Linda Kelsey-Foster (Dogwatch, Airrace)

 

Linda Kelsey-Foster is a rock keyboardist who in recent years has worked with Airrace and Reuben Archer's Personal Sin, having started her career playing with Heavy Water and Dogwatch. Here's a little interview about the bands she went through.

Q. - Hello Linda, tell us a little bit about your beginnings in rock'n'roll music, who were your main influences, what lead you to be a keyboard player?

Linda - My grandfather was an amazing pianist and accordionist and I loved to hear him play. He played by ear. So, I started studying classical piano at a very young age and completed all my exams. However, when I hit 16, I started listening to pop and rock records – early Zep, Purple, Floyd etc – and when I turned 18, I got the opportunity to start messing around in rock bands and the love of listening and playing rock music escalated from there.

Q. - Before joining "Dogwatch" you were part of "Heavy Water", what memories do you keep from the "Heavy Water" days?

Linda - The singer was a guy called Danny Morgan – who later formed a business partnership with Simon Napier Bell of Nomis Studios in London. Danny had quite a few contacts in those early days and gigs were easy to come by – we toured consistently in and around London.

Q. - Are there any recordings from the "Heavy Water"?

Linda - Sadly not. The band disbanded before we got a record deal.  But I think I have a cassette of a live show somewhere.

Q. - And what about "Dogwatch", how and when did it all start?

Linda - I answered an ad in Melody Maker for a keyboard player. Dogwatch was a kind of early Genesis concept type of band and I loved Genesis– each song had a story and the singer Roy Weard was well known for his many stage outfits and changed almost ever song and was very visual; acting out the sing as well as singing.

Q. - Did you play regularly in the UK back then? Did you share stage with other well-known bands?

Linda - In Dogwatch we had a residency every Sunday at the Ruskin Arms at East Ham – where Iron Maiden used to also play (they had their gear stolen once and we lent them our backline). We also played frequently at the Bridge House in Canning Town where we also recorded our live album – Penfriend – using Ronnie Lane’s mobile unit. We started – as every band did – by playing on a Monday night at the Bridge House and if a band continued to increase their following, you’d eventually get the coveted Saturday night spot. Which we did! The guy who ran that venue – Terry Murphy - wrote a book about the venue and its got some amazing history of some of the name bands he put on there, who then grew and went on to much bigger venues. Its a great read. We supported Nutz at the Round House but mainly we did our own shows – not support slots.

Q. - Do you remember how did the name Dogwatch came up?

Linda – No.

Q. - How did the idea of recording "Penfriends" came up?

Linda - We did a showcase at the Music Machine in Camden and as a result, were offered a record deal by Bridge House Records.

Q. - Are there any other recordings by "Dogwatch" besides the live album? Did you record any demos too?

Linda - No.

Q. - What do you think that lacked to "Dogwatch" to have a successful career?

Linda - Wrong time, wrong place, friction amongst band members – the usual stuff.

Q. - Did you stay in touch with each-others all over the years?

Linda - On the odd occasion.  I still speak to Tony Morley and Roy Weard. I was very friendly with Roger Glynn – who I always thought was such a gifted guitarist – and we all did a bit of a reunion gig at Roy Weard’s book launch in 2015. Sadly, Roger died a few years back of lunch cancer.

Q. - What memories do you keep from those days in Dogwatch?

Linda - Very fond memories. I listen back to some of the material and its pretty complex. We played consistently and had a great following. My best memory was Valentines Day where we play the Ruskin Arms and some of the fans presented me with a Valentines Day card which they had all signed – it was about 6 feet tall!

Q. - What other bands did you play after "Dogwatch"? Tell us a bit about it please.

Linda - I then joined a northern melodic rock band called Presence. The 2 main songwriters and drivers of the band were Mark Parkin and Gavin Lewis. John Trelawney (formerly of Dogwatch) was managing them with his colleague Mike Stockdale. Presence had just won the Radio Hallam rock contest and had got a publishing deal with DJM.  John and Mike had set up a private showcase for them for at Terminal Studios and had invited me down to get my feedback. They had no keyboard player at the time. Presence were picking up some good traction and then got the Gary Glitter support slot for all the Christmas university shows. They decided they needed a keyboard player and asked me to join. The rest is history. We toured in France with Wishbone Ash and again, did a number of other shows across the UK including twice at the Marquee in Wardour Street. But again, band politics got in the way and the band dissolved in the late 80’s.  Such a shame – the material was brilliant.

Q. - How did you end up join Airrace on keyboards? 

Linda - After Presence, I kind of fell out of love with playing. I wanted to buy a house so needed a mortgage and to do that, I needed a career. Stupid really. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I never kept up my playing – didn’t touch a keyboard for several years, and my skills started to wane. Laurie Mansworth used to come and watch Dogwatch and loved watching Roger Glynn play. And through Facebook, he contacted me. He had been successfully managing his sone’s band The Treatment for several years, but Laurie is an immense talent as a songwriter and guitarist, and after having toured the world with More and Airrace, I think he was getting itchy feet and missed playing. He had written some new material and asked me to become involved. We started off doing a project called Ludovic Potts but especially at the time, it was almost impossible to launch a new unknown band on to the circuit – things had become so competitive by then; many venues had closed down and there was no money really to be had. Laurie had always felt that Airrace was unfinished business so he decided to re-launch the band and also got Rocky Newton (ex Schenker/ Lionheart) in on bass to work with his son DHani Mansworth \nd singer Adam Payne. We started rehearsing in earnest I had an incredibly busy job at the time and was flying round the world, rushing home from the airport, driving to band rehearsals at the weekend as well as rehearsing on my own in the evenings at home where possible. I was knackered – but I loved it! The Airrace material stretched me and Laurie was a very tough taskmaster and demanded perfection.

Q. - What memories do you keep from the Untold Stories recording times? 

Linda - All the driving I had to do, to rehearse and record! But it was all incredibly exciting and we had amazing fun at the same time.

Q. - Being you living in Spain, is it difficult for you to stay active with Airrace for rehearsals and shows?  

Linda - Just before Covid, we had decided to disband Airrace – or at least put it on the back burner for a couple of years to enable Laurie to continue with his other commitments and we had our final show booked in London, which was going to a really special show at which Keith Murrell, the previous singer, would also have shared the stage with us. But Covid ruined that and we had cancelled the show twice. So, there are no immediate plans to do anything – but I would never say never! Living in Spain especially with flights and also technology, make it very easy to continue to be a member of a predominantly UK based band. I know many band members who lived elsewhere in Europe and still manage to rehearse, record and tour with their UK band members.

Q. - Are there any plans to record a new album with Airrace?

Linda - No.

Q. - Before recording with Airrace you were part of Reuben Archer' s Personal Sin - Petrolhead, how did that happen?

Linda - I had known Rueben for many years and he had already done one Personal Sin album, using well know musicians to guest on it. Again – as a project – Reuben asked me if I would come down and help with the new album. I joined the band and we did a few shows – again, great fun and I really enjoyed it.

Q. - Do you know if Reuben Archer' s Personal Sin project will continue? 

Linda - Rueben has a blues band that he has pulled together right now, so there are no more plans for Personal Sin at this time.

Q. - How do you want to end up this interview? Anything more you want to say? 

Linda - When I look back at my music career, I’ve had an amazing time – met some wonderful people both fans and fellow musicians – played some brilliant over the years and I miss it like crazy! One of my best friends is Tracey Lamb from Girlschool who also lives in Spain. We are talking about an all girl project band which we will probably call Snow Queen. We hope to pull something together later next year as Tracey is crazy busy right now, playing all the Covid cancelled and rebooked shows across Europe with Girlschool.  So, I have no intention of hanging up my hats just yet!

Thank you for your time, and wish you all the best for the future!