Pete Clemons guides us through 60’s Coventry girl group The Orchids encounter with the Beatles on Juke Box Jury. Think the Crystals and you’ll be thinking in the right direction. Pete’s latest article for the Coventry Telegraph…

MUSIC historian Pete Clemons, from Keresley, this week looks back at teenage trio The Orchids and an episode of TV show Juke Box Jury when one of their singles was reviewed by The Beatles.

COVENTRY girls and former Stoke Park School attendees Georgina Oliver, Pamela Jarman, and Valerie Jones were, collectively, known as The Orchids.

As 15-year-olds they were discovered by Larry Page who, at the time, managed The Orchid Ballroom, now known as The Kasbah.

Over the course of two years or so he moulded them from being local talent contest winners, held at The Orchid Ballroom – hence how the group’s name derived – to the point of being a quality harmony vocal group who would go on to appear on national television and gain recognition overseas particularly in America.

The Orchids signed to Decca records in 1963 and they went on to release a total of three singles. They also released singles in the US under the name of The Blue Orchids and then in 1965 a final 45rpm release for Decca under the name of The Exceptions. Various other songs were also recorded at the time and have since seen light of day on CD.

Their first recording was actually as backing vocalists for the Johnny B Great and the Goodmen single “School Is In”. The Goodmen would reciprocate and perform on some of The Orchids singles.

“Gonna Make Him Mine” c/w “Stay at Home” was The Orchids first single but failed to chart. However it was The Orchids second effort, “Love Hit Me” c/w “Don’t Make Me Mad”, which had been given the Phil Spector type wall to wall production, that got them a break as their record was discussed on a, then, incredibly popular TV programme.

On December 7, 1963, following a mid day concert at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool, the Beatles rushed across to the Odeon Cinema for a special recording of the BBC TV programme Juke Box Jury.

Briefly, for those who do not remember, Juke Box Jury was a musical TV show which ran from 1959 until 1967 (although it has been resurrected on a couple of occasions in more recent times). It featured a panel of celebrity show business guests, that changed week by week, and who discussed and critiqued recent record releases. Finally the panel would then vote, by way of voting paddles, on the record as a potential ‘hit’ or a ‘miss’. During its most popular period the show was compared by David Jacobs.

Among the songs discussed that particular evening were ‘Hippy Hippy Shake’ by The Swinging Blue Jeans, ‘Kiss Me Quick’ by Elvis Presley and ‘Love Hit Me’ by The Orchids.

Although the Fab Four voted the single a miss they did give it some very positive comments. And, unknown to The Beatles while discussions and comments were ongoing, was that The Orchids were actually sitting among the studio audience. It was laughingly described by John Lennon as ‘a lousy trick’.

A transcript of the events is detailed below: David Jacobs: “Three Coventry school girls called The Orchids on ‘Love Hit Me.’ John Lennon.”

John Lennon: “Well you know, it’s just a big cop, or pinch. It sounds……. If it had come out before ‘The Crystals’ and ‘The Ronettes’ it would’ve been great. They’ve even got that, what is it… castanets?” Ringo Starr: “Tambourine.” John Lennon: (Loudly, giggling) Tambourine, is THAT what it’s called!!” (Laughter) John Lennon: “It’s quite nice, but it’s sort of the British version, you know, which… although the song’s original, I think. But it sounds… doesn’t sound right.”

Paul McCartney: “It’s okay. It sounds great for an English record, though, you know. Because about a year ago, if someone had brought this out and said ‘Listen to this record,’ I don’t think you would’ve believed that it was an English one. It’s marvellous, the sound things. And I think it’s great. I like it.”

Ringo Starr: “It’s good, you know. I wouldn’t buy it. It may sell a few but not that many.” (Beatles laugh) George Harrison: “I thought it was quite nice. I liked the idea of the British records sort of being on the way to boom-chicka-boomchicka, all this. I like the American stuff like ‘The Crystals’, I mean, even though it is a pinch, you know. I’d rather they pinch ‘The Crystals’ than carry on doing the stuff they’ve been doing.”

Consensus: MISS) David Jacobs: “They say that it will be a miss, which in fact is most unfortunate, because we do have sitting in the audience three young ladies called The Orchids. Stand up, young ladies. There they are” (Crowd applauds) George Harrison: (Jokingly) “Sorry! Didn’t mean it!!” John Lennon: (Switching his card) “I’ll change it to hit!” (Laughter) John Lennon: “I’ll buy it! I’ll buy two!” David Jacobs: (Laughs) John Lennon: (Comically) “I didn’t know you were here!” David Jacobs: (Laughing) “John thinks it’s a lousy trick but we’ll get on to the next record.”

When screened, later the same evening, that particular episode of Juke Box Jury was watched by an estimated 23 million viewers.

The Orchids third single was titled “I’ve Got That Feeling” and had been written by Ray Davies of The Kinks who, by now, were being managed by Larry Page. The ‘B’ side was titled “Larry”.

Their final single, under the moniker of The Exceptions, was released in March 1965 and titled “What More Do You Want”. The ‘B’ side to this release was a Georgina Oliver song called “Soldier Boy”.

After The Orchids disbanded all three members went onto become successful in their chosen careers but over time, as happens, lost touch with each other. Pete Chambers, in his excellent book Godiva Rocks, resurrected interest in the group and conducted a series of great interviews reviving some great memories of the group.

During 1985, the Coventry Evening Telegraph published a letter from Georgina (who had now become) Johnstone who ultimately made a successful attempt to reunite with the other members Pam Hepburn and Valerie Davies.

………………………………………..

Georgina Oliver – lead vocals
Pamela Jarman – vocals
Valerie Jones – vocals
Sources Rex Brough – Dean Nelson

The Orchids were a trio of 15-year-old girls from Coventry who went from winning a local

talent contest to national television and an international recording career. They won their contest at Coventry’s Orchid Ballroom, thus acquiring their name, and fell right into the managerial arms of Larry Page (renowned for his later work with the Troggs). They were signed to English Decca in 1963 and released the first of three British singles that year, “Gonna Make Him Mine” b/w “Stay At Home,” produced by Shel Talmy and picked up on Ready Steady Go Despite that exposure, the single didn’t chart, but the trio was unusual enough in England (where “girl” singers tended to be in their 20’s) to get lots of television appearances and even a spot in the movie Just For You, singing “Mr. Scrooge.” Their second single, “Love Hit Me,” received a huge, Phil Spector wall-of-sound style production that got the trio pegged as England’s (or at least Decca’s) answer to the Crystals.

From Rex Brough –

“For the best article on this fantastic girl group, go to Spectropop, the ultimate girlgroup website. Ian Slater and Ian Chapman are the authors.

Coventry’s only girl-group’s career started when they won a competition at the Orchid

Ballroom. Larry Page the resident DJ spotted the Stoke Park Grammar schoolgirls and got them a deal with Decca. Shel Talmy (Who, Kinks etc..) produced their records. As a girl-group they probably were the only one that successfully emulated stateside groups like Crystal/Shirelles. They sounded how they looked, Coventry schoolgirls against a Spectoreque backing, particularly on “Love hit me”. Wonderful! Next to the Orchids, other British girl-groups sound too polished.

The TV show Ready Steady Go! played “Gonna Make Him Mine”, as dancer Patrick Kerr demonstrated the Hitch-Hiker. Also they featured in the 1964 pop movie Just For You, singing “Mr. Scrooge”.

In America they were billed as the Blue Orchids to avoid clashing with a homegrown Orchids. After that they changed their name to the Exceptions and cut one more single under that name. Apparently they did a Bert Berns, one of his own songs, “Just Like Mine”. Also there was a session with Andrew Oldham, a song called “Society Girl”, but this, like the Berns track never saw the light of day.

Great Coventry group – Where are they now? Pam is headmistress of a school in Scotland, Georgina living in Vancouver, and celebrating 30 years marriage. Valerie moved to Cornwall.”

Singles

Gonna make him mine / Stay at home 1963 Decca

Love Hit Me / Don’t make me mad Dec 1963 Decca

I’ve got that feeling (written by the Kink’s Ray Davies)/Larry – 1964 Decca

Oo-Chang-a-lang – US single

What more do you want / Soldier Boy – As The Exceptions – 1965

Tracks found on Compilation CDs

Love Hit Me and Don’t make me mad – on Pop Goes the Sixties Volume 1 – See For Miles

Oo-Chang-a-lang and Soldier boy – on The Girls Scene – See For Miles

Memories from Georgina Oliver (Orchids Lead Singer!)- From Rex Brough

” For us it was just about having fun and maybe meeting some pop stars at the time. Now I

realise that we had the chance to work with some great musicians and producers. I’ve been told by a number of people that the records are very well produced.

We started off singing together in the schoolyard at recess and lunch hours. We would sing the latest songs with our friends and I guess after a while it just seemed to be us singing and everyone else listening. Pam entered us in a talent contest one Saturday at the Orchid ballroom. We used to go there dancing every Saturday afternoon. Val and I didn’t go that weekend for some reason and when Pam told us what she had done we were horrified! Anyway we won first prize – one whole pound!! Larry Page gave us the name The Orchids after the ballroom and arranged for some Decca people to come up to Cov to hear us sing. And as they say the rest is history.

We liked listening to American groups, mainly Tamla Motown, Crystals, Ronettes, Marvin Gaye,etc. We also liked the Beatles of course. Val liked the Stones but I wasn’t into them. We wanted to do songs like the Motown stuff but nobody listened to us! The song I wrote – Soldier Boy – was, I guess, styled after the “teenage angst” songs of the States, you know, my boyfriend rides a Harley and now he’s dead kinda thing. I enjoyed singing the less “poppy” music.
We didn’t have a name before the Orchids and yes Larry Page did name us. Very original,

right? To tell you the truth I can’t remember a whole lot about him. He was okay I guess, he wasn’t a Fagin or Svengali. When I think back I guess he wasn’t really that old but he seemed so to us being the fifteen year old brats that we were. I’m sure we must have exasperated him no end at times!

I remember the Orchid being very different in the daytime to when we saw it on Saturday afternoons with all the lights turned down and the music going. We would go for a meeting or rehearsal and the house lights would be on and everything looked kinda worn and seedy and a little dirty, like an aging actress with no make-up.

I remember Johnny B. Great and the Goodmenand Shel Naylor. We all went down to

London one evening after school to the recording studio (we recorded most of our records through the night, I guess it was cheaper then) We were all crammed into a van trundling down the M1. We girls got a case of the giggles and drove the guys mad. They threatened to dump us on the side of the road if we didn’t shut up! Our first ever recording was as backup on Johnny’s record “School is In”. I don’t remember singing with any of the groups other than that. We did make an appearance in Oxford in a show with Gerry and The Pacemakers and a few other people. Sounds Incorporated backed us when we did our set.

Again I don’t remember much about the people who did the technical stuff at our recording sessions. Being teenagers we weren’t included in any of the decision making or discussions. They said “Sing” and we sang. That’s what we enjoyed doing and they said we were great so we were happy. I remember a few times we tried to make our feelings known. If we thought something was not to our liking we would try to tell them that we were members of the record buying public and if we didn’t like it then others wouldn’t, but I don’t think anyone really listened to us. I do remember the names. Shel Talmey,of course, Mike Leander, Bert Burns – all American. I do know that Big Jim Sullivan played guitar on a couple of our records. Sometimes we would just have to sing over a pre-recorded music track and we didn’t see any musicians at all. As I said we didn’t realise at the time what was going on around us and what amazing talent there was to back us up. I remember some of the time we spent with Andrew Oldham. I remember him driving us around London in his big American convertible. The top was down, the sun was shining as we listened to Dionne Warwick singing “Don’t Make Me Over” on a record player in the dashboard of the car. We were so impressed! At his flat we met the Beachboy’s father who gave us an LP of their’s that hadn’t been released in the UK. Marianne Faithful turned up after a while too. Like our view of Page Andrew Oldham seemed to us to be older but as you say he could have only been in his early twenties.

We never toured. We were booked to do a summer season in Great Yarmouth but it was

cancelled because of rules and regulations about school and dates. There were a few times when we couldn’t make appearances or sing live because of our ages. Pam was a few months younger than Val and I and it meant we couldn’t do a number of things.

We appeared on a number of TV shows. We were on Ready Steady Go a couple of times. Once with the Hollies. Graham Nash gave us a lift back to Coventry after the show as he was going home to Birmingham. We had to wear these horrible jade green and black dresses. We hated them! We also appeared on Juke Box Jury a few times. We were on the show the Beatles did from Liverpool. We were so excited that we might get to meet them. No such luck. We were seated in the audience and had to stand up in a spotlight after the Beatles voted our record a miss!!!!

We also appeared on some local news magazine shows. We made what you would now call a video of an unreleased song “Mr Scrooge” It was used in a film called “Just For You”. The movie starred Sam Costa as a dj who has a dream (I think) about playing all these records. The film included songs by The Batchelors, Freddie and the Dreamers and many more. Some of these performances found their way onto a U.S. video called Disk-O-Tek Holiday available on the net. The premise is kinda sappy with an American singer trying to get his song played by the radio stations. His journey is interspersed with videos by some American groups and some of the videos from Just For You. I have a copy of the video. In addition to our song it also has one by Johhny B. Great (without the Goodmen).
Yes, the schoolgirl look was all Larry Page’s idea. Do you think any teenager in their right mind would have come up with that one!! Speaking of the Kinks I guess you know that Ray Davies wrote “I’ve Got that Feeling” and I do remember a rumour back then that the Kinks were slated to be our backing group. When Page took them on I remember him asking us to come up with a new name for them. They were The Ravens at the time. I’m afraid we can’t take credit for the “Kinks”, someone else came up with that.

We never went to America. Our record, Ooh-Chang-a-Lang was a U.S. only release. We

were renamed the Blue Orchids on that disc because there was already a group called the Orchids in the States. For our last release, “What More do You Want”, they changed our name to The Exceptions to see if that would help. It didn’t! I think if we had been a bit older and been allowed to have more of a say in what we recorded we might have been a more successful. But by then it was clear that the next big thing was going to be guy groups, guitars and drums.

I guess my song is more soul than pop. I tend to lean more that way. If things had been

different I think I would have liked to end up singing jazz or blues. I remember a few songs that were never released – Jenny Let Him Go, Larry (!) Just Like MIne, and of course Mr Scrooge.
I guess it all ended in 1965 after our last release. I guess Decca didn’t renew our contract and it just kinda fizzled out. The three of us stayed friends and kept in touch until I left school at 16 to go to art college. The other two stayed on for the sixth form. After two years at Coventry College of Art and three years at West Sussex College of Art and Design studying textile design I liked the idea of being a perpetual student. I went to Weymouth teaching college thinking that maybe I would become a teacher. I soon realised that no, I didn’t want to do that!

After one term I left and went home with a boyfriend in tow. We were married in 1971 then we came to Canada in 1973. Over the years I have worked mainly at home. I’ve done some graphic design work for a Fisheries and Oceans magazine, proof reading, poetry courses, made and sold crafts, taught adult evening class. I’m now producing a monthly newsletter for a local vintage car club. I also sing in a choir but that’s mostly classical. Last year we performed Brahm’s German Requiem (in German!) and this year we did CArmina Burana by Carl Orff. I enjoy most kinds of music except Rap and Country. I’m particularly fond of 30’s, 40’s and 50’s standards. But it depends what mood I’m in. I like Mozart but I also like Cold Play and Radiohead.

The last I heard Pam was a teacher in Scotland but I haven’t been in touch with her since school. I contacted Val a number of years ago through the Cov. Evening Telegraph. We keep in touch via email. She was teaching art but recently quit to do her own work. She lives in Devon and has three children, a girl and two boys. It would be cool to have a reunion but I don’t think it would be musical!

Jiving away at the Gaumont; MUSIC historian Pete Clemons looks back to when the Gaumont cinema played a major part in the rising rock ‘n’ roll scene in Coventry. Pete, from Keresley, charts the history of the popular venue, which played host to big name stars including Bill Haley, Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran.

Keyboard player Bob Jackson went on to play with a range of top artists and bands including John Entwhistle’s Ro Ro and then Ross, Pete Brown’s Piblokto, Badfinger, Dodgers and more recently The Fortunes. 

IT is roundly acknowledged that the 1960s and 1970s produced a wealth of amazing music.

It is also agreed that, as well as the obvious talent, there was a lot of luck attached to those bands that reached greatness.

Sadly though there were an awful lot of bands whose music, although just as good – if not better – simply flew under the radar.

For whatever reason lady luck was just not on their side.

One of those bands that I feel never got the recognition they deserved were Coventry’s ‘Indian Summer’.

The roots of Indian Summer can be traced to the mid-1960s when, as teenagers Bob Jackson and Paul Hooper were members of bands like ‘This That and the Other’ and ‘The Rochester Beaks’.

It was all very youth club stuff but even back then both Paul and Bob knew that they were determined to put something good together musically and that they had ambitions.

The two then became involved with friends who were playing in bands like The Perfumed Garden (1966/67) and the Acme Patent Electric Band (1967/68) where Bob ended up played bass.

Both bands were more than competent and covered everything from Stax to Tamla Motown although the Acme band would become renowned for stretching themselves by playing more progressive art-house material and utilising stage props for dramatic effect.

The band was really the mastermind of one Malcolm Harker, student at the Lanchester Polytechnic and multi-instrumentalist. Indian Summer was formed during late 1968 by Bob and Paul. Bob had by now realised his main goal at the time and he had bought himself a Hammond organ. 

This was an impressive bit of kit to own and involved a lot of self sacrifice and saving hard which meant Bob walked everywhere rather than pay for bus fares.

To show support and solidarity Paul often walked with him. The day finally arrived when Bob took ownership of his Hammond. This was the point where Bob and Paul, on drums, could put together their long planned for band and set about recruiting the other members.

Completing the line-up was bass player Alan Hatton and guitarist Roy Butterfield who had effectively been head hunted mainly through his excellent abilities and partly through his image.

Initially Indian Summer played covers which included playing the music of Jimmy Smith, Jimi Hendrix, Blood Sweat and Tears, early Arthur Brown and even Frank Zappa, but more and more the band developed their own songwriting abilities.

They rehearsed hard at venues such as the Antelope club and began to start playing many local gigs which they often got for themselves or via local agencies such as Friars Promotions.

Word about the band was spreading and gigs were forthcoming including several at Hotel Leofric. To transport equipment the band managed to get a Black Mariah van which, in itself, caused issues with the police, who often stopped the van being confused as to who was using it and for what.

Then, just as it was all getting serious with things looking good and taking off, Roy Butterfield suddenly and surprisingly left.

Local blues guitarist Steve Cottrel, from the band ‘South Side Loop’, was drafted in to take over lead guitar duties.

It was at this point that the band began to branch out further afield and started to secure gigs in and around Birmingham. It was during this period that they came to the attention of jazz musician, promoter, manager Jim Simpson, who was gaining a reputation for getting behind Birmingham bands such as ‘Bakerloo Blues Band’, and a band called ‘Earth’.

Jim ran a production company called ‘Big Bear Records’ and he was interested in getting a deal for Indian Summer who were steadily gaining a good reputation.

In fact while supporting Fleetwood Mac at the Swan at Yardley bass player John McVie was so impressed that he asked the band to send him a tape. Thinking he was only patronising them they foolishly ignored his request.

It was while playing Henry’s Blues house on the corner of Hill Street and Station Street in

Birmingham, a music club run by Jim Simpson, that they came to the attention of Olav Wyper who had founded the successful record label Vertigo for the Philips record company and who had signed Black Sabbath, another band from Jim Simpson’s stable. 

                      PART TWO by PETE CLEMONS 

Seasons in the Sun -Part Two – Pete Clemons

BEFORE long enough original material, and more, had been written for an album with everyone contributing.

This new line-up rehearsed at the Lanchester Polytechnic music room and Olav Wyper came back and signed them teaming them up with producer Rodger Bain. All the songs were ‘auditioned’ for Roger at T+G Union building that can be seen at the ring road end of London Road. Meanwhile the band was travelling all over the country doing gigs and now promoting their self penned material.

The music largely evolved from Bob’s compositions written on keyboard, although all members contributed and collaborated on the song writing and composing. The sound revolved around Bob’s Hammond organ and Colin’s fluid guitar style, which had more jazzy/classical leanings than typical rock licks. Arrangements allow for intricate changes of pace from driving rhythms to pastoral pieces. Bob’s distinctive lead vocals dominate throughout as the compositions develop from one melodic section to another. Interesting and often subtle use of time signatures create inventive passages of music and have lead many to compare Indian Summer with other prog rock acts of that era such as King Crimson, Caravan, and Colosseum.

Through their associations with Jim Simpson and Rodger Bain the band got to know the

members of Birmingham band ‘Earth’. Rodger went on to produce Earth’s first album, soon after they changed their name to ‘Black Sabbath’. It came to the attention of Bob and Paul that Sabbath were in the process of leaving Jim Simpson’s management to join Don Arden.

Don was renowned for his ‘tough’ and demanding style of management and when the band asked why Black Sabbath were leaving Jim Simpson ‘Ozzy’ Osbourne told them that 20 per cent of lots of the money that Don could make them was way better than 90 per cent of the nothing that Jim would probably get them. True, as it transpired.

At the same time that the RCA Neon deal was on the table ready to be signed, Colin Williams had sent tapes to Island record subsidiary label Chrysalis who, after hearing them, also offered the band a brilliant deal. But in the end the band did the ethical thing and turned down Chrysalis out of loyalty to Jim Simpson and RCA. On such decisions careers are built or fail. At the time the band decided to stick with the same successfully proven team that made the first Black Sabbath LP and remained confident of success.

With the RCA deal signed Rodger Bain took the band to London’s legendary Trident Studios to record their self titled debut album. It took several days to record with some of the sessions lasting well into the night that resulted in the band having to sleep rough at times.(i.e. in the van). However, the record was completed and ‘Indian Summer’ (catalogue number NE3) was released in early 1971.

The album was launched alongside another release by RCA band Fairweather who were lead by Andy Fairweather Low. It was received well and got very good reviews but despite the high profile promotion, regrettably failed to sell. The label itself never took off. It could be that Neon failed partly due to the fact that it was pushed as the “underground” label for students. Students, at that time, preferred to find things out for themselves rather than have things pushed on them. Indian Summer felt that the LP didn’t really capture their raw and exciting sound they achieved at gigs and looked forward to addressing that when recording a follow-upbut they never got the chance.

However, following on from the LP release the band was asked to release a commercial single. A cover of ‘Ride a Pony’ by ‘Free’ was suggested by the record company but the band, naturally, wanted to see their own music released. They recorded the unreleased ‘Walking on Water c/w Firewater.’ But the single failed to see the light of day as RCA didn’t get behind it.

Soon after the LP was released, and true to his word, Malcolm Harker left the band in order

to concentrate on the engineering business. Previously with The Sorrows, guitarist Wes Price came in to take over the promotional work, gigs and festivals that followed.

Still gigging but with no encouragement or plans from the record company to make another album and failing singles the band’s days were numbered. A 10-12 date tour of Switzerland was arranged. Wes was going to Italy on a family holiday but was happy to drive from Italy to Switzerland in order to fulfil the tour. The rest of the band made their way overland from the UK, travelling in a hire van loaded with friends as extra road crew. It was a final party tour.

Despite the tour being a comparative success both Wes and Colin, for a variety of reasons, became disheartened after it was completed. With well paid gigs hard to come by and a non-supportive record company the momentum fell away. Making great music is a dream but a living still has to be made. So both Wes and Colin gave up professional music to work in the car industry. Bob and Paul were too disappointed to carry it on. Sadly that was the end for Indian Summer.

Ironically, the Indian Summer LP is now often held up as a fine example of the progressive rock genre by those who appreciate that kind of music, and is now highly regarded and prized as a collector’s item.

Bob and Paul continued their dream with bands like The Dodgers. Bob, notably, spent some time as a member of hit record makers Badfinger.

They both eventually reunited with almost 20 years together in ‘The Fortunes’.

Malcolm, apart from the engineering business, built his own studio in the north east where a then unknown Chris Rea would begin to realise his career by recording demos etc at Malcolm’s place in the Cleveland Hills. Malcolm would later emigrate to the USA.

Alan Hatton is nowadays based in Canada while Colin Williams lives in Daventry.

Today Bob Jackson is still with Fortunes while Paul Hooper, although semi-retired and based in the north east, adds his percussion skills to the recently revitalised folk/rock band Prelude who are well worth checking out via respective websites: www.preludemusic.co.uk and www.thefortunes.co.uk

……………………………….

A third article by Pete Clemons on Indian Summer’s New Album can be found here

http://coventrygigs.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/indian-summer-new-album.html

From Coventry Evening Telegraph 1971

Trev Teasdel “Summer 1970, Indian summer played Pete Waterman’s Walsgrave pub Progressive Music venue. I was doing the door for Pete and through bass player Malc Harker (who was soon to leave the band) booked them for the Coventry Arts Umbrella club. The Umbrella was only a small venue but the Friday night band sessions went on until about 2am. We were lucky to get them, the band were in big demand at that stage and not long afterwards made their first album for RCA Neon – still a classic on the Prog-rock scene after all this time.”

The early version of Indian Summer with Roy Butterfield (far left) and Al Hatton 2nd left.

Early Indian Summer 2 – L to R Bob Jackson, Al Hatton, Paul Hooper, Roy Butterfield.

More on tracks on Youtube

The Complete List of Indian Summer Gigs from when Colin Williams Joined the Band in 1970 – Thanks Colin.

From Rex Brough –
” A keyboard-driven progressive band. Formed in the summer of 1969, they toured the local

universities and colleges in their native Midlands before being spotted by manager Jim Simpsonwho also looked after Black Sabbath and Bakerloo amongst others. Olav Wyper signed the band after witnessing them go down a storm at Henry’s Blues House in Birmingham. Teaming them with producer Rodger Bain, who’d produced Black Sabbath’s self titled debut album, he put them into London’s legendary Trident Studios to record their debut album. “Indian Summer” was released in early 1971 (NE3) though a proposed single “Walking On Water” failed to see the light of day. Immediately after the album’s release, Harker left to take over his father’s engineering firm (he currently lives in America). His replacement was Wez Price, ex-The Sorrows, who undertook the promotional duties required of the band, including dates in Switzerland. However, in early 1972 the band felt things weren’t working and decided to call it a day.

Colin Williams retired totally from the music industry to take up employment in the motor industry.

From Indian Summer My Space
Indian Summer were formed in the summer of 1969 by keyboardist Bob Jackson,

guitarist/vocalist Colin Williams, drummer
Paul Hooper and bassist Malcolm Harker. Based in Coventry they toured the local universities and colleges in their native Midlands before being spotted by manager Jim Simpson who also looked after Black Sabbath and Bakerloo amongst others. In fact, they often filled in for Sabbath when they were too poor to be able to afford to get to the gigs they were booked to play! Ex-Vertigo Records manager Olav Wyper had been employed by RCA to head its progressive Neon Records label and, after a recommendation from Simpson, he signed the band after witnessing them go down a storm at Henry’s Blues House in Birmingham. Teaming them with producer Rodger Bain, who’d produced Black Sabbath’s self titled debut album, he put them into London’s legendary Trident Studios to record their debut album.Indian Summerwas released in early 1971 (NE3) though a proposed single “Walking On Water” failed to see the light of day.

Immediately after the album’s release, Harker left to take over his father’s engineering firm (he currently lives in America). His replacement was Wez Price, ex-The Sorrows, who undertook the promotional duties required of the band, including dates in Switzerland. However, on returning from a gig in early 1972 with no money (and a bag of chips between them!) the band felt that something was wrong and decided to call it a day.
Colin Williams retired totally from the music industry to take up employment in the motor industry. Paul Hooper played in various Midlands based bands before teaming up with Bob Jackson in The Dodgers for 1978’s Love On The Rebound album, and is currently a member of The Fortunes. After extracting himself from his contract with Jim Simpson, Bob Jackson teamed up with ex-John Entwhistle vocalist Alan Ross for two LPs and numerous tours. He then joined Moon on their Too Close For Comfort LP of 1976 before passing an audition for Badfinger who he stayed with for nearly three years. He then formed the Dodgers with Paul Hooper before joining ex-Uriah Heep vocalist David Byron for theOn The RocksLP. Since then he’s played with the likes of The Motors, The Searchers, Jeff Beck, Jack Bruce and Pete Brown and still plays in local bands as well as teaching music.

Mark Brennan – Special thanks to Bob Jackson

Taken from the Repertoire reissue of Indian Summer, 1993, REP 4357-WP

Earlier Version of Indian Summer with Al Hatton and Roy Butterfield

When jazz and blues ruled at the Mercer’s; MUSIC historian Pete Clemons, from Keresley, this week looks back at the live music years of Coventry pub The Mercer’s Arms.

By the end of 1971 the R ‘n’B, the rock music and the soul bands had all but finished at the venue yet the jazz music, that had initially given the Mercers its reputation continued for several years after.

Interspersed between the live music clubs were the sporadic activities of several folk clubs, that including the Tavern folk club which had moved at some point in the 1960s from the Swanswell Tavern, and other folk related events. For the rest of the 1970s the pub was kept very busy by way of the various discos that The Mercers staged. These included an early residency for Coventry’s Pete Waterman.

The 1980s saw an attempt to breathe new life into the venue again by way of a cabaret style club called the Nite Inn. However, the good times did return by way of the thriving local scene at the time. Bands as diverse as Bob Brollys Calvary, Sammy Earthquake and the Volcano’s and the Travelling Riverside Blues Band continued to play there on a now and again basis till the end of the decade.

Toward the end of its life The Mercers became known as The Sky Blue Tavern before being bulldozed just after the turn of the millennium to make way for an overflow car park for football parking. Eventually though the land, along with the land made vacant by CCFC when it moved to The Ricoh Arena out at Rowleys Green in 2005, was used as part of the housing development that is now known as ‘The City’.

Addition Information Below

DJ Mark Brown at the Mercers Arms 1968

Mike Tyzack on Historic Covnetry http://www.historiccoventry.co.uk/memories/m-tyzack.php remembers – “ In 1959 I started going to jazz clubs: There was The Weary City Jazz Club at The Mercer’s Arms in Highfield Rd. They had visiting bands including Chris Barber and his band.”

New Modern Idiot Band (Rod Felton / Rob Armstrong) played there in the late 60’s.

Fat mattress 9th Nov 1969

At Henry’s Blues House – Mercers Arms 1971 – 

Satisfaction – Thurs Jan 7th

Alan Bown – Thurs Jan 14th

Climax Chicago Blues Band – Thurs Jan 21st

Julian’s Treatment – Thurs Jan 28th 

Mogul Thrush – Thurs Feb 4th

Dando Shaft – Thurs Feb 11th

Duster Bennett – Thurs Feb 18th

Medicine Head (with guest – Keith Relf on guitar / Trev Teasdel on Jews Harp! – See story!) – Thurs Feb 25th

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TREV TAKES THE STAGE WITH MEDICINE HEAD – A Story!

On Thursday 25th February 1971, Trev Teasdel (then organising the band nights at the Coventry Arts Umbrella and assisting Pete Waterman on the door at the Walsgrave Pub Progressive Music nights every Tuesday, went to the Mercers Arms with local drummer Steve Harrison and they met up with some female friends – the two Jans’, Louise and Jackie. Trev had heard Medicine Head on John Peel and bought their first sing His Guiding Hand ( on the John Peel ‘Dandelion label). Medicine head were a two-piece with songwriter John Fiddler on guitar and one man band drums and Peter Hope Evans on harmonica and Jews Harp. Peter however was off ill that night and a strange, unannounced guitar player took his place. As they had no Jew’s Harp player John Fiddler asked if anyone in the audience played Jew’s harp and would like to join them on stage for a couple of numbers. The girls volunteered Trev on stage. Although he had began writing his own songs and poetry, it was his first ever venture on stage! Quite daunting with such luminaries as Medicine Head but little did he know who the mystery guitarist was, that he shared a mic with and whom shared his bear with (Jew’s Harp makes your mouth quite dry!). The band struck a twelve bar and Trev watched the guitarist fingers, noting his skill as he played along on the Jew’s Harp but not realising just who he was! It should be noted that Trev was used to a small Jew’s Harp that you could buy in the local music shop but the roadie had opened a box of assorted harps and gave a huge version that vibrated the hell out of his mouth! Coming off stage the roadie asked Trev if he knew who the mystery guitar player was. It turned out that it was only former Yardbirds lead singer Keith Relf, only his hair was a long longer these days. Keith had taken Medicine head under his wing and was now playing in a new band Renaissance!  Not bad for a first gig! Trev tried to book Medicine Head for the Umbrella Club but their fee was way out of the Umbrella’s range!

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c 1974 Jim Reilly ran the The Cosmic Music Club at the Mercers Arms 

https://sites.google.com/site/bandsfromcoventry/coventry-bands-a-to-z/coventry-bands-s/steel-peach

Read more about Direct Enterprises and The Cosmic Club here http://covdiscoarchive.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/direct-enterprises-coventry-music.html

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Also from the Coventry Evening Telegraph http://www.thefreelibrary.com/GO!+JAZZ%3A+FOND+MEMORIES+OF+THE+MERCER’S.-a097126666

Bob Caldwell 

THE publicity surrounding Coventry City’s planned new stadium reminds me of a venue much loved by jazz enthusiasts which became a casualty of an earlier redevelopment.


The Mercer’s Arms, opposite the Sky Blues’ Highfield Road football ground, was flattened to make way for a car park. In its final years the pub was known as the Sky Blue Tavern.


But in its heyday the Mercer’s Arms was the venue where several local bands and many national names packed in the crowds during the decades when jazz was indeed a popular music.


Bands such as The Idaho attracted large Saturday night audiences during the late 1950s and the average age of the musicians was about 19.


At about the same time, a band composed mainly of art students, The Weary City Jazz Band, became so popular that its sessions were extended to both Tuesday and Thursday evenings.


Trumpet player Paul Barnes is now a BBC radio presenter and clarinetist Jack Ashby took up tenor and now leads The Jack Ashby Band.

Possibly the most significant development was the Dud Clews Jazz Orchestra, which played the big band music of Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington and McKinney’s Cotton Pickers.


Saturday sessions were enormously popular from 1962 to 1974 and it is sad that Dud never lived to see how his original idea evolved into today’s vintage big band, Harlem.


Enthusiastic local promoter Harry Flick brought modern jazz to The Mercer’s for several years.


I remember hearing Stan Tracey, Ben Webster, Joe Harriott, Ronnie Scott, Tubby Hayes and countless others.


Meanwhile, the great traditional and New Orleans bands were making the pub a Friday evening haven with Ken Colyer, Terry Lightfoot, Alex Welsh and Colin Kingwell.


Harlem performed there with American legends George Kelly and Benny Waters as recently as 1982 and it is a source of regret that a building with such a history should end up being demolished.

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From Broadgate Gnome http://www.broadgategnome.co.uk/venues01.htm

Mercers Arms
Another hardcore R&B / Jazz venue, this played host to a number of regular club nights like The Yardbird Club (1967 – 69), Tudor Club (1967), Henry’s Blueshouse (1969) and Pete Waterman’s Floorboards Club (1970). Legendary acts like The Graham Bond Organization, sax player, Tubby Hayes, flautist, Harold McNair, pianist Stan Tracey, reggae outfit The Skatalites and Shotgun Express (featuring Rod Stewart when he was good!) all performed there.
Sadly the venue is now demolished.

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1967 The Penny Peep Show played at the Mercers Arms at the Tudor Club 19th November 1967

The Penny Peep Show …………………………. Coventry drummer Jim Pryal tells us that Leamington band Stepmother played at the Mercers arms in the mid 70’s “The Mercers Arms Cov on a Monday night – 5 long haired hippies playing to an empty room till a coach load of rugby players came in!!! Mick Smitham of The Fortunes is on guitar along with me, Harry Frazer and Jamie Lord.” …………………………………… Below are a few photos supplied by Mark Rider of Coventry band ‘Bullets’ playing on stage at the Mercer’s Arms in 1982. Bullets were Mark Rider– guitar, Ray Borkowski (bass) and Roger Strong (drums) and singer (unknown!). Mark and Ray had a duo called Sasp’rilla in 1974 and a band called reflex 1979 / 80 and mark was involved with the legendary Horizon Studio in Coventry where the first Selecter album was recorded by Roger Lomas. Mark is now in another duo called Skawaddy.

Another article from the prolific pen of Pete Clemons – The Hotel Leofric venue, Coventry from Coventry Telegraph.

Rocking the gym hall at the Lanch; YOUR nostalgia ROCK fan and regular contributor Pete Clemons, from Keresley, looks back on the big name bands who played Lanchester Polytechnic before it became Coventry University.

That’s entertainment! THE FAMOUS FACES TO HAVE PLAYED COVENTRY THEATRE DURING ITS HEYDAY YOUR nostalgia MUSIC historian Pete Clemons, from Keresley, this week looks back on the history and halcyon years of Coventry Theatre.
FROM the outside it was reminiscent of a soulless collection of concrete boxes built together in a random fashion but the interior was another stunning example of the art deco period in which it had been constructed.

Coventry Theatre, as it was most popularly known as, opened on 1 November 1937 under the name of The New Hippodrome. The ‘New’ being because it had become the third theatre to have been built in that area of the city centre. The others being built and opening in 1884 and 1906. However, it was not until 1955 that it became known as The Coventry Theatre. There was one further name change in 1979 when it became The Apollo Theatre.

During its lifetime the theatre was host to some of the greatest names ever to have trod the boards over the last century from both the UK and beyond. And it would be wrong, I guess, to write anything about the Coventry Theatre and not mention the likes of Julie Andrews, The Goons, The Two Ronnie’s, Tommy Cooper, Morecambe and Wise, Ken Dodd, Jimmy Tarbuck, Norman Wisdom, Rolf Harris and Tony Hancock who all performed there during its lifetime.

At its peak the venue became widely renowned for its annual Spring Shows, Birthday Shows and pantomimes as well as the concerts that were put on there. The theatre had also been a firm favourite with both performers and fans alike.

The first musical act to appear was on its opening night and starred Harry Roy and his Band. And during its formative years, as the New Hippodrome, the venue attracted the big bands and orchestras of the day led by the likes of Billy Cotton and Jack Parnell. It also played host to the balladeers and vocal talents such as Donald Peers, David Whitfield and Billy Eckstine.

It is also difficult to imagine that, because the venue opened so close to the war years, it would not have been without its difficulties. But the theatre did succeed in staging shows and pantomimes each year throughout those dark days. And given the titles of some of the productions during those times like ‘Let’s Get on With it’ and ‘Victory Frolics’, the spirit did not seem to diminish.

Other early highlights include the visit of Vera Lynn who performed in Coventry for a week as part of her first variety tour during July 1940 and also that of Laurel and Hardy who visited the venue on more than one occasion.

The format during these times was that the entertainers would perform for a week. Some would complete two weeks while some of the productions, like the shows and pantomimes, would appear for a whole season. And this type of presentation essentially continued through to the theatre’s demise.

The 1960s began with major season appearances by Shirley Bassey, Cliff Richard and the Shadows, Tommy Steele and Frank Ifield.

The shows were predominantly variety. For example, when the Helen Shapiro and The Beatles tour came to Coventry the show also included entertainers Kenny Lynch and Dave Allen. Gradually, however, ‘the tour’ became normal for music and the bands would, in the main, play ‘one nighters’.

It wasn’t all about the current fashions though, as Coventry Theatre still found space for and attracted the older more established acts. These included Gracie Fields who appeared on Sunday October 3, 1965 and for whom the late Ray Rastall, legendary barman for the Hotel Leofric, created a cocktail called ‘Our Gracie’ in her honour.

As the 1960s progressed so the bands tended to split from the variety shows. For major theatre work they would increase the length of their sets and, along with several other bands, and with the aid of promotion companies created their own package tours. Initially these were shows were held on Sundays in order to fit around the residencies.

Examples of these at that time include The Jimi Hendrix Experience who appeared on the same bill as The Pink Floyd, The Nice, Amen Corner and Eire Apparent and when The Kinks appeared they also had The Herd, Gary Walker and The Tremeloes on the same bill By the 1970s the principle and most successful chart bands could command their own audiences and gradually it became the norm where you would have a headline band complete with a support act. Add to that the fact that their own sets were expanding and rather than just a half dozen songs they were playing continuously for 90 minutes or more. This model is still the basic format used today. Not only that but these tours were scheduled quite tightly and as such theatres had to accommodate them on any day of the week.

The 1970s produced some incredible moments that are still revered today. It does not take much to get the older gig goers talking about gigs by The Rolling Stones, Booker T and the MGs, The Beach Boys, David Bowie, Deep Purple, Elton John and Queen.

And the success story continued throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s as The Jam, The Buzzcocks, Genesis, Motorhead, UFO, UB40, Imagination and Dexys Midnight Runners all played to large audiences.

Local artists were well represented during this time too by way of King and Hazel O’Connor who both sold out the venue.

In fact during the 1970s and 1980s some of these shows proved to be incredibly popular and crowds would, at times, sleep outside the ticket office all night in order to secure tickets. I know this because of the first experience I have of doing it. No on line reservations, block bookings or mobile phones existed back then.

It has to be said though that, during the period when it became known as The Apollo, Birmingham had gained the upper hand as far as attendance numbers were concerned and the theatre struggled along until the mid-1980s.

Did the management miss a trick by continuing with the shows instead of concentrating on more gigs similar to venues such as Wolverhampton’s Civic Hall? I suppose we will never know. One thing is for sure though and that is the old adage of ‘use it or lose it’ certainly came into play. Sadly, after a sell out concert by Barbara Dickson on June 6th 1985 the theatre closed and became a Granada Bingo Hall. This, in turn, was renamed Gala Bingo.

After the bingo ceased the building and surrounding area was compulsory purchased by the council during the year 2000 and controversially demolished in 2002 for the creation of Millennium Place, the Whittle Arch, Glass Bridge and the wonderful motor museum.

I always get the impression that the Coventry Theatre is still much lamented and, although it can be argued that the Belgrade Theatre filled the space, I personally do not think that for all round family entertainment the city has ever fully recovered from its loss and, as such, a whole generation have at times, had to travel to Birmingham, Wolverhampton and even further afield in order to get to see their favourite show or band.

I can still hear Sister Morgan’s voice KEITH Morris has replied to last week’s article by Julie White about her time working at Gulson Hospital.

He said: “I too worked at Gulson Road Hospital in the 50s. I can still hear Sister Morgan’s dulcet tones wafting over the corridor from the nurses’ lecture rooms, which in those days were opposite the laboratory where I worked.

“I attach a rather dilapidated picture from the then Coventry Evening Telegraph of a pantomime cast (probably Christmas 1950) and a quote from a later Christmas show (1956 or 57) when the then hospital management committee was considering building a new hospital at Walsgrave. “He led with distinction a party of twenty, To far distant Spain to see Hospitals new.

But on Bullfights and Nightclubs They spent all our money, The lines are directed at Dr Jack Heather, a consultant physician who led the fact finders!” And still about buildings they Ne’er had a clue!!” Can you identify this house? JET Judson is seeking help with this picture of her grandmother’s former home.

“We are trying so hard to find out whether this family house still exists in Coventry or if they have bulldozed it, unbelievably. It was called Nailcotes.

“We just found the photo and my father can remember my grandma talking about it when she lived there as a child.

“Thank you for any help you and the readers can give, it would make my dad’s day if anyone knew anything.”

Sent to Hobo Magazine

Thirty years of music at Nuneaton’s Co-op hall; ROCK fan and regular contributor Pete Clemons, from Keresley, this week charts the musical history of Nuneaton Co-op’s dance hall, which played host to Midlands’ bands and famous groups on tour.

ERECTED during 1938 and open for business by September 1939 the Nuneaton Co-op along with its associated dance hall was, both inside and out, an incredible looking building.

It was period art deco and was one of the finest examples of its type in the Midlands.

It was built during a time before motorways were created. The A5 was still a major trunk road with Nuneaton on its path and, as such, the town became a stop-off point for touring artists.

For the first twenty or so years it played host to the big bands led by the likes of Ken Macintosh and Ronnie Aldrich. The local orchestras of both Bert Lucas and Frank Proctor were also regulars and that trend continued through to the early 1960s when jazz bands were also introduced.

Then, during 1961, teenage dance nights began to be held there by Reg Calvert. Initially they were low key Friday night events. One of the earliest of these happenings I have recorded was during April and was headlined by Tex Roburg supported by Buddy Brittain and the Regents and Glen Dale. The following weekend saw The Rebel Rousers and The Grasshoppers and then soon after it was the turn of Danny Storm.

A refit of the venue took place during July and August. Then a gig was staged on September 1 by Joe Brown and the Bruvvers for its reopening. Over the next 18 months several other one-off gigs quickly followed by Eden Kane, Jackie Lynton, The Brooke Brothers and The Beatles (The Beatles were actually second on the bill, that night, to Buddy Brittain).

These dances took off very quickly and became incredibly popular. But the mainstays of these events were Buddy, Glen and Danny. They would go on to appear at the venue countless times during this period along with the likes of Roy Young, Robbie Hood, Mike Everest, Baby Bubbles and Tanya Day. Collectively these artists were known as the Clifton Hall All Stars.

By the beginning of 1963 the venue was completely dominated by teen dances. Even the jazz bands that had gradually replaced the orchestras on the Saturday night slots were now being squeezed out.

The music scene was changing and so did the bands that appeared. Along with the regulars bands like The Hollies, The Who, Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, The Fourmost, Gene Vincent and The Rolling Stones were now visiting Nuneaton’s premier venue.

And so it continued from 1963 through to mid 1966 when Reg Calvert was shot and killed. Through this period the dances were being handled by Reg’s daughter Susan. An impressive array of bands appeared in the town that read like a who’s who of chart acts from that time.

But despite the regular big names there was still room for local and popular Midlands’s bands such as The Jones, The Cataracts and The Cardinal Sins. During this time several other venues sprang up in Nuneaton such as The Holly Bush Hotel, The Chase, The Nags Head and The Weddington.

These venues all began to stage their own regular dance nights putting on the cream of local bands. None of these would have the longevity of the Co-op Hall though. But it wasn’t all good as tragedy was to strike the venue on New Year’s Eve 1965 when a gig by Pinkertons Assorted Colours and The Tea Set went horribly wrong.

Nine hundred people had packed into the venue and at around 11.30pm an awful crush happened. This resulted in the loss of life for four people and several others were badly injured.

Tom Long, guitarist for the Pinkertons will, unsurprisingly, never forget the incident and easily recalls how difficult it was for the entire band as they had known at least two of the casualties personally.

After this terrible incident the hall had to be closed for a short time while another stairway was installed and other modifications implemented.

It seemed as though the ‘great’ years had slipped away for the Coop Hall after Reg died, and to an extent they had, but the venue did resume holding dances as the Calverts continued running them until sometime in 1967.

In fact, at the height of the summer of love in 1967 there were several groovy events such as ‘Fab Flower Groups’ nights and ‘Flower Freak Outs’ as up to three bands would appear and revellers tuned in.

The last couple of years saw the Friday dance disappear. Musical styles were changing but the Saturday still attracted popular Midlands bands the calibre of April, The Reason, Trip to the Sun, Buttercup Jelly and The Power and the Glory.

The whole thing came to an end in June 1970 which saw the last advertised gigs at the venue. One of the last major groups to appear at the venue was Rugby’s Black Widow.

At about this time the motorway network grew and Nuneaton, like many towns, fell off the touring schedules. The hall was then used for bingo which, from all accounts, was very popular. Then, at some point, the ground floor became a supermarket.

Attempts to revive and breathe life back into the hall were made but none lasted. Sad times, I guess, for what had been such a vibrant building.

Sadly, after the supermarket pulled out, the Co-op ballroom remained for many years unused and derelict and it fell into a state of disrepair.

It was controversially demolished in November 2008.

Unique sound of Pinkerton’s was right on hue; YOUR nostalgia ROCK fan and regular contributor Pete Clemons this week looks back on the musical career of Rugby band Pinkerton’s Assorted Colours, whose pioneering sound led to chart success and TV appearances.

FURTHER to my article on the Nuneaton Co-op Hall another band who were quite

prominent at that venue and had strong connections with Reg Calvert’s management were Rugby’s 1960s chart toppers Pinkertons Assorted Colours.

Originally though the band began life as The Solitaires and had played gigs under that name from 1963 until early May 1964. But by the end of May they had settled for The Liberators and were gigging under that name.

The Liberators line up back then was Samuel (“Pinkerton”) Kemp , autoharp and vocals, Tony Newman, rhythm guitar, Tom Long, lead guitar, John Wallbank, drums and Coventry born Barrie Bernard, bass. After recording a single, for producer Shel Talmy on the Stateside label and titled ‘It Hurts So Much’, John Wallbank left the band and was replaced by Dave Holland.

The band had a unique sound compared to other beat bands of the day and that uniqueness was highlighted by the use of an amplified autoharp which was essentially a hand held chorded zither.

They became Pinkerton’s Assorted Colours during November / December 1965, and scored a massive top 10 hit with their first single ‘Mirror, Mirror’ written by Tony Newman and released on the Decca label.

‘Mirror, Mirror’ was the first record to be produced by the late Tony Clarke who went on to produce the classic albums by The Moody Blues and is even today remembered and listed in a top 10 of worldwide chart singles that used autoharp. It sits within the company of releases by Golden Earring and The Electric Prunes.

The single led to the bands first Top Of The Pops studio appearance on January 27, 1966 along with other TV studio work including a slot on popular children’s programme Blue Peter. 

Reg Calvert always seemed to favour The Pinkertons and he was able to get them to do stunts for him like taking donkeys to gigs for use of floor prizes and putting coloured dye into the fountains at Trafalgar Square for a photo opportunity. In turn he gave them their own rehearsal rooms at Clifton Hall. And the band had been very much involved behind the scenes at Reg’s Radio City venture.

I was recently talking to band member Tom Long who shared with me an insight into a typical week in The Pinkerton’s schedule back then: * Wednesday – The Severn Club, Shrewsbury.

Left after lunch plenty of time. Good gig, stayed in B&B in Shrewsbury.

PUBLICITY Re* Thursday morning – Got up and spent the morning by the river. Then up to Blackburn for the next gig. Thursday night – King Georges Hall Blackburn finished and loaded up by 1 am. Drove steadily down the M1, * Friday morning – got to our regular B&B at Kings Cross London at 7am and knocked up the owner and begged a spare room for a wash and brush up. 8.30am photo shoot in Carnaby Street.

10am BBC for the Joe Loss pop show. Finished at the Playhouse at 2pm and set out for Ross-On Wye for the next gig. Played Ross gig, loaded up and set off straight back to London. Drove in shifts slept on the way.

* Saturday morning – back in London rested at Kings Cross for a while, went to the agency

in Denmark Street for something or other that I can’t remember, then set out for Margate Saturday evening – Margate Dreamland. Good gig we liked that place. After the gig took some friends back home to Canterbury.

Got back to Margate digs at 6am.

Sunday morning – Up at 8am and left shortly after. 10am back in London STUNTS: Calvert to Decca no 3 studio to record a flipside called ‘Will Ya’. We were so tired it took just about all day to do that one on its own. We left London early Sunday evening for home and slept for a few days having not had a proper night sleep since the previous Wednesday.

After their second single, ‘Don’t Stop Loving Me’, Barrie Bernard left Pinkerton’s Assorted Colours, to join Jigsaw during their own early days in late 1966, and was replaced on bass by Stuart Colman. And then after the third single the band shortened their name to Pinkerton’s Colours and signed to the Pye record label where they recorded another single ‘Kentucky Woman’. 

Reg Calvert, one of pop’s legendary managers and manager of the Fortunes, was living in

Clifton Hall, and spotted them when they were called The Liberators in Rugby in 1964. Following a brief hook-up with producer Shel Talmy, which resulted in one single, Wallbank exited the line-up, to be replaced by Dave Holland.The name came from Kempe adoption of a “posh” sounding name, and the groups array of colourful jackets. Their first pop single, Mirror Mirror, featured the jangling sound of Kempe’s autoharp and is a pop classic. Tony Newman wrote this and another psyche classic “Magic horse”, though sadly none of the other single achieved the success they deserved. They changed the name to Pinkerton’s Colours and eventually eventually became Flying Machine. Steve James and Paul Wilkinson who joined the band later previously had been in the Peeps. Barrie Bernard later joined Jigsaw.

Dean Nelson says –

“..the first line-up of this band — originally known as The Liberators — was –

Samuel (“Pinkerton”) Kemp on autoharp and vocals,

Tony Newman on rhythm guitar,

Tom Long on lead guitar,

Barrie Bernard playing bass,

John Wallbank on the drums

Pinkerton’s Assorted Colours adopted brightly colored costumes for their stage act. Their sound was an amalgam of folk and pop, highlighted by the use of an electric autoharp, which the band used in a manner somewhat similar to that of the Lovin’ Spoonful. In late 1965, Pinkerton’s Assorted Colours were signed to Decca Records, and they cut their debut single that year with future Moody Blues producer Tony Clarke. That record, “Mirror, Mirror,” a band original written by Tony Newman, became a No. 8 British hit in 1966. They had one more minor chart entry, “Don’t Stop Loving Me Baby,” later in the year, but that was their last hit and after the failure of “Magic Rocking Horse,” they left Decca to sign with Pye Records, and even a name change to “Pinkerton’s Colours” didn’t make their records more appealing.”

Stuart Colman, Pinkerton’s one time bassist, went on to become a BBC Radio One DJ, and later a producer for Shakin’ Stevens, Cliff Richard and Billy Fury.

Pete Clemons with one of his latest offerings to the Coventry Telegraph maps the history of the Matrix Ballroom which was a major Coventry beat group venue in the 60’s.


(Readable text below the graphics)

Magic dance hall nights rocking out at The Matrix; YOUR nostalgia ROCK fan Pete Clemons recalls the heyday of one of Coventry’s favourite dance halls – The Matrix Ballroom. Pete, from Keresley, who is compiling a history of the city’s music scene, charts the venue’s history and the orchestras, famous bands and acts who played there over the years.

COVENTRY was once upon a time, and not so long ago, awash with factories that manufactured everything from cars to telephone equipment.

And almost every one of those factories came with its own social club that took care of the workers leisure time and gave them, and their family, entertainment and activities on many levels.

I myself worked, at one time, at the GEC which was typical of all the other factories that existed back then. It had several social clubs that catered for an entire range of bar games including snooker and dominoes as well as being the base for the football and rugby sections along with a variety of other sports and activities. And these clubs were not solely for the use of employees as guests were also very welcome into them.

Some of these social clubs also had large ballrooms that were the focal point for all manner of functions ranging from office parties and presentation evenings to dance orchestras.

Another such company, known as The Matrix, was born in 1953 out of Coventry Gauge and Tool which itself was formed at the end of the 1930s. At its peak the company employed more than 2,000 people and had a reputation of having one of the finest ballrooms in the area.

The Matrix Ballroom on the Fletchamstead Highway near the old Standard Cinema (now Maxim’s casino) was one of the city’s favourite dance halls. It boasted a large dance floor and seemed to attract the bigger and more popular dance bands. I am guessing that this was partly due to the fact that it was situated on the A45 which, back then, was a major trunk road through the city. Even today you can recognise the building as it is now used as the HSS tool hire store.

The bands started performing at the Matrix soon after the company was formed with, for the first couple of years, The Jack Owens Orchestra taking up a residency and followed then by The Paul Stanley Orchestra for the next few years.

But by the end of the 1950s the place was attracting bands and orchestras the calibre of those led by Johnny Dankworth, Ted Heath, Ken Mackintosh and Ronnie Aldrich and, such was the popularity, advance tickets were being made available from Jill Hansons record shop in the city centre.

The early part of the 1960s saw the dance bands becoming freer. Rock and roll had kicked in and the formalities of the orchestra, although not lost forever, were being left with the older generation. The needs of the younger workforce and music fan were being met and during 1961 and the early part of 1962 the traditional dance orchestras were being replaced by the likes of the accordion-led Pat Gissane Show Band and The Temperance Seven who specialiSed in 1920s style jazz and swing.

September 1, 1962 saw the hall reopen after the summer. The bands that night included Swedish instrumentalists The Spotnicks and suddenly there was a new feel to Saturday nights. The beat groups had arrived.

Incredible as it now seems but a band called The Beatles played the venue on November 17, 1962. This was only weeks after Ringo had taken over from Pete Best on drums, two days after returning to the UK after a two-week residency at the Star Club in Hamburg and just days before they recorded their second single Please Please Me. Famously the hitman Pete Waterman had been in attendance and recalled that around 80 people had been in attendance to see them.

Within a year The Beatles had been followed by groups like The Searchers, Freddie and the Dreamers and The Rolling Stones. Even American acts like Gene Vincent and Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard performed there.

After a brief refit the venue reopened as the New Matrix during mid-1965 and the previous successes continued by way of visits by Manfred Mann, Van Morrison’s Them, The Small Faces and countless other bands. And these big name chart acts were quite often supported by a local band as happened when, for example, when The Beat Preachers supported The Who during August of that year.

November 1968 saw a regular Irish club move in, The Hibernia Club. For a year or so the atmosphere of the hall changed again as Saturday nights were alive to the sounds of The Skyliners and The Yankee Clippers Show Bands and their assortment of jigs and reels.

There was still room however for rock and pop as the late 1960s saw the likes of Joe Cocker, Desmond Dekker and The Equals all perform at The Matrix. The Hibernia Club continued to put on the show bands at the venue until it moved to the Foleshill Road during mid 1969.

The 1970s all but saw the rock and pop disappear. Occasionally a local band might play but not on the regular weekly basis that the venue had previously been used too. For several years throughout the 70s though the musicians union staged an annual big band competition at The Matrix. During the day up to a dozen youth orchestras would appear such as the Midland Youth Jazz Orchestra.

It was a very popular event.

Another use of the hall during the 1970s and 1980s was that as a venue for an annual beer festival. But the Matrix Ballroom effectively ceased as a music venue during the mid 1980s and remained unused for many years.