Were John Hewitt‘s band – later drummer with King and who played on Love and Pride

In John’s words – ” I started in 1976, self taught studied drumming by bands: Squeeze, Ian Dury, Steely Dan etc and watched carefully others in clubs and pubs. Stig Foster and me formed Solid Grease doing covers, changed name to Profile first live gig was 26th feb 1977 at a church in Tile Hill, called The Loft.”

John went on to play with The Pseuds / The Fuze / Dealer / Bown Fuze (in 1978) / The End in 1980 featured on their track Panic in the Night on the Sent From Coventry album – Cherry Red and then formed Team 23 who toured with the Specials and Madness. In 1982 he played with Golden Age and Paul King asked him to join KING in 1983.

Three records that John Hewitt played on

Spring – Vocals, Karl Shale – Bass, Liam ?- Guitar, Jonah ?- Drums, Rich ? – Guitar

Original line up included Andy Owen on Vocals, Nial on Guitar.

One of Solid Action’s first gigs was at the Memorial Park. Karl Shale joined Aching Tongue, and then Colourfield. They were featured on Sent From Coventry album 1979

From Martin Bowes Alternative Sounds c 1979

” Solid Action was a young group – average age 16. Message from a Loner was one of 2 tracks recorded as a demo – the other was Flower Game and as this demo was superior to their subsequent recording of Message From a Loner for the Sent From Coventry album, this was the one that was used.The track was written by Karl, supposedly inspired by a poster of Siouxie and the Banshees.

Solid Action played throughout 1979, having a good following amoungst young people (and the not so young) kids by the end. This track is a good example of their brilliance. Rich’s brother is in the Flys. They split up end of 1979.”

Message From a Loner

Paul Kennelly tells us ” All along , I was primarily a vocalist. The bass guitar was really beyond me, but I thumped away in the background . Bob Hopkins picked up guitar very quickly and Grahame could play the Shadows classics, note perfect. Just look at the amps !!“

Line up: Frank Bunker (vocals), Graham Marriott (lead guitar), Maurice Cullen (rhythm guitar), Peter Fisher (bass), Bill Harman (drums).

Rehearsed at Holyhead Youth Club. Bunker also in The Debonairs.

Barry Walker – Keyboards  Dawn Glenville – Vocals  Carol Glenville – Vocals

+ countless others including Terry Bown, Mick Smitham, Ricky Medlock, Paul Hooper, Tom Mollins, Rob Mackenzie

Previously known as the “Eyes of Blue“, this is a cabaret band. Starting in 1977, and still working today, Barry Walker is the only original member. Their Decca single was a reggae cover version of the Temptations hit. Many fine Coventry musicians have passed through their ranks.

Single   My girl / Dark eyes – Decca 1976

BACK TO THE BAND INDEX

BACK TO THE BAND INDEX

Sunshine Bullsheet on Smack by Craig Ward

Many moons ago, in the distant lands of Mat-lock, there lived the people of Rea-ney, the people of Oli-ver and the people of Reid-Smith. And it came to pass that there was great famine on the lands, and the peoples of Mat-lock were starving and cold. The Kings of the three clans called a meeting to discuss what could be done to prevent their peoples from becoming extinct. After long discussions, it was decided that each first born should go from the lands of Mat-lock and return only when they had sufficient food and provisions for everyone.

And so it happened. Gordon of the Rea-neys, Oli of the Olivers and Mar-go of the Reid-Smiths departed taking with them only a Gibso SG, A Fender Musicmaster Bass and two Shure microphones. And they travelled for 40 days and 40 nights until they reached the God-forsaken city of Coven-tree. At the same time, another young man arrived in the city called Nich-o-las Trevi-sick having been banished from his homeland of Barnstaple and having nothing with him but a Ludwig drum kit (and three pairs of sticks!). And, quite by chance, Nich-o-las did espy the other three and beckoned them saying “Verily, ye have ye Gibsons, Ye Fender and ye microphones; I have my Ludwig, let us form a funky-rock-band and call it SMACK!

And they did. And they played. And all the people of Coven-tree were sore amazed. And they listened. And they saw it was good. And SMACK! became famous and returned to their homelands with lots of food and money for all, and they all lived happily until this very day. You see word had reached the land of the Mat-lock that SMACK! had created PUBLIC DEMAND!!! And SMACK! Said ‘Let us go among the peoples of London, Man-chester and Car-diff and lets us sweat our rocks off for the people of Glas-gow and Kings-Lyn. And the peoples of these foreign countries had heard of SMACK! (from a rather pathetic info sheet) and did book them. But alas! some of the wise men were not so wise and did not book SMACK! And the heavens opened and the people rose up and attack all the promoters and agents who did not book SMACK! and destroyed all of the venues where SMACK! were not appearing. And the promoters and agents did weep and say unto one another “Oh, why did I not book SMACK! when I had the chance”.

And friends, I say unto you, be ye careful because it just MIGHT happen again…..

SMACK! were –

Gordon Reaney – Lead Guitar; 

Andrew Roland Oliver (AKA Ollie or Doc Mustard Bass/Vocals; 

Margo Buchanan-Reid-Smith – Vocals and Smiles; and 

Nicky Trevisick – Drums.

Andrew Oliver – Doc Mustard

Margo Buchanan-Reid-Smith

Nick Trevisick

News on Smack! from Hobo (Coventry Music and Arts magazine) 1974

SMACK! …MISS UNDERSTOOD 

(From Hobo Issue Issue Three (Unpublished version c Jan 1974)

“SMACK! formed from the now defunct Derby band Pug-ma-Ho, are now completing a tour of Germany. a single is due out around Christmas time on the (dreaded) Bell label.

The number is entitled “Miss Understood” and was written by that old son of a gypsy gnome, Bob Young. The line up of the band consists of Gordon Reaney on lead guitar; Andrew (Ollie) Oliver on bass guitar; Nicky Trevisick on drums and a female vocalist by the curious name of Margo- Buchanan-Reid-Smith (Later a backing vocalist with Mud).”

From Hobo Issue 3 (Published version February 1974)

SMACK! PLAY GERMANY

Just returned from a successful tour of Germany are SMACK!. The group who are Coventry based, hail mainly from Matlock. This phunky rock band who play original material, consists of these curios Smackeroos – Gordon Reaney – lead guitar, Andrew Roland ‘Ollie’ Oliver bass and vocals, Margo-Buchanan-Reid-Smith on Vocals and smiles and Nicky Trevisick on drums.

……………………………….

Andrew Roland ‘Ollie’ Oliver (AKA Doc Mustard) later played with Machine / Hot Snacks who appeared on the Sent From Coventry Album. Margo later sang backing vocals for MUD; is one of the UKs key backroom vocal talents, the first-choice backing singer for megastars including David Gilmour, Tina Turner Joni Mitchell, Eric Clapton, Van Morrison, James Blunt, KT Tunstall, and countless others. Margos vocal coaching skills were also responsible for turning familiar TV faces into spectacular musical voices on the recent hit BBC One show Just The Two Of Us.
Margo has been gigging from 15, turned down The Specials when asked to dye her hair blonde (the only job she regrets saying “no” to), refused MCA attempts to market her as the girl with the red guitar in the eighties and has subsequently played with some of the biggest and best in the business – including performances at the Queen’s Golden Jubilee celebrations!
While Margo feels she “should’ve done this years ago”, in many ways the timing for her debut solo record couldn’t have been better. In a record industry where female singer-songwriters are forced to assume a “cool” or “kooky” veneer, Margo’s music is a breath of fresh air – harking back to a time when the likes of Joni Mitchell, Fleetwood Mac and Carole King proved that a well-produced, consummately arranged and painstakingly written song will endure far longer than the latest over-hyped new thing.
Her lifetime experiences of the record industry – both first and second hand – have given Margo the hard-earned wisdom to see beyond such limitations and inform the very core of their songwriting.
The single “Years Ago” is released on 03/04/2006.
The album “I Should’ve Done This Years Ago” is released on 15/05/2006.
Buy Margo Buchanan’s music Nicky Trevisick – is now a writer and producer living in Tennessee and recently wrote and produced It’s a beautiful day for India Aria for the Jennifer Lopaz movie Back up Plan. He later played with A Band Called George who made the single NCB Man.

1968 – 1969
Dave Jones – Drums
Gordon Kelly – Bass
Pete Bowron – Lead
Gerry McDonald – (Leader) Sax
Norman Cambell – 1st Trumpet
Freddy ? – 2nd Trumpet
? – Organ
? – Bass Sax
? – Keyboards

BAND INDEX

Vocals – Kay Booth

Guitar – Gary Meffen

Bass – Nigel Meffen

Skeet were formed – initially as a two-piece instrumental bass and guitar band – by guitarist Gary Meffen after he left punk band Homicide and bought a Roland CR-8000 CompuRhythm drum machine. He teamed up with his brother Nigel on bass and they played numerous gigs in Coventry during the early 1980’s. Through mutual friends Chris Long (Swinging Cats / The Rhythm Doctor) and Toby Lyons (L’Homme de Terre / Swinging Cats / The Colourfield), Gary and Nigel were introduced to Kay Booth, who under Toby’s guidance had recorded a demo singing over a live Skeet recording. With Kay on board, Skeet were very much part of an underground Coventry music scene featuring bands such as Zanders System (featuring Toby Lyons, Lee Shale, Karl Shale (Solid Action, The Colourfield, The Candyskins) and Nial (Solid Action)) and The Jessie Boy 5. They played local venues such as The Venue, Corks Wine Bar, The Hope & Anchor and Guys Club / Busters. The bands biggest gig was supporting ‘I’ at Coventry Cathedral in support of the families of HMS Coventry, which was sunk during the Falklands War in 1982.

The band made a demo cassette recorded by Lee Shale at the Zanders System practice space in Park Road Coventry using Toby Lyon’s TEAC Reel-to-Reel and The Specials Jerry Dammers mixer. Although there was talk of a record deal, the pressures of work caused Skeet to call it a day at their peak.

Gary emigrated to Canada and works on some solo work under the name of Homicide BC. Nigel has played in several bands including Simon Seachange, Spoofer, Prole Position, the Del-Chronics and Cherry Joe & the Lightning Crew. Kay went on to play in several bands including Ships Crew – which also featured John Shipley – (supporting The Specials at The Butts), 21IF and The Furious Apples.

The track ‘A Brief Call’ was featured on the first limited edition 200 copy Alternative Sounds CD, in support of the Coventry Music Museum.

Check it out here – https://alternativesounds.bandcamp.com/track/brief-call