Episode 12: Percy Jones (Brand X) Interview

Percy Jones is the renowned pioneer fusion bass player with the British band Brand X. Virtuoso guitarist Steve Hackett stated "it was in fact Percy who chronologically emerged with his own unique fretless sound and should be given full credit for it”.

Jones appeared on Eno’s Before and After Science, and Another Green World, on Steve Hackett’s debut solo album Voyage of the Acolyte and played on Roy Harper’s Bullinamingvase, all within a short time of Brand X exploding on the British scene.  He also recorded sessions for a number of avant-garde players like Jon Hassel, and David Sylvian.

After Brand X disbanded in the 1980s, Percy Jones became a session player in Manhattan, and saw the end of the great club era: CBGB and OMFUG’s, Max’s Kansas City, and The Bowery.  As a session player, he performed with Nova, Tiger, Susanne Vega’s Days of Open Hand, he appeared alongside musicians Robert Fripp, Jon Hassell, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Holger Czukay on David Sylvian’s Alchemy: An Index of Possibilities, and subsequently on several of Richard Barbieri‘s albums, Masami Tsuchiya’s Ippu Do, The Plastics, Tunnels, Paranoise, (formerly known as Noise Are Us), PAKT, and MJ12. 

GUITAR TRAX is hosted by mulit-Emmy award winning guitarist Brian Tarquin featuring in- depth interviews with today’s hottest guitar legends and airs every Monday night from 10pm-12pm on NPR's WFIT 89.5FM on the Florida space coast and can be streamed on WFIT.org. In 2023 Brian’s music video “Speed of Sound” featuring Joe Satriani won Best Video of the Year by the Josie Music Awards. His all star album Brothers In Arms topped the metal radio charts peaking #7 on the NACC Loud Rock charts and #11 on the Metal Contraband charts. Both in 2022 & 2023 the Josie Music Awards nominated Tarquin for "Musician of the Year (Guitar)" and "Music Producer of the Year." In 2019 Tarquin received a Global Music Gold Award for his release Orlando In Heaven for “Best Album.” In 2023 the Hollywood Independent Music Awards nominated his company BHP Music-Guitar Trax Records for "Independent Record Label of the Year."