Lyndon Nutkins: vocals, bass
Martin Mays: vocals, guitar
Lincoln Borgartz: The Drums
Richie Symons: guitar (1999-2000)
Lee Watkins: drums (2000)
Following my retreat from live performance, I was fortunate indeed that my latest flatmate, Andy, was a guitarist. We used to jam together at home. He taught me an enormous amount about songwriting and recording. He was experiencing a hugely creative period, during which he must have easily written enough material for two albums. He brought with him several musical friends and gradually, my home life transformed from making music alone in my tiny bedroom, to extended jam sessions during which his friends sometimes stayed over. These early sessions formed several lifelong friendships, which is where Martin, Lincoln and Richie enter the story.
Gradually our demos started to gain musical weight with the addition of drum machines, tape loops and multi-track recording, and by the middle of 1997 we had joined a local band, Timeblind, who had started in the early 90s and were gradually transitioning into the great Calico, who are probably my favourite Southend band ever.
Martin and I started recording together in early 1996. I still have some of those early demos. He had been the bassist in many bands and wanted to transition to guitar. I enjoyed playing bass, and learned a lot from him about playing it.
When the others in Timeblind decided to call it a day and work on their new project, Martin and I started to take our little duo on the road.
We played as Idiopathy for the first time in late 1997, with a gig at the Sun Rooms and followed by a covers set at The Melrose, a hilarious night during which a huge bar brawl broke out during our set, upending our equipment and ending with the police being called. The band played on.
The “power trio”
By the summer of 1998 we’d added Lincoln on drums, and played our debut set at Club Riga. Our regular rehearsals at the famed Badger Hall studios in Southend saw us crafting a 4-track EP, “It’ll All End In Beers”, which was recorded by Mike Smith in March 1999 and coincided with Richie’s induction into the band. Rich, a lovely guy and a veteran of heavy rock, brought another level of texture into the music and contributed some excellent lead guitar work, freeing Martin from some of his guitar duties.
This lineup sadly hit a roadblock when Lincoln moved to Spain for a year. We played the last of several gigs together at The Grand in Leigh in August 1999, and then took a few months away while we tried to get the EP heard. I even sent a copy to John Peel, who didn’t play it (perhaps it wasn’t sufficiently “different” for him) but I was particularly chuffed that he namechecked us on national radio. He apparently passed our EP onto Mary Anne Hobbs, but fame and fortune did not follow and, with no drummer, we started losing our way a bit.
I concentrated on writing more material, and booked a gig for the Spring of 2000 at the Grand, in the hope that we would find a drummer before then and give the band something to focus on.
This booking was in fact fulfilled by the second lineup of Worst Case Scenario, but we started trying out a few different drummers before settling on Lee Watkins, a top all round chap and an amazing drummer who brought great energy to the band, but sadly at the end of 2000 Richie decided to leave and Idiopathy was no more.
“Idiopa3”
We did, however, make a reformation of sorts in the mid-2010s, when Martin invited Richie and I to jam with him in his loft. I stepped in on drums for a few weeks before settling down on bass. We played a mixture of our old classics and Martin’s new material, and these sessions formed the groundwork for a new project – The 99.
Next: Weekend World