Hobo – Coventry Music Magazine Archive

This post remains at the top as an introduction. Scroll below for the posts.
Contact HOBO with comments or information hobozine@googlemail.com

Welcome to the Hobo Coventry Music Archive Site. 


Hobo was a Coventry’s Music and Arts Magazine and Workshop co founded by Trev Teasdel and John Bo Bargent and continued by Trev between 1973 and 1975. 


Hobo contributed to the Broadgate Gnome A to Z in 2003 and was re-invented as a Coventry Music Archive in 2007 initially on Vox blogs until that platformed closed and the as a suite of blogs on Blogger from 2009. 


The various sites covering the A to Z of Coventry bands, Coventry Folk and Acoustic Scene, Coventry Arts Umbrella Club, Coventry Discos and Venues and Pete Clemons Coventry Music Articles and more can be found by clicking the Hobo Coventry Music archive Hub in the menu above. There’s plenty of archival material view from the 60’s through to the present!


On This Particular Blog
You can read the basic history of the magazine and Hobo Workshop, featuring some of the other Coventry and Birmingham magazines and fanzines and associated material. At the time of writing, I’m still adding to this blog – it’s last to be completed but will house some interesting Coventry cultural material.


NEW BOOK 2017


Dirty Stop Outs – Coventry Music and Entertainment Venues in the 1970’s by Dr.Ruth Cherrington.


Ruth Cherrington has used material from and been inspired by these Hobo sites along with many memories frompeople who frequented or organised or played in these venues and Hobo Magazine features in the book. Well worth a read.

GUIDE TO THE HOBO COVENTRY MUSIC SITES
Here are the links and descriptions for the new sites (also linked in the menu above) –


Hobo – A to Z of Coventry Bands  Early A to Z’s of Coventry bands (ten years back) included The Broadgate Gnome (to which Hobo contribute some bands) and Rex Brough A to Z’s. Coventry musician Tim James had a more person A to Z on his site. By 2005 Pete Chambers  produced his first book – an A to Z of  Coventry bands called Godiva Rocks, which sold well in Coventry. Since these sites (and book) were created, a lot more information along with audio and youtube have come to light and so the Hobo A to Z is an attempt to bring all or a lot of the material together in one place. The other, pioneering sites are still worth visiting and may eventually be updated. Meanwhile if we’ve missed your band out or you want to share more info, you Tube / audio photos or flyers etc for your band or material from your own band archive – you can contacts us at hobozine@googlemail.com


Hobo – Coventry Music Scene Archives – That’s this site – part of a suite of Coventry Music Blogspots shown below. This particular blogspot with house the archives of Hobo Magazine and Hobo Workshop (Holyhead Road Youth Centre) and will show much of the development of the Coventry Music before Two Tone. It will house information some of the other important Coventry Music magazines such as The Broadgate Gnome, Alternative Sounds and some of the later ones from the 1980’s. There will be a range of Coventry music feature articles and much more. Still in development.


Coventry Arts Umbrella Club  The Umbrella was fundamental to the development of the Coventry Literary, folk and music scene in many ways and deserves a site of it’s own. The Umbrella was established 1955 and opened by the Goons. It produced an important Literary Journal which featured an essay by Phillip Larkin. Held lectures by writers like EM Foster. Held the first Coventry Folk club. Was home to Coventry musicians, including some who were later in Two Tone bands.


Coventry Gigs 1960 – present 
Houses Peter Clemon’s Rock of Ages columns and over 70 articles he has written on Coventry music for the Coventry Telegraph  from 1960 onwards. The articles range from Coventry music venues to bands and more. Pete Clemon’s often uses material on these site alongside his wider research and they are well worth a read. I also add in additional material including youtube.


Coventry Folk Club Scene
This site, which covers the Coventry Folk scene and the more recent Acoustic scene – it’s artists and venues, also houses copies of Pete Willow’s Folks Magazine from c 1978 and articles from it. A lot of archive material both from the Hobo archives and elsewhere.


Coventry Discos, Studios, Venues, Music Agencies, Music Shops etc
Archive material relating to the above.


Bands who Played the Lanchester Poly (Now Coventry University) Student Union Gigs. The Lanch, both with its legendary Saturday night gigs in the main hall and the annual Lanch Arts festivals, were high cultural experiences with some of the top underground bands, poets, songwriters playing there from the 60’s to the 80’s and beyond. They spanned almost every musical genre and included Pink Floyd, Caravan, Elton John, Sex Pistols, Oasis, Radiohead, Cream, Ralph McTell, the Liverpool poets and many more. This site is compiling a list with youtube of them.


Coventry Who’s Who of Musicians
A comprehensive Who’s Who of Coventry Musicians – still a work in progress. More to be added when the A to Z of  Coventry bands and artists has been completed.Meanwhile if you should be on the list of the info is wrong or incomplete and if your friends are not on here and should be – let use know at hobozine@googlemail.com.

Why a Lower Holyhead Road building is crucial to Coventry’s music heritage.

Pete Clemons on how seeds of 2-Tone were planted in the city.

Charlie Anderson, guitarist with The Selecter, joined children on a Two-Tone float during Coventry carnival. 14th June 1980

When it comes to historic archive material, relating to important music related events, between the end of the 1960s and up until the mid-1970s, then that collected and preserved by Trev Teasdel is amongst the most impressive.

Amongst other things, Trev had been an active member of the Umbrella Club when it was based in Queen Victoria Road and instigated the creation of the Hobo Workshop. For a short while, during 1974, the workshop was based at the Lower Holyhead Road Youth Centre and, while there, Trev possibly witnessed the early seeds of development of what became the 2-Tone movement.

He was present at many different events within the Hobo Workshop building which, when combined together, would ultimately gravitate towards each other and create the band who would eventually become known as The Selecter.

The Hobo Workshop came about via a link-up between Hobo – Coventry Music and Arts Magazine and the City Centre Project via Coventry City Voluntary Service (CCVS) after an executive meeting of the Coventry Arts Umbrella (known to users as The Umbrella Club or The Brolly) in May 1974 at the premises of CCVS at Tudor House, Spon Street.

‘We wanted to make the Hobo Workshop a place where people could participate in events and not just consume the arts. Jam sessions were part of this and also provide a situation whereby musicians could get to know each other musically with the possibility of new musically collaborations or bands’.

From that perspective, the building situated in Lower Holyhead Road that once hosted various youth related events over the years is indeed very important.

The building itself, according to a Coventry planning document, began life as a Quaker Meeting House around 1896. And as far back as 1965, and possibly before that, it was a youth centre where bands such as The Smokestacks would be welcome to play.

There was a ground floor area complete with concert hall and a high stage that the Belgrade Theatre once used for rehearsals.

Also on the ground floor there was a small room which would be used for a music workshop and also a cloak room. Upstairs there were various rooms, some of which were used on Tuesday evenings, also by Hobo, for alternative film shows or the street theatre group. He is unsure as to what else the other upstairs areas were used for. Finally, and underneath the main hall, there was a basement area, which when Hobo moved in, was already being used by the Afro-Caribbean community for their rehearsals.

This was 1974 and Trev was running Coventry music magazine Hobo. At that time Hobo was looking for a place to put on new bands who were struggling to get gigs. The Local Education Authority ran the building then but Hobo were given use of the Ground Floor theatre on Monday evenings through a guy called Bob Rhodes, a detached youth worker, who along with research worker Kevin Buckley were both with the Coventry Voluntary service council. This was the same organisation that Charley Anderson (future bass player for The Selecter) worked for at the time.

Original Selecter bassist Charley Anderson (left) with drummer Aitch Bembridge

In parallel to his voluntary work Charley Anderson was also a youth worker at the Lower Holyhead Road centre where he and Ray King, of The Ray King Soul Band, set up and offered activities around music. And it was in the basement area that they facilitated and encouraged creative activities. And when Hobo moved into the youth centre during July 1974 Trev clearly remember Charley’s project was already established there.

And there were plenty of musicians in the basement at that time also including Charley Anderson himself, Desmond Brown and drummer Silverton Hutchinson.

July 1974 saw a Hobo arranged gig at the venue by local band Midnight Circus led by Neil O’Connor (Hazel’s brother) on guitar. Trev had also booked guitarist Neol Davies to organise a jam session as part of the night’s entertainment. Trev had noted Neol’s organisational skills from a previous jam session.

The same evening, Charley Anderson and other musicians were, once again, practising down in the cellar. As people were coming in for the Hobo event, Charley Anderson came up from the basement and asked if he could get some cables from behind the stage. Trev, who was on the door at the time, recalls ‘it was an opportunity for me to ask him if the guys downstairs would like to join in for an informal jam session with Neol later on. Charley went down to talk to the guys and returned to say something to the effect that guys were just getting started and didn’t feel ready to play in public’. When Neol arrived at the venue, Trev mentioned to him what was happening down stairs. Rather than the promised jam session after the Midnight Circus gig, Neol said ‘leave it to me’ and went down to the basement and apparently spent the evening in the cellar jamming with Charley’s guys. Now whether or not Neol was already aware of these these guys is unclear but it did later turn out that Silverton and Neol both lived in the same street.

From there, and quite often on a Monday evening, Neol could be found at the Lower Holyhead Road youth centre joining in with the Hobo meetings and going into the basement to jam. Neol has since given plenty of insight into who taught him what with regard to playing reggae properly.

2-Tone heroes Neville Staple,Pauline Black,Arthur ‘Gaps’Hendrickson, Roddy ‘Radiation’ Byers.

Soon after came the formation of Charley Anderson’s band ‘Chapter 5’ a Reggae and Soul Band featuring Charley, Neol, Desmond, Silverton, Joy Evering and Arthur ‘Gaps’ Hendrickson.

With Ray King also heavily involved the whole basement project extended to include a sound system, a football team and a netball team all under the collective name of Jah Baddis.

Around November 1974 Hobo had moved out of Lower Holyhead Road and relocated at The Golden Cross. Ray King and Charley managed to get some funding for the cellar and possibly other areas of the building to be decorated.

As time went on a number of other bands were either formed at, or were at least associated with, the Lower Holyhead Road centre. These included Pharaohs Kingdom, Earthbound, Nite Train, Hardtop 22 and Transposed Men. There was a lot of inter-changeability between the members of these bands before the ‘classic’ 2 Tone line ups settled.

So it is true to say that the basement under that building was the place where the seeds of 2Tone were formed and from where history was created.

Thanks to Trev Teasdel for his memories.

Holyhead Youth Centre, Coventry

Chapter 5 with Charley Anderson and Neol Davies c 1977

Hard Top 22

Hobo Workshop – Concert that Led to 7 Day Protest

In this issue, for the Coventry Telegraph, Pete Clemons tackles an issue that I was involved in organising Hobo Magazine and and co-organiser of the Hobo Workshop gigs, originally based at the Holyhead Youth Centrein Coventry c September 1974.

in the capacity of the Editor of 


One of the aims of Hobo magazine had been to create a venue to help get new bands and artists started and for creative activities like Street theatre, alternative films, jam sessions and much. It was facilitated and supported by the City Centre Project – a youth project created by Coventry Voluntary Service Council to help young people with problems of homelessness, unemployment, alcohol or drug dependency etc. Bob Rhodes, the Detached Youth Worker needed to reach young people who maybe in need of help and Hobo magazine had identified a number of youth problems. Bob therefore worked with us and in doing so facilitated our wider aims to provide a venue and facilities for budding musicians in the city. In order to publicise the work and the gigs, we collectively organised a Saturday concert in the centre of Coventry with a number of bands and a couple of folk performers identified in the article. However the concert was closed down by the police and a 7 day protest in the press ensued – the cuttings are below and Pete Clemons tells the story. Below is a readable version, split into two parts so the small print can be read.

In the original letter I’d mentioned some our future ideas which included a Coventry Music Festival (long before the  Godiva festival was thought up), Trench Coat – a second magazine concentrating on more social issues than Hobo. Children’s creative workshop with arts practitioners. The Coventry Voluntary service council at the time provided volunteers to work on playschemes during the summer.  We had also started a street theatre workshop and Alternative film night at the Holyhead. There were quite a few ideas we had some of which took off and some which didn;t see the light of day.

Memories – first left Paul Ashfield – lead guitar,

second left Tom Ryan drummer 

third back row Peter Hewins 

[ passed away peacefully at Derriford Hospital on August 19th 2010, aged 56 years. 

fourth back row Ray Borkowski bass [Ray Barry]

front row Peter Hughes vocals .

An earlier article in september 1974 on the Hobo Workshop, with Analog performing their first ever gig at the Holyhead Youth Centre. Analog had a number of members in the band who later formed the two tone band Reluctant Stereotypes – including Steve Edgson, Paul Brook, Mick Hartley. 

A few of the bands who played at the Hobo Workshop on a Monday night 1974. Fission was Johnny Adams’s band – later in Squad – Terry Hall’s first band.

Analog on stage at the Hobo Workshop – Holyhead Youth Centre. Appearing in the photo also Bob Rhodes, Liz Scott, Trev Teasdel, Phil Knapper (older brother of Stu Knapper – later of punk band Riot Act.).

Holyhead Youth Centre, Birth place of  Two Tone (Selecter and Specials) and also the Hobo Workshop.

Cover on Hobo Magazine featuring Mark Rider (now of Skawaddy) and Ray Barrie who appeared in Memories who played in the Shutdown Concert.

This one was from the Coventry Evening Telegraph.

Dave Pepper, later of the X Certs, was down to perform a the precinct concert with his first band Phoenix. Sadly the Police shut the concert down before they could play.

Rod Felton – Coventry’s folk player extraordinaire, was also waiting in the wings to play – 

And Ragtime Guitarist Dave Bennett

Hobo came out in June 1973. These are the press cuttings 1973 – 74.

The first interview with Lynne Greenwood of the Coventry Evening Telegraph featured Co-editors Trev Teasdel and John Bargent (Bo) in June 1973 for their Saturday On the Scene supplement.

This is from the brief review section of Coventry’s Music and Arts magazine – Hobo 1973 – 75, edited by Trev Teasdel.


The review was done by a guy called Dave,whose surname I’ve forgotten but was a roadie with Bob Jackson’s first band in Coventry – Indian Summer. Bob of course went on to play with many name bands including Badfinger and the Fortunes.

This is Issue one of Hobo – Coventry’s Music and Arts Magazine (Promoter) published June 1973, printed on Offset litho at The Left Centre, Coventry on an offset Litho donated by History and Warwick University Professor – E.P. Thompson. The magazine was produced by Trev Teasdel and John Bargent. It’s available free here on PDF.  It was typed by Maz and the layouts were done by John and Maz. The intention was to produce it monthly but John Bargent (who ran Rouguestar Promotions and disco) left after this issue to road manage Coventry jazz-rock band Khayyam on their European tour. as John had largely financed the first issue,  it actually came out when I managed to raise enough for the printing. Issues were produced that weren’t printed therefore owing to lack of finance but what i have left of those issues that never made it to print will be uploaded here too for research and archive purposes.

 Here is the link to the first issue on PDF – https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B86kZ7RP6OWKSVB3cE9PcncwMEU

Hobo began with a campaign against the RU18 squad who were kicking young people out of pubs without anyone providing alternative places for young people to hear live music. In getting a petition together to send to Coventry Evening Telegraph, i met John Bargent who helped to get Hobo started. That story will be on this blog in another post. Meanwhile here is the press coverage we got in the ‘On the Scene’ supplement in the Coventry Evening Telegraph June 1973.


Editorial for – Issue one – Published June 1973 

On the Scene supplement in which the above article came from –

Letter from Coventry Telegraph prior to our interview –

There will be more about John Bargent’s Roguestar Promotions in the Cov Discos blogspot listed on the top post. (Below – John and his wife Rachel as they are now).


John had worked for release and one of his ideas was Central Spot (Mentioned in the magazine) – a drop in centre for young people with problems. John left Hobo after the first issue but that option got taken up later by Bob Rhodes, a detached youth worker from Coventry Voluntary service council who facilitated the Hobo Workshop at the Holyhead Youth Centre summer 1974. More about that on a post on the Hobo Workshop.

Hobo No3 February 1974 Two Tone Blue issue.
Features – an early small add for a band by Horace Panter (later of the Specials) in the small ads pages. Advert for Willow, Jazz rock band featuring Joe Reynolds sax player who later played on The Selecter’s Three Minute Hero, Advert designed by Rod Felton for his Rude Bare folk Club, on the back page. Advert for Silk Disco. Adverts for some of Pete Waterman’s early discos under Entertainments.

Issue 3 of Hobo (Coventry Music and Arts Magazine) February 1974. The magazine was originally planned to come out each month but lack of funds and rising printing costs meant some issues weren’t printed and published. There was therefore often a gap before the next issue came out. That’s not to say the work of the magazine, the networking and promotion didn’t go on anyway, far from it and some of the remaining pages of issues we weren’t able to publish are now being archived here to reflect that. However – this is the Published version of issue 3.

Trev Teasdel – Editor / Reporter / Layouts
Mike O’Hare (Virgin Records) – Virgin Album Chart
Support – Sunshine Music Agency (SAM) (Typewriter / office space / encouragement and
contacts)
Rod Felton – Art work (Rude Bear Folk Club)
Printing – Broadgate Press (offset Litho)
Support and Help – Sue and Mike Pearce / Colin Cripps / Lynda Hardcastle.

Coventry music news / poetry / free music ads / Virgin album charts for Coventry 1974 / etc.

Issue 3 Editorial
Hobo is a media for the music and arts scene in Coventry and near by. It welcomes your opinions, help, poems, information, articles, graphics, ideas etc. It is a framework to be clothed with your ideas and activities. It needs feedback – don;t hesitate as we are friendly. Money made is used for the mag, to keep it going and gradually (if the country doesn’t collapse) to improve it. Hopefully Hobo will continue on a regular monthly basis, previous delay was owing to printing hassles, paper shortages and money shortages and God knows what. Hobo can be obtained from Virgin Records, I Am boutique, Sunshine Music Agency, The Sound Centre, Cranes Music shop, Rude Bear Folk Club, Silk Disco, Student Unions and various music shops etc.

Willow was a Jazz rock band featuring sax /flute player and poet Joe Reynolds who later played on Selecter’s  Three Minute Hero,both in the studio and on Top of the Pops.

Below area few surviving pages from issues that didn’t come out – some are hard to date precisely – but I think November 1973 and January 1974 and some after feb 1974 but before the summer issue.

This is a pdf file version of  issue No 4 of Hobo Magazine, charting the Coventry Music scene in 1974.

This edition was produce in the summer of 1974, produced on a duplicator – much of the work was typed at Sunshine Music Agency in Gulson Road Coventry (Thanks to Co-director Craig Ward) and other wise at Coventry Voluntary Service Council. This edition features a Soul article by Pete Waterman who at the time ran Soul Hole Records above the Virgin record store in Coventry and also placed an advert for the Soul Hole in the magazine. His article focused on the Three Degrees who he saw in concert along with David Bowie and other. Pete wasn’t world famous at this point but was on the way!

There are two versions of the magazine here – the second one was produced first but was withdrawn owing to the printers having made a hash of the magazine – reducing it (to save costs) but making it largely unreadable and the graphics looked messy. We re-did the layout and content and had it duplicated. I’ve cleaned up the issue and tried to make it readable but the graphics are still indistinguishable. It does contain information on bands that wasn’t included in the second version – obviously as time had lapsed but might be useful historically. The cover photo show Mark Rider and Ray Barrie in a 1974 due called Sasp’rilla. Mark Rider is now in Skawaddy. John Alderson of Wandering John did some of the cartoon sketches.

EDITORIAL FROM ISSUE 4 (Published version) summer 1974
Once again I am apologising for the late arrival of this issue, owing to the difficulties in getting it printed, but i think possibly we are now able to overcome them and produce HOBO monthly, so keep your fingers crossed. For those not familiar with the magazine, it is a non profit making mag being a media for the music and arts scene, with the purpose of promoting and encouraging activities and facilities. Your ideas, poems, articles, information, letters, ads etc. etc. are very welcome, so do not hesitate to contact us.
Trev Teasdel 1974

Hobo Issue No 4 – Summer 1974 Coventry Music and Arts Magazine.

Hobo – Issue No 4 (Unpublished version – early summer.)
Editorial of the unpublished issue of Hobo No 4
Hobo is a non-profit making magazine. Briefly the aims of the mag are to supply the musicians / poets / artists of Coventry and district with a music and arts mag that everyone can afford, giving news / info / articles of interest / classified ads and a central point for inspiring and promoting creative activities in the city. We are interested in any articles / info / ideas / criticisms or any help you can offer. Please don;t be shy about responding as its your response that we’re relying on. This is the framework, it’s your ideas that will clothe it. We hold no prejudice musically and are therefore open to any form of music or art. Although  the underdog activities are given priority – least-ways we do our best.
Trev Teasdel 1974