They take elements of jazz, rock, folk, ska, barbershop and anything else they can get their hands on, smash them up into their constituent parts, cram them in a blender and cook up a most tasty concoction. The resultant broth is sometimes smooth and sexy, sometimes quirky and jerky and sometimes downright unclassifiable. They play as often as possible at festivals, original music nights, benefit gigs, and beer festivals throughout Sussex. They have an impressive repertoire of original pieces and strange versions of well-known songs. They have 2 album length CDs of original music available.





    During the summer of 2001 Tony mentioned to his old school chum and old musical collaborator Martin that he thought he may be required to do a CD launch gig for the compilation CD he had recently got a tune on. He thought he would not be able to do it because his pseudonym, ‘400 Fours’, wasn’t a real band was just him. Martin suggested that with “I’ll play bass, Graeme (another old school chum and old musical collaborator) can play percussion and we could ask Ade to play guitar and sing”. Rehearsals ensued but the gig didn’t materialise. Graeme bowed out but the others decided to carry on. New songs were written and old ones rearranged. Ade got fed up with carrying two guitars so ditched his 6-string. The name was chosen. With Graeme gone, Martin decided he would prefer to play percussion and so the instrument swapping began with all three members playing bass depending on how many/which guitar each song required. Ade and Tony started playing at open mic nights in Brighton and eventually persuaded Martin to join them in the spotlight. Ade’s friend Alex then joined on vocals and clarinet but left before the first gig. She did contribute one set of lyrics each to Tony and Ade (‘All Around Me’ and ‘The Girl In The Park’). The first gig was as part of the Brighton Fringe Festival in May 2002 with The Matzo Boys (now simply known as ‘The Matzos’) Seshido Red and an acapella singer named Ruth. Unfortunately it was badly organised and poorly attended.

    After deciding to stick to being a trio and accept its limitations Ade and Tony met Richard at an open mic night at The Druid’s Head in Brighton. He was invited to a rehearsal and joined. Soon (possibly too soon) after Richard’s arrival the first recording was made. So six tracks were recorded in Worthing and Brighton by Niall Hone. The songs were not yet properly arranged for the new line-up and Ade was impeded on the day by a hand injury won by falling off his son’s skateboard! By now the quartet were playing regularly at open mic nights either complete or in various line-ups. They played a few gigs during the later part of the year.



    2003 saw extensive gigging, playing regularly in Worthing. Everybody now played percussion and Martin chipping in the odd (!) backing vocal. Ade rediscovered his peace flute and started using it. During the summer 2003 the quartet started cropping up at open-air events throughout Sussex including Stanmer Organics Open Days and street parties in Brighton, beer festivals in Worthing and family fundays in Littlehampton. But then, after long deliberation, Martin announced he was moving to Croatia with his wife.

    So the boys went in to Church Road Studios in Hove during October and November under the guidance of engineer Paul Beat. The resulting nine tracks constituted the CD ‘Pa-pa Smješko’. Martin is known as ‘Chuckles’ as he laughs at almost everything. The CD title translated into Croatian is ‘Cheerio Chuckles’. In November Martin left for pastures new and the search was on for a new Golgi. During the holiday period Tony played a few songs solo at a New Year's Eve party a percussionist joined him. He was interrogated and turned out to be a rock drummer known as ‘Wolf’. He turned out to be a splendid candidate for the post and so had to give up his drumsticks and learn the bass. He rose to the challenge and fitted in nicely. During the year Richard’s artillery swelled to include melodica and tenor sax. It wasn’t that long before he was playing alto and tenor simultaneously. Ade laid his nostrils on a nose flute and inflated his bagpipes.

   In January 2005, four tracks were recorded at Froosound in Worthing and remixed with a few overdubs in December. Another seven tracks were recorded at Church Road Studios in Brighton by Paul Beat in January 2006. Richard took a lead vocal (The Unnecessary Trifle) and Ade’s 10 year old son Moe joined in on backing vocals (Pretty Street/Ugly Street). 10 of these tracks have been collected, polished, ironed, put into suits and released as 'Gruntled & Whelmed'.



   Everybody has continued adding to their ammo with a selection of recorders, whistles and assorted sound effects. Wolf was encouraged to take a lead vocal and went for it. During the summer of 2006 The Golgis took a month off to decide on the next angle of attack. During this time Richard decided that in order to improve his Russian he must move away. He moved to Russia in late September leaving The Apparatus, once again, as a trio.

    After a couple of false starts with potential new members and 2 successful gigs as a trio, Avery and Whitney joined the band in January 2007. With the addition of a drum kit and banjo Wolf and Ade have more space to indulge in horseplay. The new line-up is up and running and giging now - so watch this space.

The members:

Tony Chins - 6 string guitar, vocals, bass, whistles, kazoo and percussion

Ade von Lemon Blaster - 12 string guitar, vocals, bass, bagpipes, nose flute, peace flute, recorders, tenor horn, hose pipe, teapot and percussion

Wolfington Stanley - percussion, sound effects, bass and vocals

Avery Hornblower - banjo, harmonicas, melodica, vocals and percussion

Whitney Blanket - drums

Martin o'the Golgis (aka wobbleon) - website, promotions and sleeve designer (ex-percussion, bass and vocals....sometimes sits in.....when in town!)


YOU CAN  READ MORE ABOUT EACH MEMBER IN THEIR BIOGRAPHIES BY THE LINK ABOVE....