Graham Davies

Graham contacted me after he came across the Stomu Yamash'ta page, I asked him if he had any memories of his time in the business that he could share with us:

Well, were will I start?. I guess the beginning.
I joined the Music scene, from motor racing in 1970. Got there via a friend. He had some funds presented to him & had never worked. So figured he would like to get envolved in music management. He had a few contacts via Soft Machine. That he used to go & see. They put him in contact with Morris Pert & percussionist from Scotland. And Come To The Edge was formed. Morris, Andy Powell ( Bass ) & Richard Thompson ( Keyboards )

My friend asked me if I was interested in a change in life. He needed someone to sort out the day to day tech problems. I said Yes. So off we went. Soon after the start of the band Morris mentioned he had meet Stomu @ the Edinburgh Festival and that he was interested in a different direction. At that point he was living in Paris & touring the Avant Garde circuit, Solo Percussion.

So my first intro was, when I was sent out to Paris & travelled around the circuit with
him, setting up the instruments. Then I returned to the UK for Come to the Edge concerts & recordings. Boy, what a change of life.

The first major thing, would have been the live recording of Floating Music Album @
Queen Elizabeth Hall. London. 1972 With all above present. I think if you have the album. In centrefold you will see me on my knees, fixing something. It was remixed later with other people added.

Come To The Edge failed, and I travelled around Europe with Stomu. (Solo
Work.) At same time we got started on Morris Pert's new band. Suntreder. Again trio.
And Red Budda Theatre. This started in France with approx 30 japanese people &
me. As you can see I was back & forth.

We opened Red Buddah in Paris. All I can remember was trying to get down those
small streets every night with my truck. But the shows went well. Bear in mind here that we were complete novices at all this. Then after a short stay there, we moved to the Roundhouse. London. Fantasic Place. Fantastic Time.

The show really took off. Everyone wanted to see it. It was the perfect situation for the show, There were lines of people everynight. In the day, I would be in the studio with Suntreader or Stomu doing other things. The one I remember most. Was with Stomu (Solo) We were in N.London & he had a grand piano ordered & it was, of course tuned etc. They did not realise what they were in for. He dropped marbles onto the strings & played it with mallets from the strings. The staff there could not believe it. The he asked for 5 policemen to be there. Because he wanted the sound of heavy jailer's shoes. But they arrived with soft shoes. So he had them put tacks in their shoes to get the sound. He thought they all had that type of shoe. I just sat there & laughed. That was on Decca DSLO1 Henze, Prison Song. Check the back cover, you can see the marbles, and check the sound sculptures inside.

Morris Pert got the 2nd album sorted at same time. Island Records HELP13 Rear cover has Red Budda display @ Roundhouse. Come the evening, we all worked together. Stomu bought a Rolls & on the Sundays off. I would take 30 odd Japanese for trips to the coast etc. That was fun also. I made lots of good friends. Then it went to Theatre Land in the Westend of London. WRONG.

After this I left & worked elsewhere. But got the call back for Go Project. We spent a lot of time @ Island Records getting it sorted. There were many BIG muso's brought in for this. And it took a lot of time to get sorted. When it was sorted, We did 2 Live shows London & Paris. Both good, but not the same as Red Buddah. I had made a good connection with M.Shreive ( Automatic Man ) & K. Schulze Did a small tour with Automatic Man & then went & worked with Klaus in Germany.

Moris Pert's band failed & he went back to studio work. I came back to UK & worked with various, Vangelis, Jon Anderson, M,Oldfield, Sting. Finished my career with Eric Clapton. 8 years ago, And moved to Austin Texas. The City of Live Music. But I dont see any. Guess, I got burnt out.

But boy. What a time. Loved it. It was even better working with the likes of Stomu & Morris & others. They added something different. We did Festivals, where the other acts on the bill could not believe it.

Graham Davies