Joseph Beagle, also known as singer-songwriter Joey Parratt, is an English award-winning songwriter with various TV, radio and live performances to his name. He was founder member of The Flying Brix, No-one, Champion the Underdog, The (original) Beagles, Awful Racket, Cute Baby Monster and My Mate's Band all of which played almost exclusively his own original songs. In 1979, as founder member of The Flying Brix, along with John Ashton, David Bradbury, Mark Hamilton, Gary Taylor and his brother Andy Barratt, he recorded, produced and released "Black Colours" a limited edition

7-inch In music, a single is a type of release of a song recording of fewer tracks than an album ( LP), typically one or two tracks. A single can be released for sale to the public in a variety of physical or digital formats. Singles may be standa ...

33 rpm vinyl DIY EP with 9 original songs, distributed by

Rough Trade Records Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London, England. It was formed in 1976 by Geoff Travis, who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove. It is currently run by co-managing directors Travis and Jeannette Lee and ...

and played by

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...

(of BBC, Radio One). One of the songs, "Uniform (I Don't Wanna Be Different)", was later featured on a compilation CD commemorating the era, MESSTHETICS No. 104 CD: 'D.I.Y.' and indie postpunk from the South Wales and the Z-Block scene: 1977–1981 (part 1). Rowlands replaced Hamilton and then the band split in 1981 and Rowlands, Ashton, Bradbury and Taylor went on to form 'Fourplay'. Joe stayed with the name of The Flying Brix. His next offering recorded at

Rockfield Studios Rockfield Studios is a residential recording studio located in the Wye Valley just outside the village of Rockfield, Monmouthshire, Wales. It was founded in 1963 by brothers Kingsley and Charles Ward. Recording studios Rockfield is a two-stu ...

featured a completely new line-up and was described by

Allan Jones (editor) Allan Jones (born 1951 or 1952) is a British music journalist and editor. Following university, Jones took a job in the stockroom of Hatchards on Piccadilly. While he was there he applied for a writing job at the music weekly '' Melody Maker'' w ...

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...

as "Too bizarre by half, this kind of thing, for the conservative legions who make up today's predictable pop public, but definitely refreshing and bravely unorthodox." During 1982, he courted publicity while trying to promote a local heavy metal band, for his friends. His antics were frequently reported by ''

South Wales Echo The ''South Wales Echo'' is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Cardiff, Wales and distributed throughout the surrounding area. It has a circulation of 6,026. Background The newspaper was founded in 1884 and was based in Thomson House, C ...

'' columnist

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle (born 1 April 1960) is an English journalist, and an associate editor of ''The Spectator''. He was an editor of BBC Radio 4's '' Today'' programme. His published works include ''Too Beautiful for You'' (2003), ''Love Will Destroy Ev ...

. He was invited to host an art exhibition of his illustrated lyrics in The Gallery, 4–22 October 1982,

St Donat's Castle St Donat's Castle (), St Donats, Wales, is a medieval castle in the Vale of Glamorgan, about to the west of Cardiff, and about to the west of Llantwit Major. Positioned on cliffs overlooking the Bristol Channel, the site has been occupied s ...

, Llantwit Major, South Wales and perform a live concert of his own songs in the Tythe Barn there on Saturday 6 October 1982. One of over 1,500 entries, his song "Home is where the heartbreak is" won 1st prize and £1,000 when he performed it live for the judges

Melvyn Bragg Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg (born 6 October 1939) is an English broadcaster, author and parliamentarian. He is the editor and presenter of ''The South Bank Show'' (1978–2010, 2012–2023), and the presenter of the BBC Radio 4 documentary series ...

Jake Thackray John Philip "Jake" Thackray (27 February 1938 – 24 December 2002) was an English singer-songwriter, poet, humourist and journalist. Best known in the late 1960s and early 1970s for his topical comedy songs performed on British television, hi ...

and

Victoria Wood Victoria Wood (19 May 1953 – 20 April 2016) was an English comedian, actress, musician, screenwriter, and director. Wood wrote and starred in dozens of sketches, plays, musicals, films and sitcoms over several decades, and her live comedy act ...

at the finals of the 1st British National Songsearch competition held at The Brewery Arts Centre, as a climax to the

Kendal Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Westmorland and Furness, England. It lies within the River Kent's dale, from which its name is derived, just outside the boundary of t ...

Folk Festival on Saturday 24 August 1985.

said it "provided a bleak epic of life on the wrong side of the underprivileged". Gary Price said "The lyrics – in common with many of Joey Parratt's other songs – mix a healthy cynicism with compassion and humour". while Mick Tems derided some of the other songs on the album to praise it saying "The song grabs you places other songs can't reach". Red Dragon Radio DJ and Cardiff Post Columnist, Gary Price wrote "To say Joey Parratt has a way with words is to use a cliché which ill-defines a superb lyrical talent", adding "I have rarely read a book of lyrics and been so overwhelmed by the wit and humour whilst at the same time touched by the obvious humanity of the author". A video of his song "Oh No, Here Come the Goodguys, Again!" was included in the music documentary ''Barry Island Rock'' and featured on

S4C S4C (, ''Sianel Pedwar Cymru'', meaning ''Channel Four Wales'') is a Welsh language free-to-air public broadcast television channel. Launched on 1 November 1982, it was the first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speakin ...

and

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

. The

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

produced a video of him performing a solo version of his song "Et Tu Brute", which was broadcast nationwide. He performed his songs "Oh No, Here Come the Goodguys, Again!", "Nightrider", and "Fergie's Song" with his band No-one on

BBC TV BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios ...

. His song "Up & Alive", was recorded by his band Champion The Underdog, and included on the anti-racist compilation ''Now That's More Like It'', and he performed his song "I've Turned Into a Fish!" live on

, with his band The Beagles. Videos of six of his songs were also later featured on the "Beaglemania" CD-ROM. The Beagles also did the 20 gigs in a day fundraiser for Nottingham Mencap and had a 3-month residency at The Filly & Firkin, Nottingham playing nothing but his original songs. The Beagles became Awful Racket (to avoid confusion with an Eagles covers band) and played around

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

including at The Green Festival. He was a founder member of Nottingham Songwriters International. He designed their website and helped arrange bi-monthly showcase concerts. Beagle formed the original acoustic duo, Cute Baby Monster, in February 2004, whose first concert was at The Third Annual

Belvoir Castle Belvoir Castle ( ) is a faux historic castle and stately home in Leicestershire, England, situated west of the town of Grantham and northeast of Melton Mowbray. A castle was first built on the site immediately after the Norman Conquest of 10 ...

Folk Festival on Saturday 17 May 2008. One of his songs, "Tea" was adopted by The Tea Appreciation Society for use on their MySpace page in 2008 and later released as a download on iTunes and Amazon"Tea by My Mate's Band on amazon.co.uk"
Amazon.com. Retrieved 4 February 2009. in 2009.

References

External links

Cute Baby Monster

Tea Appreciation Society

A nice cup of tea song

Nottingham Songwriters International
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beagle, Joe Year of birth missing (living people) Living people English male singer-songwriters English singer-songwriters English alternative rock musicians