The immortal “Roll it Up and Eat It” was nearly a landmark in vinyl history. It was released, or rather escaped, in 1978. An early picture disc, it was recorded on Zama Records by Coventry band Black Parrot Seaside. The sleeve also credited “The Exploding Sheep” but they were in fact, entirely mythical.

At that time, the band had attracted a modest local following with self-penned tributes to working Midlanders such as “The Wag of Shop 14” or “On Bedduth Bank”. The Wag celebrated Coventry’s commuting armies of early morning assembly line workers, in the days when the city still had car factories. At the end of it, overalls and cowgowns were donned as the band clanked out a “Spanner Shanty” using monkey wrenches.

Of the album tracks however, the late, great John Peel liked  “I am a vacuum cleaner” so much he played it on his late night Radio One show. Record Mirror described this track as “A classic”, whilst Melody Maker advocated that another song, “The Whistler” should receive, “The Harpo Marx Award for the best whistling on record since The Rolling Stones - Walking The Dog ”.

Even the normally staid Coventry Evening Telegraph praised B.P.S. and their “Dull Wave” music as:

“ One of the silliest, craziest and most original ideas to hit the music scene in years.”

It was just the band’s luck after such rave reviews that the debut single should be launched in exactly the same week as the debut singles of Squeeze and Kate Bush. Though BPS shared a few column inches with them both in the Music Press that week, it was about the only thing they did have in common thereafter!

Blues featured heavily in the early years, and the band covered . “All Round Man “a Bo Carter original  which was mildly obscene. Another popular blues was “In the Wee Midnight Hour,” first recorded by Scrapper Blackwell.  John Lee Hooker’s “Dimples” and a version of “Bring It On Home,” also featured in early set lists.

BPS line-ups have varied over time between a folk duo and a six-piece rock band.

Obviously some Parrots lasted longer than others. A BPS biographical flow chart would need to include the following:

Drummers:

Rob Lockington

Jeff Powles

Dave “Vance” Anderson

Jim Pryal

Lead or  Rhythm Guitar:

Arnold Chave

Tez Tehegee

John Walker

Dave Blundy

Vocals:

Graham Caldicot

Geoff Veasey

Arnold Chave

Eddie Jones

Mick Harris

Guitar - Electric / Acoustic / Bass:

Barry Ousby

Martin “Mandrago” Smalldon

Arun Bhandari

Keyboards & Accordian:

Mick Harris

Eddie Jones

Mandolin & Banjo:

Mick Harris

Fiddle:

Eddie Jones

The current line up:

Eddie Jones,

Arnold Chave,

Mick Harris and

Geoff Veasey

Coventry and Warwickshire Connections:

Two of the current line up live in Warwickshire, and two live in Coventry.

(Which is of course, also in Warwickshire, whatever the Post Office and the Electoral Roll says!)

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