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, trumpet, 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, art-school students in the 1960s. Combining elements of music hall, trad jazz and psychedelic music, psychedelia with sur ...

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

Career

Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band

After Spear dissolved his jazz band New Jungle Orchestra at the end of 1964, he joined the

. 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 aft ...

part in "Noises for the Leg", amongst other tunes.

Later works

After the Bonzos parted company, Spear was a member 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 uppe ...

. 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 (a 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 outfits ...

), Sam Spoons and Dave Knight. The band 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 TSW and screened on the then-new

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 ...

, 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). Spear appeared on albums such as ''Go Man Gorman'' (1977), a solo outing for John Gorman of

The Scaffold The Scaffold are a comedy, poetry and music trio from Liverpool, England, consisting of musical performer Mike McGear (real name Peter Michael McCartney, the brother of Paul McCartney), poet Roger McGough and comic entertainer John Gorman. ...

. Spear was also a member and co-founder of Bill Posters Will Be Band. Until 2014, Spear performed regularly with Three Bonzos and a Piano, which is made up of Rod Slater and Sam Spoons, both former members of the Bonzo Dog Band, together with Dave Glasson on piano and, often, Andy Roberts – formerly of The Liverpool Scene and The Scaffold – on guitar. Spear 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 (a former 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, a public art and design university in London, England. It offers further and higher education courses in fine art, graphic design, interior design, produ ...

Personal life

Spear is the son of the satirical artist and lecturer Ruskin Spear (1911-1990).

Discography

Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band

Albums

Singles

Solo

References

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