Roger Ruskin Spear

Roger Ruskin Spear (born 29 June 1943 in Hammersmith, London) is a multi-instrumentalist (saxophones, clarinet, piano, guitars, percussion) who was a founding member of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, staying with it until its end.

Career

Spear is best known as a former member of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah band. He wrote such songs as "Shirt", "Tubas in the Moonlight" and "Trouser Press". He is also well known for his robot creations, that graced the stage with the Bonzos, creating much hilarity and havoc. He is also famed for his virtuosity on the theremin leg - in 'Noises for the Leg', amongst other tunes. Many of his songs have clothing/wardrobe related themes, such as 'Trouser Freak', 'Trouble with my Trousers' and 'Waiting for the 'Wardrobe', as well as the aforementioned 'Shirt' and 'Trouser Press'. It is not known why. Roger was once quoted as saying, "Trousers. Trousers. It's such a stumbling word. In America they have pants and jeans, but in England we still have trousers".

After the Bonzos parted company Roger was part of the short-lived band biGGrunt, with Vivian Stanshall. He released a 4-track EP 'Rebel Trouser' ('Trouser Freak/'Trouser Press'/'Release Me'/'Drop Out' United Artists UP 35221) and two solo albums, 'Electric Shocks' in 1972 (United Artists UAG 29381, re-released 1997 on DJC Records DJC005) , and 'Unusual' in 1974 (United Artists UAS 29508), from which were taken the singles 'On Her Doorstep, Last Night/Frank the Ripper' (United Artists UA 35683) and 'I Love To Bumpity-Bump/When Yuba Plays The Rhumba On The Tuba Down in Cuba' (United Artists UP 35720) Roger also toured extensively (and tirelessly) with his solo show Roger Ruskin Spear and his Giant Kinetic Wardrobe (aka Giant Orchestral Wardrobe). A feature of this was a female tailor's dummy fitted with proximity switches, which produced increasingly high-pitched screams when a hand neared her chest (or 'sensitive zone'). In 1979, Roger formed Tatty Ollity with Dave Glasson, former Member of Bob Kerr's Whoopee Band, Sam Spoons and Dave Knight (now deceased). They released a single, 'Punktuation' on Rough Trade. In 1982 (from November 3), Roger took part in the new Channel 4's 'Cut Price Comedy Show', a weekly confection of corny sketches and ironic, end-of-the-pier fun - as the IMDB database puts it, 'the Cut Price Comedy Show was an (intentionally) corny sketch series with a heavy dependence on the kind of 'jokes' you'd find on an ice cream stick and a budget that seemed to have been scraped together from copper coins found in the gutter outside the studio. But that was the point - the title made it clear that it was going to be penny-pinching, barrel-scraping stuff, right? Trouble is, that didn't make it as critic-proof as you might think, and the tabloid scribes fell over themselves to scold the then-new channel for squandering airtime on something so bereft of invention. Some people just don't get irony.' The show ran for ten programmes and was then dropped.

In 1985, Roger and Dave Glasson formed The Slightly Dangerous Brothers, producing a single, 'Let's Talk Basic', with a video featuring some of Roger's robot creations. Roger also helped in the production and the provision of robots in a video for 'Face Dances Part 2' by Pete Townshend of The Who, who attended Ealing Art College at the same time as Roger in the 1960s. In 1991, Roger played saxophone in Vivian Stanshall's show 'Rawlinson Dog Ends' at the Bloomsbury Theatre, London. Roger had also played on Stanshall's album 'Teddy Boys Don't Knit' (1981 Charisma CAS 1153) and has appeared on albums such as the Scaffold's John Gorman's 1977 album 'Go Man Gorman' (DJM REcords DJF 20491). Roger was also a member and co-founder of Bill Posters Will Be Band. This band still plays on the first Thursday of each month at the Bull's Head pub in Barnes, London, but very rarely features Roger.

As of 2010 Roger has been performing regularly with Three Bonzos and a Piano, which is made up of former Bonzos Rod Slater and Sam Spoons, together with Dave Glasson (the piano), and occasionally includes 'Legs' Larry Smith and Vernon Dudley Bohay Nowell; they are also often supported on guitar by Andy Roberts (the Liverpool Scene and the Scaffold etc.). A new CD entitled "Hair of the Dog" is due to be released on 6 February 2010 to coincide with a show at The Bloomsbury Theatre, London, which will include 'Legs' Larry Smith and Vernon Dudley Bohay Nowell.

His solo career is described in Doo Dah Diaries as are his current activities.

In addition to his musical activities, Spear taught 3D design part-time at the Chelsea College of Art before retiring.

Family

Spear is the son of satirical artist and lecturer Ruskin Spear. His elder son "Professor" Justin Spear has a regular slot in the Stuart Maconie 'Freak Zone' show on BBC6 Music, called "University of Strange", where he delves into the weird and wonderful world of European jazz (among other things). His younger son, Tim, is a successful web creative entrepreneur and also plays drums with epic instrumental post-rock band The Winchester Club

Solo discography

• Electric Shocks LP. United Artists (UK) UAG 29381, 1972.
• Unusual LP. United Artists (UK) UAS 29508, 1973.
• Rebel Trouser EP (UK) UP 35221.
• Electric Shocks Plus CD. DJC (i.e. Dave Clague) DJC005, 2002. Contains Electric Shocks and Rebel Trouser.