In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by Steve Bingham, former bass player of The Foundations. When Steve was 12 his sister took him to see a local band called The Strollers. This would be the first time Steve would see a bass and is the moment he fell in love with the bass sound. By 1969 Steve had formed a group called Misty. The band would release a single called Hot Cinnamon but it would not experience commercial success. The band would record an album in the same time called "Here Again" however the album would be shelved and not released until 2022 when after five decades of not being heard was released by Grapefruit Records.

Steve's big break would come when he was asked to join the successful band The Foundations (know for their song Build Me Up Buttercup). He would join in late 1969 at a time when the band were not experiencing as much commercial success as they previously had in 1967 and 1968. He would be featured as bass player on the band's single "I'm Gonna Be a Rich Man". The band would break up in 1971. 

After The Foundations, Steve would do a lot of work as a session bass player throughout the early '70s. One of his greatest works from this time is his bass playing on Colin Blunstone's 1972 album Ennismore. In 1974 Steve would play alongside ex-faces member Ronnie Lane on his debut solo album Anymore for Anymore - an album said to be Ronnie Lane's best work post-Faces.

Today Steve is still playing bass with his band Slim Chance and with Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band. 

Jack phoned Steve to discuss his early musical beginnings, the impact Little Richard had on him, seeing bass for the first time when seeing local band The Strollers, the formation of Misty in 1969, his time in Misty, the bands album "Here Again", how he got to join The Foundations, the recording of "I'm Gonna Be a Rich Man", his memories of playing live with The Foundations, the break up of The Foundations, his session work during the early '70s, his work with Colin Blunstone, the recording of Ronnie Lane's Anymore for Anymore, the 1974 tour Ronnie Lane's Passing Show, and his recent work with Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band.

"Another thing the Foundations were doing was, which I applaud them for, when I joined them, they were moving away from the pop stuff, it turned out to not be a great career move in all honesty but they were trying to sort of expand their musical horizons if you like and I was all for that" - Steve Bingham on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about the musical direction of the Foundations' later work

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins