Lester and the Festers

The reggae-influenced Lester and the Festers was formed in 1979, with its prime movers Paul Lester and John Carr, and recorded at Bob Lamb’s studio, Kings Heath, where UB40 recorded its early work. Here they used the drummer for UB40, Jimmy Brown – this before UB40’s breakthrough as a major band.

Brown also performed with Lester and the Festers at a big gig at Summerfield Park about that time. Lester and the Festers rehearsed in the same basement in City Road, Birmingham as a group called The Beat, which would go on to have some commercial success.

Lester was also involved in this period with Dave Panton and John Adams in the jazz-influenced Lester and the Brew. A seven-track vinyl e.p. record by Lester and the Brew entitled ‘A Bad Day At The City’, recorded at Frank Skarth’s studio in Erdington, (the place where Musical Youth would also record), came out in 1981, part of which was played by John Peel on his show on BBC Radio 1.

All the work of Lester and the Brew and a number of tracks of Lester and the Festers, including those recorded with Jimmy Brown at Bob Lamb’s, are on the 23-track CD ‘The Legend of Lester’, which came out in 2004.