John Peacock

Considered to be the member of CA most likely to become a rock star and drunkenly crash his private jet into a mountain, he has so far confounded expectations by fullfilling none of these predictions, although he still plays the guitar.

John identified that the words Snot Babies might, thus combined, be a good name for a band. Or an appropriately bad name for a band.

He currently purveys merely blameless songs on his own site and improvised duets on Wednesday and What We Did.

GG writes, October 2026. John, CA’s wit and true musician, furnished us with some of our very earliest songs, and his extensive record collection was an important part of the musical education of both Ben and myself when we first met in 1979. He has always provided exactly the right guitar for CA, and these days continues to surprise with the creativity of his contributions. But he has also played bass, keyboards and saxophone (the last can be heard on the live “Magic Theatre” (Press My Hungry Button)), and occasionally (in the early ’80s) did lead vocal (“Shiny Guitar Music” and “For All Your Needs” are two that have been released (Press My Hungry Button)). On our second attempt, working remotely, on the basis of the words alone, he came up with the full music for “Blues” (Did You Hear The Music). Well, we have known each other for a very long time, but I still find it remarkable. Unlike Ben and myself, John never stopped with music making, to which he has always been wholeheartedly devoted, both recording and performing (I recall a debate where he spoke in favour of the motion “Life would not be worth living without music” (he and his partner won)). There were a couple of limited-run cassettes in the early ’90s on which there is some lovely work. I wish he would make them available at his Bandcamp (they include a very funny pastiche of Norland/Greenway CA lyrics in "I've Got A Culture"). Over the years John has become a master of his instrument, and he has also worked hard on his vocal technique. These days he specialises (to my ear), at least with the last song album, My Bumper Book Of Lies, in a brand of laid-back jazziness with very superior lyrics. I feel quite sure that the title track would be a hit if Dido did it. John, rightly and most certainly so these days, rather disdains my instrumental ability, but should I, on the rare occasion, manage to impress, he will, by way of compliment, dryly inquire, “Have you been practising?”. GG, 07/10/26