Gay Dad

English rock band

Gay Dad were an English rock band that formed in London in 1994 and broke up in 2002. The line up of the band has included Cliff Jones (guitarist/vocalist), Nick "Baz" Crowe (drummer), James Riseboro (keyboardist), Nigel Hoyle (bassist) and Charley Stone.

Gay Dad were formed in 1994 by former Mojo and The Face journalist Cliff Jones and art magazine publisher Nick Crowe (drums), along with their Berkshire teenage friends Dominic S (vocals), Tim Forster (keyboards), and bassist Nigel Hoyle, who had originally played in a band called Brutus with S a year or two earlier. Jones, S, Forster and Crowe had played together in various incarnations of Gay Dad ten years previously, such as The Timothy and the Astral Projection Society. Known recordings include the track 'Freaking out in Sunninghill Sky St' (sic) which was made available as a limited edition cassette in the late 1980s. Their first Gay Dad demo was produced by Jim Irvin, (the writer and former frontman of Furniture) and funded by the Rolling Stones record producer, Andrew Loog Oldham and his original Immediate business partner Tony Calder. Jones had met with Calder and Oldham who were convinced by a performance at the band's rehearsal room to sign the band. Gay Dad went on to make their live debut in 1995 at the now defunct Orange Club in West Kensington. Following a band reshuffle, Crowe invited fellow Liverpool University graduate, James Riseboro, to play keyboards, and the band recorded three new tracks at Raezor Studio, Wandsworth, during the autumn of 1996 including a song called "To Earth with Love". Although it was only intended to win them some live dates, the demo attracted keen record label interest from Island, Chrysalis, Mercury, EMI and others. These included London, to whom they signed in December 1997.

With Charley Stone (formerly of Salad) joining as a live guitarist to add some of the overdubbed guitar parts from their multi layered sound, they toured the UK in early 1998, before starting recording sessions at RAK Studios in Regents Park with the record producer Tony Visconti and engineer Mark Frith who had co produced the demos that got the band signed. Visconti co produced (with the band and Frith) the track "To Earth with Love," before he was sacked. The album sessions relocated to The Dairy studio in Brixton with producers/sound engineers Gary Langan (ex Art of Noise) and Chris Hughes. and Gay Dad were hailed as the "saviours" of British rock by magazines such as Select and Melody Maker. and in July they supported the Stereophonics in Morfa Stadium, Swansea. The second single "Joy!" reached No. 22 in the UK, but the third single from the album, "Oh Jim", only made No. 47. The band started to work on a second album at The Cure's Parkgate studios in Sussex but keyboard player Riseboro left soon after due to musical differences. The band also parted with London Records the following November, along with their A&R man Mark Lewis.

Jones, Hoyle and Crowe signed a recording contract with new independent record label B Unique, set up by their former A&R man at London Records, Mark Lewis, and began work on a new album, Transmission. In 2001, the leading single from Transmission – "Now Always and Forever" – was released. It fell just short of the Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart. A year later Crowe spoke to an ex Capitol Records executive who confirmed the label had scuppered the deal because of the band's unacceptable name. Instead, Transmission was put out by indie label Thirsty Ear. Later that year Gay Dad's second single, "Joy!" was used in a Mitsubishi car advertisement, the football video game FIFA 2000, and TV shows including Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) and The Naked Chef. Following the split, Jones went into production and co songwriting working with The Electric Soft Parade, Sia, Scanners, Lovebites, Jamie Dornan, The Applicators, Faceless Warewolves, The Golden Virgins, and Mark Owen (though nothing was ever released with Owen). He occasionally writes on music for The Sunday Times. He is also tutoring at the Bristol Institute of Modern Music. Crowe went on to write for Prospect magazine, contributing music criticism and essays, while bringing up his children on a small holding on Exmoor. Hoyle eventually ended up working with Freelance Hellraiser recording a track for the Ian Brown remix album. He then worked with Dylan Rippon and Crispin Hunt (of the defunct Longpigs) in a new band called Gramercy. The band posted numerous songs on their website then split up (just before they were to release their debut EP Hold On through Redemption Records). In 2009 he released a solo album as Nigel Of Bermondsey on Pure Mint records.