The Have A Banana One Man Band
With the help of Britain's fastest and possibly most famous One Man Band specialist Pete Moser , Jake is now back on the road again for the first time in 20 years with a One Man Band.
Movie Clip of The Have a Banana One Man Band
Photo: Hilary Jackson
Called 'The Have a Banana - Cockney Ding Dong - One Man Band' this band is the latest in low tech One Man Bands, and is sure to please and wow crowds in equal measure with a good old cockney knees up.
If you're in need of spicing up any London-themed event or any event contact Jake and he will try to oblige.
Its Musical features include :
A 'Have a Banana' Bass Drum & Hi Hat Tambourine, Banjo Uke or Accordion,, Kazoo, Harmonica, Gramophone PA system, 4 Whistles, 2 Honkers and a Dozen Spoons for audience participation.
Its London features include:
A Natty Pearly King outfit for Jake, Big Ben, St. Pauls, The London Eye, Tower Bridge, A Saucy Gherkin Tower, several rats and interchangable heads for the bass drum to hit (Currently Boris Johnson's)
Songs Featured Include:
Knees Up Mother Brown, Don't Dilly Dally, Any Old iron, Lambeth Walk, I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles & I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts. Jake performs Any Old Iron in the style of Peter Sellers skiffle version of the song recorded in the 1960's.
Photo : By Hilary Jackson
The Barrel Scraper One Man Band of Jake's Youth
The picture below is from a Reading Newspaper in 1987 - Jake's 1st One Man Band incarnation 'Jake & The Barrel Scrapers'. On this day featuring the rarely heard 'Whisperin' Virgil Philpott as a special guest. This One Man Band toured the UK busking between 1986 and 1990 and visited Holland , Germany and Poland before returning to it's spiritual home on the Isle of Wight
This one man band system involved a bass drum and a rattle that played on alternate beats played by a footpedal. The skiffle band was set on a pivot and the puppets had springs in them so they wobbled delightfully when played...
This picture features the Barrel Scrapers ( band) with the puppets in full flow - Poland summer 1989. The other featured musicians are Peter Maz and Mike Coombs. Out of frame from this picture were Polish soldiers dancing arm in arm with rifles to the music.
A publicity shot for the Barrel Scrapers in 1989 featuring JC Grimshaw and Pete Maz. Also featured was Agnes the donkey (Jake's 21st birthday present from his mum). It is always advisable not to work with animals and small children and this was true of Agnes ! Her head featured a complex set of wires and pulleys to open and close her eyes, ears and mouth. Unfortunately this meant she lunged forward on the slightest whim, which even scared the wino's in Amsterdam.By the look of the pic. Peter has a ferret down his trousers, and is wearing the same bow tie as Jake does in the black and white pic above !