Biography

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Roger Askew

Roger grew up in Newcastle in a household filled with music and musicians.
His Dad was a fine pianist and clarinet player who also dabbled with double bass, and Roger and his sister Joy were exposed to music live, and from record and radio at an early age. 'Walk in on any given day and you would hear Chopin, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Max Bygraves and the Beatles.' After various school bands and post school groups with his sister, Roger joined Newcastle band Arbre and had several years with them in the seventies, making two albums for DJM records and touring the UK and occasionally in Europe.

The end of the seventies found Roger relocating to London, hawking his wares as songwriter and musician to all who would listen. Various tours, sessions and gigs followed whilst during this time Roger found himself working more and more on other peoples' recordings as engineer or producer. A series of sessions with Joe Stummer brought his name to the fore and a couple of years of intense recording work led to studio work with artists as diverse as Eternal, Stereolab, Ruby Blue, Wilko Johnson, Peggy Seeger, Liberty Horses and Nicola Hitchcock.
In 1986 Roger was tempted back on the road with London band Bliss.
Their first EMI album Love Prayer sold well in Italy, Germany and South America and three years of recording, touring, TV and promotions followed.
Following a sell out tour in Brazil the band split and Roger, assisted by Paul Sirett and Chris Baker, guitarist and drummer from Bliss, started recording songs that would become his first album Scarab Moon .

During the 1990s Roger performed with or produced artists such as Christy Moore, Eleanor Shanley, Guo Yue, Spikedrivers and Brian Kennedy, as well as writing music for theatre and engineering and mixing on a regular basis.
Scarab Moon was well received when finally released through Siren Music, and it seemed natural that before long a second album would follow. In the intervening period as well as writing most of the songs for the new album, Roger played a steady stream of gigs, enjoyed a few radio plays, contributed a track to the Songmakers' Project compilation and of course arranged several recording and mixing sessions resulting in the twelve track CD Big Fire.
Roger is aided throughout this album by gigging partner and top double bass player Olly Blanchflower, and if the feel of this album is somewhat more acoustic than the first, then it is probably Olly's influence shining through. The inspiring drum tracks are courtesy of Peter Baron, mainstay of Albert Lee and Hogan's Heroes who found time within his busy touring schedule to spend a few days with Roger and Olly up at Juan Lopez's Utopia Studios in Hertfordshire where the bulk of the tracks were recorded. Modern recording being less studio bound than in earlier days meant that the tracks could be finished at home, with vocal contributions from Phoene Cave, who also graced the first album and a number of gigs in between. Big Fire was launched with a short UK tour by Roger and his Sister who came over from the states, the album also received press reviews and radio play all over the UK.

Dividing his time between performing and studio engineering / producing, Roger has more recently been playing occasional gigs with The Lions of Least Resistance, guesting on piano with the Spikedrivers and performing his own songs with Olly Blanchflower and Paul Sirett. He has also been recording and mixing tracks for Tipsy Gypsies, Skatalites, making a singing exercise CD with Phoene Cave, and mixing programs for Sky Arts 'Songbook' series.
Roger has recently started work on his third album, recording with Olly, Paul and drummer Michele Drees at Courtyard Studios near Oxford. Due to be finished in the summer of 2011, the album features eleven new songs and some great performances.

Currently...

I am currently working on ten songs with Caroline Dexter for her new CD

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