Dutch Uncle

For most of their four years together, Dutch Uncle were: Andy Behan - Guitar, Bass, Vocals; Paul Smith - Keyboards, Vocals; Phil Lukes - Bass, Guitar, Vocals. There was also a brief period with Mike Bell on bass when Andy broke his hand!

Phil and Paul had been in bands together as far back as 1980 (The Dozers, KifanKin, Mad For Lamps!), but DU started when Phil joined Andy and drummer Andrew (Scott) Holt, following their departure from a local group called Patch Party, in 1986. Scott left in 1987 and was replaced by Paul on keyboards and ... a Roland 909 drum machine.

At a time when Manchester became Madchester, DU remained resolutely unbaggy and consequently missed the boat in terms of success, although there was some record company interest and a good buzz about the band at the time.

What they did do though was plough their hard earned cash (and that of Manager/friend Neil Wilkinson) into a bunch of recordings, which were belatedly collected together in 1995 for the "Love Dutch Uncle" CD (available from this website). Most of the songs were recorded at Out Of The Blue Studios, in Manchester, concurrent with James recording their "Gold Mother" album, featuring ... Andy Diagram! "The place was full of weird and wonderful instruments which we were told not to touch," says Phil. "Naturally we ended up playing them all, including some wonderful George Formby style versions of DU songs on banjo!" Sadly these versions were never recorded.