Description
Rico Bell And The Snake Handlers At 12 Bar Club, London
What a great night! Rico Bell and his band The Snake Handlers rocked the house. Rico worked his magic on the accordion as well as some guitar licks all the while doing some powerful vocal drifts. This is a rare look at some classic times as these famously talented people joined together and played to an intimate audience as well as being on the bleeding edge of technology as it was broadcast live around the world by OnlineTV.
Who Is Rico Bell
Rico Bell, also known as Eric Bellis, is a UK and California based artist and musician best known for his work as a member of the British punk rock band the Mekons which he joined in 1983. Bell released Dark Side of the Mersey (1999) and this was probably the first live concert, and only video recording as they released this music.
Rico was a regular performer on the UK folk scene appearing at The Lamp Light in Wallasey along with other soon to be stars like Declan MacManus who later found fame as Elvis Costello, and the legendary 12 Bar Club in London
Bell’s music changed as the 1970s progressed and the punk revolution exploded. He moved to Bristol and formed a punk/new wave band, recording vocals for a solo album by Martin Barre of Jethro Tull. He later toured with the Leeds-based Goth band, The March Violets, in the early 1980s.
In 1983, Bell began singing and playing accordion with the Mekons and was on the band’s first U.S. tour in 1986 but stopped touring regularly with the band soon afterward. In 1995 he was back on the road and his contributions are found on every Mekons release since 1984 except Retreat from Memphis (1994). In addition, his music and vocals can be found on a number of compilation releases from Bloodshot Records
Later Bell created several projects in the UK and USA as a collective he called the Mekons and included Kevin Lycett, Jon Langford and Tom Greenhalgh,These projects included Mekons United (1996), OOOH! (2001), Art-Tube 01 (2001), and Hello Cruel World (2002). Later he performed with the rest of the Mekons in Vito Acconci’s Theater Project for a Rock Band as part of the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival in 1995 and was a collaborator with Kathy Acker in her lesbian pirate operetta Pussy, King of the Pirates at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago in 1997. He also created and constructed the stage design for that project and the characters were performed by the Mekons.
Video Stats for Rico Bell
Date of Recording: Sep 9, 1999
Video: NTSC Color
Audio:Stereo
Time: 58min
Digital File Size: 588Meg
Video Taster of Rico Bell and the Snake Handlers
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