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Jonesy
the band was, and is, a concept.
Like other British progressive rock bands,
Jonesy is about pushing songs beyond the 3 minute confine (a
format
established
100 years ago as a result of the limitations
of early technology – simply, then it wasn’t possible to produce
longer recordings).
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(from
left to right)
John Evan Jones & Trevor 'Gypsy' Jones |
Most of all, the history of Jonesy
has been about an ongoing battle between two brothers: Trevor
(Gypsy) and John Evan-Jones who started playing music
together
at a very early age. Initially they were taught music by their grandfather
who was a Salvation Army bandmaster – Trevor played cornet, John
played trombone. Trevor, four years the senior, first taught himself to
play banjo and guitar and then taught John. Trevor and a close friend 'Forbes'
played as a duo at the height of the skiffle period (in their form at school,
20 of the 30 boys had guitars!). As John got better on banjo, Trevor and Forbes
started to include him in the gigs (SEE PICTURE BELOW).
As
pupils at Simon Langton School in Canterbury Trevor and John
were part of the early Canterbury scene from which several bands
emerged, including ‘Soft Machine’ and ‘Caravan’ among
others.
In
the early 60’s, the family Evan-Jones emigrated to Australia.
A local band called The Revelles were looking for a lead singer/rhythm
guitarist and offered Trevor the gig. He offered to take it on
the condition that they took his brother as well. The three
guys in The Revelles did not want to do this so Trevor suggested
that he and John would play with them for a month, during which
time they could find another lead singer. However, the new lineup
worked so well that it stayed together and changed the name to
Chaos and Co. |
