Episode 091–Neil Fitzsimon On Getting the Best Drummers with Bruce Hilliard
Fitzsimon and Brogan are great, and okay, songwriter/guitar player and music aficionado Neil Fitzsimon is almost a co-host to the Better Each Day show. This episode features some talk about working with drummers Woody Woodmansey, best known for working with “David Bowie and Spiders from Mars”, and Pete Thomas, a member of both “The Attractions” with Elvis Costello and with Costello as a solo.
Drummer Pete Thomas, top center.
Neil Fitzsimon and Bee Brogan were both members of the band, “Pretty Blue Gun”, who were signed to an indie label licensed to Sony. They released two albums which were critically acclaimed. Some of the guest musicians included members of “The Art of Noise”, Dave Bronze (Eric Clapton’s bass player), Tobias Boshell (Moody Blues) and Pip Williams who played guitar on the Walker Brothers’ track, No Regrets. The albums were produced by Pat Collier, who produced Katrina and the Waves’ international hit, ‘Walking on Sunshine’. The band went on national tours across the UK until disbanding. Neil Fitzsimon, the songwriter, and Bee Brogan, the vocalist, then went on to form a songwriting/production partnership that led to placement of their songs in Film and TV. They also wrote a musical, Jack Dagger, which was showcased at the Greenwich Theatre, London for the Musical Futures Award. It was also showcased at the Bridewell and the Royal College of Music in London. They have also just had a song placed in a USA Sci Fi Feature film. They recently had a track reach number 3 in a French national download chart. All songs are written by Neil Fitzsimon. Vocals, keyboards, drums and engineering by Bee Brogan. All guitars played by Neil Fitzsimon. Fitzsimon and Brogan see themselves as a studio act much in the vein of Tin Tin Out and Talk Talk. Their influences range from The Beatles, Elvis Costello, Jimmy Webb, Jacques Brel and David Bowie. Their aim is to produce pure pop for now people.
