Zag And The Coloured Beads

Zag And The Coloured Beads are an English experimental rock band.

Blending elements of psychedelic rock and progressive rock, the band were initially active in the 1980s London free-festival scene and featured several members who went on to subsequent projects including Ring, Levitation and The Milk And Honey Band. Splitting up in 1990, the band eventually reformed in 2006 with a different lineup.

The band's singer/guitarist Steve Arthur remembers that Zag And The Coloured Beads "evolved pretty much independently, as a band who played complicated tunes in a ragged/bluesy style." Music sometimes "emerged out of jamming, noodling, wandering in the evenings and varied loitering." The band have cited Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa, Cardiacs, Philip Glass and Can as central influences over the years, "mixed up with all sorts of post-punk albums of the time (Return Of The Duritti Column, Marquee Moon, Wilder by Teardrop Explodes, Killing Joke....)" as well as "old jazz, Trumpton music, plus all the usual Mojo reader's old records."

Zag And The Coloured Beads was formed in Croydon and began playing live in 1982 (although demo tapes had been recorded as far back as 1979). The band initially featured frontman Zag (real name Ian Faichne), who departed in 1983 to form Ring. The most familiar lineup was Steve Arthur (vocals and guitars), Michael "Mik" Tubb (guitar, bass, synthesizer, vocals), Paul Howard (bass, guitar, vocals), Robert White (bass, keyboards, vocals), and Tom Rosenbloom (drums). The instrumentation was flexible, with plenty of instrument-swapping both live and on record. The band occasionally also played under pseudonyms such as Ming And The Fods.

For the members, the band was just one of several ongoing projects. Tubb and Howard also played in Bing Organ's Beastly Scrapings; White played in Ring; both White and Howard played in jazz-rock band Peru; and all members bar Tubb occasionally played in the Purple People Eaters.

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