press articles- uk music papers

British music papers barely had time to discuss them, when they felt they had to go to Germany:
Fumble seemed to have been in quite a hurry to make a name for themselves over here, rather than back home in
England.

At the same time we have to ask ourselves whether the band is actually good enough to gain international
attention! In Hamburg, however, they were merely about average.

At best, their appearance was extraordinary - in tune with the nostalgia wave. But without a doubt, “Long Tall
Ernie” and his SHAKERS can do that in a more original way.

Do you remember times when rock was young? When drumkits and other instruments were packed up and sent
to the next place to play by bus or by underground? In those days it was still ‘fun’ if you had a gig somewhere.
These old days came back to London, when FUMBLE played at the recently held ‘Alexandra Palace’ Music
Festival. Apparently, over there the band had achieved what may be denied to them in Germany at the moment:
to gain a little attention. And there was plenty of time to achieve that. Fumble had exactly 10 days time to
‘fumble’ themselves through the festival. They played once a day.

And they were happy about that, the boys in the band. “We really went down well with the people after we
played the small hall instead of the big one,” says the ‘boss’, guitarist Des Henly. “In the main hall the acoustics
were just too bad.” What luck for you boys that you were able to change places.

But we don’t find this too interesting! Don’t you have anything better to tell us?

' Best thing perhaps, that we founded our band on friedship,' Henly continues.

Well, that is a much better story!

So Des Henly, Mario Ferrari (bass), Sean Mayes (piano) and Barry Pike (drums) play together because they are
friends. What they play, when they play?
Well, mostly good-time Rock such as ‘Poetry In Motion’, ‘Ebony Eyes’ and ‘Hound Dog’, the latter ones from
the ‘Elvis’ rag bag, but also some of their own compositions. After all, they do not only plagiarize. Everything
sounds so nicely yesterdayish, like from the early sixties. But it seems to me not nearly as good as in those days.
Well, whoever likes it, likes it...

Article: Jürgen Steinhoff
Photo: Rainer Drechsler


Translated from original German text: Fumble reitet auf der Oldies-Welle
(text kept as close to the original wording as possible)