More History

    In those eight months the only sightings of the band outside a drinking capacity was Pablo El Diablo's occasional performances at the Masons Arms acoustic nights and they weren't strictly outside of a drinking capacity. The reason  for the band's return from their self-imposed exile on the sofa of life was a forthcoming battle of the bands at the reopened Sol Bar. 

    During the next few months the band gigged with the likes of Misnomer, Tédo, Tarragon and Stickman. The only additions to the set in this time was a version of the Orb's little fluffy clouds, where the King would strap on a guitar and a bass and play a bar of each instrument, and Desperately Seeking Something, the first song to be written by Hefty. Also in this time Grunt had taken to making guest appearances drumming with Tédo on the Frank Zappa track, Bobby Brown goes down. The band had also half picked up a new occasional member, Alien Hair Gel, who would sometimes turn up at practice and muck about on the drums or guitar for a bit. He also added some FX to the Johnny Wishbone & the Voodoo Starfish CD.

    As you all know battle of the bands are fixed so that a mate of one of the organisers always wins. However as Pablo helped organise the competition things were looking up for the band. Hopes were high after beating Paragon Blue in the first round in front of a considerable crowd of 'Starfishettes'. However with the lack of new songs and the fact that members of the band had new jobs/girlfriends interest started to wane and Grunt decided to move to France to work over the summer. During this time rumours abounded that Pablo had kicked Johnny out of the band.  It is well known that he tried this most weeks but it is unsure why Johny actually listened to him this time. The band's last gig with Grunt was supposed to be the next round of the battle of the bands against the Juzu Kings. Unfortunately as Grunt was working to pay for his ticket to France he chipped a bone in his finger and was unable to play. A replacement immediately sought. Sim, the drummer with Tédo volunteered his services for the gig. The night of the gig Sim and Pablo turned up but the rest of the band didn't so replacements were found for them from members of the audience. The band played a thirty minute set under the name Johnny & the No-Shows and apart from the Fish Song, the songs were all made up on the spot. The line-up for that gig was; vocals- Splodge (1-dum monkey), rhythm guitar- Dwaine (Spoldge's next door neighbour), drums- Sim (Tédo), bass- Sim's mate, guitar - Owain (Sim's mate's mate). Despite the fact that some of the band had never met before let alone jammed, Grunt, who was in the audience later stated that the gig was one of the best that Johnny Wishbone & the Voodoo Starfish ever did. 

Since the gig against Paragon Blue in April 2001 the band have yet to all be in a room at the same time. To most bands this would be a drawback but not to Johnny Wishbone & the Voodoo Starfish. In fact since then Johnny's Voodoo Lounge, the online club for fans of Johnny Wishbone & the Voodoo Starfish, has gained inexcess of 14 members. New electronic songs are now available to download from this website and Johnny & Pablo did reunite back where it all started in the back room of the Masons in July this year to perform acoustic versions of Tangerines and Summer's song.

Have the band split or will they gig again when Grunt returns? Don't ask me mate, I only live here.

back

Home