A Brief History of Fools

Formed in Birmingham area, The Valuable Fools have existed in many forms since late in 1995 when  Mark(ex-Wings Of Fire), met Warwick, (ex-The Runners) and the two guitarists decided to jam together. They were later joined by two guys called Simon Teitjen and Mark Adkins on bass and drums respectively. Eventually somehow the name Valuable Fools came up and they stuck with it.

Soon after, Mark-the-drums left to follow a job offer and they were joined by Andy Greaves (ex-Metanoia), who had played with Mark in Wings Of Fire. With Andy bashing the drums and Simon pummelling his bass into small pieces they set about trying to find a gig. They did and on March 1996 debuted at The Bear Tavern, Bearwood. With influences from U2 to Killing Joke, they made a raucous sound. Simon left to be replaced by Steve Goodhall(ex-Metanoia) and another gig took place in September. After this, Steve the bass left to be replaced by Tim Bush also from Wings Of Fire. The band had revolving bass player syndrome!! Soon after all this, in early 1997 Andy G. left and the band split.

Cut to 1998 and Mark and Warwick had hooked up with Viola player and then member of Druidspear, Paul Miller. They played some old VF songs at the Songwriters Cafe in Birmingham and in Bearwood. For a more detailed look at this period go to pre-2000, the hazy past.

In 2000 they were joined by Mark's next door neighbour, who had heard them playing through his wall!. Steve Elliott, (ex-Messerschmitt Twins), came in on bass and drum programming. They gigged and were later joined by Dawn O'Brien on percussion and backing vocals in November 2000. In 2002 they were joined by guest vocalist Dionne (Dee) Curd for some recording and a couple of live dates. Dee then left to persue a solo career. Also in early 2003 Dawn left to persue a career as a belly dancing teacher! Ella Wright from Phoni Mitchell arrived to replace Dawn on backing vocals. Whilst Paul continues to work with his main group, covers band Anorakula, and occasionally Prussian Blue, the band is still aiming to put new songs together and hope to do more recording and gigs. Mark meanwhile still holds out the hope that someone well known will record one of his songs!