Andrew Cresswell-Davis: guitar and keyboard;      Mike Evans: violin;     Mutter Slater: flute;    Billy Sparkle: drums;     James Warren: guitar;     Crun Walter: bass.

The Bristol Scene in the early '70s:

   The members of what was to become Stackridge played in local blues, soul and pop groups in the West Country during the mid-'60s. Andy and Crun played in a Bristol blues band called Gryptight Thynne. Mutter came from a folk duo. James and Billy were recruited from other Bristol groups while Mike had been playing with traditional folk groups, The Westlanders and the Moonshiners.

   Crun Walter casts his mind back to those early days:

    " When I was about 15, I used to hang around in bus shelters, eating fish and chips, lusting after Triumph Bonnevilles and dreaming of playing in a beat group. Like many others, I thought the  Beatles were the business. I expect James and Andy were thinking much the same, although  the former would probably have only sat in a bus shelter if it were carpeted. Mutter and  Mike   were probably practising their scales at the time, and I imagine Bill would have been  sat  by      the fire eating chicken and chips, and dreaming of more chicken and chips."

     Bored with the slog of a residency at Bristol’s "Dug-Out" Club, the ever-restless Andy Davis changed Gryptight Thynne’s name virtually every night to such edifying reincarnations as " The Vera Lynne Experience". Under such circumstances, the name Stackridge Lemon emerged and, after numerous personnel changes, the line-up settled to Andy, James, Mutter, Billy and Mike (who was asked to join when James and Andy saw him walk into a Bristol pub with a violin under his arm). To simplify matters, the band shortened the name to Stackridge, although it meant nothing in particular. "I think Crun thought it up," said James. Crun dropped out at this time, seeing more point in earning decent money bricklaying than spending hours rehearsing towards a paltry £5 gig fee (for the whole band, that is!).

     Stackridge soon established a reputation as an original, off-beat and humorous band on stage, eschewing the standard uniform of the time (denim) and appearing in what looked like an assortment of jumble-sale cast-offs (tweed  jackets, baggy grey flannels, old suit waistcoats, carpet slippers and daps). "It was all great fun,"says James. "We were very eccentric, and the songs came out of the little private world we created in Bristol."