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| ABOUT PAUL | ||||
| Paul Francis Cheetham also known as Dr Space Toad, Jean Paul Dionysus, Jean Paul Ruskinson, and Paul Francis le Troubadour was born in Bolton. His wondering nature took him to Norwich where he started his musical career with his school band called “Charley Farley and the Electrick Rusks ” then forming a punk band called the “Toads”, Norwich’s first punk band who soon built up a big local following.The Toads can be seen on this site www.boredteenagers.co.uk He then went through a musical evolution forming a band called the “Zink Ambassadors” then joining a progressive rock band called “QED”, then forming a strange band “The Phsycotics” . He then formed his next band the Ebony Set, a new romantic/gothic band who also had local success but split as they were beginning to take off. His next band, The Blue Warthogs were a psychedelic rock guitar band who played around Norfolk and also Dingwalls in London, doing a short tour of Holland before splitting up. He then formed the Ruskinsons this deriving their name from his own stage name at the time: Jean Paul Ruskinson. This band was best described as a psychedelic jazz rock, folk fusion band. When the Ruskinsons split, Paul left Norwich and moved to London, playing gigs as an acoustic singer songwriter under the name of Jean Paul Dionysis | ||||
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He played around London in venues such as The Troubadour,Bungies, The Town and Country Club, The Poodle Lounge at Club Dog etc. The picture at left was taken by Pajet Jones at The Troubadour. After a little time, Paul became known as 'The Troubadour'. The Troubadour and the other new acoustic venues were a platform for the rich variety of artistes around at the time such as Keziah Jones (now well known in France as well as the UK), Sam Green, Ference Azman, Dave Ryan (author of John Lennon's Secret) PJ Fahey, Miro, Roy Harper and Sonja Kristina to name but a few. Paul was a catalyst and became a pivotal figure in this emerging scene | |||
| After three years, Paul left London disillusioned with the competitive nature of the scene. He returned to Norwich after a brief spell in the West Country and trips to France and Ireland. He felt he had lost sight of what he was trying to achieve and in Norwich formed a new band, 'The Time Machine'. Whilst in Norwich, he also got involved in the theatre, discovering a talent for acting. After a year, he moved to Brighton where after having reinventing himself as 'Doctor Spacetoad'. he started Club Space Toad, a club for poets, musicians, singer-songwriters, local exentricks and sad lunatics from the end of time. It was here that his new band, The Doctor Spacetoad Experience, came together organically. |  |
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| The band toured around the North and South of England, even playing in Grimsby, a festival in Belgium, and making regular appearances at festivals such as Glastonbury and the the Big Green Gathering. This band was described as weird,wonderful and vaudeville withCaptain Sensible(sometimes known as the Godfather of Punk) on bass guitar, 'Monty the Moron', a psychiatric nurse ( or possibly patient) on keyboards, Captain Barrington-White, (a local Brighton eccentric) on space whisper machine and a succession of insane drummers, the most recent Dave Burk appearing to be the most sane. This band can lay claim to notoriety, since it became known as the only Dada-ist band in existence.... In 1996, Dr Spacetoad and the band brought out an inter-galactic concept album called 'Time Machine' which is available on | ||||
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| As well as fronting 'the Experience', Paul also kept a busy gigging and recording schedule with his solo acoustic act, playing at many venues throughout France Brittany ,Spain , Holland, Italy, and the UK and indeed, he also performed some Scandinavian gigs in Sweden and Norway etc. | ||||
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These two pictures are from the gig that Paul did supporting Sonja Kristina at the Concorde in Brighton. On a few of his songs, he was joined by two other musicians: violinist Ashar and Monty on percussion. Coincidentally, Paul knew Sonja from the Troubadour days in London when she had become involved in the happening music scene. | |||
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his hand in by regular busking in London,Brighton,Paris, Amsterdam, Venice and even
Marrakesh, Paul continued in the Minstrel tradition. Here is a picture of
Paul playing outside Windsor Castle. The wonderful image of the castle in
the background, helps make this image especially magical considering Paul's
timeless minstrel persona. In the last few years, Paul has played extensively
throughout France a country which he felt appreciated his artistry (but now he is again disillusioned) and
Holland(Van Gogh is Paul's favourite artist).He was the only musician alowed to play outside Rembrants house because at the time they thought he resembled the artist.He also performed in Amsterdam in the French Boutique "Agnes b" and in various Spannish restaurants and Irish bars there. He has also made
quit a number of appearances in Spain, for example in the "Carbonaria" in Seville . He loves Flamenco guitar
and now for a number of years, he has been studying the techinques of this
incredible music. He has also mastered a number of classical Spanish guitar
pieces, including some music from the sixteenth century. Paul plays Spannish guitar piece Bolero |
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Paul has a degree in music and related arts from Chichester University, which helped to hone his ecclectic talents including opera singing. Although he had been out of higher education for many years, he succeeded in recieving a 2/1 honours degree through tenacity and self-discipline. Now Paul after going back to his Troubadour roots in Paris(see photo above right in Parisian Bar) is again woundering where his next destination will be, where his wondering, vagabond, roving spirit will guide him. He is busy playing and composing with a view to recording more music for his next albums and forthcoming concerts and has just finished adding the final touches to his book "The Trials and Tribulations of a 21st Century Troubadour in Paris" wich is now avaidable from PenPress,see Theatre page for more details.
Paul le Chansonnier avec son interpretation de Mon amant de Saint Jean
How to order Time Machine, from the Dr Space Toad Experience |
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