Dave Ambrose
When I left art school I joined the shotgun express .Rod Stewart, Mick Fleetwood, Peter Bardens, Peter Green and Beryl Marsden Part of early Fleetwood Mac. I played with cat Stevens, Jeff beck. 4 years with Juile Driscol Brian Auger and the Trinity then Arthur Brown. short while with King Crimson. Worked at emi publishing where I signed The Sex Pistols Mr Big Hit Romeo..Dexys Midnight Runners. Tom Robinson. ACDC and many more. Then emi record director of A and R.where I signed Duran Duran, Pet Shop Boys, Mariliion. I worked on all “Talk Talk” tracks then Mca universal managing director where i worked with Transvsion Vamp, and Blue Mercedes which were US acts.
I have judged The Basement Door Battle of the Bands contest with Kevin's team and I am very impressed with the quality of the music and the commitment of The Basement Door. This is a very special way to help young people in all aspects of music .
Kevin Jones
(Eel Pie Records)
Kevin Jones has lived in Twickenham for over 20 years. One evening over a couple of beers in the Eel Pie Pub, he began a conversation with Phil Penman that ended some years later in the creation of Eel Pie Records.
“We were lamenting the demise of physical record shops” says Kevin “reminiscing about the joys of browsing through the racks of a good record shop and listening to music on vinyl”.
“We had started putting on live music events in Twickenham and we saw the huge love that exists in this area for great music. And one evening our conversation morphed into a more serious conversation about us opening a record shop business. Through Ricardo Garcia our friend and local wine retailer we found this building in Church Street and opened up along with Ricardo’s Cellar. A great combination of businesses at the iconic premises once home to the famous Langton’s Bookshop.
In addition to selling records, we have expanded our live music promotions. In 2019 we launched the High Tide Festival. By 2022 the festival had grown to include over 100 bands/artists on 17 stages and venues in Twickenham. The focus has been very much on new music and young artists as well as more established bands. We have partnered with Basement Door since the very beginning of High Tide as well as many of our other live music ventures. I have seen at first hand the amazing and important work the Basement Door does in nurturing young musicians and helping them learn about performance and the wider music industry.
I am proud to be associated with this wonderful organisation.