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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 confines (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
a pupil at Simon Langton School in Canterbury, Trevor was 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. |
