Essential Bop has been played on NTS in shows including All Fruits Ripe w/ Jack Sapsed, featured first on 22 July 2019. Songs played include Chronicle.

Essential Bop was formed in the spring of 1978 by a disparate bunch of musicians, mostly refugees from assorted Bristol bands like The Cortinas (Mike Fewings, guitar), The Biros (Steve Bush, singing) and, er, Dragon Sandwich (Simon Tyler, keyboards). Dave Robinson (who was responsible for starting the band) was a bluesman who had played bass with the likes of 'Champion' Jack Dupree and Joe Cocker. Nick Tufnell had never played drums before, but really wanted to so, like, why…