Agostino Roncallo
The group Blowzabella was founded in Whitechapel in 1978 by Bill O'Toole from Sydney and Jon Swayne from Glastonbury, both students in London at the time. They later invited Chris Gunstone, Dave Armitage, and Juan Wijngaard to join the group, who was soon replaced by Sam Palmer. At the end of 1979, Bill O'Toole returned to Australia and was replaced by Dave Roberts. In 1980, Dave Armitage left the band and was replaced by Paul James and hurdy-gurdy player Cliff Stapleton. By then, the lineup was virtually complete. Today, after fifty years of activity, Blowzabella has decided to disband. Lineatrad has therefore decided to reconstruct the band's history through an interview (for a reflection on the group's discography in English and Italian, please see the following link: http://www.folkvinyls.it/blowzabella.htm).
- On the occasion of their fiftieth anniversary in 2028, the band has decided to permanently disband. What are the reasons behind this decision?
Paul James: We're all very busy, so finding time to play together is no longer easy. Traveling is becoming more tiring, time-consuming, expensive, and environmentally damaging. We've accomplished more than we ever imagined possible for such a strange, drone-based band. So it's important to recognize that nothing lasts forever. Announcing the band's disbandment is a clear and decisive decision. It's better than continuing indefinitely and prolonging our existence. When we started, we had no competition in the UK for the kind of music we play. Now there are hundreds of fantastic bands, and many of them have taken some inspiration from Blowzabella. It's time to step away and let the next generation take their course.
- To trace the band's history from the beginning, what memories do you have of your time at the London College of Furniture?
Jon Swayne: I was in the first year of a three-year program in Wind Instrument Technology. One of my classmates, Bill O'Toole, wanted to and succeeded in building a bagpipe based on images of old English bagpipes. He made one for me, and we started playing together. A student who started a year after us, David Armitage, arrived with a vast knowledge of English dances and played the accordion. I have a vivid memory of the first time we tried playing two bagpipes and the accordion together during the workshop, because it was such a unique and new world of sound for us. There are many similar memories, but this is perhaps the most significant.
- How do you explain the decision to take a break in December 1990? Perhaps the pressure of constant touring drove this decision? Or were there other reasons?
Paul James: I was the one who caused it. I was the band's organizer and, effectively, its leader. I always hoped it would be a cooperative where everyone shared the work, but like most bands, no one else was interested, so it all fell on my shoulders. In 1990, we were on tour and I woke up in a hotel in Denmark. I didn't know what time it was, where I was, or where anyone else was, and I had a panic attack. This was one of about ten different reasons why I thought I'd had enough. I decided I'd had enough and told the band I'd leave at the end of the year so they could replace me, but then they decided to break up. Looking back, I think that was a mistake. Instead, I should have suggested we take a break for a year or more and then discuss what we wanted to do.
Jo Freya: I also remember that during that period, as the band grew more and more popular, the travel and sound expenses continued to rise. We realized we were often away from home and would return with very little money. This affected how everyone felt at the time.
- What events led to the band's reunion in 2002?
Paul James: In 2003, the band would have turned 25, so I suggested we reform and play a few concerts and festivals, then see if we wanted to continue. Nigel Eaton left the band and Gregory Jolivet joined, and I think he gave the band a new, positive energy that we needed. And so we continued. In many ways, it was Blowzabella's most creative and enjoyable period. We were all a little older and wiser.
- What memories do you have of your friend and musician Ian Luff?
Jon Swayne: He had a unique style and a strong rhythmic instinct. He wrote wonderful songs and had a great sense of humor.
Paul James: Ian came from a rock background and was an extremely rhythmic musician. He immediately made the band's sound much better, more rhythmic, somehow more direct, and, as Jon says, he wrote some fantastic songs. He suffered from epilepsy, and it would strike him during moments of extreme fatigue and stress—a common occurrence when touring—but he always fought against it and didn't let it limit his life. It's hard to explain his sense of humor, but he was an excellent impersonator and could make me cry with laughter.
Jo Freya: The first bars of "Willow Runnel" still make me cry. That song and the zither-fiddle duet epitomized the unique contribution Ian brought to the band, and yes, it was a lot of fun.
- How did the experience of "Tam Lin" with Frankie Armstrong come about?
Paul James: We met Frankie Armstrong when we were all in London in the early '80s, and before the internet, the world seemed a lot smaller. It's the only collaboration we've ever done, which shows how much we love her. If you see a vinyl copy, buy it! It's very rare. Next year, I'll make it available as a download on our website.
- "The B to A of Blowzabella" is a cassette recorded live on April 12, 1987, at the Pathway in London, using a two-track recorder. What role did producer Charles Gray play?
Paul James: I met Charles Gray when I was working as a session musician at a studio owned by Queen in East London. He was used to working with artists like Marc Almond, The The, Robert Smith, and others. For some reason, he liked us and was our engineer on several albums in the '80s. "B to A of Blowzabella" was recorded in a small studio in North London, live, direct to two-track digital. It was all done in one day. It was a cassette-only release to accompany Blowzabella's first songbook.
The tour in Brazil that led to your first live concert, "Pingha Frenzy," struck me as very original. Why tour Brazil, a country so culturally distant?
Paul James: I had done some tours in the Far East and South America for the British Council with Barry Smith's Puppet Theatre, with Cliff Stapleton, and later with Nigel Eaton. I managed to convince them to take Blowzabella on tour in Brazil and then West Africa. This type of tour, organized as a cultural exchange, was common in the 1980s, but has almost disappeared today, which is a real shame. Charlie recorded the album "Pingha Frenzy (Blowzabella live in Brazil)" with two inexpensive Shure SM57 microphones plugged directly into a Sony Betamax digital recorder. It sounds great! I remember sitting with him in London and going through 36 hours of live recordings to select the best tracks for the album. You can listen to all our albums for free on our website. I especially love the live albums. Like many other bands, we're at our best playing live, and those recordings capture the raw energy of the band at the time.
- How important was David Roberts's book "The Battle of Stoke Fields" in the preparation of the album "A Richer Dust"?
Jon Swayne: No relation to "our" David Roberts, as far as we know. Our historian is obviously David Shepherd.
Paul James: I don't remember!
Jo Freya: One of the first concerts I did with Blowzabella in the UK was the premiere of "A Richer Dust." The lyrics referred to the last battle of the Wars of the Roses, which took place near a village called East Stoke. I'd never heard of that village before, but now, ironically, I live 4 miles away.
- How important is "Vanilla" in your discography? On this album, you performed Riccardo Tesi's "Fulmine." How did you discover it?
Paul James: It proved to be a very influential album. It's often said that listening to "Vanilla" introduced Blowzabella and this kind of music. For me, it was a very difficult album to make, and I personally don't think it's our best. There were tensions in the band at the time (all the usual things that happen in bands), and Charles Gray was having a lot of personal problems, so I had to step in to finish the recording and then mix the album. It was quite stressful because we had to deliver the album on budget and on time. Despite everything, everyone played really well, and it sold very well. Riccardo says he and I were sitting next to each other at the Sidmouth Folk Festival, watching a fifteen-year-old Andy Cutting play solo on stage, and he leaned over to me and said, "You've got to get him in the band." He was really good, even though we'd known him before and were very impressed. After he joined the band, several people asked me, "Why did you ask this guy to join?" as if his youth was a negative thing, to which I said, "Wait until you hear him play." He's a rare talent, and I'm sure he would have achieved just as much in music if we hadn't asked him to join Blowzabella, but, like Gregory, it was a symbiosis: good for them as individuals and equally good for the band as a whole.
Jo Freya: When I travel and meet other musicians, I still hear how important this album is. Others use terms like "groundbreaking," "iconic," "inspirational," and more. We had created a body of music we wanted to record, and we weren't afraid to try anything. For me, the studio experience was the best I've ever had. It was the first time I'd ever been in a studio where everyone was staying. It was a huge house in the countryside. It had many bedrooms, and even Robert John Godfrey, from "The Enid," cooked for us. He was renting the house as a studio at the time. I found it very relaxing, because I often didn't need to record until the end of the day, and I gave some of my best performances. We all loved Riccardo Tesi's work, and we still do. Andy, as a fellow accordionist, was inspired by Riccardo's playing, and "Fulmine" was his choice to contribute to the album.
After 17 years of silence and a long wait from fans, you released "Octomento," a self-produced album. Was that your choice, or was it difficult to find a new label?
Jon Swayne: At that time, the cost of recording technology had dropped to the point that we owned quality equipment ourselves. This meant we could avoid the expense of hiring studio staff.
Paul James: It's always been very frustrating working with a record company. They were generally pretty nice to us, but you had less control. From the beginning of the band, we were always a DIY band: we played weird music, so the only way to get gigs was to organize everything ourselves. We never had a manager or an agent in the UK. Modern, affordable recording technology has given us and many other bands the opportunity to be completely independent and do what we wanted, how we wanted, when we wanted!
- "Thilam" is still a very good album, and it's sad to think there won't be a follow-up. Could the 2026 concerts lead to a live album?
Jo Freya: We really want to celebrate our time with hurdy-gurdy player Benoit Michaud. If possible, we'll release a live album with him, thus completing our journey.