Former Twelfth Night bassist Clive Mitten has revisited three of his old band’s early vinyl releases on his new album Suite Cryptique. Prog looks back on the musician’s career so far and uncovers the story behind the first in a series of ambitious reimaginings.

Words: Grant Moon

Brighter times lay ahead for Clive Mitten.

Portrait: Angela Mitten

Clive Mitten recalls the fight was after a show at Thetford Sports Centre, in Christmas 1981. Twelfth Night had shared the bill with glam NWOBHM band Tygers Of Pan Tang. “Everyone was hammered and leapt in the pool for a game of water polo,” he tells Prog, “but with a metal chair as the ball. It became a ‘throw the chair at the opposition’ game, us versus Tygers, and it was very unsafe, put it that way. It was just one of those very drunken things. We had a lot of fun back then, some really good laughs.”

Such shenanigans aside, Twelfth Night’s dramatic, socially aware music made them one of the key British bands on the 80s prog scene. Inspired by Bolan and Bowie, Mitten would doll himself up to the nines for gigs, dressed in clothes passed on to him by a string of girlfriends. When a female fan lost an earring at a show they’d gift Mitten with the remaining one; he’d link these tokens together into a long chain that dangled from one ear. Mitten became known as ‘The Bird On The Bass’ (look, this was 40 years ago), as the band built up a following across the clubs including Soho’s fabled Marquee. “I lived nearby, above the Duke Of Argyll [pub], and I’d leave the Marquee absolutely hammered in all the makeup and high heels, and I’d often fall in the gutter. The local prostitutes knew me, and they’d get me upright and take me home.”