Bob Collins

As the guitarist in the Medway, England band the Dentists, Bob Collins had a hand in some of the best neo-psychedelic pop of the '80s, as well as some very good indie rock as the band evolved throughout the early '90s. After leaving the group in 1995, Collins took a short break from the music biz before returning to play guitar and write songs for Fortune West in 2000. He next reunited with former Dentists' vocalist Mick Murphy in the group Fortress Madonna for an album and EP in 2002. Continuing a trend, he joined up with another ex-Dentist, Mark Matthews, in the mid-2000s, forming a band (the Great Lines) and hitting SXSW in 2005 but never releasing any music. Striking out on his own in 2007, Collins rounded up former Dentists drummer Rob Grigg and bassist Mark Aitken to start a new project called Bob Collins & the Full Nelson. He also found time to co-author a book on the Medway scene of the mid-'80s (The Kids Are All Square), played with the punk-blues group Stuart Turner & the Flat Earth Society, and helped run Medway's Homespun Music Festival. These factors could help to explain why it took until 2015 for the first Full Nelson album to be released. Recorded over a two-year span, Telescopic Victory Kiss was released by U.S. indie pop label Jigsaw Records.
© Tim Sendra /TiVo