The Cosmic Sausages were originally born out of a band called “the Swinging Plonkers” which was an acoustic rock ‘n’ roll skiffle band with guitar, banjolele, T-chest Bass, snare drum, harmonica and saxophone, and played the streets and lots of parties between 1983 and 1989. Some of the members were actors, so despite some glorious summer tours to places such as Milan, Barcelona, Seville and Brittany and some great streetshows in Covent Garden, the band was unable to play for months on end due to acting commitments.

So in the summer of 1990, Simon, Jo, Mark and Sophie decided to find a new direction with some committed players. To make the band a totally new and interesting venture they all swapped instruments: Jo from T-chest bass to violin, Simon from Guitar to Double Bass, Sophie from drums to accordion and Mark from Harmonica to Guitar. And they found a new member: Frank Powlesland ("Sausage Presley"), who played Guitar and Mandolin. The name they thought of (as they ventured off for a month to play the streets in France) was Frank and the Centimes, and off they went to the mountains of Chamonix and Argentiere, where a brand new street act was formed. The comedy and humour of "the Plonkers" was retained and developed with a brand new set of songs and some juicy jigs and reels thrown in. The tour was so successful and the earnings so good that it was realised that the band could travel and survive almost anywhere, for as long as it wanted.

Epic European Tour

They decided to embark on a 5-month street tour of Europe, and left on April 9th 1991. For the tour they added Adrian Walker on snare drum and played their first shows of the tour in France. It was here that the name the Cosmic Sausages was found, as the band realised that whilst visiting lots of different countries the name 'Frank and the Centimes' was not the ticket!. A Frenchman suggested 'Les Saucisses Cosmiques' as a good name and seeing that the other suggestions were ridiculous names such as "John Barnes and the football results" and "Anal Si and the Wafters'", the name Les Saucisses Cosmiques got the nod. The tour turned out to be an epic adventure with over 250 streetshows performed in France, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Germany, and Switzerland. The name changed to Le Salcicce Cosmiche, Cosmichen Wursten, Kolbekosh Korbesok and Parki Kosmitski, depending on the language of the country we were in, and it was only five month's later when they returned to England that they were called The Cosmic Sausages. The Sausage show was developed hugely during this tour and by the peak of the summer in the packed cities of Vienna, Budapest and Prague, the Sausages played a whole series of massive Streetshows. The Old Town Square in Prague was perhaps the peak, where audiences of 400+ watched the 90-minute show every night for two weeks. The show was squeaky tight and the audiences screamed for more. After a few nights, a large crowd would assemble waiting for the nightly performance and the crowds full of 'Sausage fever' were quite amazing - their noise reverberating and echoing around the square. The band fell in love with the place and vowed to return. September arrived and the band with voices gone, instruments worn and after 5 month's of intensive activity, trooped back to England to resurrect their homes and relationships.

Back in England the band played on, but playing the streets of London in the cold and rain with the oppressive busking laws didn't have quite the same appeal. However the band started playing a whole range of Pubs, Clubs, Weddings, Funerals, barmitzvahs, Stadiums and Garden fetes.
The following summer (1992) the Sausages decided to embark on another tour, but with Mark and Adrian unavailable, recruited local talent Greg to play Guitar and left as a five-piece straight to Prague. Again they had a whole series of stunning streetshows in the Old Town square, but also took time out to visit the small Czech village of Potstejn where they played shows for some huge children's summer camps and all the local bars and made many friends. The time spent in Czechoslovakia was so good that permanently locating there was seriously considered. At the end of the tour the band was invited to the Ferrara Buskers’ festival in Italy, which is an amazing festival with over 80 street acts playing to thousands of people for a week, and the band went down a storm and sowed some serious seeds in Italy as a result.
As the band came back to England it had loads of new, well-rehearsed material and as that five-piece, had more availability than had been previously possible, so it remained as that line-up and started to play more often in-and-around England. A Bath connection had sprung up through Steve Henwood, (a fellow busker at Ferrara, promoter of the Bell pub and co-organiser of the Bath Fringe festival). Bath and the Sausages was a happy marriage with the streets of Bath being great for busking and with many family and friends also living there, the Band found themselves trooping up the M4 for long weekends with regularity.

The following Summer the Sausages decided to embark on another 5- week tour but Frank could only make the last two weeks, so Mark came back to play guitar and versatile musician Greg swapped to Mandolin as they went off to Prague and Budapest. Mark’s theatrical skills are immense and the streetshows were as good as ever. The band revisited Potstejn and also played at Simon and Jo's cousin's wedding in Eger in Hungary, which was a great success. Frank came back for the second half of the tour and they went to the Neuchatel buskers’ festival in Switzerland where another great series of shows occurred and the financial advantages of playing large streetshows in a rich western country were realised bigtime. The tour ended in the mountains of Chamonix where again the Sausages revisited old friends and found very fertile Busking territory. Chamonix seemed to be an excellent place with its proximity to Italy and Switzerland and just full of bar gigs and fertile Busking opportunities. The Band soon made a name for itself there.

Home
Back in England, several agencies started offering engagements and the Band started getting better known even though the vast majority of it's shows especially the streetshows had been abroad. Appearances at the Glastonbury festival started as well as jaunts to places such as Monte Carlo, Rome, Andria, and all over England. Sophie fell in love with an Australian and decided to emigrate, so Celia Forestall joined to play accordion and became an excellent addition to the band.

...but not for long!
The following summer (1994), the band decided to go to Copenhagen, but with Jo and Celia not available for the first two weeks went as four boys. Omar Karmi (a Danish friend living in London) joined on guitar originally just for two weeks, but was so good he soon became a permanent fixture. The boys decided to get a totally new show together and after weeks of rehearsal launched themselves on the streets of Copenhagen vowing not to play a previously played song. This injection of new material once worked-in gave the band a second wind. After two weeks they travelled south to meet up with the girls armed with a new show and did the Neûchatel Buskers festival again to rave reviews. Another successful trip to Chamonix followed and the bands vast repertoire meant that every show could be different and tailored to every conceivable occasion.
The band became busier and busier in England but also did an April tour of Holland and Belgium playing the streets of Amsterdam and Haarlem. In the summer the band played numerous English festivals before embarking on another large tour of Switzerland, France and Italy using Chamonix as a base. The only problem was Celia falling in love with a mountaineer who had just come back from Antarctica after two years and felt claustrophobic in Argentiere a small mountain village. It was soon obvious they weren't going to settle in London, and in fact are now living happily ever after in the Lake District with kids.

Contacts were made suggesting that a winter tour of the ski bars was possible. The following winter Mark, Simon, Greg, Omar and a dear friend and brilliant accordionist Dan Teper went to investigate and spent a month skiing by day and playing by night. Whilst not as lucrative as streetshows it was a lot of fun and it was soon obvious that it would become a regular event. Offers were coming in thick and fast and the band was getting busier and busier. Omar left to go to Jordan and learn Arabic so the band settled as a five-piece with Simon, Jo, Mark, Greg and Dan. The summer of '96 was spent with two tours: one with a tour of Switzerland and France for a month and the next, four Buskers' festivals in Italy: Calabria, Santa Sofia, Castellaro and Ferrara for three weeks. It was a highly successful summer and the show had become brilliant.
Kids were beginning to arrive back in England so the dilemmas of working at home or abroad were great. Some of the band were finding it increasingly difficult to travel whilst leaving girlfriends and kids at home. As a result, Luke Moreton (on guitar) and Philippe Wittwer (on accordion) joined the squad, and during this period, the band appeared in England as: Simon, Greg, Luke Jo, Mark, and Dan, and abroad as Simon, Greg, Luke and Phillipe ('The Goat band' - so called because they're always in the mountains).
With Philippe joining the squad, the band had the capacity to do as much as possible. There were winter tours of the ski resorts in 1996-2001 and many many summer tours to Switzerland, Italy and France while the band has become increasingly busy in England with lots of agents such as Crowdpullers, Zap productions, Fools Paradise, the Full Effect and The Ultimate Experience offering a whole range of gigs in a huge variety of situations.

CD
The Sausages have two CDs - 'A Fistful of Sausages' and 'Great Hits' both of which have been highly acclaimed and played on many radio stations. The Sausages still play the streets of local towns in and around London and make regular visits to Bath. The band has played at eight Glastonbury festivals, playing the Theatre marquee, the outside Circus stage, Croissant Neuf, the Nip Inn, the Wise Crone Cafe, the Bandstand and Babylon - as well as the backstage pyramid last night bash.

2008 and beyond...
The Band is now in its umpteenth year and still as busy as ever. Most of the gigs are done by our core 4 piece of Simon, Dan, Greg and Luke, although Mark and Jo still play with us at big festival and some village halls! We've started playing regularly on the Rural Touring Scheme in Village Halls mainly in Somerset and Oxfordshire, which suits our show well and gives us an opportunity to perform shows in Winter. In 2006 we appeared on stage with Eric Idle at the Palace Theatre for his 'Spamalot Launch' and we've got a schedule full of Parties, Weddings, Festivals of all shapes and sizes, a couple of trips to Italy and a week in France.
The last few years have seen the Cosmic Sausages become ever more popular - and from the long (but mainly summer) tours of the early days, we now perform practically all year. Alongside the weddings and parties and company events have come new festivals, new agents and ventures into cyberspace with this website and a MySpace presence (www.myspace.com/cosmicsausages).
But in all our performances, we try to keep the same spirit we've always had.