BAND PROFILES
NIKKI SUDDEN
Named Adrian Godfrey by his parents, Nikki enjoyed entertaining people from an early age. He started playing guitar in 1972, inspired by Marc Bolan’s band T.Rex, and commenced making music with his friends David (Phones) and Steve (Jowe), and his own younger brother Kevin…read more
EPIC SOUNDTRACKS
Christened with the name Kevin Godfrey, Epic was Nikki’s younger brother. In the pre-Maps days of the early 1970s, he joined Nikki and Phones and Jowe in bedroom sessions on percussion, initially experimenting with found household objects, like kitchen utensils, furnishings and a fire-alarm bell..read more
JOWE HEAD
Jowe was christened Stephen Bird by his parents, but he was renamed by his school-friend Nikki, with whom he started playing guitar in 1972. He started various musical projects with Nikki, Epic, and Phones. He mainly played electric guitar, but also contributed balaleika and bass-guitar…read more
RICHARD EARL
Richard Scaldwell came into the orbit of the other musicians in the Swell Maps scene in 1977, having been at school with Phones Sportsman. He lived near the Godfreys’ house, so he started jamming with Epic, Phones and Jowe in instrumental projects named The Nozels and The Himalayas…read more
PHONES SPORTSMAN
Christened with the name David Barrington by his parents, Phones started as an inspired multi-instrumentalist in the scene that evolved into Swell Maps. He had a quirky, tuneful, expressive voice, and it seemed he could pick up anything and get an inspired sound out of it: guitars, flutes, keyboards…read more
JOHN COCKRILL
John was educated at the same school as Epic. John was mainly into Progressive Rock music, and he had actually received guitar lessons, unlike the others who were all self-taught. They had never met a “proper” guitarist before, so this was quite puzzling at first, but John…read more