Clemens Jericho

Clemens Jericho of Poets of June, Space Chaos Theory, White Boys with Fairly Mild Opinions, and Jericho Jericho. Owner of the first worldwide club chain, inventor of the travelling festival (simultaneous tour), erstwhile lover of Edith Hellewell, father to Jesus Jericho, Jewell Jericho, and Pandora Hellewell

Clemens Jericho was unnassuming as a young man, a lone wolf who worked hard, touring the world in the guise of Poets of June. His business acumen was clear from early on; Clemens was always a guy who saw the possibilities. As the Poets became more succesful, he invested his earnings to buy a club, The Pink Polecat, but he quickly saw that what the Jazz world really needed was to be able to rely on a good club in every city. In those days, it wasn't easy to find somewhere to play, so when Clemens, ably assisted by Edward Akins, started to roll out his clubs, quickly bringing the up to Perfect status, he became very popular. Clemens was, at the time, the only person who could offer invitations for a complete world tour, and as such, was a major force in helping Jazz to thrive. Vermin Incorporated would offer a complete tour planning service to bands, taking into account travel time and available routes, and providing them with an entire tour, without them doing any work. This was supported by Weasel Records, a record studio in London, and proved very succesful.

Around this time, Clemens met Edith Hellewell, who would be a central figure in his life until long after her death. After meeting the budding starlet in the studio late one night, a romance of sorts developed, and Edith and Clemens became, if not lovers, at least toygirl and sugardaddy. A succesful man, at the helm of a large business empire, and now joined in Poets of June by Ella Schoolar and Dean Murray, Clemens' star was in the ascendent, and Edith took note of that. He was devoted to her, despite her legendary infidelity, scouring the earth and the underworld to procure unobtainable antique items and secret skill books for her. He even bought her a club, the Garden of Edith, which she first ran for Vermin Inc, but which was later transferred to her own company. This she ran as Popos first strip club. Clemens and Edith's first child was Jesus Jericho, whom they doted on and shared custody of, despite not being married. Poets of June were at their peak, and Clemens music career was continuing to blossom.

Spurred on by the success of his chain of Jazz clubs, Clemens committed himself to further investment, and proceeded to open a chain of Hip Hop clubs which also encircled the globe, one in every city. Whilst well recieved, these were never quite as succesful as the Jazz clubs, a fact which Clemens put down to the relative immaturity and unreliability of hip hop artists. He was never able to find quite such a supportive lieutenant for the Hip Hop business as Edward Akins had been, but soldiered on nevertheless. Vermin Inc grew and grew, and a third chain was added, as much for personal convenience as anything else, in the shape of Modern Rock clubs. The Hip Hop chain was losing money, and no suitable boss had been found for Funky Fresh Recordings, the Hip Hop label, which had failed to attract any significant signings, so Clemens took over Funky Fresh himself, and used it to support the Pink Polecat chain of MR clubs. Emboldened by his ongoing success as a club manager, and by the huge amounts of money being generated by Weasel Records, under Darren Adams, Clemens diversified still further. Rehearsal studios, security firms, hotels and shops were all brought under the Vermin banner, with varying levels of success. The height of Poet's of June's success came when they pioneered the concept of the Travelling Festival. Driven by Clemens, Worldstock was a joint tour with 6 bands, all playing at the same venue on the same night in each city, and was followed by Globestonebury, a larger but similar event. These were popular with bands, who would travel together, and with venues, who could guarantee big gate receipts when the tours came to town. The idea was quickly adopted by many other bands, and Vermin Incorporated, with its global reach in 3 genres, cashed in big time.

In the meantime, Dean Murray departed Poets of June to go solo again as a Blues artist, and Clemens and Ella, succesful as they were, could not resist Edward Akins and Grant Rapid's offer to join Space Chaos Theory, their new Pop act. SCT was a huge success, reaching the top 5 in the Pop charts, Vermin was one of the biggest businesses in Popoworld, and Edith gave birth to their second child; it appeared that Clemens had the golden touch, and nothing could go wrong for him. With this level of confidence, Clemens could not resist running for Mayor of London, but the first signs of cracks appeared, as Edith offered her support to Michael Maynard. In the event, Connie Perkins won the election, and Clemens dream of bringing his vision and entrepreneurial gifts to the political arena were dashed. Further trouble in Clemens and Ediths relationship (beyond Edith's constant infidelity) was shown by the fact that Pandora, their second child, was given the surname Hellewell. Edith increasingly denied Clemens access to his children, and was infuriated when he made a business arrangement with little known singer Christelle Degennaro, who gave birth to Jewell Jericho, and was paid handsomely to hand over sole custody to Clemens.

Ultimately, the wonderful ride that was Space Chaos Theory came to an end, and Clemens found himself without a globe-bestriding music act for the first time in many years. Dean Murray and long time confidante Malcolm Edgar came to the rescue with an exciting new Hip Hop act; White Boys with Fairly Mild Opinions. Clemens enjoyed the challenge of this new genre, and of his place behind the turntables, but further signs that he was losing his grip came as the band signed to another label, missing perhaps his last chance to make a success of his Hip hop label. Clemens drive to do business was waning, and he gradually began to sell off the Vermin empire, beginning with the Hip Hop clubs, and the rag tag assortment of locales into which he had tried to diversify. The demands of running such a huge empire were too much, and as Clemens grew older, and Edith turned increasingly away from him, along with their children, his energy was waning.

WFMO lasted for one album, a clutch of singles, and a couple of very succesful tours, but the commitment wasn't there to take it to the very top, in the way that Clemens previous acts had. Clemens and Dean flirted with the possibility of launching a folk band called The Fighting Irish, but a new megalomania was creeping into the distraught Jericho, as he tried to come to grips with the loss of his family. He became obsessed with a need to become the greatest songwriter the world has ever seen, and came to see this as his route to the one challenge that still evaded him, the giddy heights of the Who's Winning chart. Clemens abandoned touring altogether, and began to study like a man possessed. Almost as an afterthought, he started Poets of June Greatest Hits, which came to be seen almost as a tribute band to himself, and something of a joke amongst other musicians. For the longest time, he only performed in London, spending most of his time shut away either studying, or writing, writing or studying as he built up a huge store of songs. Almost all of Vermin Inc was sold, even finally the Pink Polecat, the club at which it had all started, until Clemens owned only his two record studios, Weasel Records, still ably managed by Darren Adams, and Funky Fresh Recordings, run by Clemens himself. When Jewell, his constant companion, finally came of age, she joined PoJ Greatest Hits, with the aim that it would become her band when Clemens, his songwriting odyssey complete, left. Clemens believed above all that the huge storehouse of great songs he was writing would make him irresistible to the most famous bands, and that he could help to catapult one of them to the very top.

So, as Clemens grafted, he also tried to give Jewell the best chance he could. They recorded an album together, mostly retakes on PoJ's great works, but Jewell's first song featured too. As Clemens slaved away, and his busines dwindled, the music world he had known gradually crumbled too. Dean, Ella and Malcolm all died, and Jesus, driven by his mother's cruelty and the lack of seeing his father, turned to drink and drugs, and killed himself. Clemens' rage drove him still further into himself, and at last, he completed his vast songbook, and prepared to return to the world of music. Leaving Poets Of June Greatest Hits to Jewell, who set off on her first tour, he set out to find the band which would take him to the top. What he found was that rather than the collosus he had been, with a huge global business, a political profile, and a great musical reputation, he had become a has-been. The world had forgotten Clemens, some thought of him as washed up, but many didn't remember him at all. His hopes of leaping back into the highest echelon were dashed; most of the bands he approached did not even return his messages. Finally, he recognized the truth of where he was, and set about instead working with Jewell, who had returned lonely from her tour, missing the only person she had ever been close to, and Jericho Jericho was launched.

No longer a hollow vehicle for trotting out the old hits, and with Jewell remaining as band leader, no longer the junior member, Jericho Jericho set off to conquer the world once more. With Clemens and Jewell's songwriting abilities combined, they were able to tour almost non stop around Europe, and their fame grew rapidly, along with their record sales. As they toured, more of the past fell away; Edith lost touch with reality more and more, and despite Clemens' attempts to win her back, Panda went off the rails, and went the same way as Jesus. Finally, Edith also lost her will to live, and Clemens felt his heart had died, and that truly the only joy and warmth left to him was Jewell. Despite his terrible treatment at her hands, he had never stopped holding a candle for Edith.

Today, Jericho Jericho continue their ascent, and Clemens continues to hope for more. Rumour has it that there might even be a new woman in his life at last….

Character's band history.

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