The Radicals
Circa 1965 Source Broadgate Gnome. R&B / Beat group.
Line up: Miles Courtier (guitar), Howard Coffel (guitar), Steve Sommerville (keyboards), Neil Owen (bass), Ron Rai (drums).
From Wyken area, played ‘Spirituals and Blues’ at Wyken Congregational Church in June 1965.
Ra Ho Tep
RA-HO-TEP
circa 1969 – 71
Tim James – alto-sax, tenor-sax, clarinet, electric-piano, harp and vocals (Tim played with Acme Electric Patent Band / Soul Sect / Bo Weevils / Monster Magnet / Last Fair Deal and others
Joe Craner – drums, trumpet and vibes
Phil Porter – bass-guitar, string-bass and acoustic-guitar
Ra Ho Tep was the name of an Egyptian sun god and an appropriate name for a band in the 60s/70s. Featured myself on alto-sax, tenor-sax, clarinet, electric-piano, harp and vocals, Phil Porter on bass-guitar, string-bass and acoustic-guitar and Joe Craner on drums, trumpet and vibes. We very often played one piece of totally improvised music per set, although the pieces developed strong formats as we played them, due to our almost telepathic understanding of each other. People would ask us how long it took to put these complicated arrangements together. I didn’t have the heart to tell them that we “made it up as we went along”. We also played “covers” by as diverse a collection as Marvin Gaye, Laura Nyro, James Taylor, and many more who would never have recognised their songs after we’d finished with them. Our finale was nearly always Concierto de Aranjuez, a moody piece by Spanish classical composer Joquin Rodriguez. We played all over the country … people tended to love us or hate us, the latter if we were mistakenly booked to play college discos – where our style of music didn’t fit in with “Brown Sugar” and the like.
I think we peaked in 1973 with the Polyglot Dance Group. when we teamed up with some student dancers from a college in Surrey and incorporated modern dance into the improvisational routine. After a few years Joe got other commitments and we did recruit temporary drummers. The band eventually folded due to our own other commitments and geographical difficulties “
Comment by The Broadgate Gnome from the original Vox Hobo site c 2008
Joe Craner , Percussion and Phil Porter, guitar.
Old mates from the Marquee days in the sixties ( Boll Weevils) and mad enough to agree to Sphincta handling them.
It was their desire to play in the ruins that started that all off.
I think their Arjens bag is in the gnome archive on here
P
Posted by: Broadgate Gnome | 03/26/2008 at 07:55 PM
Below – Ra Ho Tep at the Lanch Poly Coventry 1971 with Fresh Maggots and Al Docker’s band Tsar.
Below – Ra Ho Tep at the Coventry Arts Umbrella Club – put on by Trev Teasdel 1971 but it was not the first time they played there. Advert from the Coventry Evening Telegraph.
The subject today is the blues, and the inspiring news that it is now being taught in Coventry schools.
The blues may be considered somewhat archaic these days, but it does form the basis of most popular musical forms that have developed over the past 90 years.
Tim James and John Alderson are blues musicians turned teachers; they go back a long way. John played in Wandering John, Snake, and the Travelling Riverside Blues Band and with Tim in The Last Fair Deal.
Tim began his blues odyssey in the Boll Weevils, then Soul Sect, 3 AM, Ra Ho Tep, The Band With No Name and The Last Fair Deal plus lots of solo stuff. Who better then to teach seven to eight-year-olds about the blues?
So I asked Tim how it came about.
“I was asked by teacher Steve Thomas, who was in the Travelling Riverside Blues Band if I would do some blues tracks for A-Level students.
“The kids loved the tracks and all got great grades.
“Then he asked if I would fancy teaching the blues to Coventry school kids and I said yes.
“When we started I didn’t think it would be primary kids.
“It began in September, and we do four 45-minute sessions a day, two schools in the morning and two in the afternoon.”
The 45-minute Story of the Blues sessions trace the blues back to its origins in the slave trade, when chained workers would sing crude ‘field hollows’ backed with stomp and claps or more often by the fall of a hammer or axe.
Through music, slide shows and plenty of interesting narrative, the children are taken on a musical journey punctuated with just the right amount of information on each time-line in the birth of this most real of all musical forms.
They are encouraged to join in, and by all accounts are willing to take part.
They get to hear about bottleneck guitars, Resonators (as played by John Alderson), harmonica or blues harps (as played by Tim James), mojos, delta, 12-bar blues and the effect this musical form has had on other music that would follow it.
As a blues fan it was a delight to hear versions of On the Road again, Cross Roads and Mustang Sally.
I asked those involved, Tim and John, Darren Sheldon and head of service Owen Dutton what surprised them the most about this course: “What surprised me,” said John, “Is what genuine interest we get from these young people. They love it; I was amazed at just what response and questions we get from them.
“I was telling them about the ‘bottle’ I used to play the guitar; I mentioned that nowadays they tend to use a metal slide. It was wonderful to hear a child ask if he could hear the guitar being played with a metal one to hear the difference.
“We talk about guitars being made from wood,” reveals Darren, “Then up pops John with a metal guitar, and straightaway, they are asking what a metal guitar would sound like as most of them have never seen one before.”
“We are also involved in the history of rock, and rock school,” said Owen. “Most of the children have heard of Elvis and The Beatles, and it’s tremendously encouraging to think we are planting the seed for the enjoyment of music. I just wish we had this when I was at school.”
You know what Owen, so do I!
I think most of us were subjected to classical music at school, I know I was.
I have since learned to love classical music, but in my own way, I got to see the fun side of it. Teaching music like this is all about fun. Okay, so some blues purists may say: “How can you teach the history of the blues in just 45 minutes?”
I know the blues, and I can assure you that what we heard was all the basics a young child needs to know. It’s wildly interactive, educational, musical, historic and fun. Every school in the city should be involved in this, many already are.
Also encouraging is the news that 2-Tone is being taught in some schools, and my 2-Tone trail book is being used in the lesson.
This is a new location for the Hobo A to Z of Coventry Bands Site, as Google are closing their classic sites where it is hosted, in September 2021.It will take a while to reupload and arrange all the material from the former site, so please be patient. The old site is still up Here https://sites.google.com/site/bandsfromcoventry/ until September. The A to Z index is in the links above and I’m slowly loading all the posts.
Toby Lyons aka Toni El Dorko– Keyboards
John Shipley aka ‘Wayne Riff‘- Guitar
Steve Vaughan ‘Vaughan Truevoice’- bass
Jane Bayley – 1st Vocalist – (any more info on Jane welcome) Bim-Bane.
Valerie Webb (now Haudiquet) (Pussy Purrfect) – Vocals on these videos and on tour – see note below)
Paul Heskett – Sax
Billy Gough aka Troy Corner- Drums
Chris Long – Percussion??
(the stage names are still being verified!)
The single version of Away with Jane Bayley below
Steve Wynne and Jane Bom-Bane
“I looked up Swinging cats. There is a common misconception that the girl in the photos, and on the youtube clips from Pebble Mill are of Jane. They are in fact of me. I was also the one with the band when we won the Lanch Battle of the bands competition. Jane left before the last heat of the competition, and I stepped in for them. I also stayed with them for the tour of Britain and Ireland supporting Selecter, because Holly and the Italians dropped out at the last minute. I had less than a week to learn the songs and rehearse ready for that final heat! Jane did rejoin them again at a later date…but the person in the glittery blue dress, and the pink crocheted coat is most definitely me! We all had absurd stage names…mine was Pussy Purrfect. John Shipley was Wayne Truevoice if I remember right.
My name then was Val Webb. I was engaged to Jerry Dammers, and was with him from 1973 to 1980. So I was lucky enough to be there at the very birth of Two Tone. I too left Coventry in the late 80’s. I still regret leaving. Lived at Albany Road during it’s hectic heyday! Any how…any more info required, do get back to me. I have a lot of memories of the Two Tone era that I can share if you are interested. Val.”
Years before Mike Flowers and the “loungecore” movement, this was a sort of “easy listening” ska band that recorded for two-tone. I remember them winning a competition at the Lanch, and being so much better than anyone else. John Shipley joined the Specials aka, Toby Lyons joined Colourfield, and Jane Bayley became Jane Bom-Bane, ”Queen of the Funky Harmonium” performing at the Brighton and Edinburgh Fringe festivals.
The line-up seemed to change every week, so the above is a list of some of those who were at one time in the band, there was also Val Webb, a singer who was going out with Jerry Dammers at one point.
The Swinging Cats were another Coventry outfit, formed at the end of 1979 and after they replaced Holly & The Italians on The Selecter‘s March 1980 tour, 2 Tone offered them a single. The release ‘Mantovani / Away’ CHS TT14, sank without trace despite the first 20,000 copies being sold at the giveaway price of 50p.
Paul Heskett later toured with The Specials and played Sax on ‘Sock It To ‘Em J.B‘ & ‘Braggin’ And Tryin’ Not To Lie‘ on the More Specials album and Flute on Ghost Town / Why? / Friday Night, Saturday Morning’ EP
” The Swinging Cats were formed by John Shipley, who along with Toby Lyons recruited like-minded individuals, and so created one of 2-Tone’s most flamboyant acts, even topping Madness and Bad Manners for on-stage quirkiness. The band won a Battle of the Band’s contest in Coventry that gave them two days at Leamington’s Woodbine Studios and a spot on TV show Look Hear. They signed to 2 Tone records and released the irresistibly catchy Mantovani, with Away as its flipside.
Photo by Jill Furmanovsky
Singing Cats played on BBC by Pauline Black
Later became A Band Called George.
Sweeney Todd was revived in 1992 and recorded an album “A String Of Pearls”
From their former My Space site –
SWEENEY TODD TO A BAND CALLLED GEORGE
Sweeney Todd was formed by Brothers Bob and Colin Young in Leamington Spa
 |
| A band Called George |
Warwickshire England in late 1969 early 1970. We got the idea and name Sweeney Todd from the 30s film, starring Todd Slaughter (what a name eh!!)
The first line up of Sweeney Todd consisted of My self (Bob Young) on lead Vox and guitar, Colin on Guitar and backing Vox, John Cirriani on bass and backing Vox and a drummer from Sunderland whose name I’m afraid I cant remember. Sweeney Todd used to rehearse in St Paul’s church hall on Friars St Warwick just up the road from The Seven Stars Pub.( I apologize to the neighbours ). We weren’t there long; we got chucked out because of the racket we made.
As Sweeney Todd we had various rehearsal rooms mostly church halls. There were no Garage bands then, and amps were either on or off.
If you wanted that nice loud crunchy guitar sound you had to crank it up to number eleven and the neighbours didn’t like it.
So to get to your rehearsal room you also had to have transport as well. We were lucky, my dad gave us an old Bedford minibus. Just for fun we painted it matt black (blackboard paint) with runny blood red SWEENEY TODD letters on the back. The state of this Sweeney Todd van got me stopped by the cops about twice a day
It wasn’t long after this the Sweeney Todd van got swapped for a ford transit van, a dirty grey green one. nice and anonymous apart from the great iron bar and padlocks across the rear doors. This van later blew up on the way to the M6 some where near Birmingham. We were on the way to a gig at the Cavern in Liverpool. We had to hire a car to continue the Journey.
By now the line up of Sweeney Todd consisted of Me on guitar, and kazoo, Colin on Bass, Roger Prince on guitar, harmonica, and mandolin, Fat Bas on accordion and I think Harry Heppingstall on drums. We arrived at the Cavern with only guitars. This was in the days when you took your own PA as well as all the back line. We used another bands gear for the gig. I’m ashamed to say I cant remember who they were. I do remember that they were very good It all gets very hazy from here on in But, Sweeney Todd were in the famous Cavern, We were on form and feelin’ good. We had a dressing room but apart from Colin who had a pair of cowboy boots we didn’t have any stage clothes to dress up in, although Roger did have some Brut aftershave.
We used to frequent a pub in Leamington called the Coventry Arms
The set we were using had the title track SWEENEY TODD in it. All other songs referring to SWEENEY TODD had gradually been dropped and replaced by other stuff of a much gentler nature and somehow the name Sweeney Todd didn’t seem to fit what we were doing we weren’t a heavy rock band any more.
So in a drunken stupor we decided to change the name Sweeney Todd to something more suitable..Some one produced a matchbox, one of those with the little sayings and proverbs on the back this one was about a young lady trying to find a name for her baby she said to her husband that she would like to call the baby George he said No, every Tom, Dick and Harrys called George. Well we all fell about laughing. From then on we were called A BAND CALLED GEORGE a revolutionary name for the time.
We dropped the SWEENEY TODD songs and changed the complete set and later that year released a single NCB Man on Bell Records (p) Island Music.”
Pauline Black – Vocals
Everett Morton (The Beat’s old drummer) – Drums replaced by Rob Hill
Zip The Bassman – Bass replaced by Ray, a bass player from Rugby
Tony White – Guitar
Dave Gedney (“That boy gets everywhere!” – Tony)
John Shipley – Guitar (2nd Line-up)
John Greenhow (2nd Line-up)
Memories from Tony White via Rex Brough
“The first line-up supported Joe Boxers on tour. The second line up really rocked. NME described us as playing ‘Guitar-based underwater spy-movie music’ I really enjoyed this band – we supported The Communards on their UK tour in 1986 and played some great gigs around the country.
There was a lot of Press and record company interest in The Supernaturals at that time – closest that I personally ever got to ‘making it’ but it wasn’t to be. John Shipley and Pauline fell out, everybody took sides and it got a tad nasty. God I really hate all that political nonsense. Upshot of it was that a new band emerged from the ashes called The Great Escape – Val (Ex swinging cats) was drafted in as lead singer and Barry (Rob Hill’s old partner in rhythm from The Mix) replaced Ray on Bass. The new line up was now Val, Myself, John Shipley, John Greenhow, Rob Hill and Barry.
The Great Escape actually played some corking gigs in Cov in early ’87 but finally split with myself Rob and Barry going over to the French Riviera where we played the English Campsite bars as Ted Zeppelin and the Marina Maniacs !!
I have to say that this was amazing fun, and actually earnt more dosh than any of us had ever seen from music before !
About
Daz Ferris – vocals
Sean Cunningham – Guitar
Dave Speedy – Bass
Sean Carroll – Drums
Dave Jones – Drums
Pete Twynham – lead
Ruffus ? – Rhythm
Ian Blake – Bass
Malcolm Leighton Watts plus others.
Watts was previously in Tony Martin’s Echo Four
Tom Lane was the drummer – formerly of Jason and the Canaanites, The Fireflies, The Blue Beats and later of The Stringbeats, Pat Gissane Showband, Tuxedo Junction and currently with The Leicester Acemen
Stress comprised of Alan Rider (editor of the Coventry fanzine Adventures in Reality and Phil Clarke editor of Nuneaton fanzine Damn Latin.
Pete Chambers has a good article about them, here from Backbeat – Coventry Telegraph.
Backbeat: Soaking up the Stress – 80s style!
“Local electro-duo Stress, got together in 1981, comprised of Alan Rider who was editor of
the Coventry fanzine Adventures In Reality and Phil Clarke, the editor of Nuneaton fanzine Damn Latin.
Many assume the local scene of the early 80s was just about ska, reggae and guitar-based indie bands but, along with those styles, one genre that seemed to strike a chord was the electro-based band.
Artists like Eyeless In Gaza, Kevin Harrison, Attrition and Stress all made their mark, locally and nationally.
It’s no surprise that at least three fanzine editors were part of the above bands. The fanzine helped to galvanise the music scene and proved a perfect platform for the ubiquitous cassette compilation so favoured by the deeper thinkers of the day.
Using often basic equipment, Stress constructed some elaborate sound-scapes and earned themselves a healthy reputation.
Now, over 30 years later, Stress have released a vinyl “best of” entitled Conspiracy Theory.
I met up with Alan and asked him how this album came about.
Alan replied: “The LP came about, funnily enough, because of an earlier article in Backbeat on the book I’m doing on Coventry fanzines.
The boss of a vinyl label in San Francisco, Dark Entries, spotted it on the web and recognised my name. He was a long time Stress fan from 1981, so he got in touch and suggested we do a retrospective LP with his label. It’s a small world!
“We really wanted the LP to look like something that would have been put out in Coventry in the early 80s when there was a thriving indie music scene in the city.
“That meant a black and white cover and labels, a specially created new edition of my fanzine from back then (Adventures in Reality), and a badge, all as part of the package.
“!It’s like a slice of Coventry musical history”.
The album is available from The 2-Tone Village and Vinyl Destination in Coventry Market, and check out the Stress Facebook site.
Alan Rider
says – “You can get hold of a copy of the new book on Adventures in Reality – a 480 page, A4 sized, bonanza featuring full colour reprints of every issue plus all the spin off zines, an interview, extras on techniques, posters and badges and more, by contacting me at Alanrider1@aol.com to get an autographed copy with a secret bonus, or by dropping in to Just Dropped in in FarGo Village to pick one up.”
Stress – Help Comes Too Late. Label | Adventures In Reality, 1983
Stress – Help comes too late (1983)
Adventures In Reality Recordings
Profile:
U.K. Industrial / Experimental label from Coventry, that developed from the A.I.R. fanzine by Alan Rider and ran from 1981 to 1985.
After the release of the Mini-LP and the split of the duo Stress (2) he was one half of Alan Rider moved on to the band project Dance Naked before resurrecting the label in the early 90’s.
