The Opposition
30 oktober 2022
Mainstage
16:00-16:50
Biography
For the current line-up of Mark long, Bernard Husbands, NicoWatts andDavid Beckett with Kenny Jones at the desk, 2022 represents a muchanticipated opportunity for The Opposition to promote their lock-down release, Hope, by playing live.
Mark formed the Opposition in 1979 as a four piece with Chris Thompson on bass, Ralph Hall on drums and Dave Wolfson, keyboards and sax. The band recorded one album in 1979 but split before it could be released.
Mark and Ralph continued the band and were joined by Marcus Bell, to form the classic Opposition line up. After various line ups and 8 albums, it looked as
if the band might have come to an end. With the sad death of Marcus in December 2014, however, Ralph and Mark picked up their instruments to play together again as a form of bereavement therapy.
They were joined by Bernard Husbands who had played in a band with Ralph in the 1990s and various other London based bands. When therapy turned into more, he was the obvious choice to work with Mark and Ralph on what became a new album.
Twenty-four years after Mark and Marcus had played their last gig in France, the Opposition had the opportunity to hit the road again in support of that album,
Somewhere In Between. NicoWatts, a multi-instrumentalist who fronts his own anarchic punk band based in Brighton, which changes its name and line-up for every gig. He was only 5 years old when the Opposition last played live, so in joining to supplement the live sound, he came in fresh but quickly went native.
When Ralph Hall suddenly moved to New Zealand, Mark turned to David Beckett to step in. David had been The Opposition roadie, running away from school at the age
of 14 to join them on the road in the 80s. He played keyboards on Intimacy and joined the band on stage for the Intimacy tour, playing keyboards and percussion. He then joined Josi Without Colours as a drummer which became his current band – Voice of the Sea – where he plays drums & piano.
With Nico and David on board, the band spent 2019 doing a series of very successful gigs in Poland and France, the playing of which also prompted the emergence of new songs as the new line-up gelled together.We all know what happened then so the process moved online, sharing files between each other as they all added their parts and ideas. As soon as there was a brief window in the restrictions, the band got together and recorded the results, delivering Hope in 2021.
The Opposition played their first gig in London for over thirty years when they took to the Half Moon Putney stage on January 20th 2022, the first of what they hope will be many gigs this year.
