although the bonzos had started out playing and parodying trad jazz and 1920s-style popular music, by 1967 they were contemplating embracing a more contemporary style of rock music, in order to counter claims that they sounded too much like the temperance seven or the fictional, studio-concocted new vaudeville band. in fact although they were now exclusively managed by gerry bron, the bonzos were invited to perform live as the new vaudeville band in order to capitalise on the fictional group's recent chart success with "winchester cathedral"—an offer the bonzos immediately declined in favour of retaining their own artistic control. however bob kerr happily agreed to help form a real new vaudeville band, allegedly taking the bulk of his former bandmates' stage act with him, a move which finally forced the bonzos' hand over the change of direction (kerr later went on to create his own long-standing early bonzos/vaudevilles-style band, bob kerr's whoopee band, which included other ex-bonzos sam spoons and vernon bowhay-nowell in its future line-ups). according to neil innes, the bonzos had learned a salutary lesson about the pitfalls of show business: