Pat Fish

English musician and founder and only consistent member of The Jazz Butcher, sometimes also crediting himself as The Jazz Butcher. Born 20 December 1957 in London, UK. Died October 5, 2021. Fish was born in London but moved early in his life to Northampton; he attended Great Houghton Preparatory School and then Uppingham; he later read Lit. Hum. at Merton College, Oxford, graduating in 1980. From the evidence of an interview given in 1989, it would seem that he found academic life at Oxford uninspiring, and that he was soon drawn to making music. His bands in the early period included one known as Nightshift, and the Institution, which featured Max Eider (Peter Millson) on guitar, Rolo McGinty (later of The Woodentops), and Jonathan Stephenson. The Sonic Tonix became The Tonix, who released a single, "Strangers / Talk to Me" on the Cherry Red label (STEG 002) in 1981. The persona of the "Jazz Butcher" was devised soon after, and Fish's first gig under this guise was in Oxford on 20 February 1982. The band included Alice Thompson, later keyboardist in The Woodentops, and later still a novelist, and Owen Jones, who was to become the Jazz Butcher's drummer for much of the 1980s. Max Eider, a crucial element in the early Butcher sound, joined for a gig in June of that year. The band was formed in Oxford in 1982 by Pat Fish. The début album in Bath of Bacon was released by Glass Records in 1983. A second album A Scandal in Bohemia featured guest appearances from David J and Kevin Haskins of Bauhaus. Fish signed to Creation Records in 1988, releasing eight albums on the label, culminating in 1995's Illuminate. Although ending the band in 1995 to pursue new musical avenues Pat Fish had found himself drawn back into refoming the J.B.C. (Jazz Butcher Conspiracy) for a series of reunion shows which culminated into a brand new album "Rotten Soul" and a full blown tour with Original co-horts Max Eider and Owen Jones to support the album. 2012 saw the release of the completely fan funded album "Last Of The Gentleman Adventurers".

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