Gone To Lunch Productions

PO Box 28013, West Norwood, London SE27 0WH.
telephone : 020 8761 6890
email : GTLproductions@hotmail.co.uk
 
Gone To Lunch Productions is the business name of songwriter, drummer, producer and recording engineer Michael 'Stix' Natkanski from Colchester in Essex. His musical career began in 1972 as the drummer of the esoteric glam rock band The Mighty Plod, widely and justifiably recognised as the worst-named band in the history of British pop. If only they had realised at the time....

A year later singer/songwriter (now poet and journalist) Martin Newell joined the band. When MIDI was but a skirt length, they set up their own homespun recording studio on the campus of nearby Essex University, and began writing and recording their own jazzy pop material, whilst financing themselves with dodgy gigs as an increasingly reluctant covers band in the cultural dustbins of back street Ipswich and Norwich bars. In '75 they signed to London indie label Banjul Records and cut six tracks just before Banjul went under, one of which unexpectedly re-surfaced last year in the Velvet Tinmine compilation.

 

Martin Newell went on to become Britain's most published poet, and also recounted the band's sordid yet humourous story in his book 'This little ziggy...' Published by House of Stratus. In 2004 The film rights to the tale were sold and it will now be realised as a comedy - One reviewer called it a "Spinal Tap of the A12".

After that, he backed Elvis impersonators at the end of Clacton pier, and took the drummer's chair with vintage 60s soul act Lucas playing alongside erstwhile school friend Mick Hutton who later recovered enough to have a great career in jazz.

Next he was picked for EMI's 70s boy band Fiver, under producer Zack Laurence and 60s songwriters Ken Howard and Alan Blaikely , of Dave, Dee, Dozy et al fame, but both their singles only supported the rest of the chart... (Fiver also included singer Michael Stuart, one time child star of 'Oliver', and a youthful guitarist Kevin Armstrong, who later went on to work with David Bowie, Lou Reed, Thomas Dolby, Morrisey and others)

A bizarre dressing room lager incident revealed he was good at long words, which dented his drummers' credibility, so much so that he ran away to academia to live as a "mature student" for most of the next ten years, eventually graduating in Psychology and then Software Engineering.

He continued performing throughout the student years, in the form of cabaret gigs, naff covers bands, songwriter demo sessions, and even a pit band gig in a provincial production of 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'.

He played drums in Martin Newell's studio band "The Stray Trolleys" which also included Bassist and Producer Tony Phillips who later worked with Duran Duran, Joni Mitchell, Prefab Sprout, Pete Townsend and All about Eve. Their debut album Diminished Responsiblity , recently re-issued as Barricades and Angels, was favourably compared to Squeeze by the press, which Michael regarded as a serious accolade. He also did a few tracks on his early "Cleaners from Venus" albums, and gigged with renowned bluegrass/rockabillies 'The Colonel's Allstars', and the South London 60s tribute band "Ready Steady Go!". He claims to be the only drummer to have recorded a heavy jazz/rock fusion version of Tony Orlando's "Tie a yellow ribbon (round the old oak tree)" !

In '91 he began studying classical piano at London's Morley College, and by '93 he had got a small publishing deal with Bucks Music, and recorded a few songs featuring 80s Reggae chart topper Carl St. Clair. Then he was so shocked by the small print of his publishing contract that he went back to college yet again, and In '96 he successfully completed the course in 'Music and the law' at the City University. This enabled to set up his own organisation, "Gone To Lunch Productions" - the name was inspired by his experience of the EMI marketing and PR functions back in the 70s. He also set up Top 10 Computing, an IT consultancy specialising in the music business which gave him some unexpected insights into what music companies actually do (and of course, what they don't do).

Michael's current speciality is developing classically inspired pop. He is sometimes busy writing radio friendly tunes with various collaborators, including classical composer and theatrical vocal coach Lisa Westerhout, and they are recording two very promising new voices, Lorna Phillips and Melinda Brooks. In September 05 he began a music degree, specialising in composition, at London University's Royal Holloway College, and is still occasionally active as a session drummer, he uses a Roland MIDI kit which enables him to offer real kit feel with MIDI convenience. So he may be worth a call if you like that 60s jangly pop style of drums or that laid back mininalist style as typified by Russ Kunkel, Dallas Taylor and Ringo Starr. He also has a little sideline as a recording engineer doing location recordings of classical music, typically pianists and smaller ensembles.

Michael particulary likes Swimming and Chocolate.
 
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