Fuchsia is a British progressive folk rock band formed in 1970, releasing one self-titled album before disbanding.

The band was formed by Tony Durant (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, lead vocals) while a student at Exeter University with Michael Day (bass guitar), Michael Gregory (drums, percussion). The trio was soon augmented by Janet Rogers (violin, backing vocals), Madeleine Bland (cello, piano, harmonium, backing vocals) and Vanessa Hall-Smith (violin, backing vocals) so that Durant could explore his musical ideas. Produced by David Hitchcock, their album was recorded at Sound Techniques Studios by Vic Gamm. It was released by Pegasus in the UK and by Kingdom in France.

“The girl living in her own imagination”

When did you begin playing music? What was your first instrument? Who were your major influences?

Tony Durant: I started playing drums in the school cadets; because I didn’t want to play the bugle ! I then graduated to a full kit and used to play in the school band, The Vampires, who played a bit of surf music, where ‘Wipe Out’ (Surfaris) was my “piece de resistance”. The English “new wave” was starting, and I like many, … were swept up in the excitement of the Stones, Yardbirds, and the Beatles; and of course, where it all came from: USA artists like John Lee Hooker, Big Bill Broonzy, B.B. King et cetera. After I left school I discovered playing drums on your own wasn’t much fun, so bought an acoustic guitar. I learnt a few chords, then bought a pick-up and played it through a crudely wired setup into the needle assembly on my record player. Not loud enough! I then bought my first electric, a Hofner Colorama.

One of your first bands was called Louise. Did you release any singles? Who were members of the band? Was Chris Cutler (Henry Cow fame) also part of it?

I answered an advert In a local music shop for a guitar player. That was how I met Bob Chudley, and I started playing in his band doing R&B covers. We needed a new drummer so when I moved up to Sutton, closer to London I met Chris Cutler through another ad. Yes, Chris went on to join Henry Cow. That was how Louise emerged. Bob was writing songs which we started playing, and the music developed from there, and that was when I started writing songs. Like the Pink Floyd, we graduated from the R&B stage (Yardbirds, British R&B, US soul) to a fully fledged psychedelic rock outfit, very uncompromising I might add; lots of light shows and long free form electronic sections in the songs. Sadly nothing was ever recorded of the full live shows. We did record a couple of demos, ‘Look At The Sun’ and ‘Toymakers Shop’, which unfortunately failed to get us a record deal.

What was the local music scene? Did it influence you or inspire you to play music?

We ourselves created a good following in Sutton, and held local events ourselves, which some even remember now! There were a few local gigs, as the music boom accelerated, and that was when we gravitated towards the London Psychedelic scene, which was happening in a big way. Happenings 44, Middle Earth, UFO, 24 Technicolour Dream, Roundhouse Chalk Farm; what a happening place to be growing up in!

Can you elaborate on the formation of the Fuchsia?

I left Louise in 1969, no animosity, just time to move on. I went to Exeter University to take a break from music. It didn’t last long. Within 2 weeks I’d started up writing for this arts project on Goya. I was exposed to so many new influences, especially the lunchtime concerts performed by the music department. There I heard music performances by the likes of Borodin, Prokofiev, JS Bach et cetera. Dazzling!

How did Fuchsia form ?

In year two, I found myself sharing a flat with Michael Gregory, (later Albion Band) who was to become the drummer in Fuchsia. We found Mick Day, bass, from an ad. I think, and I started writing for a three piece band. We played a few gigs in the area and on campus, and then I had the ideas of adding strings, viola/violin/cello, to the line-up, and writing music where the string parts were very much part of the song, rather than a later “ad-on” used to embellish arrangements. I had no idea of notation so I’d write each of the parts and record them onto an old Grundig single track (stereo) tape machine (owned by my dad; I still have it!) so as to remember them. Then the girls would come in and notate their respective parts and we’d play. What a buzz to hear the music as an ensemble for the first time!

“In some instances the writing seemed to start from a classical point, and the electric instrumentation would follow in its wake so to speak.”

Exeter students?

The girls, Madeleine Bland (cello), Janet Rogers (violin) and Vanessa Hall-Smith (viola) were all students at Exeter, but not pure music students from memory. Janet did science, Madeleine English, and Vanessa, law. We asked around for players who might be interested, and they all were very keen.

The name…Greg (Michael Gregory) was always an avid reader, and I believe he came up with the Fuchsia suggestion. I had started reading Mervyn Peake’s at this time, (as had everyone at that time or so it seemed!) and the name “Fuchsia” seemed to suit what we were about, the idea of the girl living in her own imagination, as she appeared to. I suppose you could add, somewhat ironically, that she too came to a sad end!

Members’ backgrounds…science, English and law, as said already. Greg was doing French and Mick may have been doing science in some capacity.

Musical backgrounds…Greg had played in a local Swansea band, Mick I don’t know, and the girls all came from a classical background, with no experience of playing rock.

Difficulty of matching strings with rock rhythm section The hardest thing was timing and “feel”. Classically trained people count and play on the “on” beat, and it was always a problem, more so “live” to get the timing right. Pitching also, as in string quartet playing, tuning accuracy has to be spot on. At the time I was listening to a fair amount of classical music. In some instances the writing seemed to start from a classical point, and the electric instrumentation would follow in its wake so to speak. That is probably why for many people the album sounds so unique. Playing live was really hard, as we had no decent equipment, especially foldback (what’s that ?!) and “micing up” the strings to bring them into balance with the drums and guitars was near impossible…however, we were received very well at the one solitary gig we did play.. We were rather a hybrid band, playing one half show as a three piece, presenting, for want of a better word, harder edged material (The original demo acetate tracks from the period is on the Fruits de Mer double Fuchsia album). Then the girls would come on and we’d play the songs as from the Fuchsia album.

What sort of venues did you play early on? Where were they located?

As I mentioned, one gig at the university common room, about 3 months before the album was recorded, and that was it. No other live performances…till 40 years later!

How did you get signed to Pegasus, sublabel of B & C Records?

We recorded a demo of the songs at a little studio in the West of England, all pretty well live as it was a quarter track machine with only one overdub possibility. A good friend of mine from Louise/Sutton days was Paul Conroy, who played the demo to Terry King at Pegasus Records who signed us on the spot.

“We followed no one consciously”

What influenced the band’s sound? How would you describe your sound?

Baroque/folk rock. This is what several of our reviewers landed on. My approach was that we followed no one consciously, and that’s why the album was so different and hard to categorise/pidgeon hole.

What’s the story behind your debut album? Where did you record it?

After we signed the record deal with Pegasus, we were pushed into Sound Techniques Recording Studio (Chelsea, London) and with producer David Hitchcock and engineer Vic Gamm. They’d done great work with Caravan, Nick Drake, Fairport Convention and many others. We were very green, and it was all very new to us. The album was recorded and mixed in about 5 days.

Would you share your insight on the albums’ tracks?

I seemed to take on some major concepts with these songs. ‘Gone With the Mouse’; I think Greg came up with the title of the song, a sideways reference to the grand classic ‘Gone with the Wind’, though the song seems to give reference to the changing fortunes in the rise and fall of civilisations! Then there’s ‘Tiny Book’, a 7 minute musical venture exploring the emotion of a broken relationship from two sides. A short story in song.

Did the band tour to support the LP?

Unfortunately no. Tours were in the pipeline but as it turned out, nothing eventuated. I suspect the album was so off the wall at the time that the label didn’t know what to do with it/how to market it.

Was there any promotion?

The ad in the Melody Maker (and Hi Fi review, or some such!), was all it got. Yes, I was very disappointed, especially as we were being told that we would be touring in a few months, and that things were in motion and that it was all about to happen. This promise of something in the pipeline went on for months and months. The situation was made worse by us all being at Uni still. It was very difficult trying to keep the thing together, not playing and with nothing happening. The people in the band were good friends who’s commitment had enabled the idea to come to life. I was finding it a great responsibility, trying to keep the concept together, being told little and being kept dangling on a string for months on end. The lack of activity took its toll, and with nowhere to go, Fuchsia ceased to exist.

Was there a certain concept behind the album?

Not really. Every song seemed to just follow its own course in the writing.

Were you inspired by psychoactive substances like LSD at the time of writing the album?

No. I possessed too much of a sense of self preservation, having seen what could happen to the unwary. (Poor Syd Barrett for example)

What happened to Fuchsia? You were part of Punchin’ Judy. What’s the story behind this group?

Greg (Fuchsia drums) had a gig with Punchin Judy, a pretty heavy band with a great female lead singer. The guitarist was leaving so I auditioned and got the gig. The album had been released some time before so we were playing songs from that album. That was when I met Keith Evans (bass) and Robin Langridge (keyboards). I recorded a lot of music with them and Greg, especially to note was the Mahagonny music (1976) which I didn’t get to play till the Perth Fringe festival 40 years later As I said previously, after we recorded the second set of demos and could get no deal, there was nowhere to go. It ended; till of course 40 years later when it re emerged as this groundbreaking iconic item, as it was described much to my joy and amazement.

What happened next?

Around that time I met an Aussie guy called Dave Warner. I recorded some demos with him in England while he was there. He returned to Australia and got a good record deal. I was invited to play in the band, arrange music and produce one album. A long story short, the album went gold, and that started my long term relationship with Australia, which ended up with me moving to Perth for 2 years in 1980, then getting involved with writing music for Alan Bond and his successful Americas Cup campaign in 1983. I was with a fabulous band called Cats Crafty in my final years in Perth. We were signed on a great publishing deal with Polygram and destined for great things. Sadly it never happened. And here I still am, in Sydney.

Looking back, what was the highlight of your time in the band? Which songs are you most proud of? Where and when was your most memorable gig?

The writing and rehearsing with these people was the highlight; seeing the music come alive. However, it was not till I started playing these songs again both here with the band in Australia in about 2014, and with Me and My Kites in Europe that I was able to see how much these songs could stand up today and really entertain audiences; and what a pleasure they were to play.

‘Fuchsia, Mahagonny & Other Gems’ is a very nice compilation that includes lots of unreleased material. Is there any other unreleased material by Fuchsia?

There are a number of songs from the late 60’s and early ‘70’s that I wrote and never recorded. I am looking at these now, and have been surprised at how well they have turned out.

What’s the story behind 2013 ‘From Psychedelia… To a Distant Place’ release?

With all the incoming news about how the original Fuchsia album had, as it were, made a life of its own for itself without me, and become this psych folk icon, I wondered if it was possible to take up where I had lain the project down; to pick up where I’d left off in 1971, as it were. I started writing again in the Fuchsia style and so it seemed, the muse hadn’t left me. The album was put out and received amazing reviews and made a lot of new friends. That was when David Svedmyr from Sweden contacted me asking me if his band Me and My Kites (incidentally, the title of one of the songs on ‘Fuchsia’) could use one of my old demo songs, ‘The Band’. I agreed, found myself singing on it, and then we toured Europe. Fabulous people they are.

I always stick to my belief that everything I write/record/release must be the culmination of all that’s true, untainted commercially and has personal significance to me.

What about ‘Original Fuchsia Demo’, which was released by Fruits de Mer Records?

This was the original demo that Fuchsia presented to Pegasus records and were signed. Yes, it was released as part of the Fruits de Mer Records double album package in 2018.

You also have something new on Fruits de Mer Records, ‘Lady Fuchsia’s Barrett’s Allsorts’.

When Keith asked me about a contribution to the Fruits de Mer CD, ‘A Band for All Seasons’, I thought that since a cover was required, who better to cover than Pink Floyd, circa 1967/8. ‘See Emily Play’ is a beautiful song, I was a huge fan of Barrett’s music, and it seemed a suitable candidate for a fresh treatment. (Others I’ve heard are very like the original). I did take a few ideas from Syd’s version, and gave it the full Fuchsia treatment, very different to the original. I’m very happy with it. A movie? It would have to be English! I would like to record a live album, but have not had the opportunity to do this properly yet , given the demands of a band like us.

‘Fuchsia III’ is planned for this year. Some of the tracks destined for the album were released on vinyl on Fruits de Mer Records in 2018. I would like to record the full musical, ‘Mahagonny-Behind Innocent Eyes’. I would like to re record this, as per when we played it for the first time at the Perth Fringe festival, (another one with a 30 year gap before it was played for the first time), plus the new songs written for the show, and put it out as originally intended with a narration linking the songs and telling the story.

What currently occupies your life?

Music, of course (wish I had more time) plus family. Four grown up children and two grandkids who I look after from time to time. I also have a fabulous one day per week driving job, transporting elderly people to and from medical appointments and providing other essential services for those unable to have their own independent transport. Lovely people all of them, and their stories are amazing. I have driven people who were Auschwitz survivors, South American political refugees…and much more.

Thank you for taking your time. Last word is yours.

Thank you, all of you people who have taken the time to give Fuchsia a new beginning, and me the chance to create and be heard. I am a very lucky person.

Klemen Breznikar

Fuchsia Official Website / Facebook / Bandcamp