On the Road
N.M.E. Sept. 3, 1977

Count Bishops next week begin an eight week tour of Britain and Ireland. Most gigs are still being finalised, but those confirmed are: London Oxford St. 100 club (Sept. 6), Birkenhead Mr. Digby's (8), Redcar Coatham Bowl (11), Edinburgh Tiffany's (12), Glasgow Disco Harry (14), Falkirk Maniqi (15), London Kensington Nashville (18), London Camden Music Machine (21), Bedford Nite Spot (22), Rotherham Windmill (29), and Burton 76 Club (30).

The Count Bishops :
Melody Maker Sept. 3 1977

'The Count Bishops' (Chiswick). Buy this record and help prevent the dangerously possible. It's no seminal work (few are) but for a bands first effort they acquit themselves easily. No, the anxiety angle lies with the boys' future. You see, unless the Bishops can escape that stupid tag of second-league, servicable-club attraction, their demise will come all the sooner. The Bishops are straight ahead purveyors of good-time boogie. They take traditional Chicago blues plus the mid-Sixties Beat Boom and inject a tough immediacy via reworking standards and writing material which shows identical influences. Ruoghly half the tracks are oldies, the remainder homegrown compositions by either guitarist Zenon De Fleur or bass player Steve Lewins. They all sit happily together so that, for instance Zenon's 'Stay Free' slides in comfortably between the Kinks ('I Need You'), Elmore James ('Shake Your Moneymaker'), Chuck Berry ('Down The Road Apiece') and the Standells ('Good Guys Don't Wear White'). Virtually every one of them steams along with piston-packing verve. Great booze 'n' nicotine stained enjoyment. All important is the rhythm section (Zenon, Steve and Paul Balbi) which is effortlessly power-driven and suitably saw toothed in order to stay on the right side of unsavoury. Lead guitarist - wait for it - Johnny Guitar fires fires many a well aimed and well timed salvo. Vocalist Dave Tice avoids smartass acrobatics for a gruff, caustic delivery. In the main the Lewins and Fleur numbers come off most successfully. Best of the bunch on my tablet is Zenon's 'Baby You're Wrong' which, coupled with 'Stay Free' was also the bands last single. A fine melody in the clean-cut, forceful and unashamedly pop vein gives it that tasty extra.
- I.B.

Count Bishops
Dingwalls, London 1977

ASK Elvis Costello and he'll tell you straight: Dingwalls is the pits. It's got an audience that's so jaded, so used to being spoon-fed that to get their undivided attention you have to do something like commit a very nasty ritual murder onstage. I don't know how they managed it but the Count Bishops snapped out a sparkling set in front of this excuse for an audience. I suppose they took the only possible course - ignored them and just carried on ripping out their rivvum an' blooze like Jimmy Reed and Chuck Berry weren't dead and had only nipped out to the laundrette. I don't believe music is timeless - here today, gone tomorrow is the essence of rock 'n' roll - but the sweet bite of the Bishops could almost change my mind. Only almost though, because as good as the band are (Johnny Guitar's solos being particularly notable) they still don't have enough confidence in the strength of their owm material, like 'Train Train'. Their new singer Dave Tice, comes over like a reasonable vocalist in search of a role. But that's nitpicking really 'cos the Bishops are a classic bar band.

The Count Bishops:
Feb. '78

Roadshows (Review of Roundhouse, London gig with Blast Furnace, Count Bishops, Motorhead and Wilko Johnson) ......Blast Furnace and the Heatwaves had a try, but it took the rock and rhythm of the Count Bishops to really set the concert on it's way......

The Bishops:
Melody Maker April 15 1978

Bishops: "I Take What I Want" (Chiswick) Chicago hits Camden town again. They give the old r&b warhorse a solid, Schwarzenegger work-out which will make you sweat a lot. That is precisely what the Bishops (slimmed down from the Count B's, of course) are all about.

THE BISHOPS: I Take What I Want (Chiswick). Snazzy, slamming somewhere between bar room blues and backroom R&B. Solid and staple, straight and true.