey and played many gigs locally as well as touring the UK and Europe. They recorded 5 albums on major labels and rose to considerable fame before parting ways in 1978.

Pictured: The organisers of popular Groove de Lecq Festival will be hosting the reunion of local 70's group, A Band Called O.

The band’s bass guitarist, Mark Anders, told Express: “We’ve contemplated the idea of getting back together on various occasions over the years, but it’s always been the case of one or more people wouldn’t be available at any given time.

“We always thought that if we were going to do something then it would be nice to do something a little bit unusual; a bit different. Especially because we’re all, one way or another, from Jersey ostensibly and we all spent our formative years here, we thought that it would be nice to do something here and to do it for a charity.

“We’re all getting a bit older so we thought if we’re going to do something we should probably do it now!”

Pictured: During the Groove de Lecq festival hiatus, Groove Collective are hosting an alternative underwater-themed event at the Watersplash.

The band split up in 1978 after a decade of touring and releasing albums together. Mark told Express that the decision to part ways was motivated by several factors: “At that point, we’d made a total of five albums together and we’d been touring UK and Europe pretty consistently probably for about ten years and although we were doing OK, I think the general consensus was that we weren’t moving on from where we were. 

“It was also compounded by the fact that, during that time, it was when the whole Punk movement started and that impacted on lots of bands at the time because a lot of the venues which had been our venues were suddenly starting to bring in The Sex Pistols, The Stranglers and so on.

“It was all of those reasons on top of the fact that we’d spent a lot of time together over those years and I think that just everybody felt it was time to move on, really.”

WATCH: A Band Called O playing their track 'Fooling Around' on 'The Old Grey Whistle Test' in 1975.

As well as Mark, the band was formed of five other musicians who all grew up in Jersey; Jon ‘Pix’ Pickford (lead vocals/lead guitar), Craig Anders (lead guitar/slide guitar/vocals), Peter Filleul (keyboards/vocals) and Jerry Robins (drums). All of them have continued playing music in one form or another either as solo artists or in other bands.

‘Off the Hook’ is an underwater-themed music and creative art event, featuring local bands, solo acts and DJs alongside a multitude of beachside activities. This will include an ‘environmental takeover’ of the Watersplash to highlight the problems of single-use plastics, as well as fancy dress and a sand castle competition.

Pictured: The brains behind Stinky Bay Brewing Company who are collaborating with Groove Collective to bring 'Off the Hook' event to the Watersplash at the beginning of August.

Commenting on next month’s event, Groove Collective founder, Beth Gallichan, said: “We are very lucky to host such an astonishing reunion, the “O” band not only represents an opportunity to honour our island’s musical heritage but an occasion to inspire local musicians.

"Championing local music, arts and talent in a variety of forms with an overarching community and environmental benefit has become synonymous with Groove Festival. We are delighted to be able to set up ‘Off the Hook!’ and team up with Matt and Digby from the Stinky Bay who brew their delicious beer locally to supply the local market.”

There are only 600 tickets available for the evening event which will take place at the Watersplash on 4 August between 21:00 and 02:00.