Come meet the band...

Meet the band...

Jarrelook began their days as a husband and wife duo back in 1998. The idea for the band came after a concert at Tracy's music school, Arietta. A number of songs had been played to an audience of pupil's parents and friends, amongst which numbers were four by Jean Michel Jarre. The idea of playing electronic music "covers" was bandied about after the show and a set list was drawn up. Upon inspection it was found that all but five of the proposed songs were Jarre's and so anyone else was dropped in favour of a full blown JMJ tribute - sorry Vangelis!!!

Jarrelook were born.

But that name did not immediately follow the birth of the band. Several names appeared and dissappeared almost as swiftly, "Oxyology", "Equiology" "Equigene, even"John & Michelle Jar" was half suggested - everything sounded totally naff until Martin had the idea of stringing together the title Zoolookologie with Jarre. Jarrelookologie had arrived... it was later decided to change it to Jarrelook in the interests of simplicity - only to find that a German fan site had already used exactly that name. So Jarrelookologie happened yet again and it stuck for a while longer until a memorable interview one day at BBC Radio Lancashire's studios in Blackburn...

Our first, and most memorable interview was with "Owd Bully" himself, the great Jim Bowen. During the show he called us a variety of names including "Jarry-look-o-logey" - it was crisis time again so afterwards it was back to Jarrelook with a vengeance!

And with that name we are firmly staying!!!

Who are we then?

*MartinF*	*TracyF*	*MarkS*

MartinF

Martin using the Roland VC330 Vocoder on Millions Of Stars...

Martin is part of the original husband/wife duo which went on to become Jarrelook. Born in Bath his parents came up to Lancashire before his first birthday and he went to school in Bury, Ramsbottom and finally Tottington. After leaving Bolton Technical College in 1975 he became a BBC television engineer working variously in outside broadcasts, studios, and lighting and he is now a freelance broadcast engineer working mainly for Sky Television. Martin met Tracy in 1990 and they married in '93. He first heard Jean Michel Jarre with the album Oxygene and followed the artist's work until Magnetic Fields at which time he drifted away from Jarre's music apart from the occasional televised concert such as Houston and Docklands. In '96 his interest in Jarre was rekindled with a trip to Manchester's Nynex Arena to see Oxygene 7-13 performed live on Jarre's indoor tour. That same album given to him as a Christmas present pretty much sealed the issue and Martin began playing Jarre's music for fun once again. In his youth and right up until the advent of Jarrelook Martin was really a bass guitar player although he had been tinkering with keyboards ever since he bought a monosynth in 1980 and a Mellotron soon after that, the same 'tron which Jarrelook use today. Apart from the band Martin's other interests include Ancient Egyptian studies and he can read a smattering of heiroglyphics, having studied the subject both at home and on several occasions in Egypt itself. He also enjoys reading, writing - he has written a novel - and shooting, being a former weapons instructor with the ACF. Martin plays keyboards within the band and is the overall show producer. He also creates the visual side of Jarrelook including the lighting, the laser graphics, the video graphics and Arkaos sequences.

TracyF

Tracy is the other half of the original Jarrelook. Born in Sutton Coldfield her family moved to Stourport On Severn before her first birthday. Tracy began playing keyboards at the age of 5 but she had no formal lessons before her tenth birthday. At the age of 17, whilst studying for her A levels, she was approached by Yamaha UK to act as a demonstrator on their Education Road Show, her abilities having been spotted when she had entered various Yamaha sponsored competitions. 18 months and a hurricane in Worthing later she was approached by a music school in Rossendale to become a staff tutor. Soon after the school took her on she met Martin and the two became a pair, selling their respective properties to move to a very damp and windy farm on the moors over Darwen. The damp in the house was so appalling that they didn't dare even get their keyboards out of storage so they moved eventually to a big Victorian Manse in Darwen where they now have their rehearsal studio. The music school in Rossendale folded very early on when the owner was caught out playing the field by his wife and as a result Tracy and all the other tutors were out of a job so she set up her own school, Arietta Music, which continues to go from strength to strength at it's premises on Deardengate in Haslingden. The school has also got a shop on the premises selling everything from sheet music to hi-tech instruments but specialising in Emu, Sennheiser and Steinberg products. Having Grade 8 Music Theory and Grade 8 Practical in Electronic Organ and currently Grade 5 Practical in Piano, Tracy is well qualified to look after the complexities of writing and arranging Jarrelook's music and her technical ability means she specialises in the very fast solos on the likes of "Oxygene Part 2" and "Equinoxe Part 3". She has extremely in depth knowledge of the sequencing package "Cakewalk" which the band use to create their songs - once written the parts they wish to play live are deleted to leave just drum, bass and sound effect tracks on. Tracy's other interests are - surprise surprise - not a million miles different from Martin's, and she too can read some heiroglyphic text having visited Egypt extensively before and since the couple met. Tracy's first contact with Jean Michel was with the network broadcast of the Houston concert and she continued to enjoy his music once Martin's interest rekindled in 1996. Her real hero however is Francis "Bunny" Rimbert whose ability never ceases to amaze her.

MarkS

Mark is the silent third member of the band though he is silent only as far as the audience are concerned. His duties are the direction of all none playing facets of the Jarrelook show, stage managing and he personally looks after the wiring and firing of pyrotechnics, the operation of special effects, running the lighting sequences AND to cap it all, the direction of the Laser/Video operator and the follow spot operators into the bargain - a very busy boy!!! As if that's not enough he is wired via a switched feed into the ears of the performers so that he can tell them in plenty of time to get out of the way of which ever pyrotechnic effect he is about to fire! Mark is the only true Lancastrian in the band having been born and raised in north Manchester whilst it was still part of Lancashire - ironically, living as he does in Whitefield today he is no longer a Lancastrian! Mark met Martin through becoming a member of Bury Sub-Aqua Club back in the early 80's where Martin was his instructor for quite a while. The two became firm friends and Mark was Best Man at Martin and Tracy's wedding. Today Mark works as a freelance control systems engineer and has travelled world wide on contracts, often in the oil industry. In the 1980's Mark undertook a self-build house project and he still lives in that property today. His involvement with the band began on a wintery Sunday afternoon when he was visiting Martin and Tracy and they demonstrated a version of "Chronologie Part 4" to him. Taken with the way the sound was being realised he gradually became more and more involved with the band until he took up the position he holds today. His sympathetic attitude (NOT) to Martin's pressure teddy chucking strops means he helps hold things firmly in check!