Camel in Japan - May 2016

Camel in Japan - May 2016

It was touch-and-go - like this blog. It almost didn't happen, but thankfully it did. A short tour of Japan. Flagged up to us in late 2015, we immediately fell to discussing the practicalities, the most significant being: who would be the keyboard player? Our dear friend Ton Scherpenzeel, with whom we always have a wonderful time working, is a long-time committed non-flyer and, though he vouchsafed that he would seriously consider a long and arduous journey on the Trans-Siberian railway route, we felt had to look for someone else to take on the task. Thus, through a fortuitous suggestion from a friend of Andrew, we arrived at the virtual doorstep of one Mr Peter Jones.

Peter Jones in Tokyo (photo:Lenya Alec Bass)

Although he lost his sight at a very early age, the universe has compensated him by endowing him with a generous array of musical talents (as well as an irrepressible sense of humour), allowing him to impress us all with his soulfully expressive playing on keyboards, saxophone and guitar (played horizontally). Some may already know Pete through his Tiger Moth Tales project or even his time as a finalist on the TV talent show, X-Factor. A man of many parts!

From our first rehearsal it was obvious that this was going to be fun and a refreshing throwback to the good old days of real live four-piece interplay. And with Pete so quick on the uptake we were able to condense our usual pre-tour rehearsal time. An initial 5 days in the interesting city of Nottingham about a month before the off and a three-day wash and brush-up in a convenient studio near Heathrow before heading off into the blue yonder, destination Tokyo, where they had obviously already been warned of our arrival.