Fat and Frantic

Fat and Frantic were a humorous Christian music group who played a self-styled mixture of Gospel Music and Skiffle which they described as "Goffle" (but its been said that some people accused them of playing a mix of punk and skiffle, called "piffle"!)

Formed in 1985, Fat and Frantic was a particular favourite at the Greenbelt Festival. Its best-known song was "Last Night My Wife Hoovered My Head". The group were also somewhat notorious for once receiving a particularly bad live review from Damon Wise in the music paper "Sounds", which closed with the line "Fat and Frantic ruined my weekend and I hate them for it", a line which they went on to use extensively in their publicity.

Band Members

Band Members were:

* Jon Soper (Fat)- Guitar, Vocals
* Silas Crawley - Washboard, Percussion, Vocals
* Jim Harris - Trumpet, Percussion, Washboard, Vocals
* Craig McLeish (Tuffie) - Bass, vocals
* Simon Saunders (Pie) - drums, vocals

Their first Album also featured John Lodge-Patch on Bass. Fat and Frantic fan site http://www.fatandfrantic.co.uk. online. Accessed November 2007 ] Latterly, Nigel Hemming (keyboards, vocals) also joined the band and plays on "...Wendy Craig."

Albums

* Waxing a Hottie (1986)
* Aggressive Sunbathing (1987)
* Fat and Frantic Live at the Wonky Donkey Bar & Grill (1988)
* Quirk (1990)
* Fat and Frantic sing: The Very Best of Wendy Craig (1991)
* Precious Lord (1994)

Most Albums included at least one A Cappella set. Their final album, Precious Lord, was a collection of unaccompanied Worship songs.

Current activities

Fat and Frantic stopped performing regularly in 1992. Their last Album, a departure from the norm, was issued in 1994. There was a reunion 'final gig' at Greenbelt, in 1998.

Occasionally members of the band and others, who since circa 1986/7 have formed a loose, expansive collective, independent of Fat and Frantic, play unrehearsed, sometimes shambolic rock and roll covers under the title 'Rev Softly and the Residential Areas', a nod to a sign in the car park beneath the long-since demolished ABC Bowl in North Harrow, Middlesex.

Re-released Back catalogue

In November 2007 the band's former manager Richard Bickersteth (Bocky) released digital versions of some of the Albums on the iTunes and eMusic websites. These albums include:

- Aggressive Sunbathing

- Waxing a Hottie

- Wonky Donkey

- Quirk

Where are they now?

Jon Soper is now a Clergyman in the Church of England in the Diocese of Exeter.Crockfords Clerical Directory 2006 ]

Silas Crawley is now the senior pastor of Hope Community Church in Bristol Hope Community Church http://www.restoringhope.co.uk/ online, Accessed March 2008. ]

Craig McLeish currently works for a production company called Crazeltown Ltd, specialising in promoting new artists, songwriting and production and is also musical director for Young Voices [ Young Voices UK Ltd. http://www.youngvoicesconcerts.com/ online, Accessed March 2008.]

Nigel Hemming is part of the leadership team of Vineyard Network Church Birmingham.

Jim Harris is researching and writing a PhD in the History of Art at the Courtauld Institute. [ [http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/research/postgraduate/current_phds.shtml The Courtauld Institute of Art : Current Postgraduate Research Students ] ]

ources

External links

* [http://www.fatandfrantic.co.uk/ The FaF fansite]
* [http://fatandfrantic.blogspot.com/ An unofficial Faf Blog] (used twice and unused since December 2007)