Possibly a project for an audience of one, I’ve been meaning to do this for a while, so hey, here I go!
I’ve never been famous but I thought I might be close a couple of times….I’ve always made music….I often make fabulous music and get great reviews (by ‘fame’ I really mean recognition).
All my bands.
The majority have been myself on vocals and guitar and Danny Hagan on bass. We wrote songs together from 1983 to 2020, Danny wrote the lyrics I did the music. As we advanced, we switched around with various musicians, often resulting in a change of band name.
We eventually settled on It’s Jo & Danny, and released our ‘Lank Haired Girl To Bearded Boy‘ album on our own Double Snazzy label in 2000. The album got a heap of great reviews and some daytime Radio 1 plays from Jo Whiley, this earned us a record deal with R.C.A..
‘A defining record’ NME 8/10
‘Heartfelt vocals and swathes of Vini Reilly-style guitar.’ Mojo 4 stars
‘Ferocious joie de verve’ Q 4 stars
‘Spellbinding’ The Times 4 stars
‘Loaded with sprit’ The Observer
‘Folk to feed your soul’ i.D. Magazine
‘Beautiful’ The Daily Telegraph
‘Spritualized fronted by Carol King’ The Face
(Album cover photo Justin Thomas)
I’ll start at the beginning though, my first band when I was 14:
1980 – 1982 The Essential Extras
Jo Bartlett Vocals, bass and guitar.
Dom ‘Rudy’ Carroll – Guitar and bass.
Kieran Best – Drums.
Songs lyrics Kieran, music Rudy.
We got a letter of interest from A&M Records after we sent them our demo (strange typo on Kieran’s name) I took this letter to school to show everyone!.
Here’s the demo – including our pop classic ‘Lazy Boy’ track one.
The Service 1983
Jo Bartlett – Guitar and Vocals
Rudy Carroll – Guitar and Vocals (and synth if his arm was broken – see photo above from Cardiff University)
Danny Hagan – Bass
Mick Highgate – Drums
The Service ‘Find Another Way’ recorded in 1983.
Started to play London regularly. Our demo was heard by Dan Treacy of The Television Personalities – he phoned me at home to say he’d like to release a record by us.
Go! Service 1984 – 1986
(Photo Tim Paton)
Jo Bartlett – Vocals and Guitar
Rudy Carroll – Guitar and Vocals
Danny Hagan – Bass
Mick Auton – Drums
Supported The Television Personalities on a three and a half week European tour. Recorded and released the ‘It Makes Me Realise’ 12″ on Dreamworld Records.
‘It Makes Me Realise’ released 1985
Supported The Housemartins, That Petrol Emotion, The June Brides and more in London.
Go! Service live in Stuttgard 1984. I say ‘this is the single’ but we changed from ‘Too Much To Hide‘ to ‘It Makes Me Realise‘ which we released in 1985.
Rudy had his 17th birthday the day before this gig, I was 18.
Bluetrain 1986 to 1988
Jo Bartlett – Vocals and Guitar
Rudy Carroll – Guitar and Vocals
Danny Hagan – Bass
Kevin Moorey – Drums
1987 Rudy leaves and is replaced by Mark Nemetz on guitar.
1988 Mark leaves and is replaced by Richard Handyside on guitar.
(Photo Tim Paton)
Recorded and released the ‘Land of Gold‘ ep in 1987, on Dreamworld Records.
Toured Scotland, supported The Pastels, The Bodines and The Mighty Lemon Drops. Played Glastonbury Festival, played in France.
July 1988 Jo and Danny go to America, Mark Nemetz rejoins and Joey Stafford joins on drums. Played in California.
‘Land of Gold’ 1987
Go! Service / Bluetrain on Spotify
Here Comes Jordan (AKA Bluetrain) 1990
Jo Bartlett – Guitar and Vocals
Rudy Carroll – Guitar and Vocals
Danny Hagan – Bass
Kevin Moorey – Drums
Original Bluetrain line up, reformed to play a short tour of Singapore Rudy had organised.
Signified 1991
Jo Bartlett – Vocals and Guitar
Alex Culpin – Guitar and Vocals
Danny Hagan – Bass
Russell from Medway – Drums
Very short lived. Played a few gigs and recorded a demo. One live review, written by Mark Sutherland for ‘Due South’ magazine. Mark went on to edit Melody Maker and write for the N.M.E and more.
‘…a quite superb pop group’
Poise 1993 – 1994
Jo Bartlett – Vocals and Guitar
Rudy Carroll – Guitar and Vocals
Danny Hagan – Bass
Drums – Ches Chester
Demoed by Malcolm Dunbar at Mother Records, played live in London quite often. N.M.E. review from Brixton Vox Club by John Robertson –
‘if this was Wembley, Jo Bartlett’s voice would have lifetime companions staring mistily into each other’s eyes…’
‘Ravishing Camden four piece Poise’ N.M.E.
‘Fit to bursting with sassy street-wise chic’ Melody Maker
jump – rope 1994 – 1996
(Photo Tim Paton)
Jo Bartlett – Vocals and Guitar
Danny Hagan – Bass
Drums – Rick Kellum
Released two 7″ singles on Push Records, ‘Crowded Day‘ played on Radio 1 by Jo Whiley / Steve Lamacq and ‘Burn‘ which got played on Radio 1 by John Peel.
Supported Lloyd Cole on tour. Supported Yo La Tengo in London.
‘Burn’ was Single of the Week in Melody Maker.
‘…as welcome as a cold drinks dispenser in Hell, and twice as cool.’ Michael Bonner Melody Maker
Here are the collected jump – rope recordings.
(Photo Tim Paton)
Plaza 1996 – 1998
Jo Bartlett – Vocals and Guitar
Danny Hagan – Bass
Drums – Rick Kellum
Name change, same line up as jump – rope.
Released two singles ‘Walk Out Into The Sunshine‘ (7″) and ‘Futures‘ (cd). Plays on BBC GLR, signed a £20k publishing deal with ZTT. Photo shoot by Corinne Day.
Listen to the Plaza collected recordings here (Steve Cox Hammond organ intro on ‘Futures‘):
(Photo Corinne Day)
J.D. & Bob 1998 – 1999
Jo Bartlett – Vocals, Guitar, Recorder
Rob ‘Bob’ Whittle – Guitar, Piano and Vocals
Danny Hagan – Bass
Mathew Priest – Drums
Sam, Sam the Bongo Man – Percussion
(Photo Corinne Day)
A week recording at the Island Records studio, Mathew Priest of Dodgy on drums. Really getting somewhere vocally, musically, song writing. Very proud of these recordings. I think that this is when I became a proper musician and singer. We were now doing music full time. All day, every day.
Here are the Island Record recordings:
(Photo Justin Thomas)
It’s Jo & Danny 1999 – 2005
Jo Bartlett – Vocals, guitars, synths, harmonica, percussion.
Danny Hagan – Bass
Various other musicians involved live and in the studio include; Ali Byworth, Mathew Priest, Rudy Carroll, Marc Jordan, Darren Berry, Martin Hoyland, Daimh, Neil Haydock, Des Morgan, Tammy, Ben Sugarbear, Damon Reece, Lee Goodall, Jackie Adams, Joan Ellis, Gary Aylesbrook, Nayton Da Watcha.
We released four albums.
‘Lank Haired Girl To Bearded Boy’ 1999 re released in 2000(reviews in first paragraph top of page)
I was so excited making these recordings. I could barely sleep when we got home, I couldn’t wait to get back to Bark, where we were recording in East London. Danny and I both knew the music we were making was very special. These were very important days. Then, hearing Jo Whiley playing tracks on her lunch time Radio 1 show three days in a row, was off the scale. We were an unsigned band. ‘If you buy one album this year, make sure it’s this one…’.
‘Love Expression’ was Virgin Radio’s Drive Time Single of the Week
‘Thugs Lounge’ on R.C.A. 2001
‘The sort of record that makes the sun shine brightly’ **** The Times
(Album cover photo Paul Edgely)
‘But We Have The Music’ 2003
Recorded at a few studios, including Rockfield in Monmouth. Released on various labels around the world including Japan, Spain and Germany.
The Sunday Times Album of the Week.
‘…their best album yet.’ ****
(Photo Justin Thomas)
From ‘But We Have The Music’, ‘Godsend’
‘The Quickening’ 2005
Our folk album. We invited Scottish band Daimh down to London to help us record, Plus old friend and Bluetrain guitaist Rudy Carroll and percussionist Des Morgan.
‘In Spite of Love’ from The Quickening
‘A quiet revelation’ **** The Times
It’s Jo & Danny only played live around 30 times – including Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds, T In The Park, Dublin, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Hamburg and Madrid.
The Yellow Moon Band 2006 – 2009
Jo Bartlett – Rhythm Guitar
Rudy Carroll – Lead Guitar and Mandolin.
Danny Hagan – Bass
Mathew Priest – Drums
Ali Byworth – Drums
The Yellow Moon Band released three 7″ singles, one 12″ remix and an album on Static Caravan. We also recorded two radio sessions – one for Stuart Maconie’s Freakzone on BBC 6 Music and one for John Kennedy on XFM. We had tracks included on several psychedelic compilation albums.
‘Travels Into Several Remote Nations of the World’ album reviews –
‘Moments of glory abound, bright and funky’ **** Mojo
‘The spirit of West coast psychedelia is alive and well…’ **** The Independent
‘Groovy throwback…’ **** The Scotsman
Liam Gallagher used ‘Entangled’ to soundtrack his Pretty Green clothing advert.
‘Chimney’, the only vocal track from the album, was used alongside The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Nirvana and The White Stripes on the 2010 Ubisoft video music game ’Rocksmith’. With YouTube views at over 130,000 – this is our biggest hit!
The Yellow Moon Band on Spotify
Kodiak Island 2014 – 2024
Jo Bartlett – Guitar and Vocals
Richard Handyside – Guitar and backing vocals
Mike Muggeridge – Bass
Gareth Palmer – Cajon, beats
Matthew Cocks – Synth
Rehearsed at my house, recorded at Richard’s converted garage studio and then also at our own houses, sending the files to each other. Played lots locally and sometimes in London and Brighton.
Released two albums digitally on Musical Bear and one 10″ ep on i40 Records, which was released digitally by Cherry Red Records.
‘Breathing Space’ 2020
Jo Bartlett solo 2009 to present
I’ve released 4 solo albums.
‘Upheaval’ 2010 released on the Static Caravan label.
Just me and my acoustic guitar – no over dubs, recorded live over an after noon at Bark Studio in East London.
‘….has that autumnal , easy feeling that early ’70’s songwriters Carole King and Carly Simon captured so well.’ **** Mojo
‘9 x 7’ 2014
‘Her second solo album leans towards her folkier side – but fills out the sound with bewitching electronic percussion and lovely guitar leads.’ The Sunday Times / Essential New Releases.
‘The album we hoped Beth Gibbons might’ve made if she’d ever followed up her Rustin Man project – which is high praise indeed’ Uncut
‘The Cut Up’ 2022
‘It’s great! So inventive.’ Andy Bell (Oasis / Ride) Andy included ‘Greener’ from the album in his 20 best tracks of 2022 for Brooklyn Vegan.
‘It’s mad and inspired in equal doses. Very cool collection of sounds and memories all in one fascinating melting pot.’ Simon Raymonde (Cocteau Twins)
‘Ghost Tapes 1 to 9’ 2024
The first time I played everything and recorded all the tracks at home using Logic on my laptop. Also the first time I also wrote the lyrics (rather than Danny).
I’m super proud of this album, and the reaction it got including many BBC 6 Music plays and 8/10 in Uncut.
From ‘Ghost Tapes…’ ‘One In A Hundred’
Jo Bartlett and Neil Haydock 2025 to present
So far, Neil and I have released one ep ‘The River or the Road’ which came out in September 2025. ‘Head or the Heart’ from the ep, got a couple of BBC 6 Music plays.
We performed a few gigs together in 2025.
In 2026 we’ll start recording an album and continue to play live.
Jo Bartlett (including the tracks with Neil) on Spotify
Over 46 years later…..I’m still making music!
Here’s my discography including one off singles I sang on and a couple of other releases.
My Bandcamp page including some of the artists listed on this page.
Indie Through The Looking Glass 