Tarantula

Once you've been bitten, there's no getting over the infectious spirit of Tarantula. In its most common form it is an exciting seven piece Latin, Funk and Jazz combo. It was hugely satisfying to hear my compositions played in such an exciting way. Shown here is the cover and inlay photos for our 1999 album. It features Bilbo Berger (Heatwave) (d), Chris Berry (gt), Claude Deppa (tp), Danny Brian (perc), Lynne Hoban (sax & ft), and on the bottom line Selwyn Charles and myself.

It was recorded at Stepping Stone Studios. We had originally booked two evenings, but after a great first night our initial engineer lost everything. After sacking the studio engineer we got trusted friend and musical genius Hamish MacDonald in to engineer the next day. He mixed the album - a great result for one night. Everything was recorded live and we only took a second take on a couple of tracks! These photos were taken by Nick Stylianou.

The band has featured many other artists over the years including, Quentin Collins (tp), Jo Cooper (d), Damien Grant (d), Saleem Raman (d), Ronnie Archer (b), Neville Malcolm (b), Lakis Economou (b), Kofi Kari Kari (perc), Pete Hoban (gt), Nick Weiss (sx), Jay Cafferey (sx). Tony Kofi (sx), Antonio Cambell (sx), Siemi Di (perc) and Dave Bitelli (sx).

You can listen to the tracks on the album. Also included are some great live recordings giving you a real taste of what Tarantula was like live! These recordings include the previously unheard track 'Funky Blue Afro'.