This time Pete Clemon’s has focused on Special’s songwriter / guitar player – Roddy Radiation (Roddy Byres) who formed one of the earliest punk bands in 1975 – The Wild Boys, who had two tracks on the 1980 compilation Sent from Coventry and went on (post Specials) to form a string of Rock a Billy bands. Pete’s article for the Coventry Telegraph will tell you more.
Rebel man Roddy still riffing
Pete Clemons on Roddy Byers of The Specials, The Bonedigger and The Skabilly Rebels
He has more than a hint of James Dean in his appearance and from what little I know of him personally he is a fairly reserved sort of person.
But as a guitarist, Roddy Byers is far less so. It is on a stage that he really cuts loose. He has a controlled aggression which is, at the same time, incredibly innovative.
Of course as Roddy ‘Radiation’ he is without doubt better known for his lead guitar and song writing activities within The Specials. But, for me, he saves his best work for the other bands he has fronted since The Specials split back in 1981.
Those bands have included The Tearjerkers, The Bonediggers, The Raiders and, more recently, The Skabilly Rebels. And these groups have provided the vehicle for his love of 1950s rock ‘n’ roll and rockabilly.
The Tearjerkers were in fact up and running while The Specials were still in existence during 1981 and were an outlet for songs Roddy had originally written for The Specials but had been rejected.
Roddy’s music has always had that early Elvis Presley/Gene Vincent feel to them and maybe that style just never suited The Specials.
The Tearjerkers had several lineup changes but at the time of recording they had been made up of Roddy (vocals/guitar), Mark Byers (vocals/guitar), Joe Hughes (vocals/bass), Pete Davies (drums) and a wild accordion player called ‘Slim Tearjerker’, aka Clive Pain, who also contributed to the vocals.
During 1978 ‘Slim Tearjerker’ had achieved the accolade of being named ‘Champion Blockhead’ when he was selected by Ian Dury in a New Musical Express competition and befriended the likes of The Clash and The Specials which led to his friendship with Roddy.
As well as playing for The Tearjerkers, Slim also turned out for bands like The Boothill Foot-Tappers, The Rough-House All-Stars and The Skiff Skats. He also wrote what he described as a ‘masterpiece of a love song’ titled ‘You’re Too Bloody Good For Me’.
The Tearjerkers recorded for Chiswick records where a couple of songs ‘Desire’/’Western Song’ were released as a single. Some of their other recorded material can nowadays be found on compilations such as ‘The Chiswick Story – Adventures of an Independent Record Label 1975-1982’ and ‘Don’t Let the Hope Close Down’, a benefit album for the famous London music pub venue The Hope and Anchor not to be confused with the one that once stood at the ring road end of our own Whitefriars Street.
Locally the band played regularly at venues such as The General Wolfe and The Freemasons Arms and the line-up did change several times during their existence. The Tearjerkers eventually split up in 1987 because there had been no major recording success.
Next up for Roddy were The Bonediggers. Again this band was fluid but during its existence the main musicians behind Roddy included David West (vocals/guitar), Sam Smith (bass), and drummers Gaz Muldoon and Jim Pryal. A great piece called ‘Bonediggin’ was used as the band’s signature tune.
The Bonediggers were regulars at the the Tic Toc club and had their unofficial base at The Dive (Lady Godiva) pub. Demos were recorded at The Depot studios at the rear of the Belgrade theatre.
And, in 1990, a three-track EP released on the Rimshot Record Label featured a track called ‘De Angelo’ and also included a new version of old favourite ‘Desire’.
Roddy left The Bonediggers during September 1993 but soon returned to the action with a group called The Raiders.
At the time Roddy was quoted as saying ‘Whereas The Bonediggers was Hank Williams meets The Clash then The Raiders are The Clash meets Hank Williams. A good time rock ‘n’ roll band with a punk attitude’.
In addition to Roddy on guitar The Raiders were Sam Smith on bass, Gaz Muldoon on drums, Badger on Sax and Ian Toughie on guitar and although short lived they still managed to record a sixtrack tape and fulfilled live dates at venues like Sir Colin Campbell and The General Wolfe.
An excellent 18-track anthology CD was released during 2005 which brings together recordings from the above period in either original form or a re-worked format.
It really is a great release and a lot of these songs are still played live today.
In fact the track ‘Lorraine’, albeit performed on this CD by The Tearjerkers, originally dates back to Roddy’s pre-Specials band The Wild Boys. ‘Lorraine’ was also one of two contributions from The Wild Boys to the compilation album ‘Sent From Coventry’ that was released towards the end of the 1970s/early 1980s.
For almost ten years now Roddy has fronted The Skabilly Rebels and they play exactly what the label says. Ska and rockabilly complete with a mix of punk, country and blues.
Backing Roddy over the years of this venture is long time musical partner Sam Smith on guitar, the late Iain Howard also on guitar, Jaynie Jones on keyboards, Mac on bass and Drew Stansall on sax, both Paul Ayriss and Terry Downes on drums and many, many others.
2009 saw The Skabillys release their debut CD, which was recorded at Moonbase Studios in Earlsdon and contains 16 tracks of which some are more up to date workings of songs heard during his years as a Tearjerker/Bonedigger such as ‘Black Leather Jacket’ and ‘Judgement Day’.
February and March 2012 saw Roddy complete a 12-date tour of California, Reno, Nevada, and Phoenix, Arizona over in the USA. Rather than take the normal band Roddy teamed up with American talents such as Danny Dean of Danny Dean and the Homewreckers and billed themselves as the U.S. Skabillys and, between them, played a mix of past and present and new songs from Roddy’s songbook.
Roddy is undoubtedly his own man or, for want of a better phrase, a true rebel. He was one of the very first people in Coventry to discover punk rock and regularly visited London during its early days as ‘pub rock’.
This was well before that particular genre had left the capital. I am convinced that, some day, history will give him the same ‘hall of fame’ treatment afforded to other musicians from that era. One that I think he richly deserves.
Pete Clemons focuses Coventry 60’s band The Mad Classix for his latest Coventry Telegraph article.
Classix line up on TV talent show
By Pete Clemons
FOR those with extended memories you will remember that Opportunity Knocks was a television talent show hosted by Hughie Green that ran from the mid 1950s through till 1978.
The show was revived again in the 1980s by, first, Bob Monkhouse, and then Les Dawson. The winning acts on Opportunity Knocks were decided by way of a public vote. And this was done by completing a post card, in your own handwriting, and posting it off. Quite often the winners would then go on to appear again on the next show.
To give an idea as to how the acts had done the studio audience reaction to each act was measured by a ‘clap-o-meter’, however this only an indicator and did not count towards the final result.
The programme was normally recorded the Friday before transmission, so votes had to be in by Thursday in order for them to be manually counted before the following day’s show where the results were read out. With technology moving on, telephone voting was introduced for the revived series to make that process quicker. So in effect, and as you have probably guessed by now, the whole show was an archaic version of Britain’s Got Talent or The X-Factor.
The Mad Classix was another of Coventry’s popular beat groups who existed from the early to mid 1960s. And August 1964 saw them appear on Hughie Green’s version of Opportunity Knocks. As far as I can ascertain they were the first Coventry group ever to appear on a television programme that was relayed nationwide throughout the country.
The band had been put forward for the show by promoter Vince Martin. And for their appearance the band travelled second class, with Vince, up to Manchester where they stayed overnight. The Classix rehearsed and recorded the performance the day before it went out at ATV studios in the city.
The full line-up of the band at the time of their TV appearance was Ron Smith (lead guitar), John Davies (bass), Dave Norris (rhythm guitar), Brian Fowdrey (tenor sax), Gerry O’Brian (drums) and Johnny Wells (vocals).
The group’s manager, Phillip Newton, revealed prior to the showing that the six band members would be appearing on the television each with a silver streak dyed in their hair. The streaks were apparently added by a hairdressing salon in Bell Green and were given the thumbs-up at the make-up department of the TV studios when the band went along there for the screen test.
Apparently this gimmick also proved to be popular with the queues of fans that would form outside the New Inn at Longford at the time as they began to mimic the band who had a regular Thursday night residency at the venue. For the Opportunity Knocks show The Mad Classix performed a song called ‘Keep on Looking’ which had been written by lead guitarist, Ron Smith and, according to the local press at the time, its release as a single depended on how it was received on the show.
The Classix did not win but performed really well and far from disgraced themselves. They finished a very creditable runner-up to body builder Tony Holland who had been on a roll on the show with several wins under his belt for his routine that included flexing his muscles to the sound of the ‘Wheels Cha Cha’ music.
However, Hughie Green must have seen something in the band because, during the proceedings, he made them an offer. It was along the lines of, he would make them stars, if they all shaved their heads and re-named themselves The Eggheads.
It was apparently a genuine offer but after some serious consideration the band politely turned the chance down.
The Mad Classix had plenty of history before, and after, the Opportunity Knocks experience though. They first formed during early 1962 and were known as The Tornadoes but after the Joe Meek band of a similar name sold more than five million copies of the track ‘Telstar’ they had to change name. They then went on the road simply known as The Classics. The earliest example of the word ‘Mad’ being added to their name, that I can trace, was toward the end of 1963 for a gig at the Coventry Flying Club.
The first six months of 1964 saw The Mad Classix tour Germany where they teamed up with German band The Rattles who were incredibly popular in their native country as well as gaining chart success here in the UK with a song called ‘The Witch’.
Guitarist Dave Norris was not available for this tour so the band had recruited Beverley Jones. Life on the road was uncomfortable, yet enjoyable at the same time, but Beverley yearned for home.
1964 also saw The Classix not only appearing in Coventry but, due to their exposure on TV, also saw them take on a five-date tour of Wales and a nine-date tour of Scotland.
1965 would prove to be just as busy for The Classix. And July of that year saw them expand by adding ex-Chad’s band member and sax player, Johnny Williams, to the line-up.
The same year also saw the band go back to Germany for a further tour. It was while there for that particular tour where they eventually recorded a seven-inch single which would be released in December of that year.
The songs included on that single were its A side ‘My Hunny Bunny with ‘It’s Never Too Late’ selected for the B side. Both compositions were credited to Brian Fowdrey and released on the Storz record label. As far as I understand this record was only ever released in Germany. However, the advent of the CD has made rare release more accessible. And, as such, ‘My Hunny Bunny’ can be nowadays be found on two releases ‘Tommyknockers Beat Club volume 9 (Reelin and a Rockin till the break of day’ and ’60er Rare Beat – volume 2′. Ron Smith left in April 1966 and was replaced by Jeff Lynne for a short while and then later in the year and after having all their equipment stolen the band finally split toward the end of 1966.
For more detailed and revealing information on the band, as well as being a tremendous read in general, I can thoroughly recommend bass player, John Davies’ recently released book ‘The Mad Classix – A History’. It is available to purchase now from the 2 Tone Centre on Ball Hill.
The MAD CLASSIX
circa 1964-66
Pete Chambers Godiva Rocked to a Backbeat
R&B/Beat group Line up: Brian Fowdrey (Saxophone), Ron Smith (lead guitar), Dave Norris (rhythm guitar), Johnny Wells (vocals), John Davies (bass), Gerry O’Brian (drums)
Formed around 1964, they quickly worked up material, switching from ‘beat’ to more blues influenced material. They cut demos around the middle of 1964 (including ‘Keep On Looking’), hoping to impress EMI or Decca. They Appeared on ‘Opportunity Knocks’ in June of that year and had their hair dyed specially for the appearance with one white streak!
Toured Germany (where they released a single in December 1965) and added Johnny Williams (Sax) from The Chads whilst there in July 1965.
Ron Smith Left in April 1966 and was replaced by Jeff Lynne for a short while. He left the band and joined the Nightriders in Birmingham who became Idle Race – then to the Moveand ELO.
They split later in 1966 after having their gear stolen.
Single: Honey Bunny (Germany 1965)
Photo via Clive Berwick
Pete Chambers – Godiva Rocked to a Backbeat “Known for the mad stage antics, they played 6 months in Germany and the above single. Bev Jones was once a member and married lead vocalist Johnny Wells. Ron Smith says ” I wouldn’t have missed the German tour for the world. It was hard for me because I had a wife and family at home. We worked three to four hours a night, six days a week and rehearsed on the 7th. Yes it was hard work but an opportunity I couldn’t miss.” And from Pete Chambers Backbeat article – Cov Telegraph ” Outrageous Mad Classix lived up to their name
FAMED for their on-stage antics and a fabled tour of Germany The Mad Classix were a sextet who always lived up to their name.
In 1958 Ron Smith had purchased his first guitar, and the skiffle sound of that era was now giving way to a more sophisticated music that we know as rock ‘n’ roll.
Ron, along with his new guitar, had become a founding member of the Coventry band The Tornadoes. By 1962 a name change had become incumbent to them when the great Joe Meek had created Telstar by the band he called The Tornadoes.
So Coventry’s Tornadoes became The Classics, and they continued to find work in places like the Wyken Pippin and their sleek presentations and acrobatic stage antics gained them a residency at The Walsgrave.
They hooked up with Friary Promotions and took on sax player Brian Fowdrey who was working at the agency.
By now the band had grown to a …”
Tom Long added in a comment recently
Hi Trev,
Thought you might like to know this, as a addition to The Mad Classix story.
On Saturday 29/9/2012, Brian Fowdrey, the saxman and founder member of The Classix wed his partner of many years. The original members of the band got together (minus the singer, who died a while back), and gave a half hour performance. I had the honour of performing with them, as Gerry, their drummer hadn’t played for over 30 years! We persuaded Gerry to play a couple of numbers with them, though. Ironically, the first gig I did with Jason and the Canaenites was as support for The Classix, at The General Wolfe in Foleshill back in the 60’s!
Cheers, Tom Lane
Mad Classix with Bev Jones. Pic via Pete Chambers Godiva Rocked to a Backbeat
Pete Clemons now looks back at one of the top Coventry bands from the 1960’s – The Sabres – for his latest Coventry Telegraph article.
The SABRES circa 1963 – 1965 Source Broadgate Gnome Formed 1960 (according to Pete Chambers) and 1963 to Broadgate Gnome!
Beat group
Line up: “Q” Martin Cure (vocals), Steve Jones (guitar), Terry Wyatt (guitar) (From The Zodiacs), Graham Amos (bass),Paul Wilkinson (drums).
Formed in March 1963 for a charity concert in aid of Coventry & Warwickshire Hospital, they were managed by Frank Jones, father of the guitarist. Hard gigging band they took part in the 150th birthday celebrations for Sir Robert Fossett’s Circus, including an 8000 mile trip of Eastern Europe !. (they became only the second British group to play behind the Iron Curtain, in Czechoslovakia. (See Martin Cure’s comment below).
They also appeared on the BBC’s Welsh Programme, Southern and East Anglia TV .
They made demos for Parlophone although they were eventually signed to Philips by bandleader Cyril Stapleton. From Pete Chambers Godiva Rocked to a Backbeat
” The Sabres became part of Sir Robert Fossett’s Circus in 1962 and toured with it for 7 months. We did a 15 minute set to drag the older kids in and it was during the Jelly Baby craze that Ringo of the Beatles had initiated. So kids would throw tons of Jelly Babies at us! Our set was immediately followed by the Elephants and their keeper hated us because the elephants didn;t like walking on Jelly babies and it was hard to get them to perform. It was an interesting 7 months, we learned a lot of things as we were part of the circus we all had to muck in and help put the tents up. Though I don;t think we ever fitted in but it was all good press for us. Martin Cure.”
Frank Jones was their manager and father of Guitarist / songwriter Steve Jones. He created some fantastic press stories, much of it unfounded. Like the one about us travelling 8000 miles to tour Eastern Europe and being the second British band to play Czechoslovakia.None of it was true but it was great press and got us noticed!”
Drummer Jim Pryal adds ” The Sabres appeared on ‘ATV today’ and changed their name to ‘The Flying Machine’ shortly after. Paul Wilkinson, the drummer went to Cardinal Wiseman Secondary Boys school as I did. He was a good drummer. “
………………………………….
Sept 2013 – Pete Clemons wrote this article for the Coventry Telegraph
Big Top fun for The Sabres.
Pete Clemons
SEVERAL years before The Rolling Stones had the idea of hiring a big top from Sir Robert Fossett to film their own rock ‘n’ roll extravaganza, the theme of a beat band touring with a circus had already been achieved by The Sabres, a beat band from Coventry who existed between late 1962 and 1965.
The roots of The Sabres can actually be traced all the way back to about 1960 when Watery Lane resident Frank Jones formed ‘Watery Lane Youth Club’ in an attempt to stimulate and create activities for son Steve and his friends, rather than see them hang around on street corners.
The club was based in the garage of Frank’s house and initially attracted a handful of youngsters who spent two nights a week in a secure environment playing board games and being provided with soft drinks and crisps.
Another function of the Watery Lane Youth Club was to act as a safe haven for any youngsters who for whatever reason had drunk too much and needed a place to sober up before going home to their parents.
In essence, the whole place allowed kids to let off some steam and to generally have a good time.
However, word spread about the club it suddenly found itself attracting youngsters from as far as Keresley Village, the Dales in Holbrooks and even Exhall. So popular it became that some 18 months after the club formed the membership was in excess of 300 and had to be relocated to new premises in New Road just off Bennetts Road.
As a youngster Steve Jones’ real passion was in music and in particular rock ‘n’ roll. And like a lot of teenagers back then in the late 1950s and early 1960s he was eager to own a guitar and form a band. And through the club, that his father had formed, that dream became a reality as Watery Lane Music Group grew from within the youth club with several of its members showing an early interest. As a result, it was that music group which was responsible for the birth of The Sabres.
The initial line-up of The Sabres was Steve Jones (guitar), Kevin Smith (guitar), Graham Amos (bass), Paul Wilkinson (drums) and “Q” Martin Cure (vocals). Terry Wyatt joined the band slightly later when he left The Zodiacs and was a straight replacement for Kevin Smith.
Frank Jones went on to become the band’s manager and booking agent and The Sabres soon secured residencies at venues like The General Wolfe and the New Inn at Longford and built up a considerable following. And during August 1963 they headlined a gig in the Lower Precinct which, due to a huge downpour, was dubbed as ‘Rockin’ in the Rain’. Despite the horrible conditions the crowd that gathered was tremendous.
Apart from gigs gained in Coventry The Sabres were now securing work in places like Morecombe, Skegness, Mablethorpe, Stoke-on-Trent, the 2I’s coffee bar in London and on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent.
Steve Jones recalls the Isle of Sheppey gig well as it seemed as though the whole of the youth club had followed the band down there in a convoy from Coventry. And don’t forget these journeys would take six or seven hours to complete as these were the days of the trunk road and long before the M1 and other motorway routes had been completed.
January 1964 even saw The Sabres perform at a special ‘Coventry Sound’ concert held at Coventry Theatre. Although headlined by Brian Poole they featured alongside the likes of The Mighty Avengers, The Mustangs, The Matadors and several other top Coventry bands.
TV work also came the band’s way as they appeared on a programme called ‘For Teenagers Only’ recorded at the Birmingham TV studios.
April 1964 then saw The Sabres embark on the circus tour that kept them on the road for seven continuous months. The tour came about from responding to an advert in ‘The Stage’ magazine.
Sir Robert Fossett’s circus had clocked up 150 years that particular year and to help celebrate the occasion a special tour had been devised. And this particular tour required a beat band to open for the main event and to entertain the teenagers.
The Sabres were judged to have been the best of the 33 bands that had applied for the position by the general manager of the circus Harry Allison. As the band was considered a part of the circus they were also expected to muck in and help put the tents up and muck out the elephants and lions.
The circus began in Wales and toured the whole country from April through to the end of October 1964. The deal was that The Sabres would complete a 15-minute set but as the tour progressed and the band’s popularity increased, their performances would run for much longer and in front of audiences of upwards of 3,500.
During its travels the circus picked up considerable TV coverage.
And The Sabres appeared on the BBC’s Welsh Programmes well as Southern and East Anglian TV.
The Sabres already had an established fan club prior to the circus tour. It was run by a fan in St Giles Road, Exhall but as the tour progressed so did the membership as it was inundated with letters. At its height the fan club rose to over 4,000 members. Steve Jones’ mother also proudly kept a scrapbook packed with clippings and photos of her son’s activities.
Such was the success of the tour and the publicity that surrounded it meant that, when they returned home, the band received an official welcome by the then Lord Mayor, Tom Whiteman on November 2, 1964. The Sabres had been advised not to take their instruments as the council house parlours were not big enough. But this advice fell on deaf ears as Graham Amos took his bass guitar along and the Lord Mayor was photographed with it.
Circus manager Harry Allison also confirmed that The Sabres had had a fantastic reception up and down the country and, in an attempt to bolster his and the band’s reputation, made up some amazing stories. One in particular was about them travelling 8,000 miles to tour Eastern Europe and being the second British band to play Czechoslovakia which was then behind the iron curtain. Of course none of the stories was true but it made for great publicity.
After the circus tour, the bookings didn’t dry up entirely, but the work was not there as it had been beforehand. They did get some gigs at the Boston Hippodrome in the run up to Christmas ’64 and there had been talk of a tour to Germany which never materialised. 1965 saw The Sabres back at the New Inn and the Heath Hotel. They had also gained summer season bookings in Morecambe, Lancashire.
However, mid-1965 saw Terry Wyatt return to The Zodiacs. With dates to fulfil the band regrouped as a four-piece and found a new name ‘The Peeps’. Suddenly the whole image of the band changed as they went from wearing suits to wearing denims and their next adventure began.
Nowadays Steve Jones, who also spent time with Pinkertons Assorted Colours and The Flying Machine, no longer tours but his passion is still apparent as he is happy joining in on improvised jamming sessions at either his house or at those of his musical friends.
Wyatt also in The Zodiacs. They Became The Peeps in 1965.
After a summer break, Pete Clemons is back with an article on the Coventry Folk Scene.
Fifty Years of Folk!
by Pete Clemons.
WHEN you look back at Coventry and Warwickshire music history from the early 1960s it soon becomes apparent that folk clubs have been an important and plentiful part of it.
I completed a very quick straw poll of all the various folk clubs to have existed within Coventry and Warwickshire along with the different venues that had supported them during this period and the total easily reached 150. And this did not begin to include the various ‘open mics’, festivals, singarounds and acoustic sessions. One of the pioneers of the folk scene was Barry Skinner who sadly passed away in October 2012. Barry was one of the first professional folk singers, not only in Coventry, but also in England. He began his involvement in folk music in 1962 and opened the Coventry Folk Club with his group The Troubadours.
As far as I can research it, Coventry Folk Club opened at The Binley Oak in March 1962, although it seems one existed as far back as 1961 at the Umbrella Club. Either way, this means that we have just passed an impressive 50 years of performing a music style, enjoyed by a cross section of music lovers, and one that continues to flourish within the city.
The evidence for this dating comes from a letter Colin Armstrong, himself a stalwart of the Coventry music scene, recently showed me.
The letter dates from 1967 and is signed by Barry Skinner, and another of the founding members, Dave Coburn. It states, in the logo on the letter heading, when the club was formed. The letter then goes on to inform members that the club was moving from its then current home of The Craven Arms to the new one of The Queens Inn in Primrose Hill Street.
So every Saturday night for at least 18 months the Coventry Folk Club was the only one of its kind in existence. The next club of importance to spring up was the Tavern Folk Club in 1964. Founded by Ben Arnold, the Tavern Club held regular Sunday night sessions at The Swanswell Tavern.
Other notable clubs from those early years include the Balladeer Folk Club (known slightly later as The White Lion Folk Club) held at The White Lion in the Leofric Hotel, The City Arms Folk Club and The Taverners Folk Club in Nuneaton which held a regular club night on a Tuesday evening.
These clubs were not just confined to attracting the popular local folk musicians but they very quickly established themselves nationally. Visiting artists such as Shirley Collins, Sandy Denny, The Strawberry Hill Boys (later known simply as The Strawbs) and the Ian Campbell Folk Group all being guests at these clubs.
Toward the end of the 1960s the Coventry and Warwickshire folk scene was growing at a tremendous pace and it would be just too difficult to list all the clubs that sprang up around this time but one that I feel needs to be given a special mention would be the City Arms Folk Club in Earlsdon. This club first sprang up in 1966 and was initially hosted by Paddy Roberts.
However, by 1967 it was in the hands of popular musicians Rob Armstrong and Rod Felton who successfully ran this popular club for a good number of years. Rob and Rod would then go onto form the equally popular New Modern Idiot Grunt Band.
The 1970s continued where the 1960s left off and the city venues such as The Rude Bear Folk Club were now attracting musicians the calibre of rag time player Dave Bennett, guitarist and singer songwriter John Shanahan and the bluesy folk of Mick Stuart. There was also, by now, a rich mix of traditional folk, floor singers and comedy. The Rude Bear was another of Rod Felton’s ventures but this time he was partnered by Dave Coburn and was one of those clubs that, for whatever reason, tended to change venue on a regular basis.
By now Rob Armstrong along with wife Pip had joined forces with Colin Armstrong to form Music Box who recorded the wonderful ‘Songs of Sunshine’ album. Another phenomenon was also happening. And this was that folk bands were going more and more electric as popularised, I guess, by Fairport Convention of whom current Coventry resident Dave Swarbrick was once a leading member. And Warwickshire was fortunate to have two of the most popular of these bands by way of Dando Shaft and Fresh Maggots, both of whom produced a series of critically acclaimed and wonderful albums. Another aspect to the folk scene in Coventry is the dancing. The Peeping Tom Ceilidhs still take place almost every month at the Massey Ferguson Social Club as they have done since 1976. Peeping Tom are a veteran folk-rock Ceilidh band and regarded as one of the finest in the country.
The early 1980s saw one of the more popular folk clubs in Coventry up sticks and move away to the surrounding countryside. The Wurzel Bush club had initially started at The Fletch in 1973 and attracted musicians like Noel Murphy, Hamish Imlach, Diz Disley, Martin Wyndham Reed, Magna Carta, Victoria Wood and Jasper Carrott and then moved out to Brinklow. The Wurzel Bush club eventually folded in 2007 after an incredible run of 35 years if you trace the club back to its roots.
The 1980s also saw the Kenilworth Folk Club set up the highly acclaimed and very popular Sunday night at the Burnt Post, a venue that some years later saw Coventry folk club moved to towards the end of the 1990s. A variety of diverse guests that included Sneaks Noise, Mick Cullen and Richard Digance performed there. Back in town regular club nights were continuing at The Biggin Hall on the Binley Road. These were organised by the Henley College club, and hosted by Folklore, and this was another club who tended to move on a regular basis and can claim the New Phoenix at the end of the 1970s and Alderman Callow school as past homes.
The onset of the 1990s saw the return of another popular out of town venue in the shape of The Denbigh Arms Folk Club, Monks Kirby.
The pub had originally been the home of The Gaels club back in 1968 and also where the origins of the Wurzel Bush were formed back in 1972.
Another long lasting club that was formed in its current format during the 1990s was the Bedworth Folk club. Today they continue to meet on the second Wednesday of every month and have residencies at the Old Black Bank and Bedworth Rugby club. Folk on the Fosse also held many successful sessions at various venues such as the Eathorpe Park Hotel and the Woodhouse and included guests such as The Oddsods, Meet on the Ledge, Kevin Dempsey and Gilly Darbey.
Of course you cannot talk about folk music in these parts without the name Pete Willow cropping up into conversation. For over 40 years he has been active as a soloist, band member, club organiser, promoter and journalist. In fact I have shamelessly based the title of this piece after an article Pete wrote many years ago when folk music in Coventry and Warwickshire was a mere 15 years old back in 1977.
And finally, to bring the story right up to date, the activities of folk clubs since the turn of the century need to be mentioned. Nowadays the venues may not be as plentiful but the regular nights are still as popular. The Tump Folk club, for example, began in life in 2002 in Brinklow before settling in its current home at The Humber.
Long established clubs, The Styvechale and Warwick folk clubs continue to hold regular singarounds and regular guests. Not so much tradi-tional folk, but more acoustic sessions are regularly held at the Maudsley for their Ditch the TV events, the Royal Oak in Kenilworth foLK PIONEER: The late Barry Skinner for ‘Kristy Gallacher presents’ events and also at Taylor Johns House.
The local festivals are also very much part of the local scene. Held in July, Warwick Folk Festival has been going since 1979 while Bedworth Folk Festival is even older. It started in 1977 and takes place on the last weekend of November. Both attract big international names and entice thousands of visitors to the respective towns.
All in all a remarkable 50 years that has produced many clubs, many memories and many memorable moments. Thanks to all involved!
View some of the sources and artists on this Hobo – Coventry Folk Scene blog.
From Broadgate Gnome circa 1962 – now – Beat group – Line up: (early) Maurice Redhead (vocals), Terry Wyatt (guitar), Graham Peace (guitar), Nigel Lomas (drums).Wyatt joined The Sabres. Recorded 4 tracks at Midland Sound Recorders. Also associated Steve Jones, Olly Warner. They appeared on New Faces in 1977 singing the Steve Jones / Rod Bainbridge number Last Night We Called it a Day. The Zodiacs are still a going concern after all these years.”
From Pete Chambers – Godiva Rocked to a Backbeat ” One of the hardest working bands in the area. They have been together nearly 50 years. Were one of the first few rock n roll bands in the city.” Pete Clemons has been consulting the stars again and has traced an alignment of Coventry musicians from the birth of Coventry music scene that appeared on TV in the 70’s via New Faces. His latest article in the Coventry Telegraph takes a look at the music of the Zodiacs – a Coventry band that legends tell.of….
Zodiacs The of a Sign Talent TV.
by Pete Clemons.
AS has been widely documented recently, Coventry band The Zodiacs have enjoyed a remarkable 50 plus year career.
During that time the band has more than likely enjoyed many great and memorable moments together.
However, I am guessing that one of the biggest highlights must have been back in 1977 when they made an appearance on the television talent show ‘New Faces’.
New Faces was famously associated with the 1970s where it ran for six series and was revived again during the 1980s for a further three series and was, arguably, the equivalent of what Britain’s Got Talent stands for today. It was originally presented by Derek Hobson and the acts involved were evaluated by a panel of experts. The show was recorded and produced at the ATV Centre, Birmingham. The show also created a minor chart hit for its theme tune ‘You’re a Star!’ performed by singer Carl Wayne, formerly of The Move.
Four judges make up the panel of experts who would discuss the acts. Contestants received marks out of ten from the four judges in three categories such as presentation, content, star quality and entertainment value. The act that had generated the highest total of points went through to the next round and ultimately a grand final.
Of course the programme would have a mix of praise and criticism and the most notorious of the critics were Mickie Most and Tony Hatch; this pairing was particularly renowned for being hard and brutal on the contestants.
The line up of The Zodiacs at the time they appeared on the show was Maurice Redhead (vocals and tambourine), Terry Wyatt (lead guitar and vocals), Steve Jones (bass) and vocals and Jim Wallace (drums and vocals).
To gain entry to the show The Zodiacs first had to audition in the foyer of the Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham along with another dozen or so groups. The song they chose was a Steve Jones /Rod Bainbridge (Rod Allen of The Fortunes) four-part harmony composition titled ‘Last Night We Called it a Day’.
During the audition Maurice had been playing claves, a percussion instrument which are essentially a pair of thick wooden dowels, and because his hands were occupied he had his tambourine between his knees. This style of playing was more for practicality rather than effect but the production team loved it.
The result was that immediate interest was shown in the band by the auditioning team. However, The Zodiacs were told that it was good news and bad news. The good news was that they would definitely be on the show, the bad news being that the production team could not say when.
As it happened, The Zodiacs appeared on the first show of the sixth and final series of the 1970s which was aired during September 1977. Also appearing alongside them were singer, and eventual winner of the show Sandy Ann-Leigh, comedian Mike Marsh and several others.
They set up their gear on the Tuesday, the show was recorded live on the Wednesday and it went out on air on the Saturday. As I mentioned this was 1977 and this was the year of the Queen’s silver jubilee. For the show the band were dressed accordingly in patriotic red, white and blue. Jim Wallace even took delivery of a brand new premier drum kit in similar livery.
Drummer Jim was on a precarious elevated platform behind the band. At about five feet square this part of the stage was quite small and was at least four feet off the ground. It does not sound a lot until you are perched right on the edge of it sat on your drum stool, belting out the groove and falsetto harmony part. Not only that, but, a cameraman hovered around him on a hydraulic platform.
Despite the encouraging start to this journey by the band, on the night the panel – made up of Mickie Most, Sunday People TV journalist Hilary Kingsley, agent and producer Peter Pritchard and DJ Ed ‘Stewpot’ Stewart – were not won over by The Zodiacs.
Although Hilary Kingsley mentioned the band in the same breath as The Tremeloes and The Hollies, she did say that she “found herself distracted by the tambourine playing”.
Peter Pritchard said “nothing about the song made it sound any different” from numerous other bands around at the time. Ed Stewart’s quote was “I might forget the song but I will never forget the tambourine player”. And finally Mickie Most mentioned that the song was old fashioned but not old fashioned enough. He would have been more impressed had the style of the song been from the 1950s and not the 1970s.
To me it was all rather hurried but as far as the awarding of points went The Zodiacs received a total of 60 out of a possible of 100. This was broken down as follows: 18 for presentation, 20 for content and 22 for entertainment value. And, for their efforts, the band was each paid PS12 per minute appearance money.
Sandy Ann-Leigh who, as mentioned, won the show triumphed with a cover of Leo Sayers’s song ‘When I Need You’. She received maximum marks. Sometime later she would then go on to become better known as Maggie Moone and host her own TV show called Name That Tune.
In 1980 she also participated in A Song for Europe which was a qualification competition for the British entrant to the Eurovision Song Contest. Maggie sang a song called ‘Happy Everything’ that finished as runner-up in the competition.
Maurice and Nigel had met at a rock ‘n’ roll club during 1958 called The Drumbeat Club on Lockhurst Lane railway bridge on the Holbrooks side. It was a cellar club beneath a coffee bar.
Nigel would get up and sing there and have an occasional go on the drums. The only people I remember who also performed there were Mick Van de Stay, a singer and guitarist Jim Smith.
At this time there were only a few coffee bars that had music. The Milano on Radford Road and The Domino, Gosford Street, were two of them.
In 1960 when Eddie Cochran appeared at the Gaumont Cinema during January, he actually called in at the Milano after the show. The Zodiacs, incredibly, still perform today.
Nigel Lomas takes up the story: “I played drums for the Zodiacs from 1959-1962. The venues we played included: Collycroft Club, Bedworth most Thursdays; Newdigate Club, Bedworth, most Tuesdays; St George’s Hall, Nuneaton, most Saturdays, the Ritz cinema, Longford, on the odd Friday night or Sunday afternoon; the Stag and Pheasant, Lockhurst Lane, Sunday lunchtimes for about one year, maybe more, I cannot remember.
Other groups sharing the bill during these times were: Vince Martin and The Vampires, The Atlantics, who played at the Domino coffee bar, Gosford Street, Johnny and the Rebels, Max Holliman and the Guitarnos who were from Nuneaton.
“I left the Zodiacs in 1962 and was replaced by a very good drummer called Ron Cooke.”
LOOK around at today’s bands and can you really imagine them still together in 50 years time?
Can’t see it myself, but back in 1959 some budding young musicians probably would have laughed at you if you had asked them the same question.
The amazing thing is those youngsters are still together and still called The Zodiacs.
Half a century on and two of the original members of the band Maurice Redhead and Terry Wyatt, are still out there playing, along with Terry Rye and Brian Bayton. Tomorrow night at Christ the King club, Coventry, Vince Holliday’s annual Backbeat Call up the Groups concert will be dedicated to the Zodiacs.
The band will perform a special set, that will include former members.
Terry said: “It’s been a great 50 years and we are looking forward to the next 50.
“We have made some good friends along the way and played with some top people. We are really looking forward to seeing many of the people we have played concerts for. We are hoping to have a lot of the past members on stage and take it from me, there’s been a few over the years.”
The band got together in 1959 when Cliff Richard was beginning his career as Britain’s answer to Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly died and Eddie Cochran was riding high with C’Mon Everybody.
Meanwhile, The Zodiacs who were Maurice Redhead, Nigel Lomas, Olly Warner Terry Wyatt and Graham Peace in those days, just had their first proper gig at the Stag and Pheasant on Lockhurst Lane.
They earned ‘50 Bob’ plus whatever was they had collected on ‘The Tray’ from Sunday lunch time sessions.
Local clubs beckoned and the band began to play the likes of The Stanton, Cox Street and The Limetree Walsgrave.
In 1977 the band were spotted by the producers of TV’s talent show New Faces. They appeared on the show singing the original song “Last Night we Called It A Day” composed by band member Steve Jones and late Rod Bainbridge of the Fortunes.
The show was full of problems, including a light failure during their number.
When they did get to play the show’s producer liked the way front man Redhead played the tambourine between his legs!
Against the band’s better judgment, the producer persuaded them to all do it and predictably they were savaged for it.
The comments they received that day did nothing to diminish their enthusiasm and the band continued to go from strength to strength.
Tomorrow’s concert starts at 8pm and entrance costs £1. Also on the bill will be 60s favourites Woody Allen and the Challengers, Johnny Ransom and the Rebels and the Mad Classics and the Phoenix Rock n Roll band.
…………………………………………………………..
Zodiacs 1964 Memorial Hall
From Ian Green of Broadgate Gnome site.
4 track EP by Zodiacs recorded at Midland Sound Studios Balsall Common Coventry
Sound clips from a gig in 1981 featuring Terry Wyatt, Maurice Redhead, Steve Jones and Jim Wallace.
Comment from youtube
teg33 “They bring back great memories from Fiday nights at the London rd club,Cov. O’ happy days !!!”
Pete Clemons winds down with an ‘Expresso‘ and the Summertime Blues (Eddie Cochran style) for his latest article for the Coventry Telegraph. This time around, he takes us on a tour of the Rock n Roll Coffee bars and cafes in 1950’s Coventry – but don’t tread on his Blue Suede Shoes!!
Two sugars and a gig please!
Pete Clemons
THE coffee bar boom began in Britain during the early 1950s with the arrival of the first espresso machine in Soho, London.
Essentially cafes, they were Italian or American themed and full of amusements like pin ball machines.
Eventually coffee bars became an alternative to the teenage youth club and were ideal for use as meeting places for the like minded youngsters who would hang out in them.
In greater London alone over 500 of them sprang up during the early Fifties and throughout the rest of the decade. And they did not just stay in London as coffee bars continued to spread throughout the UK.
They were mainly independent which gave them that individual and unique touch. They were furnished with the cheapest Formica or plastic products available, they were rough and ready and yet, for more than twenty years, coffee bars were full of life, music, humour and were incredibly popular places.
They touched all the major towns and cities the length and breadth of the country seemed to have them. And Coventry, with its apparent abundance of coffee bars, was no different.
Despite a negative attitude towards them, by the elders at the time, coffee bars and cafes became significant places and played an important role in the birth of, firstly skiffle, then rock ‘n’ roll and also the mod/rocker culture within the UK.
In fact the arrival of rock ‘n’ roll in the UK led to a lot of coffee bars becoming exclusive to and revolving around that genre of music. Some began to set aside an area for a juke box in order to play the new hit singles. There may even have been an area for dancing and maybe even one of the many bands that were now springing up influenced by this exciting form of music would get up and perform live in one.
In Coventry during the late 1950s and early 1960s there was quite a variety of cafes and coffee bars along and around Gosford Street. A good few of them were sympathetic and supportive of this up and coming music scene. Some that spring to mind were The Domino, The El Cabana, The Rendezvous, Gigi’s, La Tropicale and The Sorrento.
Other significant coffee bars about at that time, and in other parts of the city, that also catered for music included The Beaker on Beake Avenue, The Portofino Expresso on Primrose Hill Street, The Godiva in Jordan Well, The Corner Cafe and The Dreadnought both on Radford Road.
And then there was The Bridge Cafe on the railway bridge where Lockhurst Lane and Holbrook Lane meet. It has been mentioned that it was in this venue that one of Coventry’s earliest bands, The Zodiacs, were formed in 1959 by singer Maurice Redhead and drummer Nigel Lomas. A cafe with a similar name still exists on the bridge today.
The pair had met there in 1958 at a rock ‘n’ roll club held at the Bridge Cafe called The Drumbeat Club. The club itself was situated to the rear and downstairs under the bridge and it was an incredibly music friendly place as it attracted musicians and singers.
Another important coffee bar venue was The Milano on Radford Road. I have it on good authority that Eddie Cochran visited the venue after the concert he and Gene Vincent had given at The Gaumont on the January 28, 1960.
The Milano had a very lively music scene with regular live appearances by bands like Ronnie Wilde and the Wildcats, Clive Lea and the Phantoms, The Zodiacs, The Vampires and The High Cards.
It used to advertise regularly as ‘the cafe bar with a difference’. The place even had a house group named after it, The Milano Rockers.
But where this cafe would really excel was when, for example, a name artist was visiting the city. The Milano would get them to appear at The Milano during that afternoon prior to the main gig that they had been in the city to play. This happened when Georgie Fame, for example, was due to play an evening show at The Rialto and when Johnny Gentle played at The Banba Club and I understand that this happened on several other occasions.
Don Fardon remembers well, a cafe, which used to be up on Ball Hill. It was called Margaret’s and was across the road from St Margaret’s Church. In fact the building now known as the Churchill Hotel, the Old Ball Hotel and Margaret’s Cafe were all owned by a Greg Rogan. This one stayed open late and was frequented by a lot of groups used to frequent Margaret’s.
I mention the word cafe as opposed to a coffee bar. The best way I can describe the difference was that a cafe sold full meals as well as tea, coffee and sandwiches where as a coffee bar was more of a specific business where you could only buy coffee along with maybe cakes, pastries etc.
Another reason for mentioning those distinguishing features was because, as Mod culture took hold of the country in the early 1960s, it made a great deal of difference with the Mods tending to prefer the coffee bar while Rockers generally preferring to hang out in cafes, in particular transport cafes.
The landmark roadside transport cafe known as ‘Bob’s caf’, out on the A45 at Stretton-on-Dunsmore, was a particular favourite with the bikers. Always open until the early hours it attracted bikers from far and wide. Abandoned for almost twenty years, it served up a great atmosphere as well as a tremendous breakfast. Now flattened and currently with a new building project in progress I bet it holds a lot of memories for some.
A few years ago the Coventry Transport Museum reproduced London’s iconic biker’s cafe, ‘The Ace Cafe’, for a summer exhibition it was running. It also defined what cafe’s meant to teenagers of 50 years ago.
And even today the cafe culture still exists. Maybe not so many of them but they are still there. The indoor market has several and the 2-Tone centre on Ball Hill is even one that combines music and good food.
Well, Pete Clemons has chalked up 50 articles for the Coventry Telegraph with this article!!! Well done Peter.
This is not a Coventry band but Coventry comes into the picture at some stage and is favourite band of Pete Clemons, who has chosen to focus on them for this landmark article. It’s an amazing musical story as the band didn’t even exist at first but….(no spoilers I’m afraid – read the article..).
Porcupine’s Steve Living his Fantasy.
Pete Clemons
IT may have escaped some people that British band leader, song writer and producer Steven Wilson recently received his fourth Grammy nomination in the “Best Surround Sound Album” category for an album called ‘Storm Corrosion’, an album he jointly collaborated with Mikael Akerfeldt of Swedish rock band Opeth. In fact all of his previous three nominations were in the same surround sound category.
Steven Wilson is a pioneer in the field of 5.1 Surround Sound, commonly used by cinemas, but nowadays being preferred by a lot of music listeners. He was previously recognised for Porcupine Tree’s 2007 album ‘Fear of a Blank Planet’, their 2009 release ‘The Incident’ and the magnificent ‘Grace for Drowning’ album that Steven released under his own name during 2011.
My own introduction to Steven was around 1989/90 when he was creating music and releasing cassettes of his work through a magazine called Delerium. The roots of this music actually date back several years earlier. A lad who I worked with back then had recommended the tapes to me by initially lending me his copies. I was immediately hooked and subsequently ordered copies of the tapes for myself.
The cassettes came with pamphlets that introduced you to the various band members of a legendary band called The Porcupine Tree. They gave you a brief history of the band, information about where the tracks had been recorded and what festivals the band had performed at. However, it soon became apparent that all this information was a complete work of fantasy and The Porcupine Tree were in fact a fictitious band.
Now don’t get me wrong, this was not fantasy of the sinister kind. This was simply a couple of young lads from Hemel Hempstead, Steven and his school friend Malcolm Stocks, who both had incredible imaginations and who probably never imagined or realised at that time the huge interest all this stuff would create.
Promoted by word of mouth those early cassettes soon sold out and Delerium quickly realised they had something rather special on their hands so Steven set about remixing and re-recording some of the tracks from those early cassette tapes. The result was that in July 1991 Porcupine Tree released their debut album ‘On the Sunday of Life’ on the Delerium record label.
It was a lavish double LP complete with gatefold sleeve.
This was followed up in May 1993 by the ‘band’s’ second album ‘Up the Downstair’. Apparently this release was also to have been another double LP release which was due to include the 34 minute CD single called ‘Voyage 34’ that had been released during 1992.
But in the end it was released as a single LP. Up the Downstair also included other musicians other than Steven. Namely Colin Edwin on bass and Richard Barbieri on keyboards Talk began of the possibilities for the band to play live. Late 1993 saw them recruit drummer Chris Maitland and on December 4 Porcupine Tree made their concert debut upstairs at The Nags Head pub in High Wycombe. The event sold out very quickly pulling in people from all over the country.
A free monthly magazine, that existed at the time in and around Coventry called Deliverance, had picked up quite early on the band and had taken a keen interest by publishing album reviews and conducting an interview with Steven Wilson. Whether this led to the gig or not I do not know but a week after the High Wycombe gig, on Saturday December 11, Porcupine Tree appeared in Coventry at Antics Club, formerly known as the Tic Toc Club.
However, the band had hit a problem in as much that keyboard player Richard Barbieri was unavailable for the gig. So the show went ahead as a three-piece lineup, Rather than play their expected set, the band simply improvised, by performing their ambient/techno/trance track Voyage 34 for the entire evening. This was a time when Coventry was gripped by rave music and venues like the Eclipse nightclub were at the very forefront of that scene. The crowd lapped it up and the evening was a great success. To my knowledge this was the only occasion the band has ever played as a three-piece.
1994 saw the band establishing itself on the live circuit and further gigs ensued, not just in the UK but also on the continent. It also saw the band record their next album ‘The Sky Moves Sideways’ which was released in February 1995. This was the first Porcupine Tree album to involve the whole band and the first to include real drums.
April 1995 saw the band return to Coventry. This time the gig was at The General Wolfe pub and this time a full set was performed that was built around and showcased Porcupine Tree’s recently released third album. It was a stunning gig which again played to a large enthusiastic audience.
To date Porcupine Tree, albeit with a slightly different line-up, have released a total of 10 studio albums along with many live recordings, special editions and other spin-offs. They also have a different record label and management. Porcupine Tree gigs have spread too far off places like the US, Australia and India. In the UK they have performed in grand venues such as the Royal Albert Hall.
Steven Wilson has just released his third critically acclaimed solo album ‘The Raven That Refused To Sing’. Another world wide tour has been announced. Over the years he has been involved in many other bands and musical projects, both as musician and producer that include No-Man and Blackfield.
He is also incredibly well respected in the field of re-mixing and has been entrusted with the back catalogue of classic 1970s albums such as those by King Crimson, Caravan, ELP, Family and Jethro Tull.
Having followed Steven Wilson’s career as best I can for over 20 years, watching his rise from the humble beginnings of producing and selling homemade cassettes through to the grandeur of today’s special editions that accompany each of his releases, has been fascinating.
His dedication to, and the risks he has taken for his art which in turn is for those who enjoy it all, have been truly inspirational.
Surly that illusive Grammy award is not too far away.
It all leaves me to wonder if those pamphlets that were given away free with those early cassette releases, that spoke of this legendary band, do now seem to have been some kind of prophecy as they appear to have turned into reality.
Much more from Porcupine Tree and Steve Wilson on youtube…….
The latest from the pen of Pete Clemons – covering Bob Jackson‘s tribute concert for Badfinger‘s Peter Ham in Swansea. Bob Jackson was the the leader of the RCA Neon Coventry progressive band – Indian Summer – late 60’s early 70’s. He went on to play in bands by Alan Ross, John Entwhistle, Pete Brown and eventually, in 1974, joined the Apple label band Badfinger. Pete Clemon’s article appeared in the Coventry Telegraph recently.
A celebration plaque and for Pete.
Pete Clemons
LAST week, a cheque for £2,939 was handed over to PAPYRUS, a charity for the prevention of suicide in young people, courtesy of a recent rock concert ‘Celebration for Pete’.
The concert, remembering Pete Ham of 70s chart toppers Badfinger, was held at the Swansea Grand Theatre in April and organised by Coventry’s own Bob Jackson, a surviving member of Badfinger.
The concert was put on to coincide with a blue plaque unveiling on the same day, which commemorated Pete for his outstanding services to music.
Among the messages of support received for the event was one sent by Olivia Harrison, the widow of George, with whom Badfinger had been heavily involved with the Concert for Bangladesh held at Madison Square Garden’s, New York back in August 1971: “Over the years George spoke about Pete with fondness as a friend and with respect for his beautiful songs…
his lyrics and recordings embody a gentle spirit and tender heart. Congratulations and love on this occasion.”
Seating had been placed in front of a small stage, which was to be used for tribute speeches but nowhere near enough for the crowd who had turned up for the unveiling.
The stage was also used by a succession of acoustic acts that paid tribute to Pete by way of performing his songs. And some wonderful renditions of familiar songs were to be heard.
After the formalities Pete Ham’s daughter, Petera, along with Swansea council leader David Phillips, revealed the Blue Plaque at a ceremony in Swansea town centre, close to the railway station, and not far from where Peter’s first band, The Iveys, practised during their infancy.
The well respected entertainer Mal Pope who is a musician and composer, and is local to Swansea, said afterwards: “It was a terrific day and I had been pleasantly surprised to see how many people attended.”
After the unveiling of the plaque the crowd then made their way to Swansea Grand Theatre. A very special, late afternoon, one-off tribute concert was being held there. The concert was fronted by Bob Jackson who had joined Badfinger in 1974. It was to be a fitting way to remember the legacy of his former band-mate.
The first half of the show was given over to local talent. The proceedings kicked off with guitarist Sarah Passmore who was then followed by a host of Swansea musicians, including Steve Balsamo, Mal Pope and Karl Morgan who performed jaw dropping versions of ‘Know one Knows’ and ‘Maybe Tomorrow’.
After the interval Bob Jackson settled at his keyboard and was joined on stage by guitarists Al Wodtke and Anthony Harty, drummer Matt Hart and bass player Eddie Mooney. The set was, almost entirely made up of Pete Ham originals, some of which were never performed previously. The band were then, joined on stage by special guests, including Ron Griffiths and Dai Jenkins, who had both been original members of The Iveys.
Ron, who had not performed for 13 years before the concert, said: “The gig was great; I was on stage and did six tunes. We hadn’t had a lot of a rehearsal so it was a bit nerve-wracking, but it must be like riding a bike, because you never forget.”.
A particular highlight was a duet between Bob and his daughter Emily. They sang the most incredible versions of ‘Moonshine’ from the ‘Head First’ album and ‘John Forgot to Sing’.
Throughout the show due credit was also heaped on other Badfinger members, such as Tommy Evans, who had also played their part in the song writing, and success of the band.
Then it was back to Badfinger’s big hits. The final songs included Bob’s song for Pete, ‘I Won’t Forget You’ and ‘Day After Day’ where he confessed, referring to the event, that it had all felt as though he had been “walking a tightrope”.
He then paid tribute to his former band-mate. “Pete was not only an extremely talented writer, he was also a remarkable player and a great singer with a beautiful voice. Above all, he was an incredibly humble guy who was always thinking of others. He was not your typical pop star.”
Next, Badfinger’s epic ‘Without You’ was introduced. At that point Bob reflected “What does this song mean to me? Well, the song was a masterpiece with a universal message, but it came at such a terrible price. So, for me, it is bittersweet.” It was something that would live with him for the rest of his life.
Well Bob, you and your friends raised some very important funds for a very important cause. All proceeds from the concert are going to the charity Papyrus, which is dedicated to the prevention of young suicide (appropriate since Peter Ham and Tommy Evans had both committed suicide in the 1970s and 1980s, respectively).
The show finished off with a finale of ‘I Can’t Take it’, ‘No Matter What’ and ‘Come and Get It’ and with that, the stage was filled with the performers who had taken part earlier in the evening.
After a successful event, which raised plenty of funds for the charity, Bob passed a cheque for the proceeds to Aanika Dhillon, of Papyrus.
The national charity for the prevention of young suicide, they operate HOPELineUK – 0800 068 41 41, a free phone national confidential line staffed by trained professionals providing practical advice, support and information to anyone concerned that someone they know is feeling suicidal.
TALENTED SONGWRITER: Pete Ham BIG REVEAL: Pete Ham’s daughter, Petera, unveils her dad’s plaque helped by Swansea council leader David Phillips DONATION: Bob Jackson presents a cheque for PS2,939 to Aanika Dhillon, of PAPYRUS
In this post Pete Clemons turns his attentions to one of the earliest of Coventry musicians who made a sizable impact on both the Coventry music scene of the 60’s and the music business itself. Johnny Goodison – also known as Johnny B Great. This is that article from the Coventry Telegraph.
Johnny B Great and the Goodmen – 1st two singles available free download here
According to Dean Nelson “Johnny B Great (John Goodison) session singer from Coventry Johnny B Great’s real name was Johnny Goodisonalso had the songwriting alias Peter Simons. A later group was Johnny B Great and the Quotations, who backed the Walker Brothers, amongst others. Later he was lead singer in an early line up of the Brotherhood of Man, scoring a hit with “United we stand”. Goodison also worked as a producer and one of the results was the 1968 hit, “Race with the devil” by Gun(Adrian Gurvitz – “We never wanted the laugh on the record at all. We knew it would let us in for a lot of you¹re copying Arthur Brown remarks. Our Producer Johnny Goodison thought it was a good idea so we went along with it.”).
Besides that, he arranged tracks for The Love Affair, Johnny and Russell and Sue & Sunny, toured for some years with one of the orchestras of James Last. He wrote hit tunes for the Brotherhood of Man and the Bay City Rollers (Give A Little Love), as well as songs for A Song For Europe, in 1968, 1974, 1977 and 1980 respectively. Johnny Goodison died in 1995. Great man. Singles Acapulco/You’ll never leave him – 1964 School is in/She’s a much better lover than you – 1964 – Credited to Johnny B Great and the Goodmen One Mistake/A Little Understanding – 1970 – Johnny Goodison”
From Pete Chambers – Godiva Rocked to a Backbeat
“Part of the Larry Page stable based at the Orchid Ballroom.”
” Johnny Goodison was a big man with a big voice. Originally a toolmaker in Coventry, he went under the name of Johnny B Good with his band the Goodmen.
Don Kerr – Guitar Al King – Sax Ollie Warner – bass Nigel Lomas – drums
First single – School is in – Decca 1963 (Backing vocals The Orchids) This was the first single released by a Coventry group although it wasn’t a hit. They in return played on the Orchids first single – Gonna Make him Mine.
Johnny performed If I had a Hammer for the film Just for You which featured the Orchids. They appeared on the B Side of the original Doctor Who Theme.
For a while they went under the name of Johnny B Great and the Quotations, backing the Walker Bros and Little Richard.
Pete Clemons contacted me recently, to supply material and press cuttings on Pete Waterman’s Coventry days, to the ITV researchers who were gathering material for the forthcoming Piers MorganLife Stories featuring Pete Waterman. I copied Pete Clemons in on my e mails to the show and his wizard pen has converted that material into an article for the Coventry Telegraph. The material related to Pete’s early R & B bands, early songwriting, DJing in Coventry and the Midlands and his Soul Hole shop and more. In addition to the article itself, I’ve added in some of the source material below for your enjoyment.
Trev Teasdel
At the time of writing, the show is currently being recorded, Pete having been interviewed and some of the artists have been filmed too. It should go out some time soon during the summer.
This a view of the whole article but a readable version is below.
Readable version (split in two so that the text is readable)
Pop man Pete’s early years; Your memories.
Pete Clemons
COVENTRY born Pete Waterman, founder of PWL who created the1980s hit making phenomenon Stock Aitken and Waterman as well as being nationally known as being an early Pop Idol judge is soon to be featured on ‘Piers Morgan’s Life Stories’.
Ex-Coventry resident Trev Teasdel who set up the highly recommended Coventry Music Blog website, knew Pete Waterman through work and would help out now and again at his dances. Trev has kept a fascinating set of notes and memorabilia about those days.
I have attempted here to condense those notes and capture a snapshot of Pete Waterman’s early career in the music business in one manageable article.
Pete began as an R & B singer with two mid to late 60s bands. His first band, as far as Trev can recall, were called The Pilgrims. The Pilgrims may have been operating circa 1965/66 but apart from that very little information exists about them.
His next band was Tomorrow’s Kind. The line-up was Pete Waterman on guitar and vocals, Keith Jackson on bass, Duncan Hall on drums, Richard Hollis on lead guitar, Paul Hatt on vocals. They played R & B and Motown covers and were operating circa 1967/68 at venues such as The General Wolfe, The Navigation and The Plough on the London Road. They were also with Friars promotions that sent them all over the place.
The transition from band member to DJ could have been one evening when a band failed to turn up and he went and fetched a bunch of soul records to fill for the band.
But there is no doubt that as far back as 1969 Pete Waterman performed at venues such as The Baginton Oak and The Mercers Arms. He would sometimes work under the alias of Dandelion and would also double up with another DJ known as Chantilly Tilly.
At this time Pete was working at the GEC (General Electric Company) where he was also a shop steward. It was in June 1970 when Trev, also working for the GEC, first met Pete. Trev, a poet, was putting a lyric together called ‘A Lotta Rain is Fallin’.
Pete caught sight of it and was particularly taken with a line from the song ‘There’s a lotta rivers flowin’ but the seas’s learned how to fly’. To Trev’s surprise he took it away, put his own acoustic guitar behind it and recorded it onto a state of the art mono cassette player.
It is not known if this was his first attempt at recording as it is suspected he had contributed original material to his earlier bands. Nothing ever became of that song and the cassette has long since disappeared.
As well as still working at The Mercers Arms, 1970 also saw Pete get a residency at The Walsgrave pub’s Progressive music nights which he ran for Friars Promotions.
These nights would have a mix of local progressive bands and singer songwriters.
The Mercers Arms housed national progressive bands via Birmingham based Jim Simpson who discovered Black Sabbath about then. Some of the bands included Skid Row, Medicine Head (with unannounced the former Yardbird, Keith Relf) and many more that at that time were playing the university circuit and appearing on John Peel.
Trev would help Pete collect payment on the door along with fulfilling a number of other functions at The Walsgrave. Trev also has strong memories of seeing Pete play staccato flute and of seeing him jam with legendary local singer songwriter Rod Felton at the Earlsdon Cottage. Rod, who worked the national folk circuit, also had a strong R & B voice and had, according to Pete, become a bit of star on the folk scene.
Later that same evening Pete introduced Trev to an R & B band called Gypsy Lee. After doing a cover of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Lemon Song’, Pete took to the stage to do the vocals on ‘Rock me Baby’ (an R & B standard) cutting a raucous vocal with some breathy, staccato flute in the intervals between vocal.
It was highly effective and Trev often wondered why he didn’t do that more often but realised that he was more interested in developing his career as DJ and promoter at that stage.
Pete, in his autobiography, is quite dismissive of his own talent but Trev witnessed a small window in Pete’s performing art and was always impressed with the energy and strength of his performance at The Walsgrave. This is a side of Pete Waterman that the greater world does not know about him.
Of course, all this may paint a different image of Pete, but throughout, his first love was Motown, blues and R & B. This was his key thread and motivation in music which would eventually lead to the creation of Stock Aitken and Waterman.
Where many others will remember Pete Waterman from was when he was DJ at the Locarno Ballroom. To get a residency here was effectively the big one and would inevitably bring your name to a wider audience within the Coventry area. It began mid way through 1970 and continued through till 1973.
By mid 1973 Pete had left the GEC and, with a friend called Tilly (Chantilly Tilly?), set up an independent record shop called the Soul Hole. He was still continuing to DJ for as many as seven nights a week. Initially the Soul Hole was located in the cellar of a hippy boutique store called ‘I AM’ in Hales Street, Coventry. The cellar of the building had a very low ceiling and was not the ideal location. The ‘I AM’ shop would be alive with soul music pumping up from the cellar and full of young Northern Soul fans. The shop would also advertise its products in the Coventry Telegraph and Trev’s grass roots music magazine ‘Hobo’. The Soul Hole also supplied a top 14 chart reflecting the then current sales of the imported soul records that Pete was selling at that time.
Mr George’s Nite Spot was Pete’s next destination and the formation of Coventry Soul Club where he ran regular discos. By the end of 1973 the Soul Club had moved to the Tree Tops Club on the Foleshill Road where he would attract guest artists. During this period Pete won a DJ of the month competition organised by Philadelphia records.
1974 saw the Soul Hole relocate to the top floor of Virgin records which, at that time was located in the City Arcade. This is how Pete announced the move in Hobo magazine “As you know by now our small shop (The Soul Hole) has now moved to the top of Virgin Records in the City Arcade. Our new shop will, we hope, bring more people into the faith. We had a good time at the shop in the ‘I AM’ boutique but the stock was getting too big for our small shop. The move will not, we hope, change the service that we are so proud of. The new shop will give us more room to serve and talk. Also you can stand up!” By now though, Pete’s reputation was growing nationally and his activities were spreading. He had taken a job as an A&R man, and worked in the Philadelphia scene, reviewing the latest releases by the likes of Trammps, Billy Paul and The O’Jays. Significantly, during March 1974, he introduced the Three Degrees to the UK and slightly later had moved into production, with Susan Cadogan’s hit ‘Hurts So Good’ being an early exa mple.
Pete Waterman would inevitably move on from, but never forget, Coventry. Hopefully, this brief potted history gives an insight into Pete’s Coventry days but the rest, as they say, is history. ……………………………………………………………………
Pete Waterman’s R & B Bands in the mid to late 1960’s
The Pilgrims
This band was operating c 1965 / 66 but i have no further information about them.
Tomorrow’s Kind c 1967 / 68
The line up was Pete Waterman – guitar and vocals, Keith Jackson – bass, Duncan Hall – drums, Richard Hollis – lead guitar, Paul Hatt – vocals.
They played R & B standards and Motown and possible some original numbers.
The played local gigs like the Navigation Inn / The General Wolf / The Plough and Friars Promotions used to send them all over the Midlands.
Tomorrow’s Kind playing at the Navigation Inn.
Photos of Tomorrow’s Kind supplied kindly by Vocalist Paul Hatt
Here is an excerpt on ‘Tomorrow’s Kind’ from Pete Waterman’s bio I Wish I Was Me
” By 1965 the whole Beatlemania phenomenon had gone barmy……..for a while at least I was in a band called Tomorrow’s Kind who actually looked like they might have gone on to be famous. They didn’t, of course, but we did pick up a bit of a following and we started gigging three or four nights a week while I was still holding down the day job at the GEC. That continued for a couple of years but I eventually realised that I didn’t have any genuine talent. I could fake it like buggery, but I was never going to be top of the charts.
One night in 1966 we were playing a gig and one of the other bands didn’t turn up, so I dashed home, got my records and played them before the band came on. Now no one really did this at that time and the Landlord of the pub where we were playing said he really liked it. He offered me 10 bob to come back again and play records the following week. This wasn’t some kind of complicated system, it was a record player with a microphone next to it going through the PA, but for 10 bob. I wasn’t about to complain. So by a quirk of fate, I went from being the lead singer in a not very good band to being the only DJ in Coventry. ….I began to play records more than I played instruments, and because I got to know the right people, I started to get people asking me to play records.”
Pete’s DJing is legendary and there are various Coventry Telegraph articles on this blog by Pete Clemons which looks at some of the venues that Pete Waterman DJ’d at – The Locarno (Tiffany’s) / Tree Tops / The Walsgrave / The Mercer’s Arms – check them out in the index.
Trev Teasdel’s memories – Part 1
I met Pete in 1970 at the GEC Stoke Works, Telecommunications dept. Copswood, Coventry. Pete, was the TGWU shop steward. I was 19 and putting on local bands at the Coventry Arts Umbrella Club and writing lyrics during tea breaks and sometimes during Pete’s Union meetings!
In June 1970, I began writing a lyric called A Lotta Rain is Fallin’ (while the boss was out!) and a workmate asked me what i was doing. Pete got wind of it and came over to see what i was doing. He ended up taking it away with him (half finished though it was, promising to put music to it. The lyric was inspired partly by Dylan’s but also Epitaph by King Crimson. I think I wanted to be a kind of Pete Sinfield (who wrote lyrics for King Crimson or Pete Brown who wrote lyrics for Cream at that stage. The next week Pete brought in a mono cassette player and played the song to me with his voice and acoustic guitar. His voice was a mix between the smooth tones of Paul McCartney and the R & B edge of Bob Dylan and he loved one of the lines “There’s a lotta rivers flowin’ but the sea’s learned how to fly” for its imagery and repeated it in his version. I’ve no idea if this was his first attempt at songwriting or if he’d written for the bands he played in but it was damn good and I completed the lyric and gave it to him. Pete promised to perform it at the Walsgrave but it never materialised. The lyric is below – not quite a Kylie Minogue song – it was 1970 and Pete wasn’t world famous at that stage.
A LOTTA RAIN IS FALLIN’ (Lyric by Trev Teasdel June 1970)
A lotta rain is fallin’, but the earth has moved aside
There’s a lotta bullets flying but the victim’s found somewhere to hide
There’s a lotta rivers flowin’ but the seas learned how to fly.
There’s a lotta clouds a wondering which rockets knicked the sky
‘cos the roads are moving fast but the cars are standing still
and so much is happening yet nothing’s ever done
Oh we want to see the light but we’re dazzled by the sun.
(Bridge)
And some people’s only sunshine
Is their Cornflakes in the morning time
And the age of instant sunshine
In packets of bright display
I know will be dawning, in some future day.
There’s a lotta tears a fallin’, and more are being cried
There’s a lotta people trampled on as man takes another stride
There’s a lotta smoke a rising but the sky’s learned how to swim
There’s a lotta faces smiling but their hearts are feeling grim
Cos a lotta tension’s forming and the bags about to burst
There’s gotta be an answer cos the world is getting worse.
A lotta help is needed to get that truck back on the road
Cos too many people are pullin’ too heavier a load.
(BACK TO BRIDGE)
I don’t have a copy of Pete Waterman’s more upbeat version but this Sound click link is to an acoustic version with my own chords / music and playing and with a minor chord feel. I originally envisaged melotron in it and we did do a version with modern keyboards but this is just an acoustic version with lead guitar by Steve Gillgallon of Middlesbrough) and recorded on cassette in 1981. You can hear it here –
Pete got me to write for several local bands like Coconut Mat and some times threw ideas at me for lyrics –Umbrella club. They were mostly local or regional bands at that venue like Wandering John, Asgard (a Pink Floyd type outfit that John Peel was interested in), Pantomime (from Birmingham), April, Skid Row (not local) and many more.
one using the imagery of Chess is one I remember. He also asked me to come down the Walsgrave – a pub, where on a Tuesday night , he ran a progressive music venue and disco. For nearly a year i turned up early after work and helped Pete set up and did the door. It meant I got in free and was an opportunity to meet new bands, some of which I booked for the
While setting up he’d play many of the chart hits of the time – Yellow River, In the Summertime, Question (Moody Blues), Groovin’ with Mr Bloe, Spirit in the Sky, All Right Now, Psychedelic Shack, American Woman, are a few I remember, along with oldies like Itchycoo Park and soul hits.
Sometimes we’d go walkabout, often to collect gear – leads, mics, instruments etc before the doors opened at 8pm. On one occasion we walked up to his house in Walsgrave and another to his parents house in Burlington rd, catching the bus into town (he was highly popular even back then with all the disco fans from the Locarno waving to him as we walked through town), and then up to Earlsdon Cottage folk club to collect his flute from Rod Felton. Rod was sat out on the grass at the back with a crown and his guitar and Pete joined in on flute, playing quite melodically. The next time Pete used his flute was, as described in the article, doing the vocals on Rock me Baby with the R & B band Gypsy Lee, adding staccato, Jethro Tull style flute in the breaks.
Pete Waterman’s parents house at Burlington Rd, Stoke.
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The Locarno Ballroom – Pete Waterman’s biggest residency as DJ
THE SOUL HOLE
In 1973 Pete Waterman left the GEC and launched The Soul Hole – selling imported Northern Soul
records. At first the shop was located in cellar of a hippy boutique in Hales Street, called I Am and later, in 1974 above Virgin Records in the City Arcade. Pete gave us a Top 14 of the records selling in his shop for the 2nd Edition of Hobo and an advert and wrote an article for us about his meet up with the Three degrees. About this time he visited the Philly Studios in US. The following are press cuttings and material from 1973 / 4 / 5.
Ad from Coventry Evening Telegraph 1973
Pete’s ad for Hobo
PETE WATERMAN’S BLACK BAG
(An article written by Pete Waterman for HOBO – Coventry Music and Arts Magazine (1974)
“As you know by now our small shop (The Soul Hole) has now moved to the top of Virgin Records in the City Arcade. Our new shop will, we hope, bring more people into the faith. We had a good time at the shop in the I AM boutique but the stock was getting too big for our small shop. The move will not, we hope, change the service that we are so proud of. The new shop will give us more room to serve and talk. Also you can stand up! (The Soul Hole was originally in the cellar of the I AM boutique with a low ceiling!!)
THE THREE DEGREES
Anyway, down to business. As most of you know by now, I spent the 5th and 6th of March with the Three Degrees. Sheila, Fay and Valerie. On Monday the 5th I went to the Mayfair Hotel in London to see the girls do their own thing. The girls got on and did When Will I See You Again. The first thing that took our breath away was their see through dresses, but they are far from just good looking foxes. At dinner I sat with Peter Winfield (for all those who don’t read sleeve notes) Peter is the cat who played keyboards for BLOODSTONE on both Natural High and their new album. For all the foxes and cats not into our faith, Pete also plays for COLIN BLUNSTONE, and writes for a National rock paper.
Pete is a soul freak like myself and we both agreed their harmonies were the tightest we’d heard for some
time. The voices were fantastic, Sheila takes the lead most of the time. The next in line was Dirty Old Man, this was fantastic, with the girls showing they can handle the audience with fun and firmness. Then they did “A Woman Needs Love” proving they can sing ballads as well as up tempo Nos. Their footwork was as good as any I’ve seen before, and if any in the audience weren’t sold on that, the next was they’re single Year of Decision. It had everybody on their feet shouting for more. But it was all over, Pete and the Colin Blunstone band went off to record the Old Grey Whistle Test, and I went to the girls bedroom to have a natter to them about their early years for all the people who knock our music- God knows why!
(above – Pete Waterman’s original article submission for Hobo Mag)
Just as a boost to our egos, David Bowie was there to pay homage to the three ladies of soul. It seems that Rock stars are getting back to their roots with Bowie telling me that he is soon to be recording with top black acts in the states and John Lennon saying Ann PebblesI Can Feel the Rain is the best record for two years.
(Below Three Degrees – When Will i See You Again)
New Sounds to Look Out For
The Ojays new single is a track off their latest LP (as are all the new Philly singles) and is called For the Love of Money. The Intruders – I’ll Always love My Mama (2 Pts)
Trammps new single is a track off the 1970 British Motown company, picking the slower track. USA Marvin Gaye scores with his controversial single You Sure Like to Ball taken from the Let’s Get it On album. A new single soaring up the American charts from the M.F.S.B. band on Philly International is called Tsop, taken from the TV series Soul Train. The end five bars feature the 3 Degrees.
LP of the month – too many really to pick one but look out for Blue Magic and import Out Here on my Own Lamont / Dozier. Superb LP’s. Next Billy Paul single The Whole Town’s Talkin’ .
Also check out – Rock me Baby – George Mc Crea / Help Yourself – Undisputed Truth / Dancing Machine – Jackson 5 / I Lied – Bunny Sigler / yMighty Mighty – Earth, Wind and Fire / Be Thankful For What You’ve Got – William Devaaughn / Chameleon – Herbie Hancock / Sagittarius – Eddie Kendicks / If You’re Ready – Staple Singers / Got To Get You Back – Sons of Robin Stone / Pepper Box – The Peppers
See ya soon. Keep the faith right on –
Pete Waterman (1974)
Also reported in Hobo at the time –
DAVE SIMMONS DJ of Radio Ones Saturday soul programme, dedicated last weeks program exclusively to the Philadelphia Sound, thanks to the efforts of our own Pete Waterman, who has just returned from the very place with a hoard of interviews and information about the music. Pete was interviewed throughout the program by Dave and his interviews were also aired. Next issue, providing Pete gets it together, we’ll have an article on the Philly sound from the expert!
………………………………………
One of Pete’s discos reported in the Coventry Evening Telegraph 1974
Pete Waterman’s visit to the Philly sound in 1974 – source Coventry Evening Telegraph.
Soul Hole – from Coventry Evening Telegraph 1973
More recently – Pete Waterman and John Bradbury (of the Specials) at Pete Chamber’s launch of one of the Two Tone Plaques at Virgin records – Coventry c 2009
Pete with his Gold Discs
Another plaque at Mr George’s Nightclub where Pete DJ’d and began managing the Specials.
The Big One – Kylie Minogue with I Should be so Lucky
