What can you say about the bass playing (and way more) legend that is Ade Shaw? Well, let’s have a try.

Ade was born in London in 1947, and was into music from an early age. He went to gigs throughout the early 60s and saw countless bands and artists at Flamingo All-Niters, Eel Pie Island and all the other famed London venues.

By the mid 60s Ade was playing bands such as White Rabbit, J.P Sunshine and others. At the end of the 60s he teamed up with singer, guitarist ‘Rustic’ Rod Goodway, drummer Drachen Theaker and lead player Andy ‘Android Funnel’ Rickell, forming Rustic Hinge. Settling at a farmhouse in Dorset, they found that Arthur Brown and also High Tide were neighbours and friendships were formed that have lasted decades. Eventually Rod & Ade moved to Bristol and formed darlings of the underground scene, Magic Muscle. Ade had a spell playing bass with Arthur Brown, also a brief sojourn with Atomic Rooster.

By the mid-70s, Ade had played bass with Keith Christmas and Mike Moorcock’s Deep Fix. Ade was well-regarded by the guys in Hawkwind, and when Lemmy departed their ranks, they asked him to join. For the next three years Ade travelled the world and recorded albums with them. Following an appearance on the Marc Bolan TV Show, he was even asked to join the new T.Rex, but sadly Bolan’s death soon after prevented that from happening. Around this time Ade became a father, and decided he wanted to stay at home and watch his son grow up, so from a life of touring and playing, Ade took the unlikely step of becoming a London bus driver.

In the mid- 80s, Ade was involved in a reunion tour of Magic Muscle, and when their guitarist Huw Gower, then living in NYC, could not make it to the UK for further shows, Ade asked his friend Nick Saloman of The Bevis Frond to help out. As a result of this, Ade became the bass player of The Bevis Frond and spent the next 30 years playing in the band. During that time he has also played shows with The Hawklords and recorded several solo albums. Recently, he has had to stand down from touring and gigging for personal reasons, but happily this has not prevented him from recording a new album. So it is with great pride and delight that we are now able to release ‘A Dark Reflection’ on Blue Matter. Eleven brand new songs ranging from out and out psychedelia, through rock to even a splash of lilting balladry.

With Ade playing all the instruments bar a couple of guest appearances from Nick Saloman & Bari Watts, this is the Ade Shaw album we’ve all been waiting for. It’s a real stormer, and it’s a great privilege to be able release it on our label.

Give it a listen & hopefully you’ll see what we mean.