Battle of the Bands: Tenth Album

Music

When in the sixth form at school, Davis began listening to progressive rock and was introduced to the Canterbury scene, which immediately fascinated him. Interviewed in 2020, Davis said, "I loved what bands like Soft Machine and Henry Cow were doing – it was challenging and very complex." Regarding Robert Wyatt, he said, "... one album in my collection that I would strong urge everyone to get is Rock Bottom. It's the type of album that you have to hear when you're smashed out of your face. It is just an incredible record.^[183] Davis is a fan of French progressive rock band Magma, and produced a London concert so he could see them, which directly caused their re-formation.^[184] He has a record collection with around 2,000 albums.^[183]

Davis joined Brentwood community radio station Phoenix FM in 1996, broadcasting a variety of soul and rock shows during the next ten years online and on FM under a Restricted Service Licence. When the station went full-time on FM in March 2007, he hosted The Interesting Alternative Show.^[185][186] As a result of his broadcasts, Davis was a guest presenter on BBC Radio 6 Music in 2011.^[187] He branched out into club work in 2015, and has regular slots at London bars and nightclubs.^[188] Davis performed with Kavus Torabi at the 2016 Glastonbury Festival;^[189] their collaboration led to the formation of the Utopia Strong, an electronic-music band whose debut album was released on 13 September 2019.^[190]

He joined Chas & Dave and several other snooker stars (as the Matchroom Mob) on "Snooker Loopy", a 1986 novelty record which was a Top 10 hit in the UK Singles Chart.^[191][192] A year later they released "Romford Rap", a follow-up single which reached number 91 on the UK charts.^[193]

^{I only knew about his involvement with Chas'n'Dave}