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Years after the oddly named Ralph of the Arb stopped the traffic in Exeter high Street and eons since the demise of probably the greatest Band in the World, from Newton St. Cyres* comes this web page. So who were ROTA? Well, if you lived in Devon throughout the 80s you may well have caught the band on one of their many 'South West Overkill' tours. ROTA were formed in 1982 by accident, Ralph was a small rabbit with a waistcoat and a watch and the Arb was a large area of land behind the local Village Church. OK so far? As goes Studio offerings, Ralph had two albums in their long and drawn out history; the hideously named, 'No More than a Lie' in 1987, and the more airwave friendly follow up, 'Southern Town' in 1989, from which the above photo is taken. With such successes as airplay on Radio Devon and the A&R man at Virgin saying, "I Suppose it's alright", the band finally decided to call it a day after their final gig at the Beer Engine, New Years Eve 1993. The leg end lives on with guitarist, Dave Patrick keeping the torch smouldering with reissues of ROTA memorabilia. Southern Town and No More than a Lie are both available on CD now - click here to order a copy. Dave, plays in The Love Junkies and can be seen doing Soul and Motown on the wedding circuit, he also released an album in 2002 'Proximity' with his band Otis. As for the rest of the band, Pete 'Edgar Allan' Popert, runs the Crown of the Hill Studios in Crediton, Devon and was playing in Johnny Heartbreak and Jon Downes & The Amphibians from Outer Space before taking time off to join back with Dave on the recent Otis tour. (He was also working on, Ralph of the Arb' the computer game, where you had to get the whole band, their gear and an audience to the Beer Engine pub by New Years Eve to play a gig - yeah, alright I digress...) Julian Watts, Bass player, was spotted in the sunny seaside resort of Seaton, Devon squeezing the last few drops out of a can of Tennents Super before joining the glam rock band Spank and then moving on to Honiton. Spank went on to become Diamondogz but Ju left after a while, meanwhile Pete teamed up with them for quite a while but has also now left. Pat Joslin, Keyboards and original Vocalist and songwriter for the band has been laying his hat in many places around the World - eventually it will come to rest. If anyone knows where Pat left his Keyboard contact us. James 'Murray' Cann is still plying his trade in the Building industry, occasionally he dusts off his drumkit and still ably bashes the skins. Mark Joslin, original guitarist and founder of the garage movement steered a rather odd course after he left the band in 1988. You may see Mark parading around Devon streets in drag from time to time. Phill 'Pod' Stamp, he of the mighty lungs and unusual audience negotiation skills, is an Employment Agent and until recently gigged regularly with the Demon Groove Lizards in Exeter, you may even be able to order a copy of their release 'Difficult Listening Music' through the site. So there it is, the mighty Ralph of the Arb - if you were searching the web you may have got a shock finding this page. Whatever, if you are old enough and ugly enough to remember ever seeing a ROTA gig, please tell us about it. Just click here and mail us a comment. Complete this tie breaker in the comments section, "My favourite Ralph of the Arb gig was in... because..." 1982-83 1984-85 1985-86 1987-1988 (No More Than a Lie) 1988 1988-1989 (Southern Town) 1989-93 *Newton St Cyres - a small Village North West of Exeter with a stupid name. |
