Fonsleberry and the Wolseys in action in Chichester

Two important Chichester gigs are coming up for Fonsleberry and the Wolseys.
The bandThe band
The band

They play La Havana on May 8 (doors 8pm, admission free), and then on May 15, they’re proud to support the James Cook Band at the Chichester Inn (doors 8.30pm, admission £4).

The band comprises Fraser Duncumb (singer and guitarist), Fons Vogel on guitar, Jimi Hart on bass and Mophead (Jake Smith) on drums. They all also sing harmonies.

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Fraser explains: “The band is called Fonsleberry and the Wolseys as Fonsleberry is Fons’s nickname, and Jimi and I spent the night talking about Wolsey shirts the first night we met. We thought it was a fun name!

“Our website is www.thewolseys.co.uk, and our EP Monacos and Marshmallows is available on there. We recorded it with our good friend Matt Fearnley in Chichester.

“We are hoping to get into the studio to record an album over the summer, preliminarily titled Brothers and Beer Gardens.”

The band, which writes all its own music, started off as a two-piece before Fraser and Fons were joined by Jimi. For a while they varied the instruments they played until they settled into the roles they now hold: “And then we decided we wanted a drummer, and we approached a close friend, Mophead.”

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The music is funky-rocky-pop, Fraser explains: “We are all influenced by very different things, which brings a lot of fun to it. I grew up listening to dance music and house and soul music, but now I tend to the chilled-out end of folk music. Jimi is an opera singer by trade. He is influenced by classical music, but he is also a big metal head. Mophead is again a metal head. Iron Maiden is his particular liking, and Fons is into jazzy, Red Hot Chili Peppers funk, I suppose.”

Fraser added: “Frankie Drain, who has as much grit as a whole rock band contained in one man 
and his guitar, and Sam Burton whose songs are smooth, heartfelt and beautifully vulnerable, will be supporting us at La Havana on May 8.”