I met him through Mark Kennedy and Mark Burgess, and we played some music together - I play a bit of blues harp. He was a very funny guy, and cool in a warm kind of way. I remember best the time we went out to Germany to play at a festival with Mark Burgess and ended up sharing a room together.
As a jew he was a bit nervous about the idea of going to Germany, plus a lot of the music at the festival was very dark. We went for a walk out of the festival and came across a hidden war memorial in the countryside. The gothic writing and skull imagery were certainly disturbing. One night there was a load of noise outside the hotel and Bryan got up and looked out of the window. I heard him swear and when he turned round his face was as white as a sheet. I ran over and there were a troop of men marching down the street with guns over their shoulders. It turned out that the town held a Shooting Festival (!) every year and the night time march was part of it.
There are a load of stories - I'm sure anyone who knew Bryan has plenty: like the time he felt sick before a gig, and Keni tried to calm him down by pretending to be sick first. He ended up doubled up on the floor with laughter.
It was lovely to hear Elbow's tribute - I knew who it was about the second I heard the words "Love you, mate". I'd love to hear the tribute album - is there one? Like someone else on this site, my tapes of Bryan have long since been chewed up and me and the missus would love to hear him again.
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