Banks Of Chaos

The three members of Banks Of Chaos met in New York City in 1977.  English expat drummer Harry Bentley had been gigging with Squirrel Patrol (a prog-folk outfit) when he ran into handsome (and he knew it) bassist Tom Willis, who was desperate to leave his accounting job and had a secret fantasy of adopting the stage name Blister (which he eventually did).  In searching for a guitarist, Bentley and Willis literally stumbled across Lionel Jefferson, a former jazzman ten years their senior who had played with everyone during the late ‘60s jazz-rock craze but had recently fallen on hard times (and, on that particular day, had simply fallen).  Soon, Banks Of Chaos was born.

The band broke out quickly with the smash single “Galexa,” a driving tune about a store clerk who dabbled in exotic dancing.  A string of successful albums followed.  However, feuds between the members (primarily induced by Blister’s insistence on always being in front in band photos and his obsessive focus on writing a lyrical opera based on the Kama Sutra) ultimately splintered the band.  There were a handful of reunions (including a 2007 world tour during which Bentley refused to count off the songs just to screw with Blister), but the band never recorded any new material.

“Sutranatural” debuted on Broadway in 2002.  It closed four days later.