The Bishops: Nashville

NO BARRIER between band and audience here. The recently re-named Bishops (aw, c'mon boys, The Count Bishops sounded much cooler) are playing their second encore and, hell they don't mind if part of the crowd join them on stage singing along to "Bye Bye, Johnny" or playing their imaginary guitars. Which is all pretty typical of the, uh, vibe at a Bishops gig. They lay down some hot, mean and dirty R&B (yeah I know these terms sound as cliched as only the worst cliches can but, in the Bishops' case, they're all quite true) and, with the emphasis on good humour rather than bully boy machismo in their stage presence, they almost defy their audience not to enjoy them. But, bounder that I am, I have reservations. Sure the Bishops have their roots in the past to a large extent, but I reckon it would be for their own good to drop some of the standards and come up with some more of their own material. Impeccable though their choice and performance of oldies are, non-originals still form well over half their set, and do we really need another version of "Route 66"? Sure the Bishops renditions of "I Need You", "Taste And Try", and "Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White", were all dead sharp, but if they can write songs as good as "Baby You're Wrong" and "Train, Train", one wonders (doesn't one?) why they don't roll more of their own and so prove to more people that they're more than just another revivalist band. Maybe their just lazy, or more probably, as Dave Tice implied when he introduced one number with the words "This is an old one but we like it", they're less worried about making it than than they are about playing what they (and plenty of others) like and enjoying themselves. And there's really not much wrong with that, especially if you deliver the goods the way they do. Or maybe I'm just acting spoilt - I mean, after a set like this and three encores, for one of which they were joined by Lemmy and Blast Furnace among others, what more could a poor boy ask for?
Neil Peters

The Bishops
NME, June 24th 1978

Those barons of de blooze The Bishops had all their guitars swiped while rehearsing at London's Nashville last week. Stolen were two Strats, one Telecaster (modified with Humbucker pickup) an Epiphone Casino and a Fender precision bass. Should the culprit suffer a sudden attack of remorse or anyone else comes across the axes, contact Chiswick records.

Music Machine
1978

THE SURGING R&B of The Bishops got the evening off to a great start, and by the time they'd worked through a fistful of their old favourites even the walls were sweating. Despite having all their gear ripped off at the Nashville, their renditions of "Too Much Too Soon", "Till The End Of The Day", and "Train Train" sounded just as good on Motorhead's ill used equipment. There's just no nonsense with The Bishops; from Dave Tice's Jack Daniels' vocals and Johnny Guitar's whiplash chords to the backing triumvirate of Zenon de Fleur (rhythm guitar), Paul Balbi (drums) and Pat McMullen (bass) - the pulsating core of the band - there's a feeling of consistent power and enjoyment that is irresistable, making even old chestnuts like "Route 66" sound fresh. I particularly liked the Bo Diddley riffing on "I Want Candy" and the pure Groovies' sound of "Baby You're Wrong". Probably never destined for Greatness there's a place reserved for them in theLittle League Heroes' Hall Of Fame.
Neil Norman

The Bishops:
NME Oct. '78

THE BISHOPS, who seem likely to give the Chiswick label its first major hit with their single "I Want Candy", are playing a short series of dates in their own right after completing several guest spots on the Dr. Feelgood tour. So far confirmed are Batley Crumpets (Oct 27), London Camden Electric Ballroom (28), London Middlesex Polytechnic (Nov. 13), Southhampton University (4) and Brentwood Hermit Club (9). Further gigs are being set and will be announced shortly.

BISHOPS!! Ain't no cure for the rhythm 'n' blues
Oct.78

The Bishops - Nashville The Bishops have always delivered, but I've never seen them play like this. In a word, they were dynamite. From Zenon de Fleur's rhythm guitar and creditable Link Wray impersonation to Dave Tice's vocals it was an exhilerating celebration of Rock 'n' Roll, pure and absolute. And don't mistake them for revivalists - that path leads to the Big Snore - the spirit on show here transcended fashion, defied classification and revitalised familiar songs. They convinced me they'd written "Route 66" the night before. Blitz Krieg and Skid Marx from Blast Furnace contributed guitar and harmonica respectively, on one or two occasions, and must have walked away proud men. There was only one song that seemed out of place: "Someone's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight". They just don't need that kind of thrash-trash. But by the time they'd reached "I Want Candy" I was ready to forgive them anything. Buy the single and have a party. Johnny guitar and Zenon de Fleur swooped and soared like fighter planes leaving trails of steel-ribboned smoke in the air, while Pat McMullen's bass and Paul Balbi's drums fuelled the rhythm engine with pure nitroglycerine. This band play with such locomotive power that Superman would stand aside and let them pass. "Train Train", "I Need You", "Reeling 'n' a Rockin", "Shake Your Moneymaker"....but who really cares about individual titles? How many bands have you seen recently getting five encores; every one a killer and every one deserved? No frames of reference. No comparisons. They stand alone. If the thunder don't get you then The Bishops will.
Neil Norman

Bishops Have a Brawl
Trouser Press Nov. 78

"We were takin' it easy at the dance hall Saturday night..." So sang the Count Bishops on their second single, "Takin' It Easy". 'S about one of those nights when, hell, ya just gotta play even though the PA stinks, or the crowd is too busy cruisin' and drinkin' to shut up during the set, or things are just not clicking, so all you can do is say, "Screw it, lets just play and have some fun". It's the kind of night when, just like in the song, some guy might be watching the band, not like 'em too much, and (after a couple of pints, natch) feel kinda peeved that the band's up there having so much fun. Then, of course, it might degenerate into a scene as pictured on the cover of The Bishops' live album - a wild 'n' wooly free-for-all. "Things like that happen, y'know". Says Johnny Guitar, "we started the first fight in 12 years at the 100 Club in London the first time we played there". That was way back in October 1975. It seems some Irish gent got pissed off at the band's lead singer at that time, Michael Spenser, so, as Bishops rhythm guitarist Zenon de Fleur puts it, " 'E came onstage and smacked this beer mug round 'is face. Mike laid into the guy and I came over and seperated them. But five minutes later the guy hit Mike again! A brawl started, and the place emptied out, all these guys hitting each other and not really knowing who's hitting who!". "A bloody brawl", recalls Zen, and Johnny adds, "I've still got blood on some of my clothes from that one. We didn't get any publicity from it either. The Sex Pistols did it a year or so later and it was front page news". But weren't you guys among the first to be cast in the roles of "punks" in the English rock scene? "Yeah," says Johnny, who originally hails from Washington D.C., "it was funny - when I got to England, in the summer of '75, ther were basically three bands doing '60s British-style R&B: Eddie and the Hot Rods, the 101ers" - featuring Joe Strummer, now with the Clash - "and us. Dr Feelgood was already getting a grand a night, and we were a bit younger and playing the pubs. So we were called punk bands then. 'Aw they look so scummy and greasy in their leather jackets - it was a self-conciously beery and greasy scene. Then the punk thing started to 'happen' - the Pistols started gigging, and the Damned too. Hell one of their first gigs was the Mont de Marsant European punk festival we played in '76" "And all of a sudden we weren't gross enough,' interjects Zen. In spite of nights like the one described in "Takin' It Easy", we've always tried to play well, no sound effects noise, no spitting or bleeding onstage - and we still do love songs, even though they're low down spade numbers" It's that '60s British R&B tradition. "I was in NY, up from DC, playing with a guy who's now in a band called For Shakes Sake. I answered an add in the Village Voice that Michael had put in, looking for someone into the old Stones, Yardbirds and Them, and I knew all the licks on the first five Stones albums, so I got the job with him. Then he went to London, joined up with Zen, and he kept calling me saying "come on over, it's so much better, we've got an amp for you and all these gigs..." Well, I did, and" he laughs "the amp was a whole lot smaller 'n I expected and the gigs a whole lot fewer. But things were looking up. Zen and Mike's band, Chrome, had done some demos for Ted Carroll and Roger Armstrong, who were looking for a band to start a label with. "The demos didn't work out as we hoped, the band split up, and Mike and I formed the Count Bishops" - the name was taken from a NY 'cycle gang (Spenser hails from Brooklyn) - "and Johnny came over and we did some more tracks for Ted - about 13 in five hours. It was amazing." They called the first Chiswick release, the Speedball EP, from that session. One of the first indy label records out of the UK, its sound was raw, reeling and rocking but tight; it sounded like early Stones records - if the Stones hadn't done all of those songs, it sounded as though they could have - and since they didn't, the Bishops did, "which led to a sort of typecasting ," admits Johnny. "But we learned really fast that we had to get our own sound together." That led to a parting of the ways between the band and Spenser. "I still see him around - in fact he has a new single which is great! And just like the Stones." After Spenser's departure in early '76, Zen and Johnny handled the vocals for a while, cutting "our legendary Dutch album that nobody can get over here" and "Takin' It Easy" backed with "Train Train" for Hollands Dynamite Records. The single was liscensed by Chiswick for the UK, and radio stations and the press turned it over, helping "Train Train" garner much attention and many sales as a top "alternative" 45. Nonetheless, Zen and Johnny wanted to give up full-time vocal chores, and latched onto Dave Tice, who'd fronted a successful Australian band called Buffalo with Paul Balbi, who'd already joined the Bishops on drums. They recorded "Baby You're Wrong", their first single to retain that R&B feel yet centre around a pop hook, and put out their first LP. Not long after that, bass player Steve Lewins, who'd penned "Takin' It Easy" (most of the writing is done by Zen with occasional lyrical assistance from Dave Tice) left to join Wilko Johnson's Solid Senders, and the CB's picked up Pat McMullen, who'd left Belfast to play with Screaming Lord Sutch, among others. While gradually putting together studio tracks for a second album, they found that a tape of a gig at the Roundhouse originally intended for a live Chiswick sampler, was hot enough to be an album in itself. And so last spring it became one, just after their "I Take What I Want" single came out. "My god, it was one dj's record of the week, and we were playlisted for six weeks. We couldn't believe it!" says Johnny. "But turn it over and check out the B-side," he advises, and a wise move that is, too, because "No Lies" is another rockin' tune with a tuneful catchy chorous. Perhaps that's the best direction for the group, who are still putting down tracks fo