Colin Richardson Interview Pt 3 The Marquee Club 1964-65
Colin Richardson worked as a Night manager at The Marquee Club between Autumn 1964 until
early 1965, under the supervision of Harold Pendleton and John Gee. How did that come about? And what was your role?
My route into the Marquee was through the National Jazz Federation, which was set up by Harold and Barbara Pendleton, who were both jazz enthusiasts, mainly to act as an agency for Chris Barber and other ‘trad’ bands and to run the Marquee Club (at that time in Oxford Street). Later they founded the Reading Jazz and Blues Festival, which in those days, was exactly that…jazz and blues. They had a tiny office just off (I think) Dean Street, where Chris’s sister Audrey also worked. I met them through my involvement with the “Jazzhouse” and the New Jazz Orchestra, which was runner-up at the 1964 festival’s newcomers competition. Some time later, they asked if I would like to be a ‘night manager’ at the Marquee. Naturally, I jumped at the chance.
Harold and Barbara worked mostly at the NJF offices, a short walk away in Dean Street, which were quite modest, just 2 or 3 rooms over (I think) a restaurant.That’s where they ran the admin, booked the bands etc. I didn’t see them at the club much, though they would sometimes show up on Humph’s night. (Humphrey Lyttelton Band). I ran the Monday night session with Long John Baldryand the Steampacket, as well as Wednesdays, which featured the Humphrey Lyttelton Band.
The atmosphere in the club was always pretty good, whatever the size of audience, though it could get very hot and sweaty when it was full. As ‘night manager’, I had to oversee the whole evening, ensure the box office was set up, cash float, etc… check that the band was ready to go on at the right time, cash up at the close, pay the bands, etc… Lock up and go home. Everything except the catering.
The bands were nearly always booked by John Gee, the club manager or through the office, in the case of American visiting musicians. Some of the artists could be quite difficult. I frequently had problems on the Monday night, when Long John Baldry and the Steampacket played. Baldry and Rod Stewart always seemed to end up arguing over the money and sometimes the keyboard player Reg Dwight, later to re-invent himself as Elton John, would also get involved. I often had to practically throw them out, so I could catch my last train. Never had problems with Humph’s band, who all behaved like the professionals they were.
The Marquee was an extremely important step on the way to my music biz career. I made some very
influential contacts, which I sustained over the next years or so. It provided me with excellent experience in dealing with bands etc…. plus it meant I could pretty much always get my bands on there when I wanted. As they say… it’s who you know, as much as what you know! Remember, Harold, Barbara and John also ran the Reading Festival at that time, so my relationship with them paid big dividends later on. Though I only worked there a few months… it certainly played a big part in my getting into the music biz.
Colin Richardson – Interview with Trev Teasdel Pt 2 –
THE JAZZHOUSE CLUB – Blackheath 1962
In 1962 Colin Richardson co-ran The Jazzhouse Club (at the Green Man Pub) in Blackheath. I
asked Colin to describe the club.
“The jazz club was held at the Green Man pub in Blackheath every Sunday evening, upstairs in what was euphemistically referred to as the “Banqueting Suite”. It was a decent sized room, which originally had a tiny triangular stage across one corner of the room (though this was later enlarged to an oblong area which extended right across one end of the room). The ‘house band‘ was the Ian Bird Quintet… the line-up was usually tenor and baritone saxes, plus rhythm section of piano bass drums, occasionally augmented with a trumpet player. They played ‘straight down the line’ jazz, mostly by guys like Oliver Nelson, Benny Golson, Miles Davis etc. with arrangements usually by Clive Burrows (the bari player). Every week a different ‘star’ soloist would be booked…Tubby Hayes, Joe Harriott, Ronnie Scott, Don Rendell, Tommy Whittle…all the current premier league instrumentalists of the day. They all got paid the same fee…£5 (which was about 3 times what the resident musicians took home!) The resident band would play the first half, then, after the break, the ‘star’ would play, backed by the house rhythm section. Sometimes (depending on the whim of said ‘star’, the other guys would return for a jam session end to the evening.
The atmosphere was always friendly, the audience usually around the 100 mark, depending on how strong a draw that week’s soloist was. There was a bar at the rear of the room, but the audience, though enthusiastic, was always well-behaved and knew their jazz.”
One of the interesting developments at the Jazzhouse was the addition of an R & B night with Manfred Mann before they made the big time. What can you tell us about that?
Manfred first appeared early in 1963, I think, at our second club, which we had just opened at the Hackwood Hotel in Bromley. As far as I recall, he had only recently arrived in the UK (from South Africa) and was essentially a jazz pianist at that point. He had got together with Mike Hugg and they were playing holiday camps as the Mann/Hugg Blues Brothers. He was checking us out for the possibility of a gig there, but nothing much came of it as the new club wasn’t a great success and we didn’t continue with it.
Next time we saw him, he pitched up at the Jazzhouse one Sunday and told us he had switched to Hammond organ and was playing R&B as Manfred Mann (he probably deemed his real name, Lubowitz, too unwieldy). He suggested that we open a ‘rhythm and blues’ night, saying that they would play every other Friday for a straight 50% of the door take (such was his confidence that they would draw a good crowd, which turned out to be well-founded). We could then book one of the many other bands playing R&B (like Chris Farlowe or Graham Bond) on the other Fridays. With some trepidation (plus we were admittedly a tad ‘snooty’ about going downmarket, as we saw it) we agreed to give it a whirl, encouraged by Manfred’s assertion that and that we could make a lot of money, which we could use to improve or enhance the jazz nights.
We agreed a date for the opening night…booked a couple of other bands for the 2nd and 4th nights…and set about publicising the new venture.
On the first Friday, I turned up at my usual time of around 7pm…30 minutes prior to opening the doors. Normally, on a Sunday, I would arrive to find maybe 15 or 20 people waiting in an orderly queue. On this occasion as I was approaching the venue, I noticed that there seemed to be a crowd milling around and wondered if there was a problem of some kind. As I got closer, I realised that it was ‘our’ queue…which stretched from the club entrance on the first floor, down the stairway, out the main entrance and around the block! Around 300+ fans were waiting (with incredible patience, it should be mentioned) to get in. We were, as they say, ‘gobsmacked’! The gig was a resounding success and we cleaned up! Not every group did quite as well, but nevertheless, we always made money, whoever was on. As fate would have it, the success of the R&B night, with its much larger crowds, was indirectly the cause of its demise. It happened thus: On Saturday nights at the Green Man, a slightly dubious promoter used to stage what he described as “A Battle of the Bands“, when he would assemble a bill of 5 or 6 local ‘beat groups’ (as they were known then) who would ‘compete’ for the title of the night’s best group. They would ‘win’ the prize money of about a tenner..the rest got zilch! The promoter, of course, always made a bomb! There were often minor scuffles on these evenings…nothing serious…but one Saturday a fight broke out and a knife was used…enter the ‘fuzz’, who promptly closed ALL the clubs down..even though we were unconnected and had never had any trouble on our nights. When the landlord told us, we went to the police and pleaded our case. At first they were adamant that no music clubs would be allowed at the pub, but after more pleading and explaining that the Sunday night jazz club had been running for well over a year without any sign of trouble and that furthermore..our jazz audiences rarely numbered much more than 100…they relented and allowed us to continue with the Sunday night jazz club…but NOT the Fridays. So, our venture into the world of ‘commercial promotions’ came to an end..but , at least we had made a bit of money, which we used to fund the formation of a ‘big-band workshop’, the brainchild of Clive Burrows, co-leader of the resident quintet. The rehearsal band eventually evolved into the New Jazz Orchestra, which went on to play many concerts, some in collaboration with Colosseum…notably at the Lanchester Arts Festival in 1971…and that leads us neatly on to the next episode.
The idea for putting together a larger band, originated with Clive Burrows, co-leader of the house band. He wanted a kind of ‘workshop’ where the younger musicians could get experience of sight-reading and ensemble playing, as well as writing arrangements for a bigger line-up. So, we set about finding around 18 guys playing the right combination of instruments, sorted out some interesting and challenging ‘charts’..Gil Evans, Oliver Nelson etc. plus one or two own arrangements from Clive and one of the club managers, Les Carter, who played flute…and we were all set.
The first rehearsal was at the Jazzhouse on the November 10th 1963 and I noticed straight away the enthusiasm of everyone who turned up. It was Sunday lunchtime and quite a few of these guys would have been out on gigs the night before, but they were raring to go.
After a few weeks, everything was going well and the guys were starting to talk about playing to an audience. So, we set up the debut performance for Sunday 22nd December at (where else?) the Jazzhouse, with its new larger stage. Billed as the ‘Bird-Burrows Big Band (great alliteration, but cumbersome!) it was a roaring success… our usual crowd turned up, plus a whole bunch of new faces, curious to see what it was all about.
This successful debut gave a whole new impetus to the band…rehearsals continued apace and in the New Year, the band members were already asking when the next gig was going to be and ‘how about recording it’? I realised at this point, that we had something pretty special here and as everyone seemed to think I was the manager…I decided to start ‘managing’.
The next gig we did was was early in 1964 at the Widmore (not ‘Wigmore’!) Hall in nearby Bromley as a fundraiser for the ‘Freedom From Hunger Campaign‘. On this occasion, we had a vocalist…a guy by the name of Duffy Power, who was actually a young up-and-coming ‘pop-star’ but with a pretty good bluesy voice. I have no recollection of how this came about…it was a ‘one off” and he didn’t make any further appearances with the band. I guess his pop career took off or something!
Soon after this Clive Burrows accepted an offer to turn ‘pro’ with Zoot Money and the Big Roll Band. Ian Bird had already departed some time earlier which meant that the rehearsal band was left rudderless at which point Ian Carr suggested bringing in a budding young composer / arranger Neil Ardley to take over leadership. A new name was also needed and some one came up with a rather grandiose Neoteric Jazz
Orchestra but this was quickly revised to the New Jazz Orchestra. Later that year the NJO won the All England Jazz Contest, the final which was held as part of the Guildford Jazz Festival and were also runners up at the National Amateur Jazz Contest which was held under the auspices of the National Jazz Federation as part of the Richmond Jazz and Blues Festival. Eventually in 1965 the orchestra recorded a live album – Western Reunion which was released on the Decca label. It was surprisingly well received, with Melody Maker making it their ‘Album of the Month’!
It’s actually still available, but on CD…the original vinyl LP is now a sought after collectors item valued at around £50. Of course…I lost my copy years ago!
Neil Ardley
As to the line up – apart from Ian Carr (trumpet and fluegel horn) who did go on to fame (if not fortune!) as Miles Davis biography. Then there was Jon Hiseman/Tony Reeves etc with Colosseum. Maybe I should also mention Trevor Watts (alto) and Paul Rutherford (trombone) who later became a force in the British avant-garde jazz movement. Neil Ardley (now no longer with us) also has a certain cult following, because of the important albums he made later under his own name (‘Symphony of Amaranths’, ‘Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe’, and ‘Kaleidoscope of Rainbows‘) with many of the musicians from the NJO. Other than that, they were all young, relatively inexperienced semi pro musicians…which is why it was so special.
the author of his
The “Jazzhouse” was just one of many such clubs, not just in the London area. Run mostly by enthusiasts (as they rarely made any money putting on modern jazz) many of them operated similar policies to ours…a good-ish resident band of local musicians, with a different ‘name’ guest musician each week, like Ronnie Scott, Tubby Hayes, Joe Harriott etc. The biggest name we ever booked was Oscar Brown Jnr, for our first anniversary night. With boldness derived from our naivety, we ‘doorstepped’ him when he was on a visit to the UK. Somehow we heard he was staying in Holland Park with Stanley Myers (pianist/composer/arranger of some note). We offered him double our usual fee (£10!), which he found quite amusing, I think. Then agreed to do it on these terms: Car to pick him up and drive him back..a bottle of decent cognac, the rhythm section to pre-rehearse 3 songs, charts provided by him. He would arrive, perform and leave immediately after….oh, and forget the £10!
It was a great night!
Taking it back to the personal – What were your tastes in Jazz. Who did you admire and why?
I sat and thought about this for a bit, which I haven’t done for many years and I was quite surprised to realise that the kind of jazz that I prefer listening to now is still the jazz that I listened to back in the 50s…Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Stan Getz, Charlie Mingus, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Gil Evans, John Lewis, Milt Jackson, Errol Garner etc etc…I could go on, as there are many others, but where would I stop? I guess the simple answer is that I was excited by the (then) new jazz…called by some be-bop, which is, I think the term conjured up by Dizzy Gillespie. He and Charlie Parker were probably the two main proponents of the harmonic breakthrough that defined theses new sounds. It changed the whole ballgame, musically speaking and from then on, there was a big divide between these musicians and the old school playing Dixieland or swing. Of course, at that time, because of a protectionist stance by the American union disagreement, you couldn’t hear any of these guys live, unless you went to the States (or occasionally Paris, where there was no union block, as there was in the UK). I remember the first bandleader to get round this, was Stan Kenton, when he flew his band over to Southern Ireland and everyone who could afford it, travelled there to hear this incredible music. Ironically, Duke Ellington was allowed to play in England, as he was classified as an ‘entertainer’, not a musician!! So, the only live jazz I could experience was seeing bigbands like Jack Parnell or Ted Heath in concert theatres, or go to clubs like the Flamingo to hear guys like Don Rendell, Tubby Hayes, Tommy Whittle etc., who were the ‘young turks’ of that era. That all changed when the two unions came to an agreement and the ban was lifted..and I got my chance to see some of the musicians I had been listening to on record, live in concert. One such, stands out in my memory..and that was seeing Norman Granz’s ‘Jazz at the Philharmonic‘ package at the Gaumont State in Kilburn.. with the Oscar Peterson Trio, Dizzy, Illinois Jacquet and many others. That was some concert!
Colin Richardson was the Bron Agency representative through
whom the Lanchester Arts Festival booked many of its bands – including Colosseum (who Colin Managed), Jack Bruce and friends / New Jazz Orchestra / Monty Python’s Flying Circus / Edwin Hawkin Singers / Ivor Cutler and more.
Colin Richardson got in contact with Hobo after seeing the original article on the Lanch Festival to give me some background. Along the way I became aware of his long standing role in the music business from the early 60’s onwards and decided to interview him. This interview originally appeared on the old Hobo Vox / Typepad blog.
Colin has been a Jazz club manager, bass player/band leader, night-manager at the Marquee club, London. Agency booker. Artist management for Colosseum and a Music journalist. His insights into the music business, his stories and his background information to Coventry’s major arts festival in the 1970’s are quite amazing –
In an exclusive interview with Trev Teasdel for HOBO Colin describes his life and career in the music business.
PART ONE – COLIN’S DEVELOPMENT AS A JAZZ MUSICIAN
Colin, You were born on 31st December 1936 in South-East London. What were the significant musical influences on you when you were growing up?
The first 2 records I bought (in 1952!!) were 78s…one was Jelly Roll Morton’s Dead Man Blues b/w Sidewalk Blues the other was a Humphrey Lyttelton record, but I can’t recall what the tracks were. I played them on a ‘wind-up‘ gram! Gaaad, that dates me! Then, I got into Earl Bostic for a bit… I liked his version of Flamingo. Later that year I joined the Merchant Navy, so my listening was confined to shortwave radio for the next couple of years…though I do recall buying a 10″ LP of Stan Getz in Montreal (even though I had nothing to play it on at the time!). That would have been late ’53 on my last trip before quitting. After a short spell, in ‘civvy street’ I had to do my “National Service, as conscription was still in force..so I joined the RAF (1956) and was posted to Germany. There I bought quite a few LPs from the American Forces shop…Errol Garner, Duke Ellington, Dave Brubeck, Shorty Rogers etc.
A lot of your career was spent promoting, booking and managing other bands. Tell us first about yourself as a musician. You played Double bass. How did your own musical career begin.
I suppose the earliest musical attempts were at age 13 when I started to learn classical piano. I wasn’t exactly gifted and nothing came easy to me. Hated practicing, so the omens weren’t good and I threw the towel in after less than a year (something I naturally regretted later). I fooled around with a guitar while in the MN…and trumpet in the RAF. No tuition whatsoever..just picking out tunes myself…I remember attempting “Someone to watch over me” at one point. I didn’t persevere with either and didn’t make much progress. Then later, (must have been early 60s by now) to further my ‘career’ in office management I had taken evening classes for 2 or 3 years. To take a break from these studies, I signed up for a course in jazz and blues at Goldsmith’s College in South East London tutored by an eccentric trumpet/trombone/bandleader guy, name of Owen Bryce.
He claimed to be “Britain’s First Jazz Trumpeter” and his instrument case proclaimed this in large red and yellow letters! The plan was to play piano on the course and I did start out thus, but there were 3 other guys who played piano, so for 3/4 of the 2 hour session, I just sat and watched. After a couple of weeks, Owen arrives schlepping a somewhat battered double bass, with 2 of the 4 strings missing and asked if anyone could play it. No-one put their hand up, so he then asked if anyone wanted to play it. I figured that, rather than sitting and watching, I would have a go on this large and slightly daunting instrument! So I stuck my hand up…marched up to the bandstand and commenced plucking! I’d like to say it was love at first ‘pluck’, but that might be exaggerating..though I certainly enjoyed my first attempts at providing rhythm for the other instruments. I subsequently took the bass home, got a new set of strings for it, bought a tutorial book and…and off I went !
I practised quite a bit…took a couple of lessons from Joe Muddel (well-know bass player at the time, who lived quite near to me) and at some point, Owen Bryce asked if I’d like to ‘dep’ for his regular bass player next Saturday at the Moat Hotel Wrotham? My first gig…and it paid £3! (not a bad sum at the time!). I had to borrow a tux (from my next door neighbour). The band played what was known as ‘mainstream jazz’, slightly watered down for a dinner dance crowd. From time to time, this offer was repeated and eventually I was playing more often than the ‘regular’ guy so, by default, the job was mine. Neither of my parents were at all musical…other than playing the odd 78 record of 30s’40s songs. I do remember “Pedro, the fisherman…was always whistling”!!! Now there’s a “scoop”!!! Hold the front page!
Other than that, I don’t recollect being all that aware of what was going on musically. Mostly I went to the cinema…or very occasionally, a local variety show. As a teenager, I heard all the current pop songs on the radio...Johnny Ray, Guy Mitchell, Rosemary Clooney, Pat Boon…all very “schlocky” (except Rosemary Clooney…a much underrated singer). trying to think of the first ‘live’ band performance I saw….pretty sure that would have been the Jack Parnell Big Band in Streatham, some time in 1952, I think, when I lived in Streatham prior to joining the MN.
Most of my leisure time was devoted to ice-skating at that time…I was a fanatical, if not always upright, speed skater!…5 nights a week!
3. What kind of music did you play and who with and where? Later, when working in the music biz…I kind of formed my own band (the “Cole Richards Combo“!!!..this name was suggested by Dave Gelly, the tenor player from the NJO (New Jazz Orchestra) and a long time friend. This band played a kind of “cabaret/night-club jazz for dancing,” for quite reasonable fees, at colleges and other commercial gigs…and, with some line-up modification, out and out modern jazz (for little or no money!) in jazz clubs (Ronnie Scott’s “Old Place”, the Marquee etc.) and even the odd BBC radio prog like Sounds of the 70s.!
4. Any highlights / stories around your own musical activity? …quite a few, some even printable!
My ‘career’ as a musician/bandleader was never going to lead to anything remarkable..I played mainly for enjoyment and was fortunate to have around me some highly talented up-and-coming local musicians like Jon Hiseman (at that time still a semi-pro drummer, whilst holding down a day job at ICI!) and Dave Gelly (tenor sax) later to become an established author and journalist (jazz critic for the “Observer”)…Art Themen (who had been at Cambridge with Dave) and was usually the other front line instrument with the New Jazz Quintet (the version of my band that played the jazz gigs)).
Some of the slightly more notable occasions include: backing Champion Jack Dupree at the Chelsea College of Technology…we had to be on our toes…as Jack would sometimes decide that the 12 bar blues he was playing would be improved with the addition of an extra bar or two!
Other highlights would be…a recording session for Jean Hart, an american singer who worked with my band at the time. She was Bill Oddie’s girlfriend (and was the original conduit to Eric Idle and the Python booking coup!) She seemed to be connected to quite a few ‘high-flying’ celebs, including Richard Rodney Bennett…who she somehow roped in on piano to record some songs for a demo. Dave G and Jon H were also on the session…but where the tapes went is anybody’s guess. Dave recently told me he did have a tape of the session, at one time, but had no idea whether it was still around. Shame…I’d love to have a copy.
IN PART TWO COLIN TALKS ABOUT THE JAZZ HOUSE – NEW JAZZ ORCHESTRA – MANFRED MANN – THE MARQUEE
LANCHESTER POLYTECH GIGS AND ARTS FESTIVALS IN THE 1970’S
First a Little History of ‘The Lanch‘ from Pete Clemons
Photo by William Arnold
The Lanch as it was known back in the 1970’s referred to The Lanchester Polytechnic, now called Coventry University, “can be traced back to when it was known as Coventry College of Design back in 1843. During 1852 it became Coventry School of Art which then became a College of Art in 1954. During 1960 the college’s city centre buildings were erected and housed the newly created Lanchester College of Technology. The art college also shared the buildings.
Finally, during 1970, these two institutions merged with Rugby College of Engineering in 1970 to create the Lanchester Polytechnic. During 1984 ‘the Lanch‘ became Coventry (Lanchester) Polytechnic and finally went on to gain full university status in 1992, ie Coventry University.
Besides having a great reputation as a provider of education, the university buildings, or to be more precise, the downstairs gymnasium across from the new Cathedral, also has an incredible legacy as a music venue. In fact I cannot over emphasise how important this venue was when bands were taking their music up and down the country through the different universities and colleges.” Pete Clemons.
About the Lanchester Poly Arts Festivals
From c1989 to the early 80’s, The Lanchester Polytechnic Student Union, Priory street Coventry, organised a Winter Arts Festival for a whole week in February. These were amazing multimedia events mainly centred around some of the best upcoming underground bands and artists in many genres and solo artists. There were also poetry, theatre events etc as you will see for the programmes here and included the first ever Live Performance by Monty Python’s Flying Circus.
The Lanch of course had regular Friday night band sessions in the Main hall for students and non students. Most of the budding musicians and fans would have gone to see these bands at the time. Sometimes you could see three top name bands quite cheaply by today’s standards.
Lanch Social Secretary Ted Little, summed up the festival in 1970 –
“The Lanchester Arts Festival is different from most of the other leading festivals in that is aimed to be progressive, and not just in the ‘Pop’ sense of the word. Basically the aim of the festival is to bring together people who do not normally perform on the same stage, and get them to do something out of the ordinary. For example, Sir Adrian Boult has very rarely played with Nathan Milstein, andis likely not to do so again in the near future. Similarly what Ron Geesin and Ivor Cutler do on stage at the end of their evening will be worth seeing.“
From this piece kindly contributed by Alan Willis –
Pete Clemonstells us some of the early history before the festival began –
“During my research I came across the odd jazz date held at the Lanch during the early 1960s but the first true rock / beat event I could find evidence for was held during November 1965 and involved a group called Silence who were supported by Coventry band The Sorrows. Now I do know that Mott the Hoople were once known as Silence but I didn’t that think they went as far back as 1965 so that one has left me wondering somewhat.
Further significant events followed throughout the mid-1960s period with several visits by John Mayalls Bluesbreakers along with gigs by Cream, Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, The Kinks and The Jeff Beck Band complete with Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood.”
A comment from (I think) Chris Porch from an earlier post in 2012 throws some light on this early part –
“I was at the Lanch (officially from 1965-70, but heavily involved in the music scene there for some time after that). I can claim to have changed the type of music being played, as when I first arrived all the then Social Sec was interested in was mainstream pop groups. I managed to persuade him to book Cream, and will never forget the look of amazement on his face at the queue round the block to get in.”
SOCIAL SECRETARIES – Keith Glazzard
The first Social Secretary I know about is Keith Glazzard, who wrote to this site when it was on Vox Blogs in 2009, Keith told us “If an archive of the student newspaper – Phoenix – from the period exists, which I doubt, there would be loads of information about all of this and the early days of the LAF ‘Lanchester Arts Festival’ in there.“
Keith was at the Lanch from 66 to 69 and was the union social secretary during 67/68. He says “I had Cream and Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac (with a guest appearance by Jimmy Tarbuck no less!) during the 67 rag week. Amen Corner then Soft Machine started the 67/8 season which included Julie Driscoll and The Brian Auger Trinity, The Jeff Beck Band and The Kinks. In 67/68 I had to organise two formal balls. As a 19 year old working class kid I had no idea, but they went well. Humphrey Lyttleton’s band were superb, and brought Danny Thompson, also of Pentangle, back for another night in Cov. The other was headed by a a jazzy trio called The Peddlers who, I have since been told, actually recorded that bloody awful Telstar hit (Tornados) for Joe Meek (citation needed).
Something I am very sure of was that the folk club organiser – Steve Kurrein – asked me if he could put Alexis Korner on next week. I had to make sure the bills were paid, which they were. About 30 of us had a wonderful evening with the founder of British blues. We had Simon Dupreeand the Big Sound on the main stage one Saturday night. They went on to rebrand as Gentle Giant.
One panic which I remember was having booked Marmalade. A few days before, I got a call saying they would break the contract due to a better offer. We had to promote Julie Driscoll, second on the bill, to top it. Wheels On Fire was in the top 5 or so about then. We couldn’t sue for loss of income as we made more on the night than we would have done (money, which in my time went back to subsidising the folk club and other good ventures Ted Little, of course, took this to a higher level). One band we had on more than any other was the local Ray King Soul Band. When TwoTone exploded I was sure that I was hearing echos of the Coventry I knew back then. Great days. When I left I though they would never be better. But incredibly, they have been for me, and I can guarantee that they have been for Cov as well. ” These are just some of the bands / acts that Keith remembers.
Ted Little
TED LITTLE – Social Secretary Sept 1968 – 71 Keith Glazzard tells us that “Ted Little, who I knew well, took over from me Sept. 68. Ted was in his mid-twenties (a mature student as opposed to the immature rest of us!), a soft-spoken Irishman with experience in the jazz world. The LAF (Lanchester Arts Festival) was very much his idea. Many of the lads who had worked with me to organise our gigs went into Ted’s and they put on a good range of stuff in their first go in 69 – I particularly remember Pentangle in the cathedral.“.
Not sure who sent this message to the original site as the name wasn’t attached “I knew Ted Little well – I stood against him (and lost) for Social Sec. It was during his year in the office that he did indeed found the Arts festival, and he asked me to look after all the press side of things, as well as the staging. I well remember this formidable female, who turned out to be David Bowie’s wife, arriving one day asking for me to discuss his appearance at one of the multi-media events (this was before his fame). I had to gently persuade her that Bowie had not actually been booked, and her response was unprintable. I believe this led to his changing agent, just before his career took off. I also persuaded the Students Union Council that it would be a worthwhile investment to buy a sound system, decks etc rather than paying someone else – I ended up running the discos myself using largely my own record collection. The once-weekly discos, held in the main hall, when the “townies” were let in proved to be a huge money-spinner (costing effectively nothing to put on), the cash being used to underwrite all the band bookings.”
Ted Little,who created the LAF, elevated it into a major festival. From a flyer contributed by Alan Willis we learn “The outlay for the festival has gone over the £12,000 mark, which puts the Lanch festival right at the top of all University /College festivals. A great deal of money has been spent on advertising in the form of press, carrier bags, posters and circulars. for the first time, the organisers have used a London Public Relations firm to handle the great demand for news of the festival.Both BBC,sound and television, will be covering the events in their arts programmes, and the Birmingham Post will have a permanent representative at all events. This in itself indicates the scale of the festival is considered ‘across the causeway’!”
Colin Richardson with Paul McCartney
Ted Little not only engaged a London Public relations firm but also engaged Colin Richardson, a booking agent with the BRON Agency, to book many of the acts for the festival 1970 – and 71. Colin is a very interesting man and in 2007 contacted the Hobo site to tell his story. Colin began as a Jazz bassist in the early 60’s but discovered his talent was in organising and promoting. He ran a London Jazz club, which gave Manfred Mann an early residency, helped form and then managed Colosseum and the New Jazz Orchestra – who much later he booked for the Lanch Festival in 1970, became the night manager for the Marquee club in 1965 and then worked as a booking agent for Bron, with a remit to provide bands and acts for the LAF. It was Colin that procured Monty Python’s Flying Circus for their first ever live performance,which took place at the Belgrade Theatre, for the LAF in 1971. He also booked the Edwin Hawkins Singers who performed in Coventry Cathedral,Ralph McTell, Ivor Cutler and many more acts. I have interviewed Colin extensively about his musical career – a very good read for those who like the kind of music performed at the Lanchester Poly. The interview is in 7 parts on this site – find Colin Richardson in the sidebar or index here.
You can see Colin Richardson’s name at the bottom of the 1971 LAF Programme for 1971, here
LAF 1971 Programme
Again there was no name on this comment but they recall “During the Arts Festival, Ted somehow managed to persuade Chuck Berry to fly over for a gig, held in the Locarno. I have fond memories of shaking the great man’s hand as I introduced his show. What we didn’t know was that he was having it recorded, and out of those recordings came a live album (called “The London Sessions” paradoxically) and single – My Ding-a-ling, which of course went to No.1. The festival never received a penny in royalties, which would have gone a long way to repaying the Council the £18k they had to spend underwriting the losses. Incidentally, once the Chuck Berry gig was finished, we had (with great difficulty) to clear the hall so Pink Floyd could set up for Act 2 of the evening’s entertainment (which finished at some time about 4 in the morning as I remember – the Locarno management had to be bribed not to pull the plug.”
Ted Little passed away in 1999 at the young age of 56 but after leaving the Lanch in 1971 “became administrator of what turned out to be the longest-lasting of these collectives, the Birmingham Arts Lab. In 1974 he staged an international performance festival, taking over Birmingham city centre in a marvellously anarchic celebration which provoked a delighted, if sometimes bemused, response from the public. After Birmingham he headed London’s Institute of Contemporary Art later in 1974. His three-year tenure, burdened by a struggle for adequate Arts Council funding, marked an important stage in the ICA’s development.” You can read more of his career history in his obituary in the Guardian here https://www.theguardian.com/news/1999/aug/12/guardianobituaries
Jennifer Jones – Social Secretary LAF organiser 1976 and 1977
Jennifer wrote with the following comment-
“This is a bit of a blast from the past. I ran the Lanchester Arts Festivals in 1976 and 1977. The 1976 one I ran with Sheila someone (sorry – can’t remember her surname) who was a Fine Art student. I do still have a copy of that programme and I remember typing the content on a golf ball typewriter in the LAF Office. My highlights from 1976 were definitely Ivor Cutler – who I know appeared more than once at Lanchester – George Melly, who was a real character and who I met several more times before he passed, and probably the Sex Pistols – who appeared at the LAF just before one of them said ‘fuck’ on television which ricocheted their career into the limelight. I do remember them inciting the audience to riot! The Tierra Buena Jazz band were a group of local jazzers who I knew too. We didn’t have the budget of the earlier LAFs and our programme wasn’t quite so high profile, but a great time was had by all, I’d say, nonetheless. I don’t know if I have the 1977 programme off hand – will have to search through my old files. The 1976 programme cover was designed by another Fine Art student – Jim Morris. Happy memories!”
Music Journalist Pete Clemons has written –
a number of articles on the Lanch for the Coventry Telegraph, using some of the information from the original HoboVox site alongside his own research. This first one gives some of the history of the Lanch and its development as a major Coventry music venue.
From Hobo magazine November 1973 – Lanch gigs at the bottom of the page top ones Warwick University.
Leon Russell / Osibisa / Indian Summer poster 1971
My Leon Russell Poster is currently in the Coventry Music Museum and can be seen here behind Pauline Black with some of the Lanch programmes on the wall too.
Another poster from the 1971 LAF was sent by Alan Willis.
Scans of the 1971 Lanch Fest Brochure via The Coventry Music Museum where the full Brochure can be seen.
The Lanch produced some brilliant posters for gigs in the early 70’s.
This is the only one we’ve managed to source apart from the plainer Leon Russell one. This poster was preserved by Coventry musician Lee Dorrian. If anyone has any more Coventry Lanchester Polytech posters from the late 60’s early 70’s let us know. This one is for the Dr Strangely Strange / Pieces concert.
Lanchester Polytechnic Bands include –
Amazing Blondell / Adrian Henri and Liverpool poets / Arthur Big Boy Crudup / Arthur Brown / Amen Corner / Asgard / Atomic Rooster / Adrian Mitchell / Arthur Lee / Andre Previn / Alexis Korner /Andy Fairweather Lowe / Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band / Blue Mink / Bridget St John / Brett Marvin and the Thunderbolts / Blackfoot Sue / Blodwyn Pig / Barclay James Harvest Brewers Droop / Big Idea / Big John Wrencher / Brownsville Banned / Brinsley Schwarz / Bad Manners / Caravan / Chuck Berry / Coliseum / Can / Curved Air / Cream / Centipede / Canned Heat / Claire Hammill / Cousin Joe Pleasant / Climax Chicago Blues Band / Cockney Rebel / Christopher Logue /Duster Bennett / Dada / Drought Porridge / Daddy Longlegs / Dando Shaft / Dexys Midnight Circus / Doctor Ross the harmonica Boss / Danny Abse / Davey Graham / Don Fardon / David Bowie / Elton John / ELO / ELP / Erasure / Eddie Playboy Taylor / Eyeless in Gaza / EMF (US) / Edgar Broughton band / Edwin Hawkins Singers / Fairport Convention / Fleetwood Mac (Peter Greens) / Flying Hat Band / Fresh Maggots / Furious Apples / Free / Groundhogs / Gentle Giant / God’s Toys / George Deep Jackson /Goliath / Grimms / George MAcBeth / George Melly and the Feetwarmers / George Chisholm and Johnnie Patrick Trio / Gordon Giltrap / Hatfield and the North / Heron / Humphrey Lyttleton’s band / Izzy the Push / Indian Summer / Instant Sunshine / Ivor Cutler / Jake Thackery / Jack Bruce and Friends / Jo Ann Kelly / John Silken / John Williams / John Hewitt / Jethro Tull / John Dowie / John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers / Jesus and Mary Chain / Judy Dyble and Penguin / Jeff Beck Band / Jackie Wittren / Jimmy Tarbuck / Julie Driscoll and The Brian Auger Trinity / Jans Duke De Grey / Kevin Ayres and the Whole World Kinks / Lindisfarne / Love / Liverpool Scene / Lesley Duncan / Last Fair Deal / Larry Johnson / Leon Russell / Mead (Neol Davies band) / Medicine Head / MC5 / Mott the Hoople / Magic Lantern / Monty Python’s Flying Circus (not a band obviously!) / Mr Fox / Moon / Mike Absolom / Nice / Nashville Teens / New Jazz Orchestra / Nucleus / Neil Innes / National Acoustic band / Osibisa / Oasis / Pentangle / Pink Floyd / Pink Umbrella / Pete Brown and Piblokto / Pink Fairies / Principal Edwards Magic Theatre / Pete Aitkin / Patto / The Peddlers / Paul Jones / Roy Harper / Ray King Soul Band /Roxy Music / Reluctant Stereotypes / Ra Ho Tep / Ralph McTell / Ramrods / Ronnie Scott / Ron Geesin / The Ring / Slade / Strawbs / Scaffold / Sticky George / Skin Alley / Skid Row / Selecter / Sorrows / Simon Dupree and the Big Sound / Supergrass / Sex Pistols / Silence / Smiths / Stone the Crows / Suzi Quatro / Spirit / Specials / Tyrannosaurus Rex / T. Rex / Tu Pac / Trees / T. Apache Indian / Tom Pickard / Tiera Buena New orleans band / Tsar / UB40 / Urge / Vandergraff Generator / Wandering John / Wild Turkey / Wild Angels / Who / Wizzard / Whistler / Yes
“The first concert I went to was The Who at the Lanchester Poly in November 1970. Tickets we were £1 each! There were only 900 tickets available as The Who insisted on having a special stage built which reduced the capacity. By all accounts the Poly made a loss on the concert as The Who were paid £1200 for the gig. It is reckoned that there were over 1000 people outside the hall listening to the show. The headline in the Coventry Evening Telegraph on the Monday read……….’The why of the loss from The Who’” Beesman
“I was one of them outside, couldn’t get in. Outside on on Priory street were their Rolls Royces and we watched through a small open window at the back of the stage (near the halls of residence). The stage was much larger than normal and some early synth intro was playing as they began. Dressed in patched up jeans jeans, we heard the trademark cresdo of Townsend and the deep bass of Entwhistle. It was cold outside but there was plenty of heat escaping from the Lanch gym which doubled as the concert room.” Trev Teasdel
BROADGATE GNOME REVIEW OF THE WHO CONCERT AT THE LANCH.
“The WHO concert at the Lanchester proved to many (including our friends in blue) that a full scale show with a top name group can be put on in Coventry without the expected rough and tumbles that are associated with it. When the Who arrived, they were more than pleased with the layout of the place, including the extra power supply and the drinks in the dressing room. They gave a gig that lasted about an hour and a half, starting with a couple of warm up numbers, one of which was called Water. and should be released on a single before Christmas.
The WHO are never really appreciated unless they are seen live, they really are a visual thing. They struck me for some strange reason as being a very clean and hygienic band, no sooner than they were on stage and they were playing away – a sure sign of good management on the side of the Roady.
The gig was good, very few breaks for farting about with the equipment as is so prevalent with some groups. Very professional. They do live up to their big band name as one could judge by the amount of equipment taht was used (a quarter of the hall was taken up by the special stage etc.) The gig never really got going until they broke into My Generation and from that point onwards there were people seen standing up from the well seated crowd doing their own thing and generally causing a bit of hysteria. The light show that was used was effective with the audience and the music, including a feeling that if you looked away then you were sure to miss something. It was good and well worth the money.”
TWO TONE AT THE LANCH
Rat Race was recorded at the Lanch in the Main Hall.
The Two Tone Plaque on the Main Hall entrance Coventry University erected by Pete Chambers of the Coventry Music Museum.
Horace Panter, Pauline Black and Jerry Dammers all studied there.
Pete Chambers and Horace Panter sharing Lanch and Two Tone memories at in Main Hall entrance c 2009.
Photos and material contributed by Alan Willis.
Lanch- Gym/hall Nov 16th 1968 Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band.
Below The Who at the Lanch Feb 14th1969
Priory Street Blues 1968
Alan Willis says
“During the late sixties, early seventies I assisted Discotheque Services provide Discos in the upstairs refectory and support for groups in the hall/ gym. ” Below Upstairs Refectory Disco’s
History
1843 College of Design
1852 Coventry School of Art
1954 Coventry College of Art
1960 New buildings in centre of the city and became
Lanchester College of Technology (Art College shared buildings)
1970 Merged with Rugby College of Engineering to become
Lanchester Polytechnic
1992 Became Coventry University
As well as a great reputation for providing education the downstairs gymnasium, (and the refectory above it) across from the new Coventry Cathedral, has an incredible musical legacy.
1960’s The occasional jazz night held
1965 Nov 1st A rock event – featured group called Silence, supported by a local band called The Sorows
Mid sixties also saw concerts by
John Mayall’s Buesbreakers
Cream
Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac
The Kinks
Jeff Beck Band( featuring Rod Stewart & Ronnie Wood)
1968 Discotheque Services (DJ’s Ted Doyle & Johnny T started providing Discos in the refectory above the gym)
1968 Friday 11th October -Priory Street Blues Night (8 shillings) featured
John Peel
Savoy Brown Blues Band
Alexis Korner
Pete Brown’s Battered Ornaments
Jo-Ann Kelly
1968 Nov 1st Coventry Art College had The Gods playing
( included soon to be a Rolling Stone Mick Taylor)
1968 Nov 2nd Lanchester gym/hall Love Sculpture
1968 Nov 16th Lanchester gym/hall Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band
1968 Nov 28th Coventry Art College Ball featured
The Nice
Joe Cocker
Love Sculpture
1968 Dec 6th Lanchester Disco in Halls of Residence (Tower block)
1968 Dec 7th Lanchester gym/hall featured Colosseum
1969 Jan 18th Lanchester gym/hall featured Idle Race (included Jeff Lynne)
1969 Lanchester Arts Festival (Jan 24th- 29th)
24/1/69 In the Hall (Gym) Priory Street Blues Night featured
Fairport Convention
Alexis Korner
Duster Bennett
25/1/69 The Family & The Eclection
29/1/69 Pentangle at Coventry Cathedral
1969 Feb 14th On the new stage (they demanded) at
The Lanchester gym/hall THE WHO
1969 March 14th Lanchester gym/hall featured Colloseum
May 1969- The Art College’s May Ball at The Locarno in Coventry featured
Joe Cocker
Spooky Tooth
Pink Floyd
Wellington Kitch
1969 Oct 14th Lanchester gym/hall featured Pete Brown & Piblokto
1969 Oct 25th Lanchester gym/hall featured Keef Hartley Band
1969 Oct 30th Lanchester ‘Shelter’ Disco, upstairs Bar, take the new wem system to the volume limit- floor starts to shake!
1969 Nov 15th Fairport Convention due to appear in gym/hall but group breaks up so soon to be famous T Rex step in ( Mark Bolan & Micky Finn)
1969 Nov 22nd Discotheque Services get over 400tthe upstairs Disco, floor shaking & bending
1969 Nov 29th Lanchester gym/hall featured Soft Machine
1969 Dec 6th Term ends with a bang! Lanchester gym/hall featured Graham Gigantic Bond’s Initiation and The Taste (Rory Gallagher, Richard McCracken & John Wilson)
1969 Dec 11th Final Upstairs Disco of the year, also appearing were Indian Summer along with Danny & The Heartthrobs
1970 January 10th Lanchester gym/hall featured The Family
1970 Lanchester Arts Festival (Jan 23rd- 31st)
(Rumoured to have cost £12,000. Coped with the break up of King Crimson who were due to appear)
23/1/1970 Priory Street Blues Night (10 shillings entry) featured
Chicken Shack
Duster Bennett
Jo-Ann Kelly
Bob Hall
Mike Cooper
24/1/1970 Jack Bruce (Mitch Mitchell on drums, Larry Coryell on lead guitar, Mike Mandel on organ)
Colosseum
NewJazz Orchestra
25/1/1970 John Peel
Ivor Cutler
Ron Geeson
Principal Edwards Magic Theatre
27/1/1970 Salena Jones & Barbara Thompson at Belgrade Theatre
28/1/1970 Edwin Hawkins Singers
30/1/1970 ‘Mothers Night’ ( a famous Birmingham Club) featured
Yes, Atomic Rooster, Free, Mott the Hoople &DJ Erskine
31/1/1970 Folk Festival featured Roy Harper & The Strawbs
1970 March 7th Lanchester gym/hall featured (for Rag Week) The Nashville Teens and The Wild Angels
The Rag Ball features Love (including Arthur Lee) Juicy Lucy
1970 May 2nd Lanchester gym/hall featured Fleetwood Mac supported by Room
1971 Lanchester Arts Festival (Jan 29th- Feb 7th)
29/1/1971 Priory Street Blues Night featured
Big Boy Crudup
Climax Chicago Blues Band
31/1/1971 Curved Air
Ivor Cutler
Adrian Henri
2/2/1971 Andre Previn & London Symphony Orchestra in Coventry Cathedral
31/1/1971- 2/2/1971 Monty Python’s Flying Circus Live at The Belgrade Theatre
3/2/1971 Leon Russell & Friends
Osibisa
Indian Summer
5/2/1971 Elton John
Caravan
Skid Row
6/2/1971 Ralph McTell
The Strawbs
Mr. Fox
7/2/1971 Ronnie Scott’s Jazz night
1972 Chuck Berry (recorded ‘My Ding a Ling’ & Pink Floyd at The Locarno
Gym /hall also hosted appearances by
MC5
Spirit
1976 Sex Pistols( as part of Arts Festival)
Lanchester Gym /hall featured in the video of The Special’s ‘Rat Race’
Gym /hall hosted appearances by
The Smiths
Erasure
Housemartins
1992 Stopped using the Gym and moved most events to The Planet Nightclub
Oasis
Supergrass
Comments by former Lanchester Polytechnic Social Secretaries
Some of which have been incorporated in above text.
From Keith Glazzard
Hi – I was at the Lanch from 66 to 69 and was the union social secretary during 67/68. Ted Little, who I knew well, took over from me Sept. 68. Ted was in his mid-twenties (a mature student as opposed to the immature rest of us!), a soft-spoken Irishman with experience in the jazz world. The LAF was very much his idea. Many of the lads who had worked with me to organise our gigs went into Ted’s and they put on a good range of stuff in their first go in 69 – I particularly remember Pentangle in the cathedral.
I’m trying to piece together information about the gigs I was involved with and I found a list at deanocity3 which is very patchy and probably inaccurate in parts. For example, I had Cream and Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac (with a guest appearance by Jimmy Tarbuck no less!) during the 67 rag week. Amen Corner then Soft Machine started the 67/8 season which included Julie Driscoll and The Brian Auger Trinity, The Jeff Beck Band and The Kinks.
If an archive of the student newspaper – Phoenix – from the period exists, which I doubt, there would be loads of information about all of this and the early days of the LAF in there. If I find anything I’ll let you know.
Keith Glazzard. Posted by: Keith Glazzard | 05/06/2009 at 05:15 PM
Hello again – I’ve been looking at the acts listed above and some memories return.
A poetry/acoustic night in the first LAF I think might have included Ivor Cutler. There was certainly a wild mad scot whose name I will eventually remember (banjo player), and the amazing Davey Graham (having a not unusual bad night). Poet Christopher Logue too.
The Bonzos gave a superb night at the Lanch for Ted (68?) a few months after they had done at Warwick University a few months before. Germaine Greer, already a bit of a celebrity, was at the gig (a lecturer at UW that year).
Speaking of Gibbet Hill, the first time I saw Cream was in the bar of the UW student union about October 66. Excellent – no stage, just set up on the floor at the end. Had a chat with Eric and Ginger at half time.
The house band at UW was called New Economic Model and supported the likes of Chickenshack and The Crazy World of Arthur brown. Their drummer was Guy Evans who became a full-time member of Van der Graaf Generator when he graduated (a more or less local lad I think).
Colosseum almost seemed to be a Cov house band at the time – on everywhere. Founder John Hiseman was a mate of one of our lecturers at the Lanch (citation needed) but I first encountered him, I think playing in the Graham Bond Organisation (having replaced Ginger Baker) at the blues club at the back of the pub up Highfield Road (or Harnall Lane?) just across from the football ground – Thursday nights. Dick Hextall-Smith, cap, clogs, two saxes and all was very memorable.
Meanwhile, back at the Lanch, in 67/68 I had to organise two formal balls. As a 19 year old working class kid I had no idea, but they went well. Humphrey Lyttleton’s band were superb, and brought Danny Thompson, also of Pentangle, back for another night in Cov. The other was headed by a a jazzy trio called The Peddlers who, I have since been told, actually recorded that bloody awful Telstar hit (Tornados) for Joe Meek (citation needed).
Something I am very sure of was that the folk club organiser – Steve Kurrein – asked me if he could put Alexis Korner on next week. I had to make sure the bills were paid, which they were. About 30 of us had a wonderful evening with the founder of British blues.
We had Simon Dupree and the Big Sound on the main stage one Saturday night. They went on to rebrand as Gentle Giant.
One panic which I remember was having booked Marmalade. A few days before, I got a call saying they would break the contract due to a better offer. We had to promote Julie Driscoll, second on the bill, to top it. Wheels On Fire was in the top 5 or so about then. We couldn’t sue for loss of income as we made more on the night than we would have done (money, which in my time went back to subsidising the folk club and other good ventures Ted Little, of course, took this to a higher level).
One band we had on more than any other was the local Ray King Soul Band. When TwoTone exploded I was sure that I was hearing echos of the Coventry I knew back then.
Great days. When I left I though they would never be better. But incredibly, they have been for me, and I can guarantee that they have been for Cov as well.
Posted by: Keith Glazzard | 05/08/2009 at 09:47 PM
this is good] Hi Keith, Trevor signalled me that you had posted some interesting stuff on those halcyon days of the LAF. A lot of it connects with me…and I can tell the name of the mad Scot was (is?) Ron Geesin, who was good mates with Ivor Cutler. They were both booked by me and I even had to drive Ivor Cutler and his little harmonium to the gig as he had no transport at the time, which was great, because we became friends on the journey. Unquestionably, the proudest achievement for me was the ‘coup of all coups’, getting Monty Python for their first ever live-on-stage appearance. As you so rightly say…”great days”.
Posted by: Colin Richardson | 05/09/2009 at 12:38 PM
I’ve only recently come across this site, and of course it brought back lots of memories. I was at the Lanch (officially from 1965-70, but heavily involved in the music scene there for some time after that). I can claim to have changed the type of music being played, as when I first arrived all the then Social Sec was interested in was mainstream pop groups. I managed to persuade him to book Cream, and will never forget the look of amazement on his face at the queue round the block to get in.
I knew Ted Little well – I stood against him (and lost) for Social Sec. It was during his year in the office that he did indeed found the Arts festival, and he asked me to look after all the press side of things, as well as the staging. I well remember this formidable female, who turned out to be David Bowie’s wife, arriving one day asking for me to discuss his appearance at one of the multi-media events (this was before his fame). I had to gently persuade her that Bowie had not actually been booked, and her response was unprintable. I believe this led to his changing agent, just before his career took off.
I also persuaded the Students Union Council that it would be a worthwhile investment to buy a sound system, decks etc rather than paying someone else – I ended up running the discos myself using largely my own record collection. The once-weekly discos, held in the main hall, when the “townies” were let in proved to be a huge money-spinner (costing effectively nothing to put on), the cash being used to underwrite all the band bookings.
During the Arts Festival, Ted somehow managed to persuade Chuck Berry to fly over for a gig, held in the Locarno. I have fond memories of shaking the great man’s hand as I introduced his show. What we didn’t know was that he was having it recorded, and out of those recordings came a live album (called “The London Sessions” paradoxically) and single – My Ding-a-ling, which of course went to No.1. The festival never received a penny in royalties, which would have gone a long way to repaying the Council the £18k they had to spend underwriting the losses. Incidentally, once the Chuck Berry gig was finished, we had (with great difficulty) to clear the hall so Pink Floyd could set up for Act 2 of the evening’s entertainment (which finished at some time about 4 in the morning as I remember – the Locarno management had to be bribed not to pull the plug.
Nice to see the comments from my old mate Keith. Happy Days.
Posted by: A Facebook User | 02/04/2012 at 06:01 PM
For Trev Teasdel
I tried taking a pic of the 1972 Arts fest poster with my iPad but it’s too large, 35 by 24 ins. Would be happy to let you have a look at it sometime. It lists the pink Floyd concert taking place before Chuck Berry but it was actually the other way round, and Slade were bottom of the bill even though they were doing very well at the time!
Posted by: Chris Porch | 07/21/2012 at 06:30 PM
This is a bit of a blast from the past. I ran the Lanchester Arts Festivals in 1976 and 1977. The 1976 one I ran with Sheila someone (sorry – can’t remember her surname) who was a Fine Art student. I do still have a copy of that programme (photo above) and I remember typing the content on a golf ball typewriter in the LAF Office. My highlights from 1976 were definitely Ivor Cutler – who I know appeared more than once at Lancester – George Melly, who was a real character and who I met several more times before he passed, and probably the Sex Pistols – who appeared at the LAF just before one of them said ‘fuck’ on television which ricocheted their career into the limelight. I do remember them inciting the audience to riot! The Tierra Buena Jazz band were a group of local jazzers who I knew too. We didn’t have the budget of the earlier LAFs and our programme wasn’t quite so high profile, but a great time was had by all, I’d say, nonetheless. I don’t know if I have the 1977 programme off hand – will have to search through my old files. The 1976 programme cover was designed by another Fine Art student – Jim Morris. Happy memories!
Posted by: Jennifer Jones | 04/23/2013 at 11:21 PM
Thanks for your interesting comment Jennifer,
That would be great if you had the 1977 programme. If you find you can send it via hobozine@googlemail.com
Shame the funding was curtailed – they were always great events and influenced not only students but a lot of budding Cov musicians. A lot of us appreciated the work that went into organising them.
It was at the Sex pistols Lanch gig that a Cov friend of ours Scon became a roadie with them and later Clash – better known as Roadent. He went on to appear in a German TV play and went out with Barbara Grogan of the Passions – who wrote the 80’s hit I’m in love with a German Film Star. As a result he introduced the Specials to the infamous Bernie Rhodes at Mr Georges and as Mr Rhodes is the subject of Gangsters inadvertently influenced another song!
Thanks again Jennifer – Trev Teasdel
Posted by: Coventry Music Archives | 04/24/2013 at 04:24 PM
In the early 1970’s – c 1970 – 75 – alongside with the Lanchester Poly Arts festivals in Coventry, Warwick university held some incredible Arts Festivals. A trove of bands, solo artists, Street theatre, Absurd theatre / Sound poets and much much more for a very cheap weekend ticket. Open not only to students but anyone who wanted to raise their cultural horizons. Here are some of the programmes and posters i still have…
Memories from Trev Teasdel
This poster from 1971 shows just the bands and music they had on and was posted in the reception of the Coventry Arts Umbrella Club – hence the note about the Umbrella Poets being on in Airport Lounge. The Umbrella club, under the editorship of Terry Watson, had run a quite classy poetry / literary magazine around the ‘movement’ and one edition included an essay by Phillip Larkin – Not the Places Fault (mentioned in Andrew Motion’s Bio of Larkin as a footnote http://coventryartsumbrella.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/not-places-fault-phillip-larkin-in.html
The Umbrella a full programme of visiting poets / extra mural classes / poetry / folk performances and the Umbrella Poets group who met to read and critique poems and do performances – Warwick University being one. I did my first tentative public poetry performance with them at Warwick, on stage at Airport lounge. The group had such luminaries as John Hewitt, the celebrated irish poet who at the time was Director of Art at the Coventry Herbert Museum and Art Gallery”
Warwick University Arts Festival 1972
Warwick University Arts Festival 1973
Warwick University Arts Festival 1974
Warwick University Arts Festival 1975
The Warwick festivals were quite amazing – happening over a weekend and part influenced my own approach to organising artistic endeavours. They created a kind of atmosphere and were open to both students and the public. We used to stop over in the hall of residence, taking a sleeping bag, crouched up with others in the communal kitchens or any where you could sleep (unofficially of course)!
The following few pages are from a booklet given to me by a Warwick Uni student / poet who was at the Festival – Carol Gutteridge, as i was waiting outside Airport Lounge to read with the Umbrella Poets.
Comments from the Hobo Vox Blog
High Tide..wasn’t this the band that was a bit Hawkwindesque led by Tony Hill? ( who was a tad Jim Morrison ,(Doors) ) and sometimes included Simon House of Hawkwind and Third Ear Band.
My memories not so good , but I think they played in Birmingham a bit before the Warwick gig , deffo did the Roundhouse around Easter time. They toured after their 69 album Sea Shanties, which is still well worth listening to, even today.
I think they didnt go down too well at Warwick, I might be wrong. or there was some problem about payment,
They could be a bit too Beefheart for some
lesley
ps found this
http://www.myspace.com/therealhightide.
lesley
Thanks for that Lesley – I did see the gig with High Tide but can’t remember much much about them now – T’was an age and a half ago. Ithink they alos played the Village in Cov and possibly the Plough – will check archives.
HIGH TIDE _ MY SPACE – I’ve made you link active here – although when I tried to put the url into the browser I got a Page not available – will see if an active link fares better!
Silk Disco and Promotionswas one of the biggest of its kind in Coventry from 1968 to at least the early 80’s.
This young, well organised team sustained their activities for well over a decade and much of the provision of discos and band venues came from this team.
As far as I know, Silk began about 1968 and consisted DJ’s Jim Twyneham (AKA Jim Silk) – later an engineer at Horizon Studios and DJ on Radio Mercia, Graham Wood (later a co-founder of Sunshine Agency) with technical support from John Coles ( later celebrated Two Tone photographer responsible for some of their iconic images), Paul Taylor, Paul Riley and Steve Whittle.
NEW Information July 2016 – Thanks to Dennis Cotter and help from John Coles and Jim Twynham, I’ve been informed an earlier Silk DJ not previously included here. His name was Steve Miles who also worked at J J Cash Ltd. Steve was with Silk disco 1968 to 69.
In 1973, in the Coventry Evening Telegraph’s On the Scene (colour supplement), Nichola Gorringe reported – ” So what i admire about Silk, the mobile disco that operates in and around Coventry, was the hint of subtlety.
Jim Twyneham
For a start the lighting was really effective. A modern specious area at the Trocadero, Weston Hall Hotel, Bulkington, was transformed into something cosy and personal.
Silk are no amateur outfit. they are a bunch of level-headed semi professionals who are setting out to perfect their own form of entertainment.
They have been operating for three years. The name Silk is associated with the Plough Club (London Road), Circles (West End Working Men’s Club – where they promoted such bands as Caravan)., the Locarno promotions, Arthurs at the Humber Hotel, Humber Road and more recently Chums at the Bear Inn, high Street and the Trocadero.
Two of the original entertainers – Jim Twyneham, who is 23 and Graham Wood 21, are still there. Twenty four year old Paul Taylor joined in January 1971 at about the same time as Paul Riley (21) was brought in to improve the lighting effects, which until that time had been slightly unsophisticated due to lack of equipment. Jim and Paul Taylor and Graham Wood are the outfit’s DJ’s. Their roadies / technicians are John Coles and Steve Whittle. All live and work in Coventry.
Jim, who is a local government officer, told me: “The reason we set up in the first place was because we were dissatisfied with entertainment in general in the area. We wanted to introduce some creativity into Coventry.”
Since then Silk have done over 200 mobile bookings and their impact on the area can be judged by engagements over the next two months. They have only five days free of bookings this month and 10 in February.
Silk at the Trocadero Bulkington 1973
Running a disco is an expensive business. But by pooling their resources and ploughing everything back into their show they have been able to buy over £10,000 worth of equipment, including records, during the last three years.
What type of music do they play? “Anything and everything from Caravan to Glenn Miller. Everything we think people would like to hear. We have no musical prejudices” Jim said.
Silk present shows at the Trocadero on Monday and Tuesday evenings each week and run a heavy underground session at Chums on Thursday evening. On Friday and Saturday they have mobile bookings such as 21st birthdays, weddings, and so on, with Sundays and Wednesdays reserved for occasional bookings.
A note of warning to potential disco operators from Jim..”Don’t start unless you are sure you want to make a go of it. Be conscientious and willing to please and, above all, be kind to the public because they are your income – they keep you going.”
Pictures by David Trinder.
From the Plough club in the early 70’s Jim Silk (Twyneham) had a distinctive red car with Silk as part of the registration.
Chums advert from Coventry Evening Telegraph 1974
Advert in Hobo Magazine 1974
Along with some of the pictures, this was the text for the Cov Telegraph On the Scene Supplement.
For ad in Hobo magazine. Thank you Mr Silk!
Via Pete Chambers
Advert in Hobo Magazine 1974
Bill Jackson – Photographer, friend of Martin Barter – both regulars at the Plough Club 1971
From Cov Telegraph
John Coles more recently with John Bradbury of The Specials
Graham Wood
Photograph thanks to Sue Long (then Graham Wood’s girlfriend)
Photograph thanks to Sue Long
Photograph thanks to Sue Long
Gentle were a Derby heavy rock band. I had put them on at the Umbrella Club in 1970 and after they played the Plough Club with Silk Disco and a few other Cov gigs of the time. Some of the other bands i remember at the Plough Club (Near the Chaterhouse – London Road) were Music Box (Rob Armstrong and Colin Armstrong and Pip) / Dando Shaft and many more.
Sad News – A Tribute to Jim Twyneham who passed away in 2017
John Sillett leads tributes to Coventry City’s ‘Voice of Highfield Road’ Jim Twyneham.
Coventry Telegraph BY ANDY TURNER 20:34, 5 JUL 2017
A Coventry Music Agency and Record Production team.
Sunshine came close to putting Coventry music in the charts some 4 years before Two Tone. Set up initially to promote ‘A Band Called George’s’ single NCB Man on the Bell Label, the agency planned its own Coventry record label and much more..
The Sunshine Agency Management (SAM) opened its office at 132, Gulson Rd. Coventry early in 1974.
Sunshine was initially formed by DJ’s Craig Ward and Graham Wood as an agency to handle the affairs of A Band Called Georgewhose single for the Bell Label looked set to rock the charts in 1974. However the agency grew to cover a wider remit offering management, agency, publicity, promotions, discos, road crews, entertainment consultants, disco hire and equipment, recording .
Soon Craig and Graham formed a production team to record the songs of Bob Young (of a Band Called
Sunshine HQ 132 Gulson Rd Coventry (Green spot)
George) and advertised in the local press for bands and artists to record Bob’s songs).
Sunshine teamed up with Monty Bird of Bird Sound Recording studio at Snitterfield, near Stratford, in which they had a half-share) which meant that bands under their management had free and unlimited recording time there to make demos.
Pug Ma Ho (later called Smack) recorded Bob’s Misunderstood and the Earthquakes (later known as Mad Cat Molly) recorded Dancing to the Music.
The Coventry Evening telegraph wrote ” So SAM looks good news for local groups who feel they are good enough to get themselves represented on disc. And it could develop into a major record producing concern based in Coventry”
This was some 4 years before Two Tone burst on the scene in 1979.
During
the early part of 74, I (Trev Teasdel) typed up Hobo No3 in the Sunshine Office, thanks to Craig Ward. It was a good place to be based at that time, being fairly central and having the support of Craig Ward who managed Sunshine. Lots of local musicians came through it’s doors so it was a useful place to find out what the bands were up to musically and get wind of developments on the music scene. Although hobo was typed up at Sunshine, the magazine was independent of Sunshine and so was free to report on other agencies and bands not managed by them.
A Band Called George
Among the musicians that came through the doors was Bob Jackson (formerly of Indian Summer). Bob
was playing with Pete Brown at the time who had written those classic lyrics for Cream such as White Room and Sunshine of your Love. Bob was even going to show some of my poems published in Hobo to Pete at one stage. I don’t know if he did but nothing transpired from it. I was an admirer of Pete’s work with Cream and Jack Bruce so that was a nice thought. Craig Ward did some record reviews for Hobo.
Sunshine ran a number of discos including Becketts in Nuneaton and even a folk night at the Pilot in Radford with regulars Bob Young and singer songwriter Gill Darbey . They also promoted Mr Badgers in Atherston at the New Swan.
Sunshine managed Pug-ma-ho who changed their name to Smack! and A Band Called George who
recorded a single NCB Man released on the Bell label. The single didn’t make it as the miners strike escalated and the timing was wrong. You can hear NCB Man on the band’s My Space (click here A Band Called George My Space – ). Margo of Smack! went on to record with Mud as a backing singer. Smack records a single too – Miss Understood – written by Bob Young for Bell Label. Mad Cat Molly was another Coventry band who recorded a single for the Bell Label with a Bob Young composition – Dancing to the Music.There will be more about the bands in the forthcoming band directories. Other bands they managed included Mad Cat Molly, Gill Darbey – singer songwriter – Walrus Gumboot – Monster Magnet – Earthquakes. They also offered to book any band in the country loads cheaper than anywhere else.
Sunshine ceased to be sometime in 1975 but it was an exciting period in Coventry’s musical history. The loss of air play for NCB Man was a major blow to the plans of Sunshine but had it been the major hit they and the record company thought it would be – who knows how that would have affected the status of Coventry area music on the national and international stage, some years before Two Tone! Sunshine certainly had the energy, songs and ideas to follow through.
Bird Studios Ad in Hobo Magazine Summer 1974
Here are the entries in various issues of HOBO–
Sunbird – Hatching (From Issue No 3 Feburary 1974) “Bird recording studios at Snitterfield, not far from the land of Shakespeare, has been converted into an 8 track stereo unit and will re-open at the beginning of February. The rates of recording there will remain the same as they were for the previous 4 track – for the first six weeks of opening. The rates at the moment are £4 an hour inclusive of editing. Copy tapes 50p, sur-charge of £1 for use of the master tape. For discs (albums) 6 cost around £9 and a 1000 cost 75p each. This is a 24 hour service. Session musicians can be supplied on request with of course additional charges.
Plans for the future are quite ambitious and include producing their own group equipment at cheap prices and their own record label, in conjunction with Sunshine. The label will occur if they can overcome the problem of distribution.”
from Hobo Issue 4
“The Sunshine Music agency was formed about 3 months ago by Craig Ward, Bob Young and Graham Ward (of SILK fame) and are always on the look out for groups and artists that are available for work here and abroad. They also have a musicians register for musicians looking for bands and vice versa. They also have half -shares in the Bird Studios in Snitterfield. If you wish to know more about it then you are welcome to pop in for a chat and a coffee. Address in the Classified ads.”
Advert from the April 1974 issue of Hobo that never came out owing to us rejecting the printing quality –
Sunshine Management : Walrus Gumboot; SMACK; A Band Called George. Promotions : Mr Badgers – New Swan, Atherstone & Mr Badgers in Bournmouth. Becketts – Nuneaton – Thurs, fri, sat, Sun, Mon. Manufacturers : Group and PA equipment / Disco equipment. Cheapest prices imaginable!
Ring Craig Ward on 23020 / 23644 daytime. Also sole booking agent B.S.S.
Hobo (Coventry music and Arts Magazine) also reported on A Band Called George, Madcat Molly / Earthquakes and Pug ma Ho / Smack and other acts promoted by Sunshine.
From Hobo No 3 February 1974 – Small ad
“Sunshine Agency – 1st floor 132, Gulson Road Coventry 23020 / 23644. Agency for Smack, A Band Called George, Gill Darbey, Earthquakes, Pug Ma Ho, Monster Magnet, Walrus Gumboot and any band in the country, loads cheaper than elsewhere!”
Comments from the Original post on Vox / Typepad
Thanks for the memories! (By Craig Ward)
“Not sure who wrote this but they remember more than I do! We were young, well-intentioned and full of
Craig Ward as he is today
ideas and dreams. We thought we were on the verge of something really big when we signed A Band Called George to Bell Records who were without doubt the biggest singles label at that time. The deal was for 3 singles with an option on an album if any of the singles was successful.
We were SO confident NCB Man would be HUGE. Everyone who heard it thought so. We could have signed with any label. EMI and Rocket both made firm offers, and RAK were about to confirm an offer when we signed to Bell.
The idea was to plough back any of the profits from the single back into establishing our own label which would have been solely for Coventry and Warwickshire acts.
Graham Wood
About a week after the NCB Man single was released, I remember getting a phone call from Dick Leahy, MD of Bell Records saying “we’ve got a hit on our hands”. This was based on overwhelming feedback from the disco and club dj’s who’d been sent demo copies.
Shortly afterwards, though, the Markham Colliery disaster occurred when a lift broke and the safety devices failed to work, killing 18 miners. It also killed any chance we had of getting the all-important airplay.
The single was re-released a few months later, but the momentum was lost and it disappeared without trace. By this time the band had dissolved and alas, the last two contracted singles were never recorded.
Thanks for all your efforts on this page, I don’t know how long its been here, but I’ve only just found it!
Kind regards and keep up the great work!” Craig Ward
Craig Ward did some reviews for Hobo magazine, while i was based there – original manuscripts submitted for the magazine..
Craig Ward also produced some ‘Sunshine Bullsheets‘ for bands they promoted like SMACK and Walrus Gumboot.
Mad Cat Molly (The Earthquakes) did a version of Bob Young’s Dancing to the Music. They were also associated Q Artistes.
A Band Called George
From the original layout for the Bird recording studio, produced by Craig Ward
Beckett’s Disco Nuneaton – Promoted by Sunshine and Dream Disco and lighting.
Sunshine also ran Folk n Things at the Pilot, Burnaby Road.
Comments from Hobo Vox blog
Where are you Graham Wood – I want to say hello and catch up on the last 40 years!
Not sure who wrote this but they remember more than I do! We were young, well-intentioned and full of ideas and dreams. We thought we were on the verge of something really big when we signed A Band Called George to Bell Records who were without doubt the biggest singles label at that time. The deal was for 3 singles with an option on an album if any of the singles was successful.
We were SO confident NCB Man would be HUGE. Everyone who heard it thought so. We could have signed with any label. EMI and Rocket both made firm offers, and RAK were about to confirm an offer when we signed to Bell.
The idea was to plough back any of the profits from the single back into establishing our own label which would have been solely for Coventry and Warwickshire acts.
About a week after the NCB Man single was released, I remember getting a phone call from Dick Leahy, MD of Bell Records saying “we’ve got a hit on our hands”. This was based on overwhelming feedback from the disco and club dj’s who’d been sent demo copies.
Shortly afterwards, though, the Markham Colliery disaster occurred when a lift broke and the safety devices failed to work, killing 18 miners. It also killed any chance we had of getting the all-important airplay.
The single was re-released a few months later, but the momentum was lost and it disappeared without trace. By this time the band had dissolved and alas, the last two contracted singles were never recorded.
Thanks for all your efforts on this page, I don’t know how long its been here, but I’ve only just found it!
Kind regards and keep up the great work! Craig Ward
The following Coventry Area Venues are already covered on the Hobo – Coventry Gigs site which houses articles by Pete Clemons (Below) for the Coventry Telegraph.
CBR Organisationwas based at Victoria House, 2, Queen Victoria Road, Coventry – the other end of the block to the Coventry Arts Umbrella Club before the Umbrella club was demolished in 1972. The Director was C.L. Ridge.
I can’t tell you a lot about CBR, except there is a link between the Umbrella and CBR in the Al Docker, when he was organising the friday night band nights at the Umbrella, at least on three occasions I went with him to book some Birmingham bands for the Umbrella.
Advert in Coventry Evening Telegraph
The first was Tea and Symphony (follow link for info on this band) booked for the Umbrella little theatre for Friday 21st August 1970 with Coventry folk rock band April as support. April were resident at the umbrella in that they rehearsed there.
The next was Ghost, (follow link for more info) another Birmingham band who played on Friday September 18th 1970 with Coventry progressive band Asgard. And later on Audience. I think we might have used them for the proposed second Umbrella Music Marathon in 1971 as we had some Birmingham bands lined up but the event didn’t come off as the Umbrella was scaling down in preparation for a change of premises as the Umbrella club building was due for demolition towards the end of 1972.
There may have been more bands from the Coventry / Midlands area that we got from CBR but I can’t remember all the sources of bands now. If someone has more information about this music agency, do get in touch!
CBR Organisation Victoria House Queen Victoria Rd Cov.
From Coventry Evening Telegraph ‘Pop In’ column 1974 – Stuart Kinzett
Most young people who listen to Radio One or Top of the Pops tend to think that what they hear is the full range of contemporary music. As a result they miss out on a whole range of better groups who play rock, jazz, folk, blues and music that defies labelling.
Or without really understanding it, they are likely to dismiss it as rubbish.
The fault lies with the media. most young people only have access to records which get into the hit parade. This is a problem that Mr James Reilly, a partner in Direct Enterprises, Coventry, well appreciates. And with a new music club in Coventry he is trying to overcome this difficulty and spread the enjoyment of better, non-commercial music.
The club is the Cosmic Music Club and at the moment it is based at the Baginton Oak every Wednesday. “The basic idea of the club is to introduce people to all kinds of music so they won’t be stuck with one category all the time” said Mr Reilly. “I like all music from Tchaikovsky to Pink Floyd as long as its good music. From what I’ve seen of the entertainments in Coventry, people seem to be stuck in a rut where music is concerned. There’s a different place for every type of music – folk clubs, soul discos for example. Coventry kids like to pick their music although the students seem to have wider tastes: they have open minds and can appreciate things they couldn’t before. But Coventry is alive with good music, brilliant musicians, and good agencies and i think kids are prepared to listen to music rather than noise. i want to shake off the concept that what people hear on the radio is all there is to hear.”
The Cosmic features a certain type of music on each night, interspersed with other types. They are hoping people will come to all the concerts and not just pick and choose. They have already had Cosmotheka, a folk group, Wave, a jazz rock group and A Band Called George – who play heavy folk. Future plans include folk, country and western and a whole variety of sounds.
” We hope to build it into a bigger place that will attract big names. But we may not stay at the Baginton Oak. We don’t seem to get many people out there, I don’t really know why.”
Wherever the Cosmic Club ends up, it will be doing a fine job by introducing people to specialist music not catered for by the mass media.
…………………………………………..
Ad from Hobo Magazine 1974
I met Jim Reilly at Rod Felton / Dave Coburn’sRude Bear Folk club at the Hand in Heart, Far Gosford Street early 1974 while running Hobo magazine. Jim was a larger than life character full of enthusiasm and a mover and shaker. he set up the Cosmic Music venue at the Baginton Oak and the Mercers Arms and the Shanty Folk Club at the Charterhouse, Terry Road. They also arranged folk concerts at the Belgrade Theatre to tie in with the Festival of Britain.
By autumn 1974, the Cosmic Music Club was closed, pending a re-opening according to Hobo. Jim opened a new and bigger club called The Steam Packet at the Tree Tops club, Foleshill Road on Sunday nights with The Sound of Venus Disco and bands.
Steel Peach commented on the original Hobo Vox thus
“It was great to find this listing of Steel Peach at the Cosmic Club, and although it has us down as a Coventry rock band we actually came from Bath but we were based in Derby and played around the Coventry area a lot. And As I remember The Cosmic Club was always a great place to play.”
Comments from Hobo Vox blog
[this is good]
It was great to find this listing of Steel Peach at the Cosmic Club, and although it has us down as a Coventry rock band we actually came from Bath but we were based in Derby and played around the Coventry area a lot. And As I remember The Cosmic Club was always a great place to play.
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