Roger Ruskin Spear (born 29 June 1943 in

Hammersmith, London Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. It ...

) is an English sculptor, multimedia artist and multi-instrumentalist (saxophones, clarinet, piano, guitars, percussion) who was a member of the

Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (also known as The Bonzo Dog Band or The Bonzos) was created by a group of British art-school students in the 1960s. Combining elements of music hall, trad jazz and psychedelia with surreal humour and avant-garde a ...

Career

After Spear dissolved his jazz band New Jungle Orchestra at the end of 1964, he joined the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. He wrote such songs as "Shirt", "Tubas in the Moonlight" and "Trouser Press". He is known for his robot creations, and the

theremin The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone/etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named afte ...

leg – in "Noises for the Leg", amongst other tunes. After the Bonzos parted company, Spear was part of the short-lived band biGGrunt, with

Vivian Stanshall Vivian Stanshall (born Victor Anthony Stanshall; 21 March 1943 – 5 March 1995) was an English singer-songwriter, musician, author, poet and wit, best known for his work with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, for his exploration of the British upper ...

. He also toured with his solo show 'Roger Ruskin Spear and his Giant Kinetic Wardrobe' (a.k.a. 'Giant Orchestral Wardrobe'). In 1979, Spear formed Tatty Ollity with Dave Glasson, former member of

Bob Kerr's Whoopee Band Bob Kerr's Whoopee Band, also billed as Bob Kerr and His Whoopee Band, is a jazz band which started in 1967 and continues to perform today. It was an offshoot of the eclectic Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, and shared many similarities with other outfit ...

, Sam Spoons and Dave Knight. They released a single, "Punktuation" on Rough Trade. In 1982, Spear took part in ''The Cut Price Comedy Show'', a weekly confection of corny sketches and ironic, end-of-the-pier jokes. Produced by

ITV region ITV is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network. It was launched in 1955 as Independent Television to provide competition to BBC Television (established in 1936). ITV is the oldest commercial network in the UK. Since the passi ...

TSW and screened on the then-new

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

, it ran for ten programmes and was then dropped. In 1985, Spear and Dave Glasson formed 'The Slightly Dangerous Brothers', producing a single, "Let's Talk Basic", with a video featuring some of Spear's robot creations. In 1991, Spear played saxophone in Vivian Stanshall's show 'Rawlinson Dog Ends' at the Bloomsbury Theatre, London. Spear had also played on Stanshall's album ''Teddy Boys Don't Knit'' (1981 Charisma CAS 1153) and has appeared on albums such as ''Go Man Gorman'' (1977), a solo outing for John Gorman of The Scaffold. Spear was also a member and co-founder of

Bill Posters Will Be Band Bill Posters Will Be Band was a comic musical group formed by musicians who were members of The Bonzo Dog Band and Bob Kerr's Whoopee Band Bob Kerr's Whoopee Band, also billed as Bob Kerr and His Whoopee Band, is a jazz band which started in ...

. Until 2014, Spear performed regularly with 'Three Bonzos and a Piano' which is made up of former Bonzos Rod Slater and Sam Spoons, together with Dave Glasson (on piano); they were also often supported on guitar by Andy Roberts (formerly of The Liverpool Scene and The Scaffold). He later played with an amalgamation of Bill Posters and Bonzo musicians called BonzoBills, involving Sam Spoons, Biff Harrison, Dave Glasson, Megs Etherington, Chris Lowe, and Jim Heath (an ex-member of Harry Strutters Hot Rhythm Orchestra). In addition to his musical activities, Spear taught 3D design part-time at the

Chelsea College of Art Chelsea College of Arts is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London based in London, United Kingdom, and is a leading British art and design institution with an international reputation. It offers further and higher educat ...

before retiring.

Family

Spear is the son of satirical artist and lecturer Ruskin Spear.

Solo discography

* ''Rebel Trouser'' EP. (UK) UP 35221, 1971. * ''Electric Shocks'' LP. United Artists (UK) UAG 29381, 1972. * ''Unusual'' LP. United Artists (UK) UAS 29508, 1973. * ''Electric Shocks Plus'' CD. DJC (i.e. Dave Clague) DJC005, 2002. Contains ''Electric Shocks'' and ''Rebel Trouser''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spear, Roger Ruskin 1943 births Living people People from Hammersmith English trumpeters Male trumpeters Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band members 21st-century trumpeters 21st-century British male musicians British comedy musicians British surrealist artists