Sunday 21 May 2017

Remembering Adrian Fisher (2 September 1952 - 31 March 2000)

I was thinking of the past...And Adrian Fisher (we called him Ady) came to mind...we were musical friends from school and beyond.
He played guitar and helped me to learn the ropes as a 15 year-old aspiring Clapton and we had many jams together...Later he became a bit of a Rock star...most famous for his guitar on the Sparks hit 'This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us' (a no.2 top ten single in 1974) and the album 'Kimono My House'...He had other success too...with Boxer ... see below.
I didn't see him for many years...
He turned up at a local gig The O T Band were playing...very drunk...I let him play a number but he was terrible...At the end of the set he asked 'How did you learn all of those chords ?'...I took it as a compliment...I felt sad to see him so low and lost...It was the last time I saw him. Later he seemed to find some peace far from the UK (see the BBC clip)...Sadly he passed many years ago...A Forest Hill schoolboy who made the big time ! And I'm thankful for his friendship and the good times we shared . We were both Eric Clapton/Cream fanatics and this bonded us as pals...And he strummed a good version of The Beatles 'Blackbird' that was impressive.  He was a good slide player too,,,with a love of the Blues that inspired both of us.
See here for some interesting info about Ady...
Here is the Hit with Sparks : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ztSKDbDRXc

I'll be honest...Ady (and all of us mates) thought Sparks were shit...Posers !  Ady was more himself as a member of Boxer with  fellow musicians  Chris Stainton Tim Bogert & Mike Patto - Unfortunately Punk put an end to this kind of music at the time...for a very short while...(another mostly posers fad...but with many nostalgic fanatical supporters !)
Click on comment to d/l a copy of Boxer - Absolutely (1977) featuring Adrian  


As an aside and extra info...One of my mate's bands 'Peer Gynt' were supporting the Brush Sheils band Skid Row (later 'Brush')....After the gig Brush and I got into a conversation  and he mentioned that he wanted a good slide player to add to his line-up...Ady was a good slide guitarist and I recommended him ...mentioning he had played with Andy Fraser (from Free) ...As a result he got his first break... 


Ady (left) with Toby 


Ady (centre) with Boxer

7 comments:

  1. Here is a mp3 version of Boxer - Absolutely (1977) featuring Adrian...only available for a short period : http://www32.zippyshare.com/v/Gs9WH69r/file.html

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sparks were not shit , they are superb even to this day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Listening to Kimono right now, and Ady does great guitar work over the entire record.


      Been decades since I heard Propaganda. I don't remember it well enough to comment on at the moment.

      Delete
  3. Hi , just to ask , who wrote the article ?
    I knew Ade from about 12 years old .
    We played regularly at Forest Hill .He called me up and asked me to join him on the Kimono Tour .
    So I must know of ‘you ‘ if as you say you played with Ade .
    Please message as we would know a lot of the same people and the local musicians in Forest Hill pre Sparks , Toby etc
    Cheers 🎶

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi just got to this and as you're unknown I may or may not know you...We were friends from when I was 14 onwards also fellow FH schoolboys...We jammed and socialised all the time...I got him the audition to Skid Row/Brush as he was a good slide player...but we were never in the same band although I replaced him in a band that would become ARDON...Cheers Gus

      Delete
  4. Hi Gus I didn’t know Adrian very well but I met him at my cousins funeral in 1974 in Forest Hill. Phil my cousin was Adrian’s older brother’s Keith’s best friend. We got on very well he was just a really nice guy and I always intended keeping in touch with him. Being young life got away from me and it never happened. Now I’ve retired and have time to reflect I typed his name in and came across this. I was very saddened to hear he died as I would have enjoyed getting in touch finally. Chris

    ReplyDelete

Various Artists - The O T Band Covers-Influences

Various Artists - The O T Band Covers-Influences Here is a 52 track compilation of the songs that The O T Band regularly covered/featured ...