In 1983 Geoffrey Kelly, John Mann and J. Knutson began a group they called “Evesdropper”. The trio played neighbourhood pubs for very small amounts of money. Oft-times they’d be shunted-off into a corner to suffer and sweat through a miserable set. Oddly, they seemed to like it. It was certainly more fun than actually working, even if most of the audience mistakenly thought they were called “Eavesdroppings”.

Armed only with a love of music and a fear of real work the three recorded their first album the next year. Twenty years later the group which had wisely changed its name to Spirit of the West continues to make records and earn far too little money.