Bobby I Can Fly, the popular 1980s Isle of Wight band which reformed in 2014 for a 30th anniversary gig, have announced a new collaboration with Chalkpit Cassette Club.
Readers will remember Silas Gregory’s pioneering Chalkpit Cassette Club, which received national recognition after being selected as one of the ten featured projects for NME X Squarespace ReBuild Music campaign.
The two have worked together to produce a ten-track cassette of studio, demo, live and radio recordings that were recorded in the first incarnation of the band in the mid 80s.
Won the hearts of a whole generation of Islanders
Those who were around at the time and into the Isle of Wight music scene will know that between 1985 and 1988, Bobby I Can Fly played a whopping 105 gigs.
They won the hearts of a whole generation of Islanders who followed them from the early residencies at the Royal Tavern and the Metropole Hotel in Ventnor, to various venues around the Island then over the water to the Joiners Arms in Southampton and their final pinnacle gig at the Astoria in London.
Profits to IW dementia services
David Baker from Bobby I can Fly told News OnTheWight,
“This will be a non-profit release and will raise money for local charities as we did with our 20 track CD that we produced to coincide with our reunion gig in 2014, when we raised money for the Isle of Wight Youth Trust and the Quay Arts Centre.
“This time all profits from the cassette release will go to Dementia services on the Island as members of the band have lost parents to this horrible disease. “
Chalkpit Records produce and duplicate all the tapes on the Island so production time is approximately two to three weeks for cassettes – so really quick in comparison to vinyl.
David added,
“The songs have been digitised locally by Andy Neill and it is exciting and really cool to release these songs nearly forty years later on the very format they were recorded.”
Buy your copy
Head over to the Chalkpit Cassette Club Website to place your order.
If you don’t have a tape player, being the entrepreneur that he is, Silas also sells portable tape players which you can play your new Bobby I Can Fly tape on (or any others from the Website that you choose to purchase) as well as merchandise.
There is a free download code with each cassette for those that don’t own a cassette player.
