The Various Artists line-up that recorded the single 'The original Mixed-Up Kid'/'Unofficial Secrets' and the LP 'Solo Album' was Jonathan Key - lead vocals and guitars, Robin Key - lead guitar and vocals, John Langley - drums

and vocals and Christian Clarke - bass and vocals. I was the principal songwriter of the group but Robin also contributed his own compositions, two of which were recorded by Various Artists. We could all sing pretty well and the odd 4 piece harmony was attempted - classy stuff!

What also set us apart was the fact that we had a manager (rare amongst our local contemporaries) Allison Clout; which contributed greatly to our drive - hence we gigged outside the Avon area, even toured Germany and The Netherlands and got to record the tunes you can now hear again. Wherever you are right now Allison... thanks for trying!

What also made us different is what ultimately pulled us apart. To us it was important to see Various Artists as one half of the picture. The other side of the coin was the darker, more experimental side of our nature - the Art Objects. I'd relished the extreme music I created to complement Gerard's poetry and Wojtek's dance in our early incarnation. Using only an electric guitar, a Vox AC30 amplifier and an old Copicat echo machine to create rhythmic, distorted, atonal pure sound. I was trying to blend John Martyn's acoustic experiments with Kraftwerk's sequencer repetition and when it began to be augmented by John's rhythmic fluidity, Bill's assertive bass and Robin's rippling melodic interplay I can honestly say I was having the musical time of my life. (And yes, it does pre-date The Edge and U2!) In having a set-up that was very loosely structured that allowed all the musicians to experiment and improvise we thought we'd found the best of both worlds.

A tight well-rehearsed 4 piece group playing catchy energetic songs and a seemingly shambolic but funky 6 piece ensemble constantly pushing the creative envelope. So if you like the Various Artists, try to check out Art Objects - you'll probably hate them (and vice versa)!

What seems incredible to me now is that we thought it could continue indefinitely - think about it :- Two very different bands. Two sets of brothers. Two brothers in two bands. One brother not in two bands. Two different bass players both full time students one living in a different part of the country. One dancer, no videos. Two different record labels. Only one band had a manager.

We may have tried joint gigs or combining the bands but egos get prickly and brothers rarely see eye to eye...at least I don't recall us ever coming to blows. But it did all come to an end and I'm sad to say I was the catalyst. When I decided to leave Art Objects to concentrate on songwriting, John had to leave Various Artists (I understand, it was a brother thing) and without John, the first Various Artist I'd recruited, it didn't feel the same so au revoir Various Artists.

Christian stayed around in Bristol for a while and then moved to London, I mixed some tunes for a band he was working with years later, led strangely enough by another ex-Sheffield ex-punk acquaintance of mine but we lost touch with each other. Bill now lives in New York, his last recorded appearance was on a Brian Eno 12" but he has now quit music altogether - we email each other irregularly. Gerard and John went on to become the Blue Aeroplanes and conquer the world, Robin and I contributed a track to the 1st Aeroplanes LP, a piece called Bagpipe Music - (one for the grand theorists). I produced another of the Blue Aeroplanes albums (Tolerance?) and later co-wrote the single 'Yr Own World' but we are no longer in touch with each other. Robin briefly joined the touring band and co-wrote a number of songs with the contemporary line-up. Wojtek continued to perform with Blue Aeroplanes. Robin and I (it's a brother thing) began working as a duo called Either/Or - all the instruments being played by either him or me - and reworked some of the later Various Artists songs and the new material, experimenting with electronics, drum machines, scratching and recording techniques. We performed live using home recorded tapes as backing and released a single (Right Words/I Believe In The Ant) on an Amsterdam based label ('Still Building Pyramids' comes from the same Either/Or session) and later added a two piece horn section to our line up (Hi Nelly and Tom!). Eventually Robin and I relocated to London and after an arduous battle released an album 'Human Feelings Return' with our band Lovetrain on the Virgin Records subsidiary Siren. Trying to fuse 60's guitar and soul psychedelics with my unremitting love of lyric writing, the album was either a little ahead of it's time or 15 years too late and disappeared under the acid house deluge that became the second summer of love.

Robin and I then decided we'd had enough of working with each other - (it's a brother thing) and went our separate musical ways. He largely concentrates on sessions these days having appeared uncredited on records such as Tricky's Black Steel Nearly God LP, The Gravediggaz remix of Bang Your Head and Faithless's Don't Leave as well as playing everything but the drums on Swedish singer Stilla Nordenstamm's 2nd LP.

I went underground, re-embracing my electronic and dance music roots, locking myself away in a room full of machines. As 'Omnivore', 'Fantomas' and 'Cosmic Blues'. I've remixed acts a s diverse as Depeche Mode, The Creatures and East 17 amongst others and released a bunch of tunes. The fourth Omnivore album 'Black Smoker' is released on Hydrogen Dukebox in the US in April 2000. (Jonjo  May 2OOO) You can email me at: omnivore@excite.com