Duncan Pope
The Conspiracy was the British duo of Duncan Pope and Dave Bell. They did some very pleasing rock with pop overtones highlighted by Duncan’s distinctive voice. They rarely sent me completed albums but occasional songs on a cassette with no designed cover. I believe they had albums on Music And Elsewhere and also audiofile Tapes. They also kindly recorded several KKUP promotional ids for me which I played often back in the day. They also collaborated with me on my Pen Pals 2 album in 1996. The Conspiracy are still at it and releasing some of their best music yet.
Above, their split tape with German musician Lord Litter on whose label , Out Of The Blue, this was released in 1993.
meeting steve andrews…twice! both memorable…..the first was when he hitched down to plymouth from wales to support The Conspiracy at the Breakwater pub. we had made a real mistake booking the gig on the same night as a big, FREE festival in the city, so not many people came…steve was great and got the crowd warmed up…he even brought his spaceship…with batteries!! then danced manically to our set! We sang “Stand by Me” with him, symbolising the friendship and solidarity of the Underground scene…
the next time was when i stayed with the bard on his mansion in Ely…the nastiest estate in europe? i was scared to buy things in the shop, and i can’t do accents, so i just pointed at things and growled…the locals seemed to understand! Steve patted the roof of my car when i parked outside…so noone torched it!!!
Some of the many best moments for The Conspiracy were ending up No1 (inexplicably!) in the legendary 1995 M&E Chart of tape albums (can u put them on facebook, MMagic??)…then getting vinyl/cd releases with Pink Lemon and Jar Music….Without those mad years (1990 – 1998) of tape networking it never would’ve happened. Our most recent cd album, Caged, only got released because Kev (who ran Gallipoli Records) released TC on a humble C60 on his DTW? tape label years before!!!
See, everything/everyone is interlinked, and after it seemed that the Network was dead and buried (in the Noughties), I am now back in touch with my old collaborators via Facebook! Surely the 2nd decade of the Millennium can witness a rebirth…..Curse the heXXX-Factor!!!