Sleepy Eye Slim

Back together after an extended hiatus, Sleepy Eye Slim will be playing in the downstairs bar for this surprise extra to the Bath Fringe Festival. Featuring our very own Jonny James this promises to be quite the party.

We found percussionist Paul ‘Sergeant’ Harris playing congas in the foyer of the Lebanon Intercontinental, a sad leftover of the once vibrant Middle Eastern easy listening scene. Turning his back on his dark past life of black ops and daring military deeds in the sun baked desert he had found instant but short lived dame after taking part in the recording of the legendary seminal album Beirut Departures (lounge). Stripped of his moth-eaten tuxedo and equipped with a snare Cajon, he has found his true calling as the backbone of Sleepy Eye Slim.

Firmly locked in a stout wardrobe with Paul’s tux hangs ‘Whistling’ John Rosevere’s mouldy old glitter suit. Along with a pair of equally glittering high heels this was the uniform of the leading stalwart of the (now thankfully defunct) Norfolk Glam Rick circuit. In the aftermath of a wild night of moonshine imbibing on the southern leg of the disastrous 2005 ‘US Glam Revival’ tour, ‘Whistling’ John found himself in possession of a National Steel guitar and, after a long drawn- out bartering session with the still drunk hillbillies managed to swap his extensive make-up kit for an old banjo thus completing his transformation into the good ol’ boy you see today.

Another veteran of an obscure music scene is Bass player Jonny James. As an active member of the 80’s Chicago acid blues explosion, Jonny put in several years touring and recording with psychedelic guitarist Eric Thomas aka ‘The Lord of Lightning’. Unfortunately this association (along with several hallucinatory episodes) put paid to any further musical career. However, after some extensive retoxing and the infamous daily telegraph mugging incident outside the Globe in London’ Notting Hill, Jonny started his long musical partnership with the gently eccentric multi- instrumentalist known as Sonny.

Famous in the Far East for his interpretation of 1920’s Thai tea- dance love songs Sonny is better known here (mostly by a crowd of adoring waitresses) as a rising star of the new wave of British Blues and Country. He also performs with another one name artist (Tana) in the Jazz band Sontan and can sometimes be found trying out new numbers with his Uke on London Underground stations. He cooks pretty good too.