Mr. So & So

Mr So & So were formed at Leigh Music college in 1989 by Dave Foster and Shaun McGowan. Brought together by a passion for the same bands such as Yes, Genesis, The Who, The Beatles they began writing songs together. The long and difficult task of finding like minded musicians started, on keyboards there were two players prior to a solid line up Lindsay Crawford, Jason Peake but in Kieren Twist they found just what was needed.

On drums it was a similar story John Dagnall (Friscocrabbe), Nick Woods and Ian Jones (Mirrorball) all had a hand in playing for Mr. So & So before the first solid line up was completed by Leon Parr (The Eves).

In the Autumn of 1991 the bands first tape only EP "Thoughts of Fear and Principle" was released, the EP had five tracks.

THOUGHTS OF FEAR AND PRINCIPLE
1. But I'm Here (Foster/Mcgowan)
2. The Hypnotic (Foster/McGowan)
3. The Visitor (McGowan)
4. "3" (Foster/McGowan)
5. The Sea (Foster/McGowan)

This EP was recorded at Pagan Studios in Runcorn, Cheshire. The studio also housed a record label who, impressed with the bands song writing and playing ability, signed them for a one album deal. A year later "Paraphernalia" was released, the album was really a glimpse of what was to come from the band, but had crowd favourites "So Near, So Far" and updated versions of "The Sea" and "The Hypnotic". The album also had an unusual approach to drum recording which involved recording the drums and cymbals separately (not the bands idea)

PARAPHERNALIA
1. So Near So Far (Foster/McGowan)
2. The Hypnotic (Foster/McGowan)
3. Again (Foster/McGowan)
4. Stand Tall (Foster/McGowan)
5. The Sea (Foster/McGowan)
6. It's Irrelevant (Foster/McGowan)
7. Mr. So & So (Foster/McGowan)
8. Circus (McGowan/Twist)

During the winter of 1992 gigs for The CRS and the usual pubs and labour clubs began to bear fruit as a following was developing. It was during a rich gigging period for the band (something of a rarity) that the band approached Cyclops/GFT about releasing their second album. "Compendium" was recorded over the summer at Pagan Studios again, with a lot of support from Steve Paine, Jon Moreau and Steve Sheard, the recording was given time and effort. This resulted in an album that still to this day is regarded as a fore runner in this genre. A new and longer version of "The Visitor" was included in the album. The album also saw the introduction of Charlotte Evans on vocals, initially as a guest but after the recording Mr. So & So became a five piece as Charlotte became a full time band member.

COMPENDIUM
1. Closet Skeletons (Foster/McGowan)
2. Tick-A-Box (Foster/McGowan)
3. Hobson the Traveller (McGowan)
4. Primrose Days (Foster/McGowan)
5. The Missionary (Foster/McGowan)
6. Bolton Eeny Noo (Foster/McGowan)
7. Sixes & Sevens (Foster/McGowan)
8. The Visitor (McGowan)

Compendium brought about a shift of gear for the band, higher profile supports started to come in and CD sales where good, interviews in many publications and radio around Europe were gathering momentum too. The band also had the first of two unsuccessful management teams, first Colin Harvey (Foremost Productions) which the band say hindered their progress significantly. This was followed by Steve Grady, who for all his efforts, found himself facing a brick wall once too often. The band subsequently moved back to self-management and before too long Steve Rothery from Marillion contacted the band regarding his newly founded label "Dorian Music". After playing at the Marillion fan club convention at the Borderline in London, Steve Rothery signed the band to record their third album. Using Marillion's Racket Club to record (and live for a while) and with Mike Stobbie producing, "The Overlap" was recorded. This period of the band was very much make or break, as tensions get high during the recording process, which in itself took the best part of a year. The band were separated to different studios Shaun and Charlotte found themselves in Docklands, London doing vocals, then onto Aylesbury, then Oswestry then back to London, Kieren was in docklands, Dave was in Aylesbury and Leon was at the Racket Club. This was a strange experience for the band as they had literally grown up together.

In 1997 Mr. So & So were invited to support Marillion on the UK leg of their "This Strange Engine" tour. This tour saw the band play at venues other wise unavailable to them such as The Shepherds Bush Empire (twice!) and The Manchester Apollo among others.

Unfortunately, "The Overlap" wasn't ready in time for the tour, which is seen by many as the beginning of the end for the band, it was the best opportunity a band could have playing to around 40,000 people in two weeks but they had nothing to sell. Though despite this, the Marillion crowd really warmed to Mr. So & So and many became fans of the band too. The album was eventually released in 1998.

THE OVERLAP
1. Metaphor (Foster/McGowan)
2. Spacewalk (McGowan)
3. Drowners (Foster/McGowan)
4. Isn't It Amazing (McGowan)
5. Subterfuge (Foster/McGowan)
6. Salamander (Foster/McGowan)
7. The Overlap (Foster/McGowan)
8. Coup De Grace (Twist/McGowan)



BREAK UP & REFORMATION

Throughout 1998/99 gigs became more sporadic due to financial commitments and jobs. In 2000 the decision was made to fold the band. From there on Shaun joined "Mirrorball" and also formed "The Lemurs", Dave, Charlotte and Leon formed "Sleeping Giant" and Kieren joined Carl Palmer's "Quango". Mr. So & So was effectively dead.

During 2005 Dave was playing in a "Sting" tribute band with Shaun's Girlfriend Nicola Jones (keyboards) and Dave and Shaun established contact again and they began writing together again. Shortly after reuniting, Charlotte also joined the writing sessions and the three decided to get the band back together again. Leon and Kieren were unavailable which forced a search for a new keyboard player and drummer. What is traditionally seen as a difficult task, finding two musicians to fit into an established line-up, the answer fell into the trio's lap, when a keyboard player Anthony Hindley who Shaun met in a music shop in Bolton, suggested he might be available. Anthony met Dave and Shaun at a rehearsal room in Wigan to go through some ideas it became obvious really quickly to both Shaun and Dave that this was the right man for the job (Anthony was already a fan of Mr. So & So having seen them on Marillion's Radiation tour which Mr. So & So supported for the Manchester Academy), and also he knew a drummer from Chester who fit the criteria the band were looking for. Stuart Browne met the now four piece a few weeks later and Mr. So & So existed again.

Following a weekend at the Forge Studios the band recorded two new songs "Bi-Polar" and "Thursdays are Blue". In February of 2007 the band played with Marillion again at the Marillion Weekend in Rotterdam. Their latest album 'Sugarstealer' was released in 2009, and they plan to have their next one available at the beginning of 2013