The Frothy Green Story

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Ian Dury put it best. “Why has your band got such a f***ing awful name?” 

He and The Frothy Green Stools were on the bill at the Global Village in Charing Cross and it was a reasonable question – one that has never quite been answered.   

Five students of Lincoln College, Oxford got together for a party in January 1972 with a name dreamt up in the pub for what would presumably be a short-lived joke. Musical chemistry was instant and soon 'The Frothies' were appearing all over Oxford. They became a regular fixture at almost every summer ball and invitations to play elsewhere followed. The band hit the road to Liverpool, Newcastle, the Home Counties and often to London, appearing with Supertramp, Mungo Jerry, Shakin’ Stevens, Chicken Shack and many others long since lost to the footnotes of musical history.    

The original line-up comprised Jem, Robert and Perry plus Neil Forsyth on drums and Robert Sandall on rhythm guitar. Neil is still very much a member of the band, playing and singing at recent gigs in London, Oxford and Bamburgh. He sings regularly in clubs in his native Northumberland and in Tenerife. Robert Sandall was a much admired music journalist, helped the Spice Girls to fame, was rock critic for the Sunday Times and appeared regularly on Radio 4 and Radio 3 – where he fronted a new music programme “Mixing It”. Sadly Robert succumbed to prostate cancer in 2010. The noisier guitar riffs are a tribute.

Three others served a stretch with the original Frothies. Bill Benfield’s lacerating lead guitar melted eardrums for a year whilst Robert K was studying abroad. Bill is now living in Tokyo, appearing frequently at music venues and in the charts. Neil’s seat behind the drums was taken by Harvard classicist Eleftherious “Fred” Yalouris. Fred is still occasionally subjecting America’s East Coast to an aural battering. Pete Jones joined the band on guitar for the last year in Oxford. He now sings jazz with a swing band regularly at venues in and around London. 

For many years Jem, Robert and Perry continued to develop their musical skills in clubs, churches and theatres with various bands and playing a variety of styles and instruments. They got together with Neil for a reunion gig in Oxford in 2009 and haven’t looked back since. Jem and Perry met Raf at the Putney Arts Theatre, when they were in the band for “The Wiz”. A seasoned jazz drummer from Argentina with band experience from the Americas and Europe, Raf is the band’s latest recruit on drums & percussion and has added immeasurably to the first three albums....