(c’88-’95) Andy Forrest (guitar), Chris Brewer (keyboards), Mike Warrington (vocals / harmonica), Kevin Whitchurch (tenor sax), Will Rowland (alto sax), Michael Quill (drums), Dan Beard (trumpet #1), Robin Walker (trumpet #2), Paul Huggett (rhythm guitar) and Mike Veness (bass).
Possibly the largest band of any on the local scene, Forrester & the Choppers featured a rotating list of band members that maxed out at 11 for one memorable Christmas gig at the Cricketers, Westfield in ’88. Other choppers between ’88 and ’92 were Adam Wolters (?), and Catherine and Heather Webb (backing vocals) who helped boost the bands blues / rock & roll that included ‘Route 66’, ‘Shake Your Money Maker’, ‘When Love Comes To Town’, ‘Jackpot’, and ‘Johnny B. Goode’. The band formed around Forrest, who’d previously been in Boogie Chillen, for Woking College’s Rag Week in ’88, from a nucleus of a college theatre bands, and then opened ABC Music’s Showcase ’89 at Guildford’s Civic Hall. Huggett, who was also performing as singer / songwriter Billy Liberator, stopped playing with the band in ’92.
In ’95, Forrest was invited to put the Choppers back together for a mini festival in Chertsey. The band proceeded to gig sporadically, doing weddings, parties, working men’s clubs & the like. The line-up was Forrest (vocal/guitar), Veness (bass) Huggett (guitar/vox) Jonny Grew (drums) and whoever else can be roped in on the night to beef up the sound!
One of the bands last gigs was in 2012 for Veness’ 40th, featuring Forrest, Huggett, Mike Palmer (guitar / keyboards) – who’d previously been music-tech teacher at Woking College and is now music composer and arranger for Mike Palmer Music – Grew and Gavin Peake-Jones sharing drum duties and Chris Brewer (harmonica). There was a notable attempt to get all the original members together a few years back, including a Facebook group called ‘Bring Back Forrest and the Choppers’.
Walker would later appear in The Soul Band/Soul Intentions. Forrest, who’d moved to Eastbourne, was struck by a car and killed just a week before his 76th birthday on 26 July 2023.
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