Contempt

[Sevarin0]

I can fill in a bit more detail about Howard Paul. I was the keyboard player in Asylum. we recruited Howard as singer via a Melody Maker advert. He had a great voice but we quickly found he was very awkward in his movements on stage. What to do? So our manager and the band came up with dressing Howard up in a business suit and bowler, and having him sit on the side of the stage reading the FT when the band was playing instrumental passages. It worked very well, and got around his lack of movement skills!! Asylum got signed to Bowie producer Tony Visconti's Good Earth label, and Visconti produced our first single 'Independent Means'. However soon after Visconti's management folded the label, and although we had a single recorded, they weren't going to let it go without a new record company paying top dollar for it. At that point I left, and the band split up, leaving Howard on his own. Howard, although a talented singer, was a total prima donna, which is another reason why I quit the band. I didn't want to have anything more to do with him. I saw him perform once with Contempt at Friars Aylesbury, but I thought the band was lacklustre and boring (no offence to any of the musicians involved). And I haven't seen or heard from him since!!