Chris Tofu - Tofu Love Frogs & Vibe Engineer

Chris Tofu MBE - Tofu Love Frogs & Vibe Engineer - in conversation with David Eastaugh 

stablished in 1995 DJ Chris Tofu has become a pioneer of Vintage Remix and the UK Festival scene, sharing his obsession with all things remixed and raucous with jumping crowds across the globe! From Glastonbury to Istanbul this musical maverick is constantly exploring, discovering and creating new sounds and new experiences, mixing up the formula for good vibe pie!

He’s a true believer that DJ’ing is as much about “vibe” and communicating with an audience as endless technical skill. I just love music that remixes the ancient and the new. Sometimes that makes me really obscure, sometimes pioneering but whatever happens, the audience generally gets it.”

Tofu has two lives; as a world renowned DJ and as the programmer and director of thousands of events and artists in some of the most legendary clubs and festival stages and even whole festivals, providing him with the canvas to try all these crazy new remixed discoveries. Enticing the crowds to jump over barriers (both physical and metaphorical) and get down to new and unusual sounds is the main Tofu goal.

Curved Air with Sonja Kristina

Curved Air with Sonja Kristina in conversation with David Eastaugh

Curved Air are an English progressive rock group formed in 1970 by musicians from mixed artistic backgrounds, including classical, folk, and electronic sound. The resulting sound of the band is a mixture of progressive rock, folk rock, and fusion with classical elements. Curved Air released eight studio albums, the first three of which broke into the UK Top 20, and had a hit single with "Back Street Luv" (1971) which reached number 4 in the UK Singles Chart.

Shelleyan Orphan special with Jemaur Tayle

Shelleyan Orphan special with Jemaur Tayle in conversation with David Eastaugh

In 1980, Caroline Crawley and Jemaur Tayle met in Bournemouth, England, where they discovered a mutual appreciation of poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.^[2] Two years later, after taking the name Shelleyan Orphan from the Shelley poem Spirit of Solitude, the pair moved to London to seek out orchestral elements to add to their voices.

In June 1984, the band got their first break and landed a session with Richard Skinner for BBC Radio 1. The band signed with Rough Trade Records in 1986 and released the singles, "Cavalry of Cloud" and "Anatomy of Love".

In 1987, the band released their first of four albums: Helleborine. Named after the Helleborine orchid said to have the power to cure madness, the album was recorded at Abbey Road Studios with producer Haydn Bendall. Helleborine included an assortment of guest musicians including Stuart Elliott (the drummer for Kate Bush), and Kate's brother Paddy Bush.

In 1989, they released Century Flower. So called after a flower that blooms only once in its lifetime, this album was intended to mark "an event which affects enormous change, maybe once in a century: on a world scale, the atomic bomb: on a personal level, the death of someone close to you".

Neil Oram in conversation

Neil Oram in conversation with David Eastaugh

In 1956 Oram traveled to Africa where he met musician Mike Gibbs in Salisbury, (now Harare). He played double bass in the Mike Gibbs Quintet with Gibbs on piano, vibes and trombone. A post-concert epiphany where a voice repeatedly told him "Je suis un poet!" led him to take up writing. Oram returned to Britain in 1958 where he ran a jazz café called The House of Sam Widges at 8 D'Arblay Street in Soho, London.The café was known for its jukebox which only had modern jazz records. It attracted many of the top London musicians. Ronnie Scott, Tubby Hayes, Graham Bond, Dave Tomlin and Bobby Wellins were frequent customers, occasionally enjoying a bowl of spaghetti bolognese crafted by Oram. Downstairs was a club/performance space called 'The Pad'.

Oram was now writing poetry, giving readings and painting large abstract jazz inspired paintings. In 1960 he opened The Mingus art gallery in Marshall Street, Soho where abstract paintings by O. G. Bradbury, George Popperwell, Jaime Manzano, Tony Shiels and William Morris the American beat poet/action painter could be seen. Morris's huge, jazz paintings were executed in The Pad to the vibrant sounds of the Graham Bond Quartet, then carried round the corner and hung up wet in The Mingus.

Hurrah! with Paul Handyside

Hurrah! with Paul Handyside in conversation with David Eastaugh

Paul Handyside is a folk and roots singer songwriter, formerly of eighties indie darlings Hurrah! whose songs now fuse pop with folk-tinged americana. The fourth album "Loveless Town" will be released on the 21st of May 2021.

Hurrah! were one of the first acts signed to Kitchenware Records, who issued the band's debut single, "The Sun Shines Here", in 1982. Second single "Hip Hip" was released the following year, and gave the band an indie chart hit, reaching No. 21.

The third single, "Who'd Have Thought," was another indie hit in 1984, reaching No. 7 on the British charts. After one more single, "Gloria" – produced by Jimmy Miller, the band's early recordings were compiled on the Boxed album in 1985.

Hurrah! signed to Arista Records via Kitchenware's deal with the major label, and the Tell God I'm Here album was re-released by the record company. On Arista's release, the future single "How Many Rivers" was re-recorded with new drummer Steve Price, and produced by Steve Brown.

The Incredible String Band with Rose Simpson

The Incredible String Band with Rose Simpson in conversation with David Eastaugh - talking about her new book Muse, Odalisque, Handmaiden: A Girl's Life in the Incredible String Band 

The Incredible String Band (sometimes abbreviated as ISB) were a British psychedelic folk , notably with their albums The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion, The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter, and Wee Tam and the Big Huge. They became pioneers in psychedelic folk and, through integrating a wide variety of traditional music forms and instruments, in the development of world music.