Club Spacetoad at The Albert (From The Argus)

Club Spacetoad at The Albert

5:21pm Monday 28th June 2010

• Print
• Email
• Comments(0)

Back in the heady days of the eighties, there was one person who entertained us with his magical charm: Paul Francis Cheetham or as he is affectionately called Dr Spacetoad of the Dr Spacetoad Experience.

Club Spacetoad was held every week at The Albert pub in Brighton. Paul would perform, with a merry band of musicians joining in. Club Spacetoad hosted many bands and artists including the Fish Brothers, Captain Sensible, Captain Stupidt, Al Daniels to mention a few. It was a lively event and provided many an entertaining evening for the musos of Brighton.

It was a platform for those involved in music and entertaining - a gathering of souls with Paul playing Spanish guitar and mandolin with his merry band of minstrels.

One can almost imagine him walking through medieval streets with jugglers, clowns and acrobats extraodinaire following and performing while eagerly attending the court of The Toad.

Attentive observers waving from balconied windows one could almost be in 15th Century Venice. Paul was born in Norwich and formed a punk band called the Toads who built up a regular following. After going through a metamorphosis he started his next band the Ebony Set, a new romantic/gothic band who had success but then split.

His next band The Blue Warthogs were a more psyched rock guitar band. After success with other bands Paul left Norwich and moved to London.

Paul played in different venues around London namely The Troubadour, Bungies, The Town and Country Club etc. After a while he became known as The Troubadour.

After moving back to Norwich for a while he got involved more with theatre and after a year moved to Brighton where he started Club Spacetoad.

It was here that his new band The Doctor Spacetoad Experience came together travelling all over Europe and making appearances at Glastonbury and the Big Green Gathering. His band could only be described as a eclectic group of minstrels including Captain Sensible on bass guitar, Monty the Moron on keyboards, Captain Barrington Whyte on space whisperer.

Although being out of higher education, his determination and tenacity paid off and he has now successfully completed a degree in music and related arts in which he gained a 2:1 from Chichester University.

This has allowed Paul to harness his eclectic talents which include opera singing. Paul uses these talents and has found success while living and working in Paris.

Residing in a hotel he is often seen serenading the residents whilst working at the reception.

The bohemian ambiance of Paris has given Paul the platform to produce and perform going back to his Troubadour roots. This creative genius draws his inspiration from many people and places that he has travelled to.

His influences include Jacques Brel, David Bowie and Jim Morrison. One of my favourite songs is My Old Mate the Coypu which always gets the audience swaying to its poetic charms. The Toad’s songs focus on the themes of chivalry and courtly love bringing mystery with humourous undertones.

He still travels regularly all over Europe performing at many festivals collecting followers along the way. In April disciples were recently privileged to see him perform at The Brunswick. With over 16 CDs to his name Toad as I affectionately call him continues to entertain us, lets raise a glass and say Hail! Hail! The Toad, may his following reign on!