Due to the formal musical training and tastes of the band members, 64 Spoons were a musically accomplished and eclectic band who merged "ten-minute collections of rich jazz chords, contrapuntal bass lines, and liquid guitar solos"[1] with a strong sense of pop and bathetic English comedy.
The band's progressive rock (Hatfield and the North, Egg, Gentle Giant, King Crimson, Allan Holdsworth), classical (Bartók, Delius) and avant-garde (Henry Cow, Frank Zappa) influences were mingled with disco, West Coast sounds, and various types of '60s and '70s pop.
Jakko Jakszyk remembers that "We played our, at times, complex compositions with a punk-like ferocity and made sure that the lyrics to the songs were consciously unpretentious.
"[2] Reflecting the band's youth, song topics included various forms of social and sexual awkwardness ("It’s Only A Party", "Aggressive Travelling"), resistance to domesticity ("Plonder On"), the frustrations of suicide methods ("Ich Bin Heidi") and the music business ("The Do's and Don'ts of Path Laying"), running away from home ("Dear Clare") and a rumination on pets and the afterlife ("Tails in the Sky").
Coalescing around a line-up of Connah on drums, Crawford on bass and Neal on keyboards, 64 Spoons began playing concerts in and around their home base of Watford, Hertfordshire in 1976.
[3] Despite feeling that he was out of his musical depth, Jakko was soon installed as 64 Spoons' lead singer, guitarist and frontman, using his "insecurities and arrogance" to spur the band on.
[3] Retaining Emmett (on trumpet and backing vocals) and continuing as a five-piece, the band spent the next three years touring and playing around the United Kingdom in small venues, building up a reputation as an interesting cult act.
Jakko would later recall that the band had "somehow survived for a number of years by working our arses off and attempting to make our musical vision more palatable.
"[2] By 1980, 64 Spoons was nearing the end of its life, plagued by insecurity, internal bickering and feeling ever more at odds with British musical fashion and critical taste.
There was also a change of line-up: Jakko recalls that "in another inspired piece of career based decision making, we… sacked Ted (Emmett).
Jakko Jakszyk has been the most prominent ex-Spoon, having maintained an intermittent solo career producing a series of original albums as well as having been King Crimson's singer and second guitarist between 2013 and 2021 and Level 42's guitar player between 1991 and 1994.
Lyndon Connah also became a session player (working with Squeeze, Thomas Dolby, Wham!, Take That, Joe Cocker, Sinéad O'Connor, David Sylvian, Tom Robinson, The Human League and Prefab Sprout among others).
Tam Neal went on to a career in theatre (including a stint as part of the backing band for The Chippendales) and is known for his original scores for plays.
Andy Crawford mostly abandoned bass guitar to concentrate on playing the baroque flute (he is a regular performer with the Gabrieli Consort and the London Handel Orchestra) and for a career as a wood craftsman.