Vincent Black Lightning

Stephen Hartley flunked school to form a punk band which at the time he thought was infinately more worthwhile - during their hectic four years the band (called NOTSENSIBLES) made an album and four singles and earned themselves a worldwide cult status for their refreshing humour and irreverent approach to punk. After the band split & after completing his engineering apprenticeship, Hartley took off hitch-hiking round Europe - not wanting to be in the rat race and inspired by friends in Bordeaux who made a living busking, he decided to become a busker on his return to England.

After the band split & after completing his engineering apprenticeship, Hartley took off hitch-hiking round Europe - not wanting to be in the rat race and inspired by friends in Bordeaux who made a living busking, he decided to become a busker on his return to England. He built his own amp powered by a motorbike battery and sat down and learnt a handful of solo guitar pieces. For the next five years, busking was his sole income - he practiced for up to five hours a day and had a repertoire of over 30 solo guitar pieces - it was during this time that he developed his remarkable distinctive guitar style.

His next move, inspired by having a wife & baby to feed and experiences from Buddhist meditation, was to go back to school, do A-levels and against incredible odds, get into medical school. Throughout he has continued to play guitar and write songs and has played in a number of raggle taggle 3 piece bands. Musically he has always been uncompromising and has insisted on sticking to the pure 3-piece format, playing the same old Vox AC30 amp and Hofner Verithin guitar. His songwriting is cryptic, witty, anecdotal and irreverent and inspired always by his own experience. He set up Eli Records to release his own material and has branched into putting out records for friends' bands. All the record covers are hand printed using letterpress and woodblocks.

VINCENT BLACK LIGHTNING is his latest 3-piece. He is joined by Karl Eden on bass (a musical genius in his own right) and Bish Davies on drums. During a two year period the band have recorded over 30 songs, the first five of which appear on the Lay Your Rug EP - the first song 'Good Job, Proper Job' encompasses Hartleys outlook on life with the line 'follow the path with a heart, because art is good for the soul and so is Rock & Roll'. Their debut album 'songs from the underbelly' is due for release this year

In addition to their own material, the band have a large repertoire of early rockabilly and R&B (inspired by the great guitar players Scotty Moore, Carl Perkins, Cliff Gallup).