Davy O'List and Second Thoughts

LATEST NEWS

The new album Second Thoughts is ready for release and a release date will be confirmed shortly. Davy O List and Second Thoughts will tour following the release of the new album. The live rehearsal at the Comedy Club on June 7 was cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances.

Click this icon Face Book to join the new forum that gets the news to you first. You can message me there, too.

UNCUT magazine have just completed an interview with me spanning as much as four pages of the magazine, publishing date in 2013 to be confirmed.

The American online magazine Slate has written two articles on the origins of Progressive Rock. The latest was posted on Saturday, Jan. 12, 2013 written by yours truly. The link to both articles is below, cheers, Davy.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2013/01/12/prog_spring_special_indian_summer_edition.html

Journalists, fanzine writers, festival promoters, radio DJ’s, TV presenters and fans are invited to contact the management at omikronmusic@hotmail.com for requests on interviews, appearances and information.

Discs available from this site

A history album of Davy O List titled Undiscovered Treasures containing never before released tracks from 1977-2004, features Simon Phillips on drums on three tracks. One of those tracks is a new interpretation and re-arrangement of 1-2-3. Uncut magazine had the first preview when they interviewed me about my song writing, arranging and production for the first Roxy Music album and think it sounds like a hit! Davy O List Flight of The Eagle digitally re-mastered is also available with a new bonus track Nylon Cowboy, which I wrote as a theme tune for ITV 2’s live virtual TV game “The Race” shot on location in Arizona. The guitar describes an archetypal cowboy character clinking his spurs as he walks down the main street of town.

Undiscovered Treasure, Flight of The Eagle and Davy O List Live at The Royal 2005 are only available from this site. Email omikronmusic@hotmail.com to order copies £15.00 each plus post and packaging.

Rehearsals for Davy O List and Second Thoughts began in 2012 at Barny Barnfield’s barn studio in Devon. Barny was the original drummer for The Attack. Barny’s son Louis (Barny Jr.) takes the drum seat, Robbie Knight is the new keyboard player, Sani is the bass player. Sani was master mix engineer on Second Thoughts with yours truly.

My contribution to the new Brian Eno DVD - The Man Who Fell To Earth [2011] [NTSC] had rave reviews.

Recent Magazine articles include:

February 2011 Classic Rock Progressive Rock Magazine features me as the producer of the first progressive rock album The Thoughts Of Emerlist Davjak.

Uncut Magazine January 2011 an article on Roxy Music where I am credited as the English Hendrix.

Classic Rock Magazine September 2009 printed a feature listing Davy O List in the Top 100 all time guitarists.

A two-page interview was published in Shindig magazine issue March/April 2009 mentions how Davy could have joined Dave Crosby to make O’List Crosby and Nash.

Davy O List and Second Thoughts will be touring

“a Blitz Krieg of rock and roll torpedoes”

following the release of Second Thoughts.

Davy O List Live at The Royal CD

This album is only available from this site and features new tracks recorded at The Royal in London: Maybe, Let's Rendezvous, Rondo 2005, America 2005 and Azriel 2005. It costs £15.50 GBP plus postage. To order this CD or advance copies of Undiscovered Treasure and Flight of The Eagle use the following email omikronmusic@hotmail.com and you will have your copies posted to you. You can buy one using PayPal too by clicking on the icon you can see how PayPal works.

"New" Davy O List Live at The Royal Customer Review

- Printed by kind permission of Jim Duvall -

"Davy Live at the Royal" is a great journey through the past (and future) of one of rock's great musical talents! With a pedigree that embraces The Nice, John Cale, The Attack as well as excursions into the line-ups of both Pink Floyd and Roxy Music this raw and energetic live recording provides a glimpse into one of music's elusive and enigmatic figures. The combination of Davy's blistering guitar work and a flawless rhythm section featuring Dave Wagstaffe on drums as well as the superb Spanish keyboardist Gonzalo Carrera join together to provide a powerful sound.

Starting with more recent pieces "Maybe Something" and "Lets Rendezvous" the highlights, for me are the superb reworking of Nice classics "Rondo," "America" as well as The Nice's first single "Thoughts of Emerlist Davjak" and the ageless but neglected "Azriel". Never having seen Davy 'List or the Nice live, this really is the next best thing!

Jim Duvall

TV and CINEMA projects

I was involved in TV and Cinema productions over the past few years and have written a futuristic TV drama series with Malcolm Stone. A Hollywood producer has read it and thinks it's very creative and worthy of a TV series so we are now preparing shooting scripts for transmission. Malcolm Stone is a well known Film and TV Designer, Art Director and TV writer and is Treasurer of The British Film Designers Guild. He was Art Director of Super Man III, Underworld and The Cave released during the summer of 2005. He has several other new productions credits including the Kiefer Sutherland film Mirrors and was Art Director of The Muppets. It was good news for Malcolm and his design team as they were nominated for a Hollywood award for best Art Direction of the TV series The Company televised in the UK during 2007. Malcolm is also Art Director of the BBC Children’s series In The Night Garden. Malcolm’s site is below giving his latest cinema and TV work from 2007.

http://www.malcolmstonemightart.com/

Here is some other recent news and articles.

February 19 2008 CeskeNoviny daily newspaper in Czechoslovakia publishes an article hailing me as the inventor of Prog Rock.

December 2007 Classic Rock Magazine publishes an interview with me about me on the Jimi Hendrix tour 1967.

November 2007 The Sun British newspaper printed an interview with Roxy Music. The first Roxy Music album was work produced by me I was brought in to produce the sound for the first album and the album represents what I did as the producer but I was never credited so:

I want credit for making the group popular because I deserve it as I produced it,

Roxy Music fans should be buying Second Thoughts,

The fans have to be put right,

I deserve good public relations with audiences and fans,

My work for Roxy Music should make better album sales for Second Thoughts,

Spread it around,

An interview with Roxy Music's fan site titled "Getting in with the 'in' Crowd" appears below the 2007 news and articles:

October 2007 Mojo Special Editions publishes a book on the Pink Floyd Pigs Might Fly, which includes an interview about my friendship, association and performance with Pink Floyd.

October 2007 Terrorizer Magazine publishes an interview about me inventing Progressive Rock and expresses great interest to review the new album.

September 2007 The Marquee Club – an interview with me about how I was discovered at The Marquee, which made The Nice appearances possible.

http://www.themarqueeclub.net/interview-with-david-olist-from-the-nice

May 2007 Austrian Pink Floyd Fan Site publishes an interview with Davy O'List taking over from Syd Barrett.

pulse-spirit.dyndns.org/Int-29-05-07-Davy-O-List.html

April 2007 Australian Pink Floyd Fan Site publishes an interview with me:

http://www.pinkfloydz.com/davyo.htm

October 2006 Neptune Pink Floyd Fanzine publishes a tribute to Syd Barrett with an interview with me:

http://www.neptunepinkfloyd.co.uk/magazine/2006/10/davy-olist-interview.php

October 2006 Paul McCartney Magazine publishes an interview after my hailed appearance at the Jimi Hendrix festival in Rome; Issue 12, October 2006:

http://www.paulmccartney.fm/

Getting Roxy Music in with 'The 'In' Crowd' - An Interview With Davy O'List by the Roxy Music fan site (25 April 2004)

INTERVIEW

Various members of Roxy Music, books and magazine interviews have told the story of the Genesis of Roxy Music in several places. I managed to have a chat recently with Davy O'List who was an integral part of the formation of Roxy Music and helped arrange many of the songs for the first album. Davy was the second guitarist to join Roxy Music, as the band was being put together, after the departure of original guitarist Roger Bunn.

VRM: How did the Roxy Music job come about?

D.O'L.: During the late summer of 1971 I ran an advertisement in the Melody Maker music magazine saying: "Well-known guitarist seeking image conscious, progressive, rock group with recording contract and agency." Bryan Ferry replied to my advertisement. I told Bryan who I was. Bryan got very excited saying he had been looking for me for months to complete the line up of Roxy Music (they were called Roxy Music by this time).

VRM: Did Bryan know at that time it was your advert?

D.O'L.: I am not sure. He may have guessed it was as there would not have been too many well-known guitarists advertising at this time. I asked Bryan if the group had a recording deal with gigs. Bryan hesitated and said no. All the record companies had turned down Roxy Music so far. It's just not commercial enough yet, Bryan said, that's why I want you. Then Bryan said he would be most excited and grateful if I would play and produce Roxy Music to make it commercial enough for a recording deal. I said although I was a record producer and produced hits for The Nice I had really advertised for a name group with a recording and agency deal and needed to earn top money straight away. I had just been filming with Led Zeppelin and Eric Clapton.

Bryan replied that he was an avid fan of mine and watched me play at Newcastle City Hall with The Nice in 1968. Interestingly enough this live performance by The Nice (with Bryan Ferry in the audience) has just been released on "Here Comes The Nice - The Immediate Anthology" - 3 CD Set, Catalogue No: CMETD 055. It is available now through Sanctuary Records.

Realizing Bryan was a fan I asked for the line up of Roxy Music. He told me about the Avant Gaurde percussionist, VSC 3 synth player, oboe/sax player, with himself on electric piano and vocals and Bryan wanted me to complete the line up. It began to sound interesting especially for a group in 1971. I had produced The Nice into recording stars from nothing and perhaps I could produce and transform Roxy Music into a hit group, too.

VRM: What changed your mind about them if they not having a record deal put you off?

D.O'L.: I was interested in the unusual line up. Roxy Music was using a synthesizer and they seemed to have good ideas. Keith Emerson, who I had played with, was the only performer using a synthesizer at that time. Therefore I became interested to try out Roxy Music because of the line up.

I told Bryan I would like to audition Roxy Music with the intention of producing and writing for it. I ensured him that with my press, agency and record company contacts I could obtain a recording deal for Roxy Music if they were good enough and if I liked them. Bryan was overjoyed to hear this. I asked Bryan to guarantee royalties for my writing, performance and production work once Roxy Music had a recording contract if I did join. Bryan agreed and then I agreed to meet Bryan Ferry with current members, Andy MacKay, Brian Eno and Graham Simpson at Andy's house in Battersea the next evening. (Andy was teaching music during the day at Holland Park Secondary School, which is why it was in the evening.

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VRM: So what was the set up like when you went to those rehearsals, and how did the material sound then?

D.O'L.: They were set up in a small studio room in the house with small amplifiers with Bryan sitting at an electric piano. I assessed the material (which evolved into the first album) needed new arrangements/more chords/chord progressions/more melodies with more interesting mood changes in order for it to become commercial. They heartily agreed. Roxy Music needed to be directed by a successful commercial writer to succeed. They just weren't commercial.

VRM: Could someone else have done that for them, was it just a case of someone giving them that bit of direction?

D.O'L.: Yes and no, they obviously were an interesting band and had good ideas but I don't think there was anyone else already in the business at the time who would have given them their time and effort and take a chance with them. All the record companies had already turned them down once and were not prepared to nurture or produce their sound themselves.

Bryan, Andy, Eno and Graham pleaded with me strongly to join the group. It was up to me to take them on and I decided to become their producer. I explained that after I had done this I wanted their assurances that I could make solo albums through the deal I got them. I made it transparent (as I had to Bryan previously on the telephone) it would also be on condition that I received royalties and credit for all my work as a writer/arranger/performer/producer in Roxy Music. Roxy Music knew I had a great deal of music business contacts and that my name could obtain all their aims and objectives. They were aware I could transform the group. My job was to ensure commercial success for Roxy Music. Once they had agreed this I said I would join Roxy Music amid loud cheers from Bryan, Andy, Eno and Graham.

A photographer friend of Bryan's, who sometimes worked for Time Out magazine, owned a large photographic studio in Hampstead. He would lend it to us for one or two evenings a week to rehearse in. Bryan and Andy secured a loan from a bank to buy a PA system. We were able to store the PA in the loft of the studio when we were not using it. The material we began rehearsing became the group's first album release. I wanted to be involved with the writing that was part of my deal. I selected two songs to start with which I was intending to release as solo singles but had not found the right calibre of musicians to record them.

VRM: What were these songs called?

D.O'L.: One, 'Green Willow Tree', the other was "White Indian Butterfly". They suited Bryan's voice and we started singing them together as a duet. I had been the lead vocalist for The Nice.

VRM: How did these songs sound, and were there any recordings of them?

D.O'L.: "Green Willow Tree" was like a slightly faster "Chance Meeting". The songs were never recorded with Roxy Music although we were intending to record them for the first album. I had recorded demo versions before but the tapes were lost, unfortunately.

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VRM: When did Paul Thompson come into all this?

D.O'L.: At the beginning Roxy Music had an avant-garde percussionist (Dexter Lloyd) who was great fun to play with. Eno was experimenting treating the various percussion instruments through Andy's VCS 3 but I knew the group needed a commercial rock drummer to make it. I discussed this with the group and the following week an advertisement appeared in the Melody Maker for a rock drummer. Several applied; one was a female called Sue. We discussed using Sue; she would have been an interesting image inclusion if she had been a more experienced drummer. Things started to move on faster.

VRM: Is this the Susie that the debut album is dedicated to?

D.O'L.: No, I believe that was Susie who was a girlfriend of Bryan's at the time. Susie used to drive us around a lot and help with transport for rehearsals and gigs.

VRM: What do you feel you brought to the songs that had already been written by Bryan Ferry?

D.O'L.: I completely rearranged the songs, rewrote parts of them and added new melodic sections to make the songs sound more fashionable. I added new beginnings, new middles, and new endings and generally beefed up the sound, as Bryan wanted me to. You can hear the evidence of all my work on Roxy Music's first album. It was all kept in of course otherwise Roxy Music would not have got their contract with Island Records. Phil did not add anything to the guitar parts or arrangements when he recorded the songs, the new producer did not add anything new either. Phil replicated note for note and chord for chord what I recorded for the Roxy Music John Peel Show even buying the same Fender guitar to obtain the same sound.

Word had got around that Davy O'List had a new group called Roxy Music. Record company and press awareness was raised on the group. My name/reputation obtained The John Peel Show, a gig at John Peel's club Perfumed Garden supporting Genesis and the Richard Williams article in the NME. I confirm that the taped John Peel Show, which I produced for Roxy Music in December 1971, secured the record contract with Island Records. The Roxy Music sound was there, we only needed better equipment to rise to top level.

Roxy Music had arrived, several record companies would be interested, and I knew it. Bryan had decided to go to E'G Management with the Peel tape, he said because they managed ELP and there was a strong connection between The Nice/ Davy O'List /ELP and Roxy Music. After listening to The John Peel Show tape (the first album) E'G expressed a keen interest in signing the group before any other company could. EG complimented me for changing the music style of Roxy Music. They had turned down the group before but were now very interested. EG wanted to see the band perform live and hired an old theatre/cinema near Clapham, now a bingo hall. Roxy Music only had to perform the tape live to get the contract.

VRM: Were there the tensions in the band at that time that we know of further down the line?

D.O'L.: There was some tension between Bryan Ferry and Brian Eno over who was the focal point in the group. On the way to perform for EG there was a tension between them in the car. It was not relaxed, fun and jovial as usual. Communication levels were low on the stage. During the performance Eno decided not to play much and observed the group on stage from the back of the hall with another person, Phil Manzanera who was masquerading as a road manager by then. It didn't look right. Phil Manzanera turned up at the previous rehearsal, which never happened as Bryan and Paul didn't arrive. Andy was trying to make excuses but I knew something was wrong. I was surprised to see Phil and asked him who he was. He said he was the new road manager and he needed a list of new equipment I wanted. I asked him who was going to buy it. He replied the record company. It sounded suspicious.

I had been ill for a couple of weeks before this rehearsal and had unfortunately missed a synth/guitar session with Eno at his home. I guess this had put Eno's back up. But the set was tight and I did not feel there would be any problem with EG. Anyway I knew I could get a deal elsewhere and that EG were trying to contract Roxy Music before anybody else could. They liked the tape and the theatre set up was just a formality before they signed a contract with Roxy Music. On hindsight I suppose Eno instigated a change of guitarist, even though he was talking about me producing the first album just a few weeks before.

Roxy Music had toured in preparation for a larger tour when the first record came out. The first public appearance of Roxy Music was at a large reception hall above a large pub, The "Hand and Flower" opposite Olympia I London. The show was for an all American Girls College. I remember being suitably dressed for Roxy Music's first show in a pink satin jacket and silver boots. The second appearance was at the 100 Club in Oxford Street. It was specially put on so that Richard Williams could view the group before writing his article for the NME. The article was needed to put Roxy Music in the limelight for the record companies. Bryan Ferry and I were really good friends. We often drove around together in his nice girlfriend's Mini (I remember her name was Susie and she was a great aid to the group by providing transport) planning the future of the group.

On one drive Bryan told me about a gorgeous girl he had followed in his car. I said it should be a theme for a new song, we should write it. At the next rehearsal Bryan had written words and I put down some chords. I was never credited or received any money for it but I had more than a hand in writing, "Re-make/Re-model". Phil copied me exactly on the album version. The ending is something I played with The Pink Floyd; I also had the idea that in the middle of the song we should all do a little solo.

Roxy Music headlined at Bristol University, too. There was not enough room in the van for everybody so Eno and Andy took it in turns to lie on top of the equipment at the back of the van. Roxy Music headlined at London University and at a South London college, too. Roxy Music also did a show supporting The Pretty Things, which turned out to be a mismatch of programming but Bryan and I laughed about it on the way home in the Mini.

It is not previously known but Roxy Music had a manager then who left before the John Peel Show to live and work in the U.S. He used to wear groovy looking jump suits to the shows. It was a shame he went as he was looking after me and making sure I was happy with everything that was going on. He knew my influence was going to guarantee Roxy Music a quick deal and appreciated what I was doing for them. I'm sure if he had been there to the end the line up would have stayed the same. There was a hole after he had gone which the others found difficult to fill by themselves.

VRM: So how did it come about that you worked again with Bryan in 1974 on his 'Another Time Another Place' album?

D.O'L.: After Roxy Music split up I contacted Bryan Ferry and said let's rejoin forces and produce a stunning hit. Bryan seemed excited about the reunion and we produced "The 'In' Crowd" which I earned my first gold disc for. I was only to play on The 'In' Crowd, Chance Meeting and Let's Stick Together (though I am not credited for LST on the sleeve which is wrong). The recordings were a good experience and I wished to do more with Bryan Ferry including live stadium appearances.

VRM: What can you tell us of those sessions?

D.O'L.: The backing tracks were finished, with all the horns, etc. and Bryan had done a guide vocal by the time I arrived at the studio. We recorded it at Pete Townsend's studio, Ramport that was hidden beneath a tower block in Battersea. Pete Townsend had recorded Quadrophenia there. There was an amazing atmosphere to the place. I also re-recorded Chance Meeting there, which Bryan asked me to play the way I played it for Roxy Music. But it turned out better than the first album version and Bryan thought so too. I believe Roxy Music's first album would have turned out even better had I been given the chance to record for Island Records after all I had a big hand in writing and producing it.

VRM: Have you met any of the band since then?

D.O'L. I met Phil & Andy when they were working with The Explorers in the mid '80s and I met Brian Eno around 1994. I bumped into Bryan Ferry at the end of last year as his studio is near where I live. We had a brief chat about my new film work.

VRM: ...and Graham Simpson?

D.O'L: Graham was a very nice guy. I have never seen him since then. Graham also played Cello, which would have been an interesting addition if he remained with the band. He was always into computers and music was not the be all and end all in his life. It was something he did as a pastime and never really wanted to get too serious about it. He never wanted to give up his day job. I think the pressure of being in a vehicle moving faster than he wanted to go got to him and he just wanted out.

David O'List has not received his just deserts in the annals of pop music criticism, as the true story of how Roxy Music made it has never been told publicly until now.

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VRM: So what have you done since those days and what are you doing now?

***********

Before I go into a brief history of what happened next I would like to say that I would very much enjoy playing with Bryan and Roxy Music again sometime in the future and I hope this is going to be possible. From my experiences with Roxy Music I began to write a new song repertoire and played it on acoustic guitar around local low-key gigs in London.

I would like to mention that prior to Roxy Music I had made a film with Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce (this was after The Cream) Roland Kirk, Buddy Guy and Led Zeppelin called "Super Session".

Again "The 'In' Crowd" came to the attention of John Cale of The Velvet Underground. I had met John Cale at the Velvet Underground's flat in New York in 1967 while on tour with The Nice where they gave me a promotion copy of their famous first album. I had this copy well before it was released in the U.K. and new all about their sound well before anybody else did here. When I re-met John Cale in London in late 1977 he complimented me on my work on "The 'In' Crowd" and offered me a tour of Europe as his guest star! The tour was long, lucrative, very well organized with luxury hotels and beautiful theatres to play in. The fans in Europe were very, very happy to see me at last. I had to sign original copies of my first album "The Thoughts Of EmerList DavJak" in Berlin when the wall was up. It was very exciting being on John Cale's tour and to experience so much fan adoration, something I had not experienced since leading The Pink Floyd on the Jimi Hendrix tour.

By 1985 my label was set up and I released two singles, "Seal It With A Loving' Kiss" and "You and I". The B-side of "Seal It With A Loving' Kiss" is "Facts of Life"; it became a hit on a South London Black Underground radio station before it was released. All three singles are on the album "Flight of the Eagle".

"You and I" was play listed on Super Channel satellite TV is co-written by Satu Redmond. She also co-wrote the track "Pale Girl of the Neat White Uniform" which is all about an Air Hostess's flying career. The guitar sound is sort of 'In' Crowdie. Suzie O'List my sister sings backup vocals on the opener "Seal It With A Loving Kiss" and on "Outside Broadcast". "Outside Broadcast" was recorded after my John Cale Tour and there is evidence of that in the track. I had been playing twin guitars with John, which was a treat. The sound which sounds like a synthesiser is actually a guitar using a tremolo arm. I also play most of the keyboards, guitars, drums and basses on the album.

I originally called the group SEAL. The record was reasonably distributed and Capital Radio, GLR Radio and Satellite TV station Super Channel play listed the singles. However I could not handle all the distribution and promotion work by myself as well as the performing and recording so I thought it appropriate to go for help from a major. I ended up at Warner Brothers Music where one of Bryan Ferry's solo albums was released which I was on. The A&R manager thought the image of the word SEAL was very worthwhile marketing but he did not take the singles on, instead he said record a new track and bring that back to him. To my surprise, a few months later, while I was producing the track W.B. launched SEAL but it wasn't me at all, it was Henry Samuels. There were all sorts of confusion at record shops and radio stations as WB had taken my name but that was the end of my SEAL and it was time to rethink and rethink about trusting record companies.

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About the "Return Of The Eagle" album it is a different recording to the 1998 release "Flight of The Eagle". It has a different cover and the tracks are improved and different. The record company lost the original master so I completely re-mastered a new version including a track "Nylon Cowboy" which is 8 minutes 11 seconds long. I wrote it as a theme for ITV's live virtual TV game "The Race" which was shot on location in Arizona in 2002. The guitar describes an archetypal cowboy character that clinks his spurs as he walks through town. I have always wanted to do a western. The title track "Flight of The Eagle" is the theme to the first movie I ever made. It was also written in remembrance of my days with the Pink Floyd hence its Floydion guitar style, which I hope you will appreciate.

At the same time I was recording some of the album with Michael Seraphim from Starlight Express and The Bill I was taking an MA in Film at Central Saint Martins in London and Brian Eno was asked to give a lecture at the college. I hardly recognized him. I was working outside the college when Eno's lecture actually happened making promotion films for Ericsson Telephones and producing TV promotion films for Sony/BMG's Destruction label. Two of my own films that I wrote and directed for myself actually got in to the British Short Film Festival in 1992.

I recently finished a Post Graduate Lecturers Course at The University of Greenwich (Nelson's old Naval college) and have been lecturing film production and computer music production at Westminster Kingsway College London. I am also proposing to get a Science Fiction/Super Reality TV series off the ground that I co-wrote with Malcolm Stone Art Director of Superman (one of a long list of his films). We did shoot a short "teaser" of it at Pinewood Studios (where Bat Man was produced) as a test and have now developed it into a TV series.

The latest music project came about two years ago when my first group The Attack suddenly sold over 75,000 copies of their first single "We Don't Know" in Japan on a box set released by Universal that featured James Brown, Marvin Gaye and The Who. A mod music collection called funnily enough "The 'In' Crowd" - the ultimate mod collection. I decided to write a follow up to capitalize on its success and came up with "We Still Don't Know!!" You never know it could happen all over again!

John Peel used the B-side of The Attack's second single, "Any More Than I Do" as the signature tune for his first ever radio programme. It was a very popular programme broadcasting from a pirate radio ship and everybody on the scene listened to it. From this regular broadcast I received offers from John Mayall's Blues Breakers to replace Eric Clapton and from P. P. Arnold ("First Cut is the Deepest"). "Any More Than I Do" broke me in to stardom.

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Davy O'List

Professional journalists wishing to write about the importance of me to Roxy Music and how I was vital to its success are invited to contact me at omikronmusic@hotmail.com

Thanks to Damian Jones for his response to the above and for supplying the site with this early poster of Roxy Music featuring David O'List (it says). He is co-writing a book about the late 60's Mod movement and would like some of my memories of me on my scooter going to Brighton and my Mod music that ended up on James Brown and The Who compilations!

Stay tuned for further news...

- ALL THINGS NICE AND BEAUTIFUL –

Rob Leighton's Imagine program on Radio Caroline and Chris Bent's Toward The Unknown Region program (broadcasting on Friday's at 11 PM) play-listed Feel This Way, And We Still Don't Know and Any Way You Choose. Radio program Web site addresses are at the base of this page.

Davy O List's Walthamstow gig in London recorded live on 13 May 2005 is available from this site @ £15.00. Featuring: Maybe, Let's Rendezvous, Rondo 2005, America 2005 and Azriel 2005.

Concerts 2004-5

MTV Romania and TVR 1 Romania - Saturday 2 Oct 2004. I was interviewed with Carl Palmer while producing and promoting The Jimi Hendrix Festival in Bucharest.

Stazione Birra Club - 26 November 2004 – Davy O List live at The Jimi Hendrix Festival in Rome I was asked to play my own set which was filmed live by SKY TV and I was interviewed about my close friendship with Jimi Hendrix and what we got up to in the studio and on tour and at the night clubs jamming together.

Davy O'List Live on SKY TV

Photographed by Simone Cecchetti

Hi Davy! I like very much your show...I love your guitar style...

There aren't much guitarist with this "sixties" touch...a very good show. Simone

Underworld - Saturday 26 March 2005. Camden, London with Audience.

Riga Music Bar - Thursday 21 April 2005. Southend, Essex.

Limelight Club - Sunday 1 May 2005. Crewe.

Standard Music Venue - Friday 13 May 2005. Walthamstow, London.

Recorded live for Radio Caroline first broadcast Rob Leighton show, midnight Wednesday 3 August 2005.

"SECOND THOUGHTS"

Mojo Magazine, Terrorizer Magazine, Chris Welch, The Classic Rock Society, Classic Rock Magazine, Rob Leighton's Imagination show on Radio Caroline, Radio Seagull's Chris Bent, Paul Baker's Progressive Show ARfm (Sky Digital), BBC Essex, BBC Stoke, Francis Geron's Progressive show on The Spirit of 66 Radio Show in Belgium, Art Rock in Sweden, Eifel Events Radio in Germany, Steve Elsdon from the Patti Pavilion in Wales, and Radio Heemskerk in Holland continue to promote Davy O'List 's new releases and up and coming tours.

LET'S RENDEZVOUS 2005 TOUR REVIEWS

Davy O'List at Underworld 26 March 2005

It was great to see Davy O List's band in action at the Underworld. Having seen Keith Emerson's gigs in the past, David's performance has only reassured me about the amazing potential he has transferred to his nowadays' line-up. The highlights of the evening, Rondo and America, fitted perfectly with a new, remarkable piece Let's Rendezvous. The unfaultable rhythm section backed him in an exciting way and merged so well the result was simply an explosive, mind-blowing performance I've heard in ages. I'm a keyboard player myself, playing for Arthur Brown and my own band Instant Flight, and with the latter we were truly delighted to support Davy O List that evening. The spirit of his band, the energy, and improvisational resourcefulness has become a new source of inspiration for our own future performances.

LUCIE REJCHRTOVA - INSTANT FLIGHT (27.3.05)

Instant Flight + Davy O List + Audience - Camden Underworld 26/3/05. By Steve Snelling

Those who are familiar with this living legend will know Davy was the founder member of The Nice who started out as backing band for P. P. Arnold who had a massive hit with a Cat Stevens song The First Cut Is The Deepest. A short while later The Nice decided to go it alone, The Nice, Keith Emerson, Lee Jackson, Brian Davison, Davy O List were the first to cut the ground and pave the way for the term we use today Prog Rock. There was no band quite like The Nice. If you don't own a copy of the "Here Comes The Nice", Immediate Anthology, CMETD 055 then I strongly suggest you immediately go and hunt yourself a copy because it contains this truly awesome band at the height of their power - with some of Davy O List's scorching, blistering, guitar work committed to CD. I did not see the original The Nice but I was lucky to have seen Refugee when I was fourteen in '74 at Hemel Hempstead Pavilion. Not hearing a great deal else I finally saw ELP and saw The Nice reunion 2004 comeback tour which was fantastic but I had a nagging doubt, where was Davy? On 20 Nov 2004, I attended the Progeny Festival at the Astoria with the soul purpose of seeing our hero in action. Unfortunately, this did not happen due to circumstances beyond his control. However, having said this I did get to meet the great man and could not believe what a friendly and warm person he is. So on 26 March 2005 at Camden Underworld I was in the venue very early to make sure I didn't miss this one-off special occasion sandwiched in between Instant Flight and Audience. Davy O List and his band make their stage entrance and from when the first chord was struck, we all knew we were in for a 'nice treat' so to speak. The whole band fired-off on all four burners starting off with The Thoughts Of EmerList Davjak then Azriel Angel Of Death, Flower King Of Flies, Rondo and some new material which sounded great. Davy and his band gave it their all, one hundred per cent. The crowd down the front loved it with cries of "Nice one" and in deed it was. It came to a spectacular ending with what I would call The Nice signature song America played at full throttle - it was sheer bliss I went home a very happy man, "NICE ONE LADS!"

By Steve Snelling - Skeletons Making Love Fanzine 2005.

Editors Note: Chris Welch the famous rock music journalist and Keith Emerson's agent also saw my performance on 26 March 2005. They remarked that it sounded really great and it was great to hear those Nice tunes again played in a modern way, a must see magical event.

Club Riga 21 April and Limelight 1 May

It was great to watch your performance on Sunday, I LOVE eccentricity and you certainly didn't disappoint! When you performed at the Riga bar last month I had a real-time call from our on the spot Caroline man to say, "This man is away with the fairies!" - just as it should be. It struck me you're a man who's happy with himself and his lot?

By DJ Rob Leighton, Radio Caroline

TOUR SET

The Thoughts of EmerList DavJack

Azriel 2006

Flower King 2006

War and Peace 2006

Feel This Way

Bonnie K

She Belongs To Me 2006

Touch Wood

Rondo 2006

Second Thoughts

Let's Rendezvous

America 2006

Genesis of The Nice –

"On the way to the first show I was talking to P.P. Arnold, saying her band (Davy O'List, Ian Haige, Keith Emerson and Lee Jackson) ought to have a name as it didn't have one and Pat said think of one. As Pat talked about her Gospel choir experiences in the USA an idea came to me. Pat was saying her preacher was hip and he spoke to his congregation like this, 'The Nazz came down and said unto all the people.' I asked her what The Nazz meant and Pat replied it was a Negro term for Almighty God. But what does Nazz mean, I inquired? "Oh, that was the preacher's accent he means, The Nice", she laughed. "Oh, The Nazz could be a good name for the band but how could we be called God we could be called The Nice!" Everyone laughed and agreed the name stuck so I took the idea of THE NICE and the "new fusion music" I vamped up for the group; a fusion of Classical, Modern Jazz, Pop and Rock to Andrew Oldham, The Rolling Stones manager. Andrew accepted the concept was very new and exciting and gave my group a Recording Agreement and Management deal on the strength of my ideas. The incredible audience responses we were getting from our solo spots before P.P. Arnold came on was also a major factor in me getting the deal.

Then I opened The Nice booking agency, obtaining residencies at The Speakeasy Club and The Marquee Club in London. One night at The Marquee Club we were given a special guest spot with The Jimi Hendrix Experience because we had been going down so well and we went on to play the best we ever played. Jimi was standing at the side of the stage as we came off as the crowd roared for more he told me how good he thought it was would we like to be on his UK tour.

A big yes was the answer and we never had to look back as everything snow balled from that night. You can read an actual interview, which was recorded while I was on tour at the official Jimi Hendrix Magazine site. I was the writer and producer of the first single by The Nice The Thoughts of EmerList Davjak, which came out at the same time of the tour. It was incredibly good timing as the mass teenage girl audiences who bought it got me into the top of the Top 40 for the first time. The girls were screaming at me every night when I sung The Thoughts of EmerList Davjak and when I played Inter Stella Over Drive with The Pink Floyd. I always thought The Nice should have done more on the "Teeny Bopper" circuit to achieve more single sales but The Thoughts of EmerList Davjak album has sold extremely well until this day."

Interesting History

Here's something you might like to know I helped name Yes. When I was touring with The Attack before I formed The Nice I first met Jon, Chris, Bill, Tony and Pete when they were called Syn a couple of times in a Birmingham late night Indian restaurant we found open after shows. I re-met them all again one night at the Speakeasy Club in London about a year later, just when The Nice had broken The Marquee box office record that was originally held by The Who! I asked them how they were doing and Jon told me they were looking for new gigs and audiences. I told him a name like Syn might not gel with audiences, as the description was on the dark side and not attractive. Jon agreed, yes. Then we both said, "Yes" at the same time. We both laughed because that was it! Be Yes I said and I will give you a support spot at the Marquee next time we play there. Everything changed for them as Atlantic Records soon signed them up after seeing them play to The Nice audience. Funny, that's how they made it.

More Recent History

I was starring at The Jimi Hendrix Festival held at the Stazione Birra Club in Rome on 26 November 2004. I included America 2^ND Amendment, which went down extremely well with the Italian audience and signed lots of autographs afterwards. SKY TV televised the whole show live. SKY also interviewed me about my friendship with Jimi Hendrix, and the conversation included some of the facts stated above in the Genesis of The Nice. The club would like me to return with Second Thoughts

MTV and TVR 1 in Romania interviewed me with Carl Palmer from the legendary super group, Emerson Lake & Palmer in November 2004. Carl and I both got on very well as we always did and had long chats about the old days. I'd known Carl since Atomic Rooster, as I had gone along to a rehearsal to see if I wanted to join them.

Other recent TV appearances include; 'Bernstein's Life' Channel 4 UK 2005, featuring America by The Nice, 'The Race' ITV2 2002 featuring Nylon Cowboy, a solo guitar track from the 'Flight of The Eagle' CD eight minutes long to be re-released on a forthcoming Prog Rock History 1967-2004.

Second Thoughts

Some recent releases include:

SUPERSHOW; a DVD of a live jam show featuring Davy O'List also features Eric Clapton, originally recorded with Lead Zeppelin on their "first ever public appearance" but they took it off before the release date maybe it will resurface one day again after the reunion.

BEYOND THE BEGINNING; a new DVD from ELP featuring The Nice performing America 2^nd Amendment on the German TV rock show Beat Club excellent footage of me.

THE SWEDISH RADIO SESSIONS CD – a live performance by The Nice in Sweden, recommended purchase, as you can feel and hear how I controlled the sound to produce the best in Keith.

Keith, Blinky, Lee and Davy

Davy O List with THE ATTACK is featured on Mod music compilations from Universal Music that also include Georgie Fame, Tom Jones, James Brown, and The Who.

Richard, Davy, Barney, Bob and Gerry

Some older releases include:

The "in" Crowd – with Bryan Ferry; Top Ten single and No 1 album

Chance Meeting - with Bryan Ferry – B-side to The "in" Crowd

Let's Stick Together – with Bryan Ferry; Top ten single and worldwide hit

- Gold records awarded for each of the above releases.

Davy O'List

An excerpt from Mirabelle magazine Oct. 20th 1973 (source: www.queencuttings.com):

A RIGHT ROYAL GROUP

Who is who in Queen

Brain May is also tall, dark and handsome. He lives in Fulham and has one cat. He plays the guitar, sings, and also writes words and music. Brian is twenty-three and born under the sign of Cancer. He is over 6ft. tall, and was born in the country. Brian has a degree in Physics, and has taught at a comprehensive school. He was also an astronomer for four years. His influences are Clapton, Beck, and Davy O List. His likes are cats, Hermann Hesse (the writer), prawn cocktails, C. S. Lewis (another writer), and quiet people. His dislikes – liver, noise, cold feet, non-contact and politics. Ambition? To be a penguin when he grows up!