Indieobit: Jo Dunne

Terrible news last night that Jo Dunne from We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use It has died.

Fuzzbox were ace. Although you can imagine bands like them existing now, it's harder to picture them having quite the same career trajectory because the world has changed so much.

A couple of singles on Robert Lloyd's Vindaloo Records. Full advantage taken of The Chart Show playing indie videos regularly at a time when not all indie records had videos. Transitioning to WEA, and at the same time making the leap from being favourites of Record Mirror to the pages of Smash Hits. Soundtracking a key moment in Emmerdale Farm (they were playing on the Land Rover radio when Jackie Merrick accidentally shot himself). Then WEA got bored, dropped them, they split.

Ah, yes, that 'pretending to ride a scooter' video for Rules And Regulations, which felt like it popped up every third week for about a year and a half. Take it away, away, a-way-hey-hey:

If you need further proof of just how extraordinary these days were, here's the Vindaloo Summer Special, which saw Fuzzbox, The Nightingales and Ted Chippington come together for a bit of a time. The upshot? Ted Chippington on kid's TV:

The band reformed in 2010 - after Vix had been in the line-up on Never Mind The Buzzcocks, strangely enough. There was even a comeback cover:


Maggie spoke about her sister with BBC News:

"Jo is one of the very few female guitarists in this country that had any recognition and any success," she said.

"People from other bands admired her eccentric style."

She said Jo died peacefully after a short illness.

"I want everyone to remember her for being so brave at the end," she added

Jo Dunne was 43. She died from cancer on Friday night.