Anyone looking for “The Harper Brothers” jazz group from the late 1980s with Winard Harper and Philip Harper will be sorely disappointed. These are the original Harper Brothers formed in the mid 80’s by Torchy Harper aka Clive Day. Torchy Harper spent the first few years living in a gas station in Watford, England, with only his dog Sam and his brother Colin for company. Years later things have changed. Torchy now lives in France and Colin has become an accountant and the subject of the song ‘In the City’. His Sam’s dog has now grown into a real boy and the dog is now known as Gary.
Torchy Harper now runs one of the messiest bars in the French Alps and spends the entire winter drunk, buoyed up by lively drinking games at ‘La Grotte’ in the ski resort of Serre Chevalier, France. In the summer, Torchy usually rebuilds the bar from scratch, ready for the next winter.
The Harper Brothers have been playing regularly at Serre Chevalier since 2001 and have been continually pestered by a bearded Dane named Alfred Hede Hansen from Ringe, Denmark, who shows up every winter for their ski vacation. Alfred always said “you have to come play in my town in Denmark, the people will love it!”. The Harper Brothers get a lot of offers like this and regularly give out contact details and say “give us a call when you’ve arranged some gigs”. Nobody does, except Alfred.
In 2004 The Harper Brothers gave their first concerts in and around Odense and Ringe. The reception has been fantastic, the Danes love this twisted and politically incorrect band of rock and pop covers and join in on the horrendous drinking games in true Viking style. A red-haired, pale-skinned maiden from Ringe was so impressed that she went to live in France and later married the guitarist in 2005.
The Harper Brothers have loved the enthusiasm and completely ‘over the top’ hospitality of the Danish people. Anyone who thinks of Denmark as a cold and boring country should think again. In the summer the weather is great and the Danes are some of the warmest people you will ever meet.
The Harper brothers are:
- Torchy Harper (vocals, guitar and harmonica)
- Mike Sukov (guitar and vocals)
- Ricky Mullett (bass and vocals)
- Niv McSporren (drums, vocals and cross-dressing)