Bernard Fowler

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"OOOH I Desire you...Your Truly a Fantasy" - Bernard Fowler/Peech Boys/"Don't Make Me Wait"

Bernard Fowler is a guitarist/vocalist and another real cult hero; born and raised in New York City, Bernard Fowler’s early musical influences were of the gospel, blues, and R&B variety. Since age 14 --..

He is probably best known for that March 1982, haunting electro classic, 'Don't Make Me Wait' by the Peech Boys. This 12 inch on West End records was followed by a full blown album on Island records with a cover by Keith Haring. Of this album, three cuts were mixed on 12": 'On A Journey', 'Dance Sister (Biofeedback)' and 'Life Is Something Special'. They all came with dub and a capella versions. In 1984, the 12inch 'Come On, Come On' was the last we saw of the Peech Boys. All of their cuts have been mixed by Larry Levan. Other member of the Peech Boys was Robert Kasper.

Before his work with the Peech Boys, Bernard Fowler had done vocals on Bill Laswell's Material 'One Down' album, other albums too?

Bernard Fowler also sang on Sinnamon's horny jam for Jive records 'I Need You Now'. The Sinnamon cuts on Becket rds 'He's Gonna Take You Home (To His House)' and 'Thanks To You' did not feature Bernard Fowler and were mixed by Shep P,whereas 'I Need You Now' had been mixed by Nigel Green, the man responsible for the dub of Hugh Masekela's 'Don't Go Lose It Baby'.

Later, Bernard worked with Tackhead (together with Doug Wimbush of Adrian Sherwood fame and has since sung with Philip Glass and Bill Laswell outfits.

Bernard Fowler:

"Yeah, we were on Island Records. We had several Top Tens in Dance music. That was the latter part of '81 through '84. That must have been an exciting time. It was wonderful. We were signed personally by Chris Blackwell. He was standing in a club and we had already scraped together money to make our record. He was standing a club in New York City right next to me. He didn't know me but I knew who he was. They were playing our record and he said, "Might you know who's record this is?" And I said, "Boy, I can help you there!" And that night-- this is the God's-honest truth-- he wrote on a napkin, "Please release $50,000 as a first advance for The Peech Boys." So the whole weekend, we had to sit there with this napkin and wonder if this was for real. We went to the offices on Monday morning and they said, "Oh, you're the Peech Boys. We've been expecting you." And they cut us a check, which was for recording. We promptly went to Manny's (Music) and spent the money on stage gear. Chris said, "Well, if you needed it, you needed it." He was a great guy." http://www3.pgh.net/~rockreporter/archive/nicklbg.

31-November 6, 1996 : [...] Vocalist Bernard Fowler and guitarist Steve Salas' brainchild has been accurately described as Funkadelic squaring off with Soundgarden. That 12 Hits and a Bump harnesses '70s rock and funk to the modern era's technically pristine sonics is hardly news; it wasn't so long ago that acts like Faith No More and Red Hot Chili Peppers were rummaging around in similar territory. What makes Nickelbag's take so compelling is its unforced, organic nature; Salas and Fowler have obviously absorbed this music by playing it. Consummate sidemen, they have recorded and toured with rock and funk's most illustrious acts, including Bootsy, Iggy and Clinton. [...] auxiliary Nicklebaggers--including bassists Doug Wimbash (Tackhead, Living Colour) and Darryl Jones, and ex­Pearl Jam drummer Dave Abbruzzese--didn't exactly have wide-open calendars. Scheduling headaches aside, 12 Hits and a Bump was well worth the effort. Any fan of Funkadelia can trace the genealogy of black-rock guitar from Jimi Hendrix to Eddie Hazel. [...] http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/10.31.96/nickelbag-9644.html

Azuli records: Studio 45's "Freak It" (1998). This track features the sweet vocals of Bernard Fowler (sampled off 'Life Is Something Special'), the rest of the tracks is Norman Connors production of Aquarian Dream's Phoenix.

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• internal links
  • NYC PeechBoys
  • 'Don't Make Me Wait'
  • Doug Wimbish
  • Adrian Sherwood

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