Band History

And lo, it came to pass that on the seventh day, the Lord created Lew Lewis. More importantly, he also created Lew's fingers and a piano forte. With the ingenuity for which Lew would eventually find fame, Lew decided to put the two forces of nature together, and invented a noise he called "music". In the young Lew's mind, he began to realise what the world needed was a heady mix of white country music, black rhythm & blues and garish star-spangled waistcoats. The roots of Breathless were beginning to take shape... Lew decided that the north London suburb of Harrow and Wealstone should be the location for him to spread the word. In a scene taking its lead from Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis and Gene Vincent, underground luminaries such as Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, featuring Mick Green on guitar, and Screaming Lord Sutch and the Savages, who would boast Carlo Little, Ritchie Blackmore and Nicky Hopkins amongst their number, were leading a backlash in the capital against sanitised entertainers that had become fashionable within the void left by scndals and army sojourns. Lew's calling was confirmed by the leather jackets and the BSAs and Triumphs of the ton up boys of the Ace Cafe. Lew was a rocker. Like other London lads that became The Rolling Stones, The Who and The Kinks, Lew knew his future lay in model shipbuilding and writing children's stories. Oh, and music of course. Lew had quickly become a hugely gifted boogie piano man... Ed Jones meanwhile, being of a later generation, and a product of the second city of Birmingham, grew to love this music via a different route. Inspired by his mother's Shadows EP's he became interested in sixties imagery, that developed into a huge fascination with The Beatles, and John Lennon in particular. Through The Beatles Ed began to develop a knowledge and an appreciation of the artists who had influenced them. This musical investigation would allow the future Breathless sound to take shape, as Lew and Ed shared the same tastes in sound, if not in fashions and motorcycles. It has often been said, actually, that Lew and Ed could have fought each other on Brighton beach, had Ed been old enough of course. This allowed Ed to expand the repertoire of the band, while the need for lead guitar licks stretched Ed as a musician from his roots as a strummer. Ocean Colour Scene's Steve Cradock heavily influenced Ed's new approach to not only his playing but also his desire to own as many guitars as is humanly possible... In 1970s Britain, Mac was dealing with the harsh realities of the three day week, winter of discontent and race riots by building up his drum kit to impressively enormous proportions. Korean tankers were navigating the Grand Union canal network delivering drum after drum and cymbal after cymbal. Mac built his first marital home by connecting roof slates to his ride, crash and hi-hat cymbals. Naming his drumming style "The Rhythm Method", and heavily influenced by the rock bands of his youth like Genesis and Staus Quo, Mac was becoming a tub thumper in the great British tradition. Bored by the plumbing game, however, Mac decided to pursue his drumming more seriously.... Pete Green, no relation to his namesakes Kensal, Camberwick and Plasmus, found that 1961 Clacton Butlins was his personal road to Damascus. Unsurprisingly, Pete found that he ended up not in Damascus but in Clacton instead, where he became fascinated by a local band, and their bass playing in particular. It was through this chance meeting that Pete developed his patented rock moves of standing still and tripping over, but his inventive lines added bounce to the playing of his bandmates. He quickly rose to the challenge of filling the sizeable gap left by his predecessor Dave Warren's shoes, and the others soon realised that Pete had found his calling - keeping in the groove... It was in the new town of Milton Keynes that the four senile delinquents decided to pool their talents, becoming lifeguards. After inspiring the cult TV series Baywatch, the lads found that they could mix their styles of music into the cauldronic melting pot that became known as Breathless. Our heroes carved out a playing style that combined all their influences with an improvisational approach to soloing and harmony that can be traced back to New Orleans jazz. This allowed Breathless to become more than a tribute rock 'n' roll band, and develop into a band with their own style, approach and sound, owing as much to Dr Feelgood and The Faces as it did to the original greats of the 50s and 60s. Lew's dream of a quartet playing waistcoat-clad Maximum R&B had come true. If you believe, anything is possible. BELIEF IS ALL!!!

 

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