Noko (born Norman Fisher-Jones, 1 February 1962, in Bootle, Lancashire, England) is an English musician, multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer, has formed and/or played with a number of bands primarily as a guitarist or bassist. In chronological order they were: Alvin the Aardvark and the Fuzzy Ants, the Umbrella, the Pete Shelley Group, the Cure, Luxuria, Apollo 440, Stealth Sonic Soul, Fast, Maximum Roach, James Maker and Noko 440 (also known as Frankenstein), Magazine, Raw Chimp, Levyathan, SCISM, Am I Dead Yet? and Buzzcocks (at the Pete Shelley Memorial concert at London's Royal Albert Hall in 2019).
Biography
In 1980, he formed his first band, Alvin the Aardvark & the Fuzzy Ants, who played their first gig on 16 January 1981 on After All That…This, a Granada TV show presented by Nick Turnbull. Despite the DJ John Peel being a fan of their music, they never released any material, recording only an unreleased single at Open Eye Studios, in Liverpool and playing a few gigs in the North-West, most notably supporting Cabaret Voltaire at Nathan McGough's Plato's Ballroom in 1981, before disbanding the same year.
He was hired by the Cure as bassist, for a one-off concert in Germany at Alabamahalle, Munich, filmed for television on 30.01.1984 and a live promotional 2-song TV appearance on BBC Oxford Road Show 24.02.1984. In addition he also recorded a 4-song radio session with the band on 02.02.1984 at BBC Maida Vale Studios for David Jensen, which was broadcast on 22.02.1984. He also formed two bands, Dynamo Futurista and The Umbrella. The latter group, consisting of Noko (guitar and vocals), Simon Hoare (drums), Mark Sanderson (bass) and James Gardner, released a total of three songs before folding, which were released on an EP called Make Hell (For The Beautiful People).
Founder Buzzcock and Magazine frontman, Howard Devoto, started writing with Noko in 1986 with a view to putting a band together to play Factory Records' Festival of the Tenth Summer at the G-Mex arena in Manchester that summer to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Punk. They played a short set as Adultery, borrowing backline from the Smiths. (Noko also played a set with Pete Shelley at the same gig in a line-up that also included ex-Magazine drummer John Doyle).
The line-up for that Adultery show was: Howard Devoto – vocals, Noko – lead guitar/viola, Leroy James – keyboards/2nd guitar, Pete Kinski – bass, Simon Hoare – drums. Signing to Beggars Banquet in 1987 and deciding on the name Luxuria, Devoto and Noko released two LPs: Unanswerable Lust (1988) and Beastbox (1990) and toured Europe and USA throughout 1988 with a line-up of Devoto and Noko on vocals/guitars and viola as usual and Karl Leiker – bass, Mark Rowlett – Drums/Sequential Studio 440, James Gardner – keyboards, programming, Frog – guitar/keyboards. The final Luxuria gig at The Town & Country Club (now the London Forum) in London featured cameo appearances by Barry Adamson (bass) on a rendition of Magazine's "The Light Pours Out of Me" for an encore, and Morrissey, who read a passage of Marcel Proust's "A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu" over the intro of "Mademoiselle" before throwing the tattered book into the crowd as the band kicked into the song. (There is a bootleg recording of the gig in circulation).
When Luxuria folded in 1990, Noko got together with school friends, brothers Trevor Gray and Howard Gray, and James Gardner and formed Apollo 440.
The band released a number of singles and EPs on their own StealthSonic Recordings label: "Lolita" (1990), "Destiny" (1991), "Blackout" (1992) and "Lolita/Destiny '92" (1992).
Apollo 440 made four albums: Millennium Fever (1995), ElectroGlide In Blue (1997), Gettin' High On Your Own Supply (1999), and Dude Descending A Staircase (2003) on Sony Records. The band have been playing live in one form or another since their inception in 1990 to the present day and chronologically the touring line-ups are as follows: 1990–1992: The band featured all founding members on keyboards, sequencers and drum machines and MCs Stevie Hyper-D and Tigga-Max guesting from time to time on vocals.
1993–1995: James Gardner left for New Zealand where he has since established himself as a prominent composer writing music for his ensemble 175 East. Noko moved over to electric guitar and lead vocals, Trevor Gray on keyboards, Howard Gray on bass, and ex-Modern Eon drummer Cliff Hewitt was added to the line-up first on electronic, then onto acoustic drums. (Kenny Cougar briefly replaced Rej on bass during 1999).