Joe Chapman

JOE CHAPMAN Oxford based musician, born 8th March 1975, Burton-Upon-Trent, Staffordshire.

Musician from Oxford, England. Bass guitarist with SPIRAL 25 and amongst other bands, a former member of FLITE 118, DIRTY SCI-FI & THE FACTORY.

Born 8th March 1975 in Burton-Upon-Trent, Staffordshire, England. Father, also Joe Chapman, is a drummer.

Instruments include bass guitar, guitar, drums, darbuka, djembe, fretless guitar zither, organ, synthesisers and voice. Uses a 1994 Epiphone 'Rivoli' short scale bass guitar, Roland SH101 analogue synthesiser, Korg MS2000 synthesiser, Crumar Organiser 1 organ with Leslie Model 120 speaker and HH amplifier with spring reverb, Peavey MarkII bass amplifier with a Peavey cabinet.

Joined FLITE 118, the band of former guitarist, vocalist and founder of Rugby band THE DARKSIDE and one time SPACEMEN 3 drummer, Nick Hayden, for a brief period at 17. Then went on to form a band with guitarist Shaun Webb, drummer Jon Perry and singer Leigh Whitcher who later became the singer for Oxford band, WONDERLAND.

HENRY MARTEN'S GHOST, a folk rock band in 1996, including several gigs in Norway and Scotland.

At the end of the 1990s and into the next century with NACHALA, playing Oxford's millenium festival.

In 2004/2005, THE FACTORY, interest from The Cure's former record label, FICTION, playing the annual Oxford Punt and receiving excellent reviews.

In 2006/2007 with DIRTY SCI-FI, recording THE DRUNKEN SEA E. P and supporting WHITE ROSE MOVEMENT, POP LEVI, ARCHIE BRONSON OUTFIT and others. Also in 2007, INDIKA, this time on synth and organ playing Oxford's Jericho Tavern.

2008... SPIRAL 25.

I first started playing drums at around the age of 6 when my father had his drum kit set up in the garage (slight problem reaching the pedals though!). At 7 I started playing keyboards (well, a Bontempi organ really) and using a reel-to-reel tape recorder which I used to make 'radio' programmes on with a friend. At 14 I picked up a short-scale bass guitar at a friends house and enjoyed playing it so much it became my main instrument.

When I was 17 a friend introduced me to a guitarist called Nick Hayden who was founder member, guitarist and vocalist for Rugby band THE DARKSIDE (as well as having played drums for SPACEMEN3). Nick had quit his last band during a tour and formed a new band in Oxford called FLITE 118, the original bass player had recently left along with another guitarist and after a jam in drummer, Jason's room off Cowley Road in Oxford, I joined the band along with a new keyboard player, Jez. This line up lasted a few months until Nick decided he was quitting the music scene altogether. FLITE 118 played its final gig at a college ball in Oxford, Christmas 1992, the set consisted mostly of The Darkside's old songs such as the single Highrise Love and songs like Thinking Of You and Ocean Of Fire.

After leaving FLITE 118 I was introduced to another guitarist, Sean Webb, and a girl singer, Leigh Whitcher, who both lived in what is now a shop between the Classic Deli and the newsagent on Cowley Road. Sean, Leigh and a very tall, hairy, acid casualty drummer, Jon Perry, had started forming a band together. Leigh into bands like Siouxsie & The Banshees and Cocteau Twins which, which I'd heard very little of at the time but seemed to fit in with who I was at the time so we all writing songs together (well, writing in the loosest sense). One of those songs, named 'Virtual World' from a poster on Jon's wall about Virtual Reality still continues to influence me now. The band split up after one day arriving at the house on Cowley Road for a practice only to find out that Sean had decided to jump the ferry to the continent with some crusty friends who used to live in his room! Leigh went on to become the singer for another Oxford band called WONDERLAND.

Throughout the 1990s I played in several bands and projects as well as being a live sound engineer for folk band HENRY MARTEN'S GHOST which I later joined on bass too and ended up playing as far as Scotland and Norway.

In 1999 I joined Oxford band, NACHALA after the band's former bass player who I had been jamming with recommended me to the singer, Jenifer Jay. In 2000 the band played Oxford's Millennium Festival amongst several other gigs including a headline gig at Oxford's 'The Point' and a support slot for HAZEL O'CONNOR, an artist who had enjoyed some considerable success during the 1980s. Nachala played its final gig at The Wheatsheaf in Oxford on 8th March 2000.

In 2003, after a short period of musical inactivity probably caused by 'adjusting' to a life of phoning seemingly random people and trying to get them interested in photocopiers, bar codes and other mildly interesting things, I met up with a guitarist in a pub and discussed forming a new band. About two years later, after seemingly going through most of the available musicians around a more steady line-up emerged which later became known as THE FACTORY. This band attracted interest from a record company called FICTION (the label which released most of THE CURE's records including 'Boys Don't Cry') but after receiving some criticism from the label, the singer, Laima Bite, quit the band followed by her boyfriend, guitarist Moty Dimant. The remaining members continued as THE FACTORY for a short while but as a five piece with singer Rob Pearson (who I had previously worked with) on vocals and session guitarist Mark Crozer who now plays in the reformed THE JESUS & MARY CHAIN. The original guitarist I had teamed up with quit the band at the end of August 2005 after tensions in the band became too much. The remaining 4 members, myself on bass, Rob on vocals, Andy Proper on Drums and Chris Monger on synths along with former collaborator, Jamie Cooper, and newcomer, Chris Dawson, on guitars later formed DIRTY SCI-FI which split up on 8th March 2007.