 |
Bill MacCormick | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | William MacCormick |
| Born | 15 April 1951 London, England |
| Instrument(s) |
|
| Years active | 1971–1980 |
| Formerly of | |
William MacCormick (born 15 April 1951) is an English bassist and vocalist. He is also a politician and author.
|
Bill MacCormick | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | William MacCormick |
| Born | 15 April 1951 London, England |
| Instrument(s) |
|
| Years active | 1971–1980 |
| Formerly of | |
William MacCormick (born 15 April 1951) is an English bassist and vocalist. He is also a politician and author.
He is the second son of Ewen and Olwen MacCormick who married in 1946 after serving together in the RAF. His older brother, Ian MacCormick (also known as the music journalist and writer Ian MacDonald) was born in 1948. After attending primary schools in Brixton they were both awarded free places at Dulwich College. There MacCormick met Phil Targett-Adams (now better known as Phil Manzanera) and they developed an interest in playing music. In 1966 MacCormick's mother worked with Honor Wyatt, the mother of drummer Robert Wyatt, and MacCormick saw Wyatt's band Soft Machine play their first gig in August 1966 at Coombe Springs in Kingston and, thereafter, became a regular visitor at Honor Wyatt's house in Dalmore Road, West Dulwich, where the band lived and rehearsed. In 1968 Manzanera and MacCormick formed a band at Dulwich College with a floating membership except for drummer Charles Hayward, two years their junior. Under the name Pooh and the Ostrich Feather they played gigs around the school and at parties. MacCormick and Manzanera both left Dulwich College in 1969 and they reunited with Charles Hayward the following year to form a band called Quiet Sun. They recruited keyboard player Dave Jarrett and, briefly, sax player, Dave Monaghan, but were unable to find a suitable bass player. MacCormick, who was to sing and play drums, learnt the bass parts to the various compositions in order for the band to rehearse and continued as the bass player until the band broke up in the summer of 1971.
One of the band's last gigs was supporting Symbiosis at Portsmouth Polytechnic. This band featured Robert Wyatt who was about to leave Soft Machine and, when he did, he contacted MacCormick asking him to play bass in a new band to be called Matching Mole. They were joined in the band by Phil Miller and Caravan's keyboard player Dave Sinclair. They recorded an album for CBS in December 1971 (released simply as Matching Mole in April 1972) and Dave Sinclair was replaced by New Zealand keyboard player Dave MacRae in February 1972. The band toured intermittently until September 1972 when Robert broke it up. It had recorded its second album, Little Red Record , the previous month. MacCormick briefly joined Daevid Allen's Gong in France in the autumn of 1972. In the spring of 1973 he persuaded Robert Wyatt to form a new version of Matching Mole which would also feature sax player Gary Windo and keyboard player Francis Monkman recently of Curved Air. Unfortunately, after a serious accident involving Robert, the project was abandoned. That autumn MacCormick played on two tracks of Brian Eno's first solo album Here Come the Warm Jets .
In 1974 MacCormick decided to pursue his interest in politics and was awarded a place at the London School of Economics to start in September 1975. in the meantime, Manzanera was planning to record his first solo album (Diamond Head) but had booked extra studio time in order to record Quiet Sun's unrecorded material. The original band was reformed and, assisted by Eno and his brother Ian MacDonald, the album Mainstream was recorded. Ian and MacCormick then continued writing and recording with Manzanera over an extended period producing the album Listen Now, released in 1977. In the summer of 1976, Manzanera, MacCormick and Eno along with drummer Simon Phillips, Francis Monkman and slide guitar player Lloyd Watson formed the short-lived 801 which played three gigs and recorded an album 801 Live , released in late 1976.
A new version of the 801 was formed in order tour to promote the release of Listen Now in the autumn of 1977. This consisted of Manzanera, MacCormick, singer/guitarist Simon Ainley, Roxy Music drummer Paul Thompson and keyboard player David Skinner. In early 1978 work started on Manzanera's third solo album, K-Scope, which MacCormick partly wrote and on which he played and sang. Roxy Music then reformed to record Manifesto. Later that year MacCormick was invited to join Random Hold, a band formed by guitarist David Rhodes and keyboard player the late Dave Ferguson. Along with ex-Glitter Band drummer Pete Phipps they toured the UK supporting XTC and Peter Gabriel and in North America with Peter Gabriel. They recorded a double album for Polydor Records. The band broke up in the summer of 1980 and MacCormick left the music business to pursue his interest in politics.
In addition, he played a bass solo on Manzanera's 2004 album 6PM in the track "Wish You Well", a tribute to MacCormick's late brother Ian and was the webmaster of the official Genesis, Phil Collins and Phil Manzanera [1] web sites for several years.
Having joined the Liberal Party in 1973 and after being a candidate in the 1974 Council elections in the London Borough of Bromley, he was selected to stand as the Greater London Council candidate in Beckenham in 1981 and as a borough council candidate in 1982. In 1982 he was short-listed as the Liberal Party candidate for the Bermondsey by-election. After Simon Hughes's election as MP he worked in the constituency and was agent in two successful Southwark Council by-elections and was assistant agent in the 1984 General Election. Soon after he was employed as the London Area Agent by the Liberal Party and was agent in the Enfield, Southgate, by-election caused when the Conservative MP, Sir Anthony Berry, was murdered by the IRA. At the subsequent Brecon and Radnor by-election in 1985 he organised the first ever computerised direct mail campaign which helped the Liberal Party win the seat. He ran computer operations at numerous by-elections over the next six years including wins in Greenwich, Eastbourne, and Kincardine and Deeside. He was also the agent in the Liberal Democrats' first by-election in Kensington by-election in 1988. In 1988 he was appointed one of two National Elections Co-ordinators for the Liberal Democrats alongside Chris (later Lord) Rennard before he left in 1989 after a financial crisis in the new party. He joined a small direct marketing company called PS Mailing but continued to be contracted back to the Liberal Democrats for fundraising and by-elections. Having attended a political conference in Washington DC organised by Campaigns and Elections magazine to learn about polling, the company was commissioned to conduct a telephone poll prior to the Kincardine and Deeside by-election in 1991. This having been successful, and the company taken over by the large independent market research company Martin Hamblin, he helped organise and conduct the Liberal Democrats' research programme through until the end of the General Election in 1997.
In 1998 he retired on health grounds.[ clarification needed ] He had been elected as the London Borough councillor for the Anerley ward of Bromley London Borough Council in 1990 and had retained the seat in 1994 and 1998 but retired in 2002.
In 2006 he published a book entitled Pro Patria Mori: The 56th (1st London) Division at Gommecourt, 1st July 1916. This was planned as the first of a series of books about the Battle of the Somme. Since then he has published A Lack of Offensive Spirit? The 46th (North Midland) Division at Gommecourt, 1 July 1916 and Z Day: The VIII Corps at Beaumont-Hamel and Serre, 1 July 1916. A new book, the Long Road to the Somme 1870-1916, is due in 2018 and J Jour: The French 6e Armee on the Somme, 1 July 1916, in 2019.
Roxy Music are an English rock band formed in 1970 by lead vocalist and principal songwriter Bryan Ferry and bassist Graham Simpson. By the time the band recorded their first album in 1972, Ferry and Simpson were joined by saxophonist and oboist Andy Mackay, guitarist Phil Manzanera, drummer Paul Thompson and synthesizer player Brian Eno. Other members over the years include keyboardist and violinist Eddie Jobson and bassist John Gustafson. The band split in 1976, reformed in 1978 and split again in 1983. In 2001, Ferry, Mackay, Manzanera and Thompson reunited for a concert tour and have toured together intermittently ever since, most recently in 2022 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their first album. Ferry has also frequently enlisted band members as backing musicians during his solo career.
David James Mattacks is an English rock and folk drummer, best known for his work with British folk rock band Fairport Convention.
Before and After Science is the fifth solo studio album by Brian Eno, originally released by Polydor Records in December 1977 in the United Kingdom and by Island U.S. soon after. Produced by Eno and Rhett Davies, it is the first of Eno's popular music works to be published under his full name.
Matching Mole were an English progressive rock band associated with the Canterbury scene. Robert Wyatt formed the band in October 1971 after he left Soft Machine and recorded his first solo album, The End of an Ear. He continued his role on vocals and drums and was joined by David Sinclair of Caravan on organ and piano, Dave MacRae on electric piano, Phil Miller of Delivery on guitar and Bill MacCormick of Quiet Sun on bass. The name is a pun on Machine Molle, the French translation of the name of Wyatt's previous group Soft Machine.
Ian MacCormick was an English music critic, journalist and author, best known for both Revolution in the Head, his critical history of the Beatles which borrowed techniques from art historians, and The New Shostakovich, a study of Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich.
Phillip Geoffrey Targett-Adams, known professionally as Phil Manzanera, is an English musician, songwriter and record producer. He is the lead guitarist with Roxy Music, and was the lead guitarist with 801 and Quiet Sun. In 2006, Manzanera co-produced David Gilmour's album On an Island, and played in Gilmour's band for tours in Europe and North America. He wrote and presented a series of 14 one-hour radio programmes for station Planet Rock entitled The A-Z of Great Guitarists.
Matching Mole's Little Red Record (1972) is the second album of the English Canterbury Scene band Matching Mole. The band was formed in 1971 by Robert Wyatt after he left Soft Machine. Compared to their first album which featured Wyatt's musical compositions, keyboard playing, drumming and vocals, Little Red Record was more of a team effort, with Wyatt only drumming, and singing his lyrics. It was produced by Robert Fripp of King Crimson, and features Brian Eno as a guest musician.
Quiet Sun were an English progressive rock/jazz fusion band from the Canterbury scene consisting of Phil Manzanera (guitars), Bill MacCormick (bass), Dave Jarrett (keyboards) and Charles Hayward (drums).
Mainstream is the only album of the UK band Quiet Sun.
801 were an English experimental rock supergroup band, originally formed in London in 1976 for three live concerts by Phil Manzanera, Brian Eno, Bill MacCormick, Francis Monkman, Simon Phillips and Lloyd Watson.
801 Live is the first live album by 801. It was originally released by Island Records in the UK in November 1976. It was subsequently released by Polydor Records in North America in March 1978.
"Street Life" is the opening track of English rock band Roxy Music's third album Stranded. Written by lead singer Bryan Ferry, the song is an ode to modern life that features sound effects of street noise alongside dissonant synth noises courtesy of newly recruited member Eddie Jobson. Producer Chris Thomas provides bass on the song.
Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard is the third solo album by Robert Wyatt.
Random Hold were a British rock band, originally active between 1977 and 1980, with a reformed band under the same name active between 1981 and 1982.
Comicopera is the final album by Robert Wyatt, released on 8 October 2007 and available on both CD and double vinyl formats. The vinyl's fourth side contains no music and has a poem etched into its surface. It is Wyatt's first release on the Domino Records label. It features many other musicians, including Brian Eno, Paul Weller, Gilad Atzmon and Phil Manzanera, and was recorded in Wyatt's house and Manzanera's recording studio. The song "Del Mondo" is a cover from Ko de mondo, the second album of Italian post-punk band Consorzio Suonatori Indipendenti.
Diamond Head is the first studio album by English rock musician Phil Manzanera. It was released in 1975, originally on Island Records in the UK and in the US on Atco Records. The sound quality on the US album was deemed to be worse than the UK album, so the UK import became a popular seller in the speciality record shops who sold Roxy Music and other UK bands. The diesel locomotive featured on the cover art is an EMD E9.
Listen Now is the only studio album by 801, whose live debut was released in November 1976. For this release, the group was officially billed as "Phil Manzanera/801".
K-Scope is the second studio album by Phil Manzanera, released in 1978.
"Third Uncle" is a 1974 song by the English musician Brian Eno, released on his second solo album Taking Tiger Mountain . The song was recorded at Basing Street Studios in Notting Hill, London, in September 1974, and produced by Eno. It has been highly influential and covered by many artists, most notably by Bauhaus in 1982.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) from www.manzanera.com with pictures, interviews and more| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
