Gibson and guitarist
John Turnbull were childhood friends and played together in a band called The Primitive Sect, with Bob Sergeant on organ. In summer 1966, Gibson and Turnbull joined unsigned Newcastle band The Chosen Few, who had released two singles the previous year written by their then vocalist and guitarist
Alan Hull, later of
Lindisfarne. With
Graham Bell joining on vocals, the band changed its name to
Skip Bifferty and secured gigs in London. The band then secured a deal with
RCA Records in summer 1967 under manager
Don Arden and went on to release three singles: "On Love" which made a minor chart appearance, "Happy Land" and "Man in Black" produced by Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane. Despite being championed by John Peel, with a handful of "Top Gear" appearances, RCA seemed oblivious to their popularity. An album,
Skip Bifferty, was recorded at Decca Studios West Hampstead, but withheld by RCA for almost a year before its release in 1968 and later as a double set
The Story of Skip Bifferty (
Castle Music, 2003), by
Sanctuary Records, along with
Top Gear sessions and unreleased material. The band began work on a follow-up album, to be called
Skipzophrenia, with Gibson doing artwork for the album, but their contract was not extended. Unhappy with manager Arden, the band announced they were disbanding in November 1968, while they were actually still working together in the
Isle of Wight and trying to find a new record deal. This they did with
Chris Blackwell of
Island Records and they released a 45 under the name Heavy Jelly, keeping their identities secret. Issued in a picture sleeve, "I Keep Singing That Same Old Song"/"Blue", written by Gibson, was released in June 1969. They also worked on the comedy film
Kevin of the North (2001; also known as
Chilly Dogs), featuring
Leslie Nielsen.
Later album work In 1988, Gibson joined alto saxophonist
Trevor Watts' band Moiré Music, appearing on
With One Voice, and later toured the United States, Canada, Mexico, Venezuela and Africa as well as one-off international festivals with the 1989 offshoot Moiré Music Drum Orchestra. In 1990, Gibson formed Buick6 with
Roger Hubbard and
Liam Genockey. They released four CDs:
Cypress Grove (1990),
Juice Machine (1995), ''Foolin' with this Heart
(1997) and Live at the Telegraph'' (2010). In 1997, Gibson produced Kirtley's solo album
Bush Telegraph with
Liane Carroll, Geoff Leppard, and Steve Lamb. Further work includes Pass the Cat (
Peach, 1999 and
442, 2004), Nightshift (
Under the Basement, 2008), John Pearson (
Eucalypto Furioso, 2007) and designs with Guano Grafix, producing many CD covers. Gibson also ran the magazine website The Lyer. Under the pseudonym "Bird Guano" he currently writes the satirical column "sausage life" for the Hastings Independent Press, a print-based local newspaper in Hastings, for which he is also an editor. Gibson has released two CDs with songwriting partner
Jack Pound under the name Guano Poundhammer:
Domestic Bliss (1999), and ''People Who Are Dead And Don't Know That They Are'', 2010. He is also working on solo projects under the name Bird Guano. Gibson also works with The Hunt Cult, a loose collective of filmmakers and artists, and collaborates with artist
Alan Rankle on installation projects that have featured in several galleries and museums in the UK and abroad. He also runs The Hastings 5-day Film Challenge with fellow filmmaker Emmett Ives. ==References==