PsychepediA

From: Norwich, England

Born in Norwich, England on July 19, 1942, Roger Bunn is one of those "early classic rock" players to go largely unnoticed within its annals, but can rather be considered somewhat of a "musician's musician". Bunn grew up in the shadow of his father who was a well-known, highly decorated World War II hero, but by the end of the 1950s was taking part in the British skiffle and U.S. beat poet/jazz movements. He also began playing guitar in his teens and soon became a member of a local area band called the Bishops. In the early 60s, Bunn veered further into the realm of jazz as a bass player and then ricocheted back into R&B to became a part of the German scene in Hamburg, reportedly brushing shoulders at some point with The Beatles. In 1964 and upon his return from the European continent, he joined another Norwich area "blue-eyed" soul band known as the Bluebottles, which opened up for the likes of the Animals and Manfred Mann, and also included future Timebox and Patto member Mike Patto.

Although Bunn immensely enjoyed Jazz, he found himself relocating to London in 1966 to mainly work the R&B circuit with the likes of Zoot Money, Graham Bond, and even reportedly came very close to auditioning for the Jimi Hendrix Experience, but was unfortunately turned away because Noel Redding had already been awarded the slot play bass. Bunn did however profess to have jammed with Hendrix and others shortly after being snubbed for the part. Around this period, Bunn also played in Marianne Faithfull's backing band and tried out for a spot in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, but lost out to guitar phenom Mick Taylor. Roger had been a heavy amphetamine and recreational drug user since his late teens, having been given the nickname "Junky Bunn", but the mid to late 60s saw him dive headfirst into the land of psychedelics. In 1967, Bunn joined a psychedelic rock trio called the Giant Sun Trolley that opened for headliners like Pink Floyd, Procol Harum and the Crazy World of Arthur Brown at the UFO Club. They even played The 14 Hour Technicolor Dream event held at the Alexandra Palace on April 29th of that year.

Late '67 and into early 1968 saw Bunn journey to the Middle East where he mainly spent his time traversing around Afghanistan, Iran, and Turkey while writing songs. Upon his return to England, Bunn formed a band called Djinn that briefly included a young David Bowie. He was also able to swing some free studio time at Apple Records and lay down a collection of demos, reportedly due to him loosely knowing Paul McCartney from their Hamburg days. The demos were then picked up by the Philips label and in early 1969, Bunn was whisked away to the Netherlands to record an LP with the support of local, mainly classical musicians. The extremely original folk-psych album titled Piece Of Mind was initially shelved, but eventually released in 1970 with all of the far out cover artwork provided by Bunn himself. Unfortunately the record went nowhere, but does contain some excellent tracks including 'Crystal Tunnel', 'Old Maid Prudence' and 'Road To The Sun'. Other outstanding songs that were recorded at the same time, but not released include the excellent 'Falling Ships' and harder rocking 'In The Future'. As a side note, another one of Bunn's outtakes titled 'Life Is A Circus' was recorded by David Bowie in 1969 as a demo to secure his record contract with Mercury, but was never originally released by him either.

Bunn joined forces with Pete Brown & Piblokto! later in '69, playing some rather extraordinary bass on their spring of 1970 debut LP. He then briefly formed his own band called Endjinn, which didn't take off. In late 1970, Bunn became an original member and guitarist of Roxy Music but didn't last long enough to record on any of their albums. After the early 70s, Bunn fell out of the spotlight, but remained musically active and became a strong advocate for human rights until his death in 2005.

Artist information sources include: The book, 'Tapestry of Delights Revisited' by Vernon Joynson and an article by Bruce Eder at All Music Guide.