Quasimodo were a Prestatyn based band during 1976/77, formed of, David Kitchingman (aka Dave Sharp) on guitar, Nigel Buckle on drums, Glyn Crossley on bass (later of The Toilets), and Karl Wallinger who would later be in World Party/The Waterboys
When I first met Dave, he was playing in a local band with Twist called Quasimodo. The other member of the band was actually Karl Wallinger, who you may know from World Party. Karl was from this part of the world and he was a brilliant keyboard player, brilliant musician and still is. The first time I saw Dave play a gig was with Karl and they were supposed to go down to London and try and make it. I remember being a little punk rock kid and I could play about three chords on the guitar and they were like these brilliant musicians. Dave and Twist were in this band and they used to do The Who and everything. They were really good, a bit hippy’ish, but really good. So they were going to go to London and try and make it. I remember being sat outside Nige’s house, we used to go round there because that was where all the musicians were. They were supposed to go to London the next day and Karl Wallinger turned up with all these suitcases and it was all happening. Then Dave’s dad came from Manchester and was really upset about it all. I remember him steaming into the house and all the doors banged shut. They must have been chatting in there for about two hours while we sat outside. I felt like a Sun reporter, waiting for the news outside. When they all came out, Dave and Nige’s dad and Karl’s parents, it was all off and they weren’t going to London. Dave’s dad wanted Dave to pass all his exams and join the navy and become a sort of “Ay Ay Captain”. That was the end of Quasimodo really – Mike Peters – Alarm 2000 Day
Interviewer : Your music career started when you were twenty years old. Before going it alone as World Party, you had spells in bands, notably with David Sharp and Nigel Twist of the Alarm, working in music publishing and I gather working in a West End production of ‘The Rocky Horror Show’. Did you feel that music was somehow “in the blood” even if you weren’t performing?
Karl : I had thousands spent on my education for some unknown reason, and I went back home after school and met the guys from the Alarm up there in Wales. I knew a guy who used to be a jockey for the owner of Chrysalis Records, and years later he rode a horse called Ship of Fools after my record. Anyway, he played bass with us, and Dave Sharp played guitar when he was in town. They were called Quasimodo when I found them and they were playing things like The Who’s ‘Live at Leeds’ album note for note and it was great; Nigel was thundering away on this drum kit – he was a crazy psycho, he used to drive around these terribly narrow lanes to this pub we used to go to. He drove like a lunatic – it was a wonder that we didn’t end up in a heap of flaming metal. Taken from a World Party Interview with Karl Wallinger by Andy Cassidy
(Page updated 09/06/2022)