Category Archives: London

Carl Douglas & The Big Stampede

Left to right: Dave Brooks, Mike Manners, Carl Douglas, Verdi Stewart, Del Coverley, Del Grace and Tony Charman, late 1966

In the summer of 1974, Carl Douglas’s disco anthem “Kung Fu Fighting” was shipped just as the chopsocky film craze was taking hold. Initially, the single struggled for airplay, but later that year it stormed to the top of the UK and US charts, eventually selling over 11 million copies worldwide.

In 2014, to mark the 40th anniversary of his global chart topper, Carl Douglas was preparing a new CD for release, his first collection of new material since 2008’s Return of the Fighter.

Although the long-awaited release never appeared, fans were treated to a superb compilation from revered collectors’ label Acid Jazz, issued on 30 June 2014. Pulling together much of Carl Douglas’s recorded work during the mid-late 1960s, including a cache of previously unreleased tracks, the collection finally casts a light on the singer’s little known, formative years.

To trace Carl Douglas’s rise to international superstardom, we need to go back to an afternoon in mid-1965 when the young Jamaican ventured from his home on Copleston Road, East Dulwich to his local football club’s party, and stumbled across the musicians that would come to form his first backing group – The Charmers.

Early Sounds 5 with Tony Charman on guitar (second left) and Nick Baxter on drums. Photo: Tony Charman

Formed in West Dulwich around late 1963 by multi-instrumentalist Tony Charman (the only musician to appear in most of the many iterations of Douglas’s Sixties bands), Sounds 5 originally comprised Charman on lead guitar; Johnny Johnson on rhythm guitar; Roger Simms on bass; Nick Baxter on drums; and Tony Fuller on lead vocals.

Sounds 5. Photo: Tony Charman

A regular fixture at local schools and youth clubs in south London, Sounds 5 decide to adopt a new name after the band’s manager Bob Charman (Tony’s father) invited Carl Douglas to join the musicians on stage.

“Carl came up and sang with us,” remembers Tony Charman. “Our singer at the time was my brother-in-law and he was leaving, so my dad said to Carl, ‘If you want to join a group, here’s the phone number’.”

Born and raised in Jamaica, Carl Douglas had spent part of his youth in southern California staying with relatives before joining his mother and stepfather in south London where he pursued a scholarship in engineering at Southeast London Technical College from 1959-1962.

While the plan was to qualify as an engineer and return home to take over his father’s family business, Douglas had secret ambitions to become the first black professional football player at Tottenham Hotspur and was a keen and proficient player. But as fate would have it, the afternoon he attended his football club’s party at Flodden Road in Camberwell, south London changed his destiny forever.

Encouraged by his football mates to go up and sing with The Charmers, Douglas impressed the young musicians with his raucous renditions of “Long Tall Sally” and “Tutti Frutti”.

“Bob had given me his number but I didn’t call because I wasn’t quite certain how to tell my mum,” admits Douglas. “One day while I was out at football training, he called and talked to my mum and asked if I’d decided yet.”

Despite his mother’s protestations over his decision to put his engineering career on hold, Douglas called Bob Charman back and agreed to try out at a rehearsal. It didn’t take long for everyone to realise that it was a winning combination.

Rechristened Carl Douglas & The Charmers, the musicians soon established a foothold in the Brixton/Streatham/Tulse Hill area, playing pubs, youth clubs and schools.

The Charmers. Left to right: Mick Patel, Lee Hall, Carl Douglas, Tony Charman and Nick Baxter. Photo: Tony Charman

Early on, lead guitarist Mick Patel and bass player Lee Hall took over from Johnny Johnson and Roger Simms respectively, while Charman (who’d adopted the stage name Tony Webb) moved from lead guitar to organ.

The band’s drummer then introduced his cousin Ken Baxter, who worked as an engineer at a recording studio in Crystal Palace.

“When Carl joined us, we needed some demos,” says Tony Charman. “Ken had this little recording studio, which he’d just started, so we recorded in there and then Ken was asked to be our manager.”

The Charmers, early 1966. Photo: Tony Charman

Impressed by Douglas’s singing, Ken Baxter oversaw the recording of a six-track demo, mixing soul standards like Otis Redding and Steve Cropper’s “Mr Pitiful”; Naomi Neville’s “Pain In My Heart”; and Wilson Pickett and Steve Cropper’s “In the Midnight Hour”, together with Carl Douglas originals – “Going Out of My Mind”, “Why Hurt” and “You Are the One I Love”.

Left to right: Carl Douglas, Nick Baxter, Lee Hall, Mick Patel and Tony Charman. Photo: Tony Charman

Having assumed the band’s management from Tony Charman’s father, Ken Baxter then hawked the demos around London in a bid to secure a recording deal. The tracks ended up with A&R scout Pierre Tubbs, who had connections with the small indie label, Strike Records. Tubbs offered the band some studio time to hone its act, in preparation for some further recordings.

Tony Charman on keyboards. Photo: Tony Charman

Around early 1966, the band’s personnel underwent another reshuffle with Ray Beresford taking over from long-standing drummer Nick Baxter. At the same time, a brilliant guitarist called Ron Bryer (aka Ron Spence), succeeded Mick Patel. A former member of The Loose Ends, the house band at Lewisham’s El Partido Club, Bryer had recently been working with another local outfit, The Revellos.

Left to right: Tony Charman, Ray Beresford, Carl Douglas, Ron Bryer and Lee Hall. Photo: Ken Baxter

Interestingly, Mick Patel would end up joining Bryer’s former band The Loose Ends in late 1966, initially as a horn player, but in spring 1967 moved back to lead guitar and briefly joined The Canadians with a very young David Foster. Foster and Patel would subsequently join The Warren Davis Monday Band in the summer of 1967 for the single “Love is a Hurtin’ Thing”. Patel later moved out to British Columbia, Canada to work with Foster in a new band but nothing has been heard about him since.

Mick Patel third left, August 1967

The reconfigured line up (often billed as The Carl Douglas Set) began gigging further afield, landing a regular gig at Tiles on Oxford Street, and playing a series of shows at the Goldhawk Social Club in Shepherd’s Bush.

Back in Tubbs’s studio, and with Ken Baxter at the helm, the new formation cut two new tracks – a gritty version of Hayes and Porter’s “You Don’t Know”, coupled with a soulful rendition of “I (Who Have Nothing)”, a song taken into the US charts by Terry Knight & The Pack.

Presented to Strike Records, the label was impressed by the raw energy of the recordings to sign Douglas to a one-off single deal. However, as Baxter recalls, arranger/producer Alan Tew was sceptical that the musicians had the experience to produce “a professional, economical sound behind Carl at the time”.

Handing production duties to Pierre Tubbs, Tew decided to bring in top session players like guitarist Big Jim Sullivan, organist Harry Stoneham, trumpet player Kenny Baker and bass player John Paul Jones to provide the instrumental support for Douglas’s first single, the frantic, infectious soul number “Crazy Feeling” (credited to Tubbs-Douglas), coupled with “Keep It To Myself” (attributed to Tubbs), which was cut at Pye’s studios in Marble Arch.

Ken Baxter notes that the group almost landed a record deal with EMI Records after an encounter with producer Tony Macaulay (who would work with Douglas’s friend Clem Curtis in The Foundations) prompted a one-off session. The whereabouts of the two tracks cut remains a mystery.

Left to right: Tony Charman, Ray Beresford, Carl Douglas, Ron Bryer and Lee Hall, mid-1966. Photo: Ken Baxter

While this was happening, Ray Beresford put in a good word for his neighbour – lead guitarist Del Grace, who stepped into Ron Bryer’s shoes in early July 1966.

Standing at six foot five, Grace had started out in the early 1960s with Carl Lee & The Epitaphs in the Bexley, Kent area. The band subsequently became known as The Epitaph Soul Band and then The Epitaphs. Of historic note, Grace also did several sessions with maverick producer Joe Meek at his studio on the Holloway Road during this period.

In late 1965, Grace formed Big Wheel, a local soul/R&B band, which opened for the likes of John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers and The Graham Bond Organisation at the Black Prince Hotel in Bexley. They also played at the Berlin Jazz Festival in February 1966 and undertook a short tour of West Germany, including Aachen, and Switzerland in early June.

Big Wheel, early 1966. Del Grace (far left), Mike Manners (second left) and Del Coverley (centre). Photo: Del Grace

In an entirely unplanned, albeit fascinating twist of fate, Big Wheel’s keyboard player Andy Clark (later of Clark-Hutchinson and Upp fame) decided to recruit Ron Bryer as Grace’s replacement!

When the rest of the band returned to England, Bryer stayed and joined the highly-rated Basel-based soul band, Berry Window & The Movements. Bryer later recorded with cosmic rockers Brainticket before returning to England and joining One with former Loose Ends’ singer Alan Marshall. Tragically, the guitarist died on 25 June 1973 of an accidental drug overdose.

Ron Bryer with Berry Window & The Movements. Photo: Barry Window

With Del Grace in place, The Carl Douglas Set performed at George Harrison’s new nightclub Sibylla’s in central London from 22-26 August.

That same month, Strike brought out “Crazy Feeling” but inexplicably the single failed to chart, even though, according to Tony Charman, it was voted a hit on Juke Box Jury.

Carl Douglas Set. Left to right: Del Grace, Ray Beresford, Carl Douglas, Danny McCulloch and Tony Charman. Photo: Tony Charman

A few days after completing the Sibylla’s residency, bass player Danny McCulloch took over from Lee Hall. Originally from Shepherd’s Bush, McCulloch had first come to prominence with Frankie Reid & The Casuals (alongside drummer Mitch Mitchell) before landing a gig with Screaming Lord Sutch & The Savages.

After recording a lone single with The Plebs – “Bad Blood” c/w “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You”, McCulloch worked with Tony Sheridan in West Germany before returning home.

He was at something of a loose end, however, when the opportunity came to join Douglas; most likely after running into the band at the Goldhawk Social Club on his home turf.

The new bass player, however, did not hang around too long. Barely a week after opening for Otis Redding at Tiles on 18 September, he was poached by one of the England’s leading R&B singers.

“[Danny] was a talented bass player and had his own entourage of musicians in close proximity,” recalls Ken Baxter.

“It wasn’t surprising that he was soon to be poached from us by Eric Burdon, who used to visit the Cromwellian and witnessed Danny’s talent and offered him a job in his soon-to-be formed ‘New Animals’.”

Left to right: Tony Charman, Del Grace, Danny McCulloch, Carl Douglas and Ray Beresford. Photo: Ken Baxter

Inspired by McCulloch’s bass style and unhappy on keyboards, Tony Charman took up the bass. Just prior to McCulloch’s departure, Baxter placed an advert in Melody Maker for a sax player. A number of horn players responded, including recently departed Manfred Mann member Lyn Dobson, but the band settled on north Londoner, Dave Brooks.

“We auditioned loads of sax players but with Dave Brooks he seemed to click straight away,” says Charman. “We all liked him and if you’re pro, you’ve got to get on with each other.”

Around the same time, Del Grace brought in his former band mate from the original Big Wheel (and Andy Clark’s predecessor) – Mike Manners on Hammond organ and as musical director.

Mike Manners in South East London Mercury

Renamed Carl Douglas & The Big Stampede, after a very descriptive LP cover by US jazz band Woody Herman, the new line up’s first notable booking was Tiles on Oxford Street on 26 September.

Around this time, the musicians shared a bill with Eric Clapton’s band, Cream. Mike Manners has fond memories of the evening in question, a joint (no pun intended) booking at a university somewhere in the north of England. (Ed. Beresford says this was Nottingham University and Cream played in the city on 23 October, so this is the most likely date.)

“We were in an interval and had the same dressing room. He [Ginger Baker] handed me this huge joint and I said, ‘I’ll pass it round’ and he said, ‘No, no, no, that’s for you. I’m making one for everybody’. It was huge.”

Left to right: Carl Douglas, Tony Charman, Nick Baxter, Mike Manners, Dave Brooks and Del Grace,  Trafalgar Square, October 1966. Photo: Ken Baxter

A few days later Ray Beresford left to subsequently form Lewisham band, The National Existence. With road manager Nick Baxter briefly subbing, the musicians were photographed in Trafalgar Square.

National Existence with Ray Beresford far right in South East London Mercury.

Within a week, however, the drum stool was filled permanently by another Big Wheel member – Derek ‘Del’ Coverley, who returned from Switzerland where he was playing at the Hotel Hirschen in Zurich’s red light district.

Inspired by Jack Parnell, the drummer in the house band at the London Palladium, and jazz musicians Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa, Coverley had started playing drums in his early teens. After working with his school band, The Scimitars for several years, he signed up with Big Wheel at the tail end of 1965, taking over from original drummer Rick Dyett.

With only lead singer Paul Stroud and Del Coverley remaining from the original line up in July 1966, Big Wheel (Mark 2) now included bass player Mick Holland and organist Andy Clark from The Epitaph Soul Band and Del Grace’s predecessor in The Carl Douglas Set, Ron Bryer.

The new configuration developed quite a following in Switzerland and even issued a hopelessly rare (Swiss-only) mod single, Andy Clark’s “Don’t Give Up That Easy” c/w “You’re Only Hurting Yourself”, released on the Eurex label in February 1967.

Left to right: Carl Douglas, roadie, Tony Charman, Nick Baxter, Ken Baxter, Del Grace and Del Coverley. Photo: Tony Charman

With Coverley assuming the drum position in Carl Douglas’ band, the final piece in the jigsaw was West Norwood-based jazz trumpeter Verdi Stewart, a family friend of the Baxters, who agreed to try out after failing to land a gig with Hamilton & The Hamilton Movement (where he befriended future member Mel Wayne).

The son of a boxer, and christened Verdun Tristram Higham, Stewart was a colourful character who had learnt his trade from The Happy Wanderers’ William Longman and had previously played trumpet in a rumba band at the Astor Club in Berkeley Square.

Around this time, the band received some handy press coverage after Go Records picked up “Crazy Feeling” and re-issued the single on 4 November. This time around, the ‘45 became a hit, climbing to #21 in the British charts, perhaps helped by Radio London’s incessant plugging. In the US, it was issued on the Okeh label in the following month.

Having signed up to the Rik Gunnell Agency a few months earlier, work started to pour in. It was through the band’s association with Gunnell that Carl Douglas & The Big Stampede landed a prestigious 14-night residency at the Gunnell brothers’ latest West End acquisition, the Bag O’ Nails nightclub in Kingly Street, kicking off on 21 November.

“We were cheap and cheerful [and] they got their money’s worth with us,” confides Brooks on the arrangement. “Although Rik Gunnell liked Carl, he thought we were a bunch of wallies really, which were for the money we were playing for. But that’s the way things were. We were just glad to play.”

During those eventful two weeks, notable guests dropped in during the evening. One afternoon (25 November is the most plausible date), the musicians turned up to find a future rock legend on the stage.

“We’d been playing at the Bag O’ Nails the night before and had left the gear there,” remembers Charman. “When we went in [the next day] all of our gear was off the stage to one side. We didn’t know it at the time but this guy who we now know was [Jimi] Hendrix and his three-piece band was playing onstage with photographers. We were more annoyed that our gear had been taken off the stage!”

“Jimi Hendrix was having his press reception and we were all laughing at him,” adds Brooks. “He had lighter fluid and was setting his guitar alight for the press. We’re all going, ‘Oh, flash in the pan, he won’t last five minutes’…we were really slagging him off.”

However, a few days later, the guitarist returned to the club and joined the musicians on stage, as Charman continues. “This particular night we were playing and Hendrix come up to me and said, ‘Can I play your bass?’ Remember, he’s left handed and I’m right handed so he was playing my bass upside down. Big Del was playing beside him on guitar. Then I got back up on stage and Hendrix played Del’s guitar and we done another couple of numbers.”

Carl Douglas finishes the story: “That night the bass player from The Animals [Chas Chandler] comes up and says he’s got a wicked guitarist and he’s going to be a personality. Could he come up and jam with us? He joined us on this Otis Redding song, ‘Try A Little Tenderness’. What a night!”

Despite hobnobbing with future stars like Jimi Hendrix and personalities on the scene like Chris Farlowe, Eric Burdon and Long John Baldry, who all used to sit in with the group after hours, The Big Stampede were flat out gigging virtually every night.

In the run up to the Christmas period, the group had a packed schedule of bookings. The relentless one-nighters, however, soon took its toll as fatigue set in. Returning home from a gig at the Dancing Slipper Club in Nottingham late on the evening of 13 January 1967 (sans Douglas who’d stayed behind with a female fan) the band’s converted Bedford ambulance came off the road.

“We rolled down this embankment… and I got thrown out of the back and landed in a cow pat,” recalls Manners. “It was pitch-black, deep in rural England and there was a thunderstorm brewing in the distance, so that distant rumbling of thunder and the fact that we were in shock was very spooky.”

Four days later, the still-shaken band headed off for its first European jaunt – a booking at the New Inn Club in Liege, Belgium, where Ken Baxter met his future wife.

“All that I can remember is that the owner of the club took Tony, I think it was, and I for a spin in his Ferrari at five o’clock in the morning down the main high street at 150 mph,” says Manners. “I remember him saying, ‘I’ve got to take it in to get it tuned properly’.”

Back in London in late January, Carl Douglas & The Big Stampede honoured an important showcase gig at the Gunnells’ Flamingo nightclub in Wardour Street. The booking had been lined up a few months earlier thanks to top London disc-jockey Johnny Walker.

“We had [had] a gig at the Wimbledon Palais where the M.C. was Johnny Walker. He was impressed by our performance and asked me after the show to keep in touch,” remembers Ken Baxter.

“He invited the band to appear on a live broadcast show [for Radio Caroline] from the Flamingo. Johnny was very encouraging to Carl and the band and from that we got a booking at the Marquee and a helpful introduction to Mr Ronan O’Rahilly, which produced top draw bookings and appearances.”

Del Grace remembers one occasion when he met singer Nat King Cole and blues guitarist John Lee Hooker at the Flamingo. “They’d been in the club and they come backstage to talk to the band,” he says.

As winter turned to spring, the band kept up its frantic schedule of gigs, interspersing appearances at London hot spots like the Bag O’ Nails, Paddington’s Cue Club, Burton’s in Uxbridge, west London and Eel Pie Island in Twickenham, southwest London with shows further afield, such as the Student’s Union at Newcastle University and the Bird Cage in Hull.

It was also during this time that the musicians joined a star-studded bill at Loughborough University with The Move and The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band (Ed: I’ve not been able to find this gig).

“I remember The Move; they were very professional,” says Coverley. “They went straight through the audience, all carrying their guitars high in a line, on the stage… and bang straight into the first number. I think it was ‘I Can Hear The Grass Grow’.”

However, with the musicians spending long periods of time together, conflicts were inevitable. In mid-April, sax player Dave Brooks bailed out (his deteriorating relationship with Del Grace the main cause) and briefly joined Felders Orioles.

Searching for a replacement, Verdi Stewart suggested west London-based sax player Mel Wayne, who’d recently left Hamilton & The Hamilton Movement after the band’s Bill Wyman-produced single, “I’m Not the Marrying Kind”, had bombed.

Mel Wayne (top row, second right) with Hamilton & The Hamilton Movement, November 1966. Photo: Fabulous 208

Originally from Twickenham, Wayne had an impressive pedigree, having started out with local outfit, The Shannons in 1962/1963. Progressing on to Mike Dee & The Prophets and then Simon Scott & The All Nite Workers (cutting a lone single, “Tell Him I’m Not Home” and an unreleased album), Wayne next found himself working with future Sweet producer Phil Wainman in a short-lived band at the tail end of 1965.

By early 1966, the renamed Sound System was backing soul acts Jackie Edwards, Millie and Owen Grey before future Island Records founder Chris Blackwell linked Wainman’s band with Jimmy Cliff and they became The New Generation. The partnership lasted six months before the musicians hooked up with singer Gary Hamilton.

Debuting at Klook’s Kleek in Hampstead (ironically Brooks’s home patch) on 13 April, Wayne had barely learnt the repertoire when he landed a cameo appearance (alongside Del Grace, Tony Webb and manager Ken Baxter) in the Desmond Davis-produced movie Smashing Time, starring Rita Tushingham, Lynn Redgrave and Jeremy Lloyd.

As Mel Wayne recalls, road manager Nick Baxter was working as a film extra and it was through this association that several members got the opportunity to star in the studio recording scene, which features Ken Baxter and Mel Wayne miming on drums and guitar, alongside Del Grace and Tony Charman on their usual instruments.

Later that same month, on 23 April, Go Records finally brought out a second Carl Douglas & The Big Stampede single, once again recorded with the cream of London’s session players – Douglas’s “Let The Birds Sing” coupled with “Something for Nothing” (credited to Tubbs but in fact a co-write with Douglas).

Produced this time by Peter Richard, both tracks capture Douglas’s soulful vocals to perfection but unfortunately the record sank without a trace.

“Some of them [the singles] we didn’t even know that Carl had done them,” confesses Charman. “We found out he’s been in the studio and obviously the band weren’t pleased about it because we were his band.

“But what could we do? When we started out as Sounds 5 it was a group but when Carl came along everything revolved around him because he’s the singer. We ended up as Carl’s backing band.”

When it came to the photo shoot for the single’s picture sleeve cover, Del Coverley was absent and manager Ken Baxter had to don a pair of shades and impersonate the missing drummer to an unsuspecting public.

Ken Baxter (far right in shades) steps in for Del Coverley in the photo shoot

Less than a week after the single’s release, the new line up piled into the group’s repaired converted ambulance and took the ferry across the channel, driving down to the south of France for an extended-tour of the coastal towns.

Based at a villa in Valbonne, a village about 12 km north of St Tropez, the group kicked off with a short residency at the Valbonne Club where Mike Manners celebrated his 21st birthday on 2 May.

The French tour had been set up through British businessman John Bloom, who had met Carl Douglas & The Big Stampede at Sibylla’s the previous year.

“The Valbonne had this beautiful Olympic-size swimming pool outside and we used to jump in at night to cool down after the dance,” remembers Douglas.

Using the Valbonne as a base, Carl Douglas & The Big Stampede next played the Voom Voom nightclub in St Tropez. On one occasion French beauty Brigitte Bardot turned up and danced after meeting the musicians at her husband, Gunter Sachs’s home.

After completing the French tour at the Whisky A Go Go in Nice, the musicians started the long journey home, stopping off in Lugano, Switzerland to play an American girls’ school in early June.

Incidentally, while staying in the south of France, Carl Douglas & The Big Stampede were also engaged by the producers of the British film Blow Up to perform at the opening night of its presentation at the Cannes Film Festival with its stars David Hemmings and Vanessa Redgrave and director Michelangelo Antonioni in attendance.

“The south of France was one of the places I enjoyed the most,” recalls Del Grace looking back on his time with the band. “We’d just finished doing Smashing Time with Jeremy Lloyd and he came down [to the Voom Voom] and joined us with Mike D’Abo from Manfred Mann.”

Back in the England, the band resumed its heavy workload, honouring a brace of shows in Southampton, Derby and Bradford before returning to London for a two-night stand at the Bag O’ Nails on 11-12 June.

Yet, with little money to show for their efforts and a punishing schedule, it was inevitable that further cracks would appear. After playing his final gig at the Cue Club in Paddington on 7 July, Mike Manners became the next member to bail out.

“We’d had a long, hard slog on the road,” explains the organist. “We were a touring club band if you like and we’d been exploited in my view by our agency.”

Initially hiring several stand-in players via the Rik Gunnell Agency, the group turned to Verdi Stewart’s mate, organist Ian Green, who’d spent a short time with Tony Jackson & The Vibrations. Green’s first engagements were two gigs at St Birinus School in Didcot and Rasputin’s on Bond Street in central London, both on 14 July.

“Ian Green was very good and was married to this blues singer who was at the High Tower,” says Douglas. “He didn’t stay long… He was a bit more advanced than we were. He was in the Georgie Fame class.”

Green was also on hand the following day to honour three gigs that kicked off with a show at the California Ballroom in Dunstable. Also on the bill was The All Night Workers whose bass guitarist Doug Ayris had previously played with Mel Wayne’s younger brother, Brian Hosking, in The Legend.

Borrowing a lead guitar from his band mate Brian Sell, Ayris returned with Carl’s group to London and a second show later that evening at Paddington’s Cue Club before the exhausted musicians headed south of the river for their final gig that evening at the Ram Jam in Brixton during the early hours.

While all of this was going on, former member Mike Manners was busy in the studio working with Australian singer Johnny Young, having answered an advert that Polydor Records had placed in the music press looking for backing musicians.

Joined by fellow Englishmen Rob Alexander (lead guitar) and Peter Piper (bass), plus Young’s long-standing drummer from Australia, Danny Finley, the band, Danny’s Word cut four tracks in the studio, all Gibb brother compositions, with Barry, Robin and Maurice also providing backing vocals.

The first single, “Craise Finton Kirk” c/w “I am The World” was issued on 30 July but failed to chart despite the Bee Gees association and a plug on the Dee Time TV show. A second release, coupling “Every Christian Lionhearted Man Will Show You” with “Wonderful World”, also flopped and, disillusioned by his reception in Britain, Johnny Young returned to Australia that December.

Manners wasn’t the only band member to get itchy feet. In early August, shortly after a gig at the Ram Jam in Brixton on 29 July, Del Coverley also departed.

“I thought flower power was going to be big because it was happening and the soul thing was dying,” explains Coverley on his decision to leave. “Andy Clark [from Big Wheel] got in touch with me and said, ‘a band is reforming with the old members of Bern Elliot & The Fenmen’, so I joined that.”

Linking up with guitarist Alan Judge and bass player Eric Wilmer, who’d carried on with The Fenmen name when Wally Allen and John Povey joined The Pretty Things in late March 1967, the new four-piece became Kindness.

After touring the country extensively, playing Byrds and Love covers, Kindness folded when Andy Clark left to join Sam Gopal’s Dream with guitarist Mick Hutchinson, bass player Pete Sears and drummer Viv Prince.

“Of course it [flower power] died. It had its lifespan,” says the drummer. “I should have hung around with Carl really and seen where it went.”

Next, Coverley was involved in a reformed Big Wheel with original members Mike Manners and Del Grace but by late 1968 he had re-joined Andy Clark (and Mick Hutchinson) in Dogs Blues. When this folded in February 1969, he formed the equally short-lived Fat Daughter.

Dogs Blues, January 1969. Photo: South East London Mercury

Coverley then briefly worked with singer John Thomas in a new version of Rust with bass player Alex Alexander and guitarist Eric Lindsey (today the owner of a music shop chain in southeast London). Thomas’ original band had cut an ultra-rare German-only LP, released in January 1969, and the new line-up promoted it on the road that summer.

After failing to land the drum position with Mark Bolan and Mickey Finn’s second version of T. Rex in early 1970, Andy Clark got back in touch.

Together with Mick Hutchinson, the keyboard player had formed the progressive rock outfit, Clark-Hutchinson. Cutting the highly-acclaimed album A=MH2 in 1969, the pair next decided to expand and brought Coverley in on drums for two more albums – 1970’s Retribution and Gestalt the following year.

In later years, the drummer very nearly landed a job with singer Kate Bush. He later worked as a drum tutor and occasionally played with his reformed school band, The Scimitars and his own group, Stardust.

Stumbling across red haired drummer Colin Davey via the music press, Carl Douglas & The Big Stampede returned to the south of France during August 1967 with veteran keyboard player Iain Hines added to the formation.

Hines had spent the early 1960s in Hamburg where he worked with The Jets at the Top Ten Club.

However, on the group’s return to London in late August, Verdi Stewart added to the exodus and returned to France. Over the next few years, he hired out his services as a jobbing musician on London’s session scene. Tapping into his other talent as a singer, he even entertained Frank Sinatra at a private party held at the Hilton on Park Lane in 1969.

In the early 1970s, Stewart assumed the stage name Johnny Fontane and sang with The Ray MacVay Band and then The Cyril Stapleton Band before returning to session work. He also worked extensively with the BBC’s B1 and B2 orchestras.

By the mid-1970s, Stewart had landed a regular gig with the Mecca Organisation and its house band at Purley’s Orchid Ballroom. Reuniting with Mike Manners, the group, which also included trombone player/singer Terry Martin and drummer John Snow, signed up with Dick James Music to work as session players.

When that band fell apart, Stewart did TV and live work with Georgie Fame and then became an integral member of Alan Price’s support band from 1978-1983. He later rehearsed a double act called The Dangerous Brothers to play the south London scene.

With his former band mates from The Big Wheel gone, Del Grace, who’d alerted Manners to the Johnny Young position advertised in the music press but missed out on the Australian singer’s band, decided he also wanted out.

In September 1967 he signed a solo deal with Liberty Records. Linking up with future Wombles producer Mike Batt, Grace laid down a handful of recordings at Marquee Studios, including a cover of John Sebastian’s “Younger Generation” and Jeff Lynne’s “Follow Me, Follow Me” with session musicians.

Forming a backing group called The Rifle with singer Malcolm Magaron, Grace landed a prestigious gig in the Swiss Alps and saw out 1967 in style.

“We played at the Farinet Hotel in Verbier, which is still there strangely enough,” he recalls.

“We played there right through Christmas and New Year. I got a really tight harmony band together. I asked Del [Coverley] to come with me but he didn’t come and we had a different drummer. They even sent a private aeroplane for us to Heathrow to pick us up and take us out there.”

The Rifle, early 1968. Del Grace (centre). Photo: Del Grace

Back in London, the guitarist renewed his ties with Pierre Tubbs and cut two further solo recordings for United Artists at Olympic Studios in Barnes with session players. One of these was the Tubbs penned “Gotta Get Back”, featuring the guitarist on banjo.

Grace subsequently moved into production and opened a studio with Tubbs, working with people like Steve Harley, Eddie Reader, Steve Hackett, Brian Poole and comedian Lenny Henry. Since the late 1990s, however, he lived in Marbella in Spain and released four solo CDs, recorded at his Pink Lizard Studio. Sadly, he died 28 May 2022.

New recruits Iain Hines and Colin Davy also bailed at this point. With Hines forming his own group Icarus, Davy joined Georgie Fame briefly before later working with Freddie Mack & The Mack Sound, Geno Washington & The Ram Jam Band and Chris Farlowe & The Thunderbirds among others.

In urgent need of new musicians to join Carl Douglas, Tony Charman and Mel Wayne, road manager Nick Baxter came to the rescue by recommending his wife Caroline’s cousin, Martin Pugh, who’d narrowly missed out on the French tour.

Martin Pugh reviewed in Torquay newspaper, 25 August 1967

Originally from Cornwall, Pugh had spent the past few years working with local band, The Package Deal before moving up to London in search of fame and fortune.

Around the same time, Ken Baxter recruited Kilburn-based sticks man Dave Richards via the music press as a permanent replacement for Del Coverley.

A few weeks later, the band also auditioned organ players at the Ram Jam in Brixton, including Mick Fletcher, Mel Wayne’s former mate from Hamilton & The Hamilton Movement. However, on 17 September, the position was given to northerner Rod Mayall, who turned up (on his 21st birthday) for an audition after his half-brother John Mayall had put a good word in for him.

A veteran of Middleton, Greater Manchester band Ivans Meads (another Rik Gunnell Agency signing), Mayall added a unique touch to The Big Stampede, explains Baxter.

“He was a very talented Hammond organist, who brought not only professionalism to our band but also boyish good looks. For the fans, he was shy and never pushed himself forward because he was not comfortable with the obvious charisma and stage presence he had.”

Formed in 1963, Ivans Meads had issued a clutch of superb Mod singles with Mayall’s Hammond to the fore, kicking off with a cover of P F Sloan’s “The Sins of the Family” c/w bass player Keith Lawless’s “A Little Sympathy”.

This was followed by a second, and final, single, Toni Wine and Carole Bayer’s “We’ll Talk about It Tomorrow” c/w band composition, “Bottle”, issued in September 1966. Having cut a final, unreleased track, “Sitting on Top of the World” with John Mayall producing, the band shortened its name to The Mead and spent a brief period in West Germany.

Rod Mayall’s debut gig with the band

Rod Mayall’s debut with The Big Stampede was the Shanklin Beat Cruise around Portsmouth Harbour on 20 September.

While the line-up changes were being made, Pierre Tubbs was poached by the United Artist’s label and with greater clout than the smaller Go, Carl Douglas was offered a two single recording deal.

With the new line up still finding its feet, session musicians were once again employed for a recording session on 21 September to cut the first single – “Nobody Cries” c/w “Serving a Sentence”. Released on 16 February 1968, and credited to Carl Douglas, the single failed to chart.

However, the band remained unsettled and in mid-December 1967, The Big Stampede’s most longstanding member, Tony Charman handed in his notice on the eve of another foreign trip, this time to Biarritz and Perpignan in the south of France.

Tony Dangerfield, a one-time member of Screaming Lord Sutch’s Savages and more recently part of Rupert’s People, assumed the bass position (albeit until spring 1968 when Charman agreed to return).

Left to right: Martin Pugh, Ken Baxter (filling in for Tony Charman), Carl Douglas, Rod Mayall, Mel Wayne and Dave Richards, November 1967. Photo: Ken Baxter

Mel Wayne also bailed out at the same time (but not before posing for some promotional shots with Ken Baxter filling in for Charman) to spend more time with his newly married French wife.

“Every time we were to go abroad, there was some member of the band who couldn’t or wouldn’t want to go, so we’d have to quickly rehearse and put somebody in,” says Douglas on the revolving door of changing personnel.

While Wayne would briefly abandon a career in music, he would resurface over a year later with Calum Bryce. He currently performs with The All Night Workers, the band that had once shared the bill with Carl Douglas & The Big Stampede at Dunstable’s California Ballroom.

In an incredible turn of events, his predecessor, Dave Brooks landed the job of replacing him for the French tour, which kicked off in Biarritz on 20 December 1967. By then, Brooks had moved away from rock music circles.

“I re-joined when the band went to Biarritz,” he recalls. “I got a train down from London. I think I went to the Rik Gunnell office… and [the agency] sent me off. I got a train that day to Biarritz.”

On his arrival in the French town, Brooks discovered that the group had undergone a complete make-over since his departure back in April 1967. Other than Carl Douglas, he didn’t know any of the other musicians.

With money tight and Tony Dangerfield keen to put his personal stamp on the band, Brooks says that only the group’s front man seemed keen to welcome him into the fold. The sax player had to work hard to be accepted.

“Carl Douglas wanted me on sax but they didn’t want a sax player and Tony Dangerfield kind of engineered this barrier to me,” remembers Brooks.

“Carl wanted me because it made it into a soul band. With Tony Dangerfield, it was turning kind of into a rock ‘n’ roll revue… He was all right [but] he was a bit of a showman.”

Back in the England, the musicians continued to intersperse London gigs with treks into the Home Counties and further afield. The Rik Gunnell Agency lined up plenty of bookings but thanks to other contacts, Baxter also landed some important engagements overseas.

On 29 April 1968, Carl Douglas & The Big Stampede (with Tony Charman back in the fold) drove down through France to Spain to play at the Stones Club in Madrid for 31 nights where they were joined towards the end of the engagement by singer Geno Washington minus his Ram Jam Band.

For Rod Mayall, the Spanish excursion would ultimately lead to his departure; the keyboard player returned to Spain later that summer to work with a Spanish/Portuguese outfit called Los Buenos, whose entire recorded output is available on CD from Spanish label, Rama Lama Music.

Before this happened, however, the musicians left Madrid and drove all the way to Rome to perform at the Titan Club for 15 nights, kicking off on 7 June.

Dave Richards (left) and Martin Pugh (right) in Rome. Photo: Tony Charman

With the gigs honoured, Mayall returned to Spain and hooked up with Los Buenos. He then joined a South American outfit called La Pipa to back Venezuelan singer Henry Stephen, who’d already enjoyed two gold records back home, including “El Limon El Limonero”. La Pipa recorded a lone Spanish single for RCA in early 1970 – “Your Daddy Won’t Do It” c/w “Take Him Back”.

While Carl Douglas & The Big Stampede were playing in Italy, United Artists released the group’s final single – “Sell My Soul to The Devil”, coupled with “Good Hard Worker”, arguably one of Carl Douglas’s finest efforts on disc. Credited to Tubbs/Douglas, the two tracks were, in fact, entirely written by the singer.

“The only two recordings that we all played on live is the new Stampede,” says Charman. “‘Good Hard Worker’ is my favourite. I know that I am playing bass on it but I really like the song. I think we done that about three o’clock in the bloody morning and then we went off to Spain. That’s totally live [that track]. We were only allowed one take and then they overdubbed the strings on that.”

Issued on 28 June 1968 and credited to Carl Douglas & The Big Stampede, the single should have been the group’s long overdue breakthrough.

However, despite the single’s great potential, any progress on the recording front was soon dashed when Rik Gunnell’s Agency was handed to the Robert Stigwood Organisation in July/August 1968. As Ken Baxter recalls, the band’s new employer didn’t feel that The Stampede fitted with the company’s portfolio and live work dried up.

Having resumed gigging on the London circuit that summer, Tony Charman dropped out again just before he got married on 14 September. His departure precipitated another mass exodus as the musicians in the current formation looked for new opportunities.

Looking back on his time with the band, Dave Brooks has this to say: “The second line up was much racier. It was a rock/blues band, playing Carl’s numbers. We used to stretch out to long solos. It was better musically. It was a much better group [than the first incarnation] but it still wasn’t what Carl wanted. He wanted a tight soul band, which he never got.”

While most of the musicians would retire from the music scene, several members went on to notable acts soon after.

Martin Pugh immediately landed on his feet and joined blues-rock band Steamhammer. The group’s eponymous debut yielded a minor European hit, “Junior’s Wailing”, and was followed by three more albums before disbanding. During his time with Steamhammer, Pugh also guested on Rod Stewart’s debut solo album alongside fellow band member Martin Quittenton.

In 1975, the guitarist joined former Yardbirds/Renaissance singer Keith Relf’s band, Armageddon whose lone album received favourable reviews. He currently resides in the United States where he works as a solo artist.

After nearly two years in Spain, Rod Mayall returned to the England and joined his half-brother John Mayall to back former Fleetwood Mac guitarist Peter Green at the Bath Festival of Blues & Progressive Music in June 1970.

The keyboard player also worked with future Genesis drummer/singer Phil Collins in Flaming Youth.

“The band was getting a fiver a week from the management,” recalls Mayall. “They paid me a tenner because I was living in a flat and they were living with their parents. Then Phil got offered a job with Genesis for fifteen quid a week, which he took.”

Rod Mayall then moved into session work. He contributed celeste to Thin Lizzy’s “Dublin”, a track on the E.P. “New Day” and also appeared on a recording by Iain Matthews. He currently lives in Macclesfield and continues to play and record.

Photo: Tony Charman. His post-Stampede group

Tony Charman also kept his hand in, albeit briefly, and worked with a south London band whose name he has long forgotten in early 1969. The group recorded some early Pink Floyd tracks before disbanding. Charman later moved to the West Country where he gigged with a succession of local outfits before opening a music shop and a recording studio.

City Road. Photo from Jeff Mason. Left to right: Alan Whitehead, Dave Richards, Jeff Mason, Jim Simpson and Clive ?

While Dave Richards subsequently played with City Road from the early 1970s into the early 1980s, and reportedly died around 2010 (Dave Brooks says Richards later joined the Gas Board), the sax player threw himself into touring and session work, spending six weeks backing American soul band, The Vibrations after making a cameo appearance on George Harrison’s Wonderwall album.

In mid-1970, Brooks undertook some sessions with Manfred Mann Chapter 3 and then participated in the band’s US tour. Throughout the early to late 1970s, Brooks kept incredibly busy, playing with a myriad of artists, including Flaming Youth, The Greatest Show on Earth, Kokomo and Graham Bond.

Brooks also made a habit of popping up on recordings by artists as diverse as Patto, Vinegar Joe, Jo Anne Kelly, Screaming Lord Sutch and Joan Armatrading.

After working with Jools Holland on the alternative comedy circuit and Buddy Bounds among others, Brooks embraced his Scottish heritage and eschewed the sax for bagpipes. His mother played the instrument and Brooks was keen to play music from the British Isles. In 2001, he released a CD, Piper on the Heath. Sadly, the sax player died in May 2020.

“At the time we didn’t know that it was a golden era,” says Brooks when interviewed for this article. “To us, it was just the now. We had no comprehension that it was the time.”

Judging by gigs, it does look like Carl Douglas kept a new version of The Big Stampede on the road until mid-October 1968 before finally laying the group to rest and exploring solo options. (Ed. There is a gig for The Big Stampede at St Albans City Hall on 14 December but this might be another group.)

The ever loyal Ken Baxter (who died in February 2016) remained firm friends with Carl Douglas. “I was able to negotiate a new contract for him with a businessman from Majorca, Spain [called] Peter Newman, who engaged Carl to front his Spanish band,” says Baxter.

An international group that drew together musicians from Argentina, Colombia, France, Spain and Morocco, alongside British Caribbean expats (and Links members) Tony Ellis (guitar), Ronald Simmonds (bass) and Danny Evans (drums), Carl Douglas & The Explosion spent the best part of 1969-1970 touring Spain, France, Italy and Portugal.

The multi-national outfit also cut two rare Spanish-only singles for Polydor – Ross Bloodhall-Brown’s “Eeny Meeny” c/w Barry Despenza and Carl Wolfolk’s “Can I Change My Mind” and Ronald Simmonds’ “Beggar For Your Loving” c/w Eddie Floyd and Steve Cropper’s “Knock On Wood” (credited to just The Explosion, which may have been recorded sans Douglas) during 1969 before folding the following year.

Carl Douglas plays Cue Club, Paddington, Christmas 1970. Photo: Melody Maker

Back in London, Carl Douglas’s next move was to sign up with another promising, yet commercially unsuccessful, outfit, Gonzales, which he joined in June 1971. Over the next two years, Douglas gigged with the band, opening for soul legend Curtis Mayfield on one occasion, but abandoned Gonzales in 1973 to pursue a solo career that took him into the stratosphere.

Three years after Douglas had struck gold with “Kung Fu Fighting”, the singer remembers playing in Montreux, Switzerland when he unexpectedly ran into his old employer Rik Gunnell, who was putting a surprise party on for him at his club, The Londoner.

“He gave me a hug and said, ‘Why didn’t you do this [become a megastar] when you were with us?’ I said, ‘Because you never supported me,’” laughs Douglas.

“You supported Georgie Fame, you supported Zoot Money, you supported Long John Baldy… you supported John Mayall, whose brother we took. He said, ‘Shit, Carl… I remember when your old manager Ken Baxter was asking for more money. He said, ‘he’s worth it, he’s worth it’… I wish I’d bloody listened to him. You’ve gone from £10 a night to £100,000 a night. You’re having a laugh, ain’t you?’”

Left to right: Tony Charman, Carl Douglas, Del Grace, Ken Baxter and Del Coverley. Reunion 2009

Del Grace, who took part in one of The Big Stampede reunions (2009), has fond memories of working with Carl Douglas. “He was a great guy. I never saw him put a bad show on. He was always one hundred percent. He was a great showman.”

Left to right: Ken Baxter, John Baxter, Nick Baxter, Carl Douglas, Mel Wayne, Del Coverley and Tony Charman. Reunion 2013

Many people helped piece this incredible story together. I’d like to personally thank Carl Douglas, Tony Charman, Ken Baxter, Del Grace, Danny McCulloch, Mike Manners, Del Coverley, Verdi Stewart, Dave Brooks, Mel Wayne, Rod Mayall and Iain Hines. Thanks to Ken Baxter and Tony Charman for the use of their photos.

Carl Douglas and Tony Charman.

This article was originally published on the Nick Warburton webpage on 29 June 2014. An earlier version appears on the Strange Brew website. This version has been significantly updated.

Copyright © Nick Warburton. All Rights Reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced or transmitted in any from or by any means, without prior permission from the author.

Malcolm & The Countdowns

At St Bernadettes school in Hillingdon. Steve Priest is far left

Malcolm Sargeant – lead vocals

Richard Herring – lead guitar

Steve Priest – bass

Gez Lee – rhythm guitar (replaced by Raymond Thompson on keyboards)

Eddie Richards – drums

Malcolm Sargeant very kindly provided the following information and photos about the group, which included future Sweet member, Steve Priest.

Joe Meek promo photo
At the Martin Baker club in Denham, Buckinghamshire

I started singing with the school band at Mellow Lane, Hayes, west London and when I left I joined The Countdowns around 1962/63. I was always known as “Sadge”.

Their singer Bernard Powell was leaving. I auditioned at Eddie Richards’ (the leader of the band) house in Hayes and got the job. I joined Eddie who played drums, Richard Herring on lead guitar, Steve Priest on base and Gez Lee on rhythm (later replaced by Raymond Thompson on keyboards) who all sang backing vocals. Raymond Thompson was with us until the group disbanded around mid-1966.

Steve went on to join The Army and later Sweet with Brian Connolly (Mac) and Eddie went with First Class and then later Edison Lighthouse.

Gez Lee had left to continue his studies and Richard went on to work with many different bands (including reuniting with Priest in The Army) and the last I heard he was still gigging.

Ray Thompson emigrated to Canada with his parents and had a brilliant career in writing and broadcasting. He now lives in New Zealand and owns the Tirohana vineyards. His autobiography is called Keeping The Dream Alive.

I joined The Carltones (made up of members of the RAF central band) on the dinner and dance circuit; this fitted in with my career at British Gas.

The Countdowns played all the local venues, including cinemas, Burton’s club in Uxbridge, Botwell and Wistowe House run by the Fripps in Hayes, the A Train, various community centres, the Attic club in Hounslow, the Martin Baker Club in Denham, Buckinghamshire, and St. Bernadettes in Long Lane, Hillingdon where one of the promo photographs was taken.

Our band was friendly rivals of The Javelins (Ian “Jez” Gillan’s group) and Paul & The Alpines on the local circuit. We supported Steve Marriott’s band, The Pretty Things, The Rolling Stones, Wayne Fontana, The Outlaws (Ritchie Blackmore) and many more.

A gig under the temporary name of Malcolm James & The Callars

Richard and Eddie’s dads used to transport us and our gear all over the place: Margate Dreamland was a regular gig, The Kursaal in Southend too as well as a venue in Clacton and Crayford Town Hall in Kent among others.

I don’t recall where the temporary change of band name to Malcolm James & The Callers came from, maybe when we were recording with Joe Meek?

1965 gig from Sussex Express

We got picked up by Phil Jay (ex-pirate DJ and local management agent in Hounslow). He got us the opportunity to record several covers with the legendary Joe Meek at his studio in Holloway Road. One of which recently made it onto a CD of undiscovered recordings found in the “tea chests” that Joe had stored in a lock up garage.

The In Crowd

Keith West – lead vocals

Les Jones – lead guitar

John “Junior” Wood – rhythm guitar

Simon Alcot – bass

Ken Lawrence – drums

The band was formed as Four + One in mid-1964. Les Jones and Ken Lawrence had both previously been members of The Tridents

Four + One. Left to right: Ken, Junior, Les, Keith and Simon

After a cover of “Time Is On My Side”, issued in January 1965, the band became The In Crowd and released a second single, “That’s How Strong My Love Is” in April 1965. According to Flashback magazine, the group became resident band at Club Noreik on Seven Sisters Road in north London

13 May 1965 – Harvest Moon Club, Guildford, Surrey (Surrey Advertiser)

23 May 1965 – Face Club, Grantham, Lincolnshire (Grantham Journal)

29 May 1965 – Harvest Moon Club, Guildford, Surrey (Surrey Advertiser)

3 June 1965 – Crayford Town Hall, Crayford, southeast London (Possibly Melody Maker)

12 June 1965 – Maple Ballroom, Northampton (Northampton Chronicle)

19 June 1965 – Harvest Moon Club, Guildford, Surrey (Surrey Advertiser)

30 June 1965 – Le Disque A Go Go, Bournemouth, Dorset (website: https://bournemouthbeatboom.wordpress.com/)

 

9 July 1965 – California Ballroom, Dunstable, Bedfordshire with James Royal & The Hawks and The Symbols (website: www.california-ballroom.info/gigs/)

10 July 1965 – Club Noreik, Tottenham, north London (NME)

24 July 1965 – Harvest Moon Club, Guildford, Surrey (Surrey Advertiser/West Surrey Advertiser) May not be the same band as says the rave of Staines

27 July 1965 – Bowes Lyon House, Stevenage, Herts with Terry Judge & The Barristers (Hertfordshire & Bedfordshire Express)

Photo: Ken Lawrence. Left to right: Keith West, Junior Wood, Ken Lawrence, Les Jones and Simon Alcot

Soon afterwards Steve Howe from The Syndicates replaced Les Jones. Simon Alcot left soon after and Junior Wood moved on to bass

Left to right: Ken Lawrence, Junior Wood, Simon Alcot, Steve Howe and Keith West, August 1965

13 August 1965 – Birdcage, Kimbells Ballroom, Southsea, Hampshire (Dave Allen research)

17 August 1964 – Mexican Hat, Worthing, West Sussex (West Sussex)

20 August 1965 – Harvest Moon Club, Guildford, Surrey with The Overriders (Surrey Advertiser)

 

4 September 1965 – Birdcage, Eastney, Hampshire (Dave Allen research)

11 September 1965 – 76 Club, Burton on Trent, Staffordshire (http://www.76club.org.uk/gigs.html)

During September, The In Crowd released their first 45 as a quartet – “Stop! Wait a Minute”

18 October 1965 – Harvest Moon Club, Guildford, Surrey (Surrey Advertiser)

29 October 1965 – Harvest Moon Club, Guildford, Surrey with The Just Five (Surrey Advertiser/West Surrey Advertiser) May not be the same band; possibly Staines group

30 October 1965 – Silsoe Village Hall, Silsoe, Bedfordshire (Ampthill News & Flintwick Record)

In November, The In Crowd issued their third 45 – “Why Must They Criticise”

13 November 1965 – Harvest Moon Club, Guildford, Surrey with The Just Five (Surrey Advertiser/West Surrey Advertiser) May not be the same band; possibly Staines group

21 November 1965 – Harvest Moon Club, Guildford, Surrey (Surrey Advertiser) May not be the same band; possibly Staines group

 

10 December 1965 – Marquee, Wardour Street, Soho, central London with Gary Farr & The T-Bones (Tony Bacon’s book: London Live)

11 December 1965 – Victoria Cross Gallery, Wantage, Oxfordshire (Oxford Mail)

17 December 1965 – 76 Club, Burton on Trent, Staffordshire (http://www.76club.org.uk/gigs.html)

31 December 1965 – Starlight Room, Boston Gliderdrome, Boston, Lincolnshire with The Children and The Shakeouts (Lincolnshire Standard)

 

8 January 1966 – Carousel Club, 1 Camp Road, Farnborough, Hampshire with support (Aldershot News)

15 January 1966 – Birdcage, Eastney, Hampshire (Dave Allen research)

21 January 1966 – The Village, Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire (Grimsby Evening Telegraph)

 

8 February 1966 – The Witchdoctor, the Lifeboat Hotel, Grimsby, Humberside (Grimsby Evening Telegraph)

12 February 1966 – House of Aden, Witham Hall, Essex with The Orioles (Essex County Standard)

13 February 1966 – Tavern Club, Dereham, Norfolk with The High Set (Lynn News)

17 February 1966 – Birdcage, Eastney, Hampshire (Dave Allen research)

22 February 1966 – Bristol Chinese R&B Club, Corn Exchange, Bristol (Western Scene)

 

5 March 1966 – Le Discotheque, Grimsby, Humberside (Grimsby Evening Telegraph)

10 March 1966 – Florida Room, Brighton Aquarium, Cad-Lac Club, Brighton, West Sussex with The Graham Bond Organisation (Evening Argus)

19 March 1966 – Birdcage, Eastney, Hampshire (Dave Allen research)

20 March 1966 – Pontiac Club, Zeeta House, Putney, southwest London (Melody Maker)

 

1 April 1966 – Le Discotheque, Grimsby, Humberside (Grimsby Evening Telegraph)

2 April 1966 – Tiles, Oxford Street, central London with The Anteeks (Poster scan from Geoffrey Mason)

24 April 1966 – Sunday Club, Addlestone, Surrey (Woking Herald)

 

6 May 1966 – Birdcage, Eastney, Hampshire (Dave Allen research)

13 May 1966 – Carousel Club, 1 Camp Road, Farnborough, Hampshire (Aldershot News)

14 May 1966 – Star Hotel, Croydon, south London (Chris Broom book: Rockin’ and Around Croydon)

29 May 1966 – The Dolphin, Marine Court, St Leonards, East Sussex (Roger Bistow’s research at Dizzy Tiger Music website)

30 May 1966 – Le Discotheque, Grimsby, Humberside (Grimsby Evening Telegraph)

30 May 1966 – The Witchdoctor, the Lifeboat Hotel, Grimsby, Humberside (Grimsby Evening Telegraph)

 

10 June 1966 – Oscar’s Grotto, Ilford, east London (Redbridge & Ilford Recorder)

Thanks to Geoffrey Mason for the photo

23 June 1966 – Hastings College 1066 Rag Appeal Dances, Hastings Pier, Hastings, East Sussex with Chris Farlowe & The Thunderbirds (Roger Bistow’s research at Dizzy Tiger Music website)

Record Mirror reported that John “Twink” Alder had left The Fairies and joined The In Crowd in early July after working at Café des Artists in Fulham. 

14 July 1966 – Birdcage, Eastney, Hampshire (Dave Allen research)

15 July 1966 – Penthouse, Birmingham (Birmingham Evening Mail)

16 July 1966 – Rhodes Centre, Bishop’s Stortford, Herts with The Mode (Steve Ingless book: The Day Before Yesterday)

 

1 August 1966 – Disc Club, St Martin’s Centre, Colchester, Essex (Essex County Standard)

7 August 1966 – Embassy Club, Colchester, Essex with The Poachers (Essex County Standard)

20 August 1966 – Club De Danse, Colchester, Essex (Essex County Standard)

23 August 1966 – Chinese R&B Club, Corn Exchange, Bristol (Evening Post)

 

3 September 1966 – Birdcage, Eastney, Hampshire (Dave Allen research)

According to Flashback magazine, the band played in the Netherlands in October

4 November 1966 – 76 Club, Burton on Trent, Staffordshire (Burton Daily Mail)

5 November 1966 – Princess Ballroom, Halifax, West Yorkshire with The Pythagoras Squares (Halifax Evening Courier & Guardian)

12 November 1966 – Witchdoctor, Lifeboat Hotel, Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire (Grimsby Evening Telegraph)

In mid-November, The In Crowd played at the Charlie Max in Milan, Italy for two weeks, according to Flashback magazine

1 December 1966 – Blaises, Imperial Hotel, Queen’s Gate, west London (London Life)

3 December 1966 – Birdcage, Eastney, Hampshire with Cream and The Wrong Direction (Dave Allen research)

8 December 1966 – Blaises, Imperial Hotel, Queen’s Gate, west London (London Life)

According to Flashback magazine, the band returned to play in the Netherlands in December

31 December 1966 – Birdcage, Eastney, Hampshire with Graham Bond Organisation and The Wrong Direction (Dave Allen research)

 

14 January 1967 – Birdcage, Eastney, Hampshire (Dave Allen research)

27 January 1967 – El Grotto, Ilford, east London (Redbridge & Ilford Recorder)

 

9 February 1967 – Marquee, Wardour Street, Soho, central London with Herbie Goins & The Night Timers and The Satin Dolls (Tony Bacon’s book: London Live)

17 February 1967 – 76 Club, Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire (Burton Daily Mail)

18 February 1967 – Birdcage, Eastney, Hampshire (Dave Allen research)

23 February 1967 – Marquee, Wardour Street, Soho, central London with Herbie Goins & The Night Timers (Tony Bacon’s book: London Live)

 

10 March 1967 – Nottingham Tech College, Nottingham with Chris Farlowe & The Thunderbirds, Robert Hirst & The Big Taste and Our Young

16 March 1967 – 76 Club, Burton on Trent, Staffordshire (http://www.76club.org.uk/gigs.html)

In late April 1967, The In Crowd change name to Tomorrow

29 April 1967 – Birdcage, Eastney, Hampshire (Dave Allen research) Billed as The In Crowd unless this is another band

 

6 May 1967 – Shoreline Club, Bognor Regis, West Sussex with Herbie Goins & The Nightimers (Dave Allen research) Billed as The In Crowd unless this is another band

Thanks to Ken Lawrence for sharing all of the photos

Copyright © Nick Warburton. All Rights Reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior permission from the author.

The Ray Martin Group

Photo: Melody Maker

Ray Martin – lead vocals

John Thompson – lead guitar (replaced by Pete Ross late 1965)

Brian Brown – bass

Terry Marshall – tenor saxophone

Pete ?? – tenor saxophone

Paul Atkinson – drums

Formed sometime in 1964 after Terry Marshall left The Soul Messengers, the band appears to have worked at the Ealing Club on a weekly basis throughout 1965. Ray Martin is probably the same Ray Martin who had previously led Ray Martin & The Corvettes.

The Middlesex County Times & West Middlesex Gazette has The Ray Martin Group appearing on a Saturday (and sometimes a Sunday) throughout the year, except in December when they switched to Fridays (see gig list below which is incomplete).

Ross, however, didn’t join until July 1965 after The Flexmen split up so the group must have had a different lead guitarist at the outset.

According to Ross, the band opened for James Brown at Tiles (circa March 1966). They also opened for Neil Christian & The Crusaders at Tiles later in July.

Thanks to Pete Ross and Terry Marshall for input

Selected gigs:

16 January 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Saturday)

23 January 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Saturday)

31 January 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Sunday)

 

6 February 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Saturday)

13 February 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Saturday) Needs confirmation

Photo: Melody Maker

20 February 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Saturday)

27 February 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Saturday)

 

7 March 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Sunday)

13 March 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Saturday)

27 March 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Saturday)

 

4 April 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Sunday)

17 April 1965 – Cricketers Inn, Westcliff, Southend, Essex (Southend Standard)

18 April 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Sunday)

25 April 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Sunday)

 

8 May 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, west London (Saturday)

15 May 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, west London (Saturday)

22 May 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, west London (Saturday)

28 May 1965 – Cricketers Inn, Westcliff, Southend, Essex with The Paramounts (Southend Standard)

29 May 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, west London (Saturday)

 

5 June 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, west London (Saturday)

12 June 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, west London (Saturday)

19 June 1965 – Uxbridge Blues Festival, Uxbridge, northwest London with Marianne Faithfull, The Who, Solomon Burke, Cliff Bennett & The Rebel Rousers, Long John Baldry, Zoot Money, The Birds, John Mayall, The Spencer Davis Group and Dave Whittling (Ruislip & Northwood Gazette)

 

31 July 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, west London (Saturday)

 

7 August 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, west London (Saturday)

14 August 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, west London (Saturday)

21 August 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, west London (Saturday)

 

11 September 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, west London (Saturday)

18 September 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, west London (Saturday)

 

30 October 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, west London (Saturday)

 

20 November 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, west London (Saturday)

Photo: Melody Maker

10 December 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, west London (Friday)

Photo: Melody Maker

17 December 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, west London (Friday)

24 December 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, west London (Friday)

31 December 1965 – Ealing Club, Ealing, west London (Friday)

 

15 July 1966 – Tiles, Oxford Street, central London with Neil Christian & The Crusaders (Melody Maker)

 

16 December (Friday) – White Hall, Southall, west London (Harrow Observer)

If you can add any further information, please leave a message in the comments below.

The (Fantastic) Soul Messengers

Rod Freeman – guitar/vocals

Ken Rankine – bass (ex-Art Wood Combo)

Terry Marshall – tenor saxophone

Mitch Mitchell – drums

The (Fantastic Soul Messengers) were formed in November 1963 by former Flintstones members Terry Marshall (who had been in The Flee-rekkers in the interim) and Rod Freeman.

Future Jimi Hendrix drummer Mitch Mitchell, who started out with The Crescents had previously worked with Frankie Reid & The Casuals (late 1961-mid 1962), Pete Nelson & The Travellers and Johnny Harris & The Shades.

According to Marshall, another band had been booked to play at the famous Ealing Club on a Sunday and let down the club’s owner by failing to turn up.

As he recalls, “There were musicians in the club so I brought together Rod Freeman who I went pro with in 1960 when he was 16, Ken Rankine on bass and Mitch Mitchell on drums. We went down so well that Feri who ran the club gave us a residency there on the spot for Sundays.”

Regulars at the Ealing Club, the Middlesex County Times & West Middlesex Gazette has the band playing every Sunday in December 1963.

In 1964, they are also listed for 2 February, 5 April, 18 April and 11 May but played at the club much more than these advertised dates.

Soon after, Terry Marshall, who joined The Ray Martin Group, was replaced by American Gary Bell.

Photo: Nick Simper. The Soul Messengers, circa July 1964. Left to right: Gary Bell, Rod Freeman (back), Mitch Mitchell and Ken Rankine

However, around July 1964, Mitch Mitchell, who joined The Riot Squad that December, departed and the band changed name to The Next 5.

The new-line up comprised:

Rod Freeman – guitar/vocals

Ken Rankine – bass

Gary Bell – tenor saxophone (from the United States)

Willie Garnett – tenor saxophone (ex-Five Embers, Mille Small’s backing band)

Dave Golding – drums (ex-Flintstones)

Photo: Boyfriend magazine, August 1964. The five-piece Next Five

The Middlesex County Times & West Middlesex Gazette lists The Next 5 at the Ealing Club playing a number of Thursdays throughout October and into November 1964 (see gigs below).

According to music writer David Else, they were also resident band at Tottenham Royal Ballroom.

Thanks to Terry Marshall and David Else for their help

Selected gigs:

The following are all from Middlesex County Times & West Middlesex Gazette unless otherwise noted

Billed as The Fantastic Soul Messengers:

23 November 1963 – Whitehall, East Grinstead, West Sussex with Johnny Five & The Ramblers (Evening Argus) Billed as Soul Messengers

 

1 December 1963 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (billed as every Sunday)

8 December 1963 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Sunday)

15 December 1963 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Sunday)

22 December 1963 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Sunday)

29 December 1963 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Sunday)

Billed as The Soul Messengers:

18 January 1964 – California Ballroom, Dunstable, Bedfordshire with The Druids and The Alex Group with Jo-Anne (website: www.california-ballroom.info/gigs/)

26 January 1964 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Harrow Observer & Gazette) (Sunday)

 

1 February 1964 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Saturday)

8 February 1964 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Sunday) This may have been John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers

 

20 March 1964 – Silver Blades, Streatham, southwest London (Streatham News)

22 March 1964 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Harrow Observer & Gazette) (Sunday)

 

5 April 1964 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Sunday)

11 April 1964 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Harrow Observer & Gazette) (Sunday)

29 April 1964 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Ruislip & Northwood Gazette) (Sunday)

 

5 May 1964 – Nurses Club, Jolly Gardners, Isleworth, Middlesex with The Bo Street Runners and The Mark Leeman Five (Middlesex Chronicle)

11 May 1964 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Monday)

12 May 1964 – Nurses Club, Jolly Gardners, Isleworth, Middlesex with The Bo Street Runners and The Mark Leeman Five (Middlesex Chronicle)

19 May 1964 – Nurses Club, Jolly Gardners, Isleworth, Middlesex with The Bo Street Runners and The Mark Leeman Five (Middlesex Chronicle)

26 May 1964 – Nurses Club, Jolly Gardners, Isleworth, Middlesex with The Bo Street Runners and The Mark Leeman Five (Middlesex Chronicle)

28 May 1964 – Clay Pigeon, Eastcote, Middlesex

2 June 1964 – Nurses Club, Jolly Gardners, Isleworth, Middlesex with The Bo Street Runners and The Mark Leeman Five (Middlesex Chronicle)

11 June 1964 – Clay Pigeon, Eastcote, Middlesex

12 June 1964 – Ealing Town Hall, Ealing, Middlesex with The Mark Leeman Five and James Royal

10 July 1964 – Ovaltine Ballroom, Kings Langley, Herts with The Leons (Watford and West Herts Post)

 

18 August 1964 – Clay Pigeon, Eastcote, Middlesex

Billed as The Next Five:

1 October 1964 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Ruislip & Northwood Gazette) (Thursday) Needs confirmation

8 October 1964 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Thursday)

15 October 1964 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Thursday)

22 October 1964 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Thursday)

29 October 1964 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Thursday)

 

5 November 1964 – Ealing Club, Ealing, Middlesex (Thursday)

If you can add more information, please leave a message in the comments section below.

The Flintstones

Terry Slater (lead guitar/vocals)  

Rod Freeman (rhythm guitar/vocals)  

Terry Marshall (tenor saxophone) 

John Puddy (baritone sax)

Sonny (aka Tony Smith) (tenor saxophone/baritone saxophone)

Doug Collins (bass) 

Dave Golding (drums)

The Flintstones were formed in 1961 from the ashes of The Blue Men who included Collins, Freeman and Golding. Slater had previously been a member of The Cadillacs.

Marshall was the son of Jim Marshall, who ran the famous music shop in Hanwell, west London that became a meeting point for many notable Sixties musicians.

Tony Ross, who was called Rupert by the musicians, took over from Collins in early 1962 after playing in Peter Nelson & The Travellers.

According to Marshall, the band’s first recording was done with the legendary Joe Meek, who insisted that they record under the name The Stonehenge Men.

That summer singer Pete Fleerekker asked Terry Marshall to join his group, The Flee-rekkers and Tony Holley joined on tenor sax/vocals.

According to music writer David Else, Puddy left in November 1962 and formed The Night Sounds (featuring guitarist Albert Lee) and Ricky Marsh took over baritone saxophone.

Else says that The Flintstones backed Little Richard on a British tour in September 1963. By this point, Ernie Cox had succeeded Dave Golding and Dave Green had replaced either Tony Holley or Tony Smith on tenor saxophone.

Photo: Walthamstow Guardian

After a second Little Richard tour in October-November 1963, Freeman left to form The Soul Messengers with Terry Marshall.

Not long afterwards, Tony Ross departed to join Carter Lewis & The Southerners.

Photo: Boyfriend Magazine, July 1964

In July 1964, Terry Slater revamped the band with the following musicians:

Terry Slater (lead guitar/vocals)

Mickey Fitzpatrick (bass) (ex-Pete Chester and Chris Ravel Ravers)

Dave Green (tenor saxophone)

Ray Taylor (tenor saxophone)

Ernie Cox (drums)

Not long afterwards, however, Cox and Green joined The John Barry Seven and the band split up.

According to David Else, Fitzpatrick subsequently worked with future Ferris Wheel member Mike Liston in Simon’s Triangle.

Terry Slater moved to the US and became part of The Everly Brothers Band.

Thanks to Terry Marshall and David Else for their help.

If you can add anything more to the band’s story, please get in contact via the comments section below.

Fat Daughter

 

Fat Daughter, late 1969. Left to right: Ian Miller, Phil Hearn, Mike Reed (obscured), Pete Hicks and Dennis Lascelles. Photo: Ian Miller

Ray Edwards (lead vocals)

Ian Miller (lead guitar) 

Dennis Lascelles (Hammond organ) 

Steve Fields (bass) 

Del Coverley (drums) 

+

Pete Hicks (lead vocals) 

Phil Hearn (bass/vocals) 

Mike Reed (drums) 

Formed around March/April 1969, this group from the Bexleyheath area of southeast London included some notable individuals in its ranks during its short tenure together.

Del Coverley had started out with school band The Millionaires in 1963 and then progressed on to The Scimitars before joining The Big Wheel in late 1965. After working in Switzerland with The Big Wheel, Coverley joined Carl Douglas & The Big Stampede in October 1966 but left in late July 1967 to join the final incarnation of The Fenmen, who gigged as Kindness (reuniting with keyboard player/singer Andy Clark from The Big Wheel).

When Kindness split in late 1967, Coverley reformed The Big Wheel with original members, Del Grace (guitar), Barry Nicholls (bass) and Mike Manners (keyboards) plus new singer Pete Hicks.

Photo: Melody Maker, December 1968

In late 1968, Coverley left The Big Wheel to reunite with Andy Clark and his new collaborator guitarist Mick Hutchinson (both ex-Sam Gopal Dream and Vamp) in the short-lived Dogs Blues. Barry Nicholls who’d recently worked briefly with Pete Hicks in Promise joined the outfit but in January 1969 he was replaced by American Jerome Arnold (ex-Paul Butterfield’s Blues Band) and guest tabla player Sam Gopal.

Photo: South East London Mercury. Dogs Blues, January 1969
Dogs Blues featured in South East London Mercury, 28 January 1969

However, the group split in early February when Arnold formed his own group and Andy Clark and Mick Hutchinson decided to continue as a duo and record their debut LP.

Coverley then joined a reformed version of The Royalists with guitarist Ian Miller, keyboard player Dennis Lascelles (who had briefly played with Del Grace in The Rifle) and bass player Steve Fields, who had previously worked with local bands The Kinetics and The Abstracts. The band’s singer was Lascelles’ cousin Ray Edwards.

Herbie & The Royalists. Left to right: Ian Miller, Steve Fields, Herbie Hunte and Brian Cooper. Photo: Ian Miller

As Miller explains, The Royalists had started out as a soul band around 1966 with singer Herbie Hunte from Barbados. Originally known as Herbie & The Royalists, the group also included Dennis Lascelles, Steve Fields and drummer Brian Cooper. The band’s equipment was supplied by South Eastern Entertainments in Catford.

Herbie & The Royalists gig (1968). Photo: Ian Miller

Herbie & The Royalists released a rare LP Soul Of The Matter on Saga Records in 1968, which Miller says was recorded on four-track over two Sundays in a studio in Finchley. However, by the time the LP was released, Lascelles and Miller were pushing for a more progressive rock sound and so Herbie Hunte departed around December 1968. Lascelles brought in his cousin Ray Edwards as a replacement but by February 1969 Brian Cooper had also departed.

The reformed Royalists, circa March 1969. Left to right: Del Coverley, Ray Edwards, Steve Fields, Dennis Lascelles and Ian Miller. Photo: Ian Miller
The reformed Royalists gig (1969) shortly before becoming Fat Daughter. Photo: Ian Miller

With Del Coverley taking Cooper’s place, the band gigged as The Royalists before adopting the name Fat Daughter. However, not long after the band’s singer departed.

In Ray Edwards’s place, Del Coverley brought in singer Pete Hicks who had started out in 1965 fronting The Down & Outs. In 1966, he joined The South East London Blues Band who played a few times at Happening 44 in central London.

When that group split in 1968, Hicks worked with Coverley in Big Wheel (bringing in Alan Fuller from The Down and Outs to replace Mike Manners during the year) and then joined the band Promise.

During this period Miller remembers the band playing alongside Jon Hiseman’s Colosseum at Erith Polytechnic.

Promise with Pete Hicks (centre) and Barry Nicholls (far right)

Around early June 1969, Del Coverley and Steve Fields departed Fat Daughter and subsequently joined forces with Andy Clark and Mick Hutchinson in Clark-Hutchinson after they had cut their debut LP.

Before he hooked up with Clark-Hutchinson, Coverley briefly worked with Rust who had just recorded an LP in Germany called Come With Me. The only surviving member from the LP was John Thomas and other new members were guitarist Eric Lindsey and bass player Alex Alexander.

Miller remembers Coverley leaving Fat Daughter to help Carl Douglas on a tour, so this would have been his first job before playing with Rust.

Fields, who changed his name to Stephen Amazing, also spent a brief time with The Skatalites, which may have been just before Clark-Hutchinson. Amazing played in Upp (who featured Jeff Beck as guest guitarist on their LPs) in the Seventies but later died.

Bass player Phil Hearn, who had worked with Coverley in his early 1960s bands The Millionaires and The Scimitars, and drummer Mike Reed both joined at this point and their first gig was opening for Fleetwood Mac.

Photo: Melody Maker, 1969

Later that year, the group opened for Alexis Korner (at Eel Pie Island) and Free (most likely Dartford Grammar School) among others.

Fat Daughter are uncredited for this support gig in late 1969. Photo: Melody Maker
Photo: Melody Maker, 1969

Miller says the band played at Eel Pie Island a few times. He also remembers gigs at the Scotch of St James in Mayfair, the Marquee on Wardour Street, central London and the Black Prince Hotel in Bexley.

Fat Daughter gig (1969). Photo: Ian Miller

He also recalls playing at Mildenhall USAF Airforce base with Kenny Ball & His Jazzmen, Avery Hill Teachers Training College with The Peddlers and Bromley College of Technology with Pink Floyd (most likely 26 April) where Syd Barrett joined his former band.

Fat Daughter, Black Prince Hotel, Bexley, late 1969. Left to right: Ian Miller, Phil Hearn, Mike Reed (obscured) and Pete Hicks. Photo: Ian Miller

 

Fat Daughter late 1969. Left to right: Ian Miller, Phil Hearn, Mike Reed and Pete Hicks. Photo: Ian Miller
Dennis Lascelles, late 1969. Photo: Ian Miller

When Hicks and Lascelles departed in early 1970, Hearn brought in a singer called John and a Hammond organist called Alan from his previous group Isis.

However, the new band didn’t last long and Phil Hearn and Mike Reed reunited with Pete Hicks in a new version of southeast London band Justin Thyme alongside guitarist Tony Pearman and organist Geoff Hurrell. That band’s original drummer Dave Neal went on to join Suzie Quatro.

Phil Hearn, who later moved to guitar, remained with Justin Thyme throughout the Seventies. He then became a sound engineer and worked with The Who, Aerosmith, Captain Beefheart, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and Michael Jackson among many others.

Original keyboard player Dennis Lascelles later became a noted artist and lives in Brighton. Mike Reed later ran his own entertainment agency named Mike Reed Promotions.

Thanks to Phil Hearn, Pete Hicks, Ian Miller and Del Coverley for information

 

The James Set

Members of The James with fans. Photo: Phil Hearn

Andy Tyler (lead vocals) 

Allen Berry (guitar) 

Richard Holdaway (guitar) 

Phil Hearn (bass/vocals) 

Tony ? (drums) 

When The Scimitars split in late 1965, Phil Hearn was invited to join another Bexleyheath area group, The James Set with the above line-up.

During 1966, Ian Mingham replaced the original drummer and keyboard player Derek Johnson succeeded Richard Holdaway. The band shortened their name to The James and played regularly in the local area with some gigs further afield.

Sometime around 1968, Phil Hearn left to form a group called Isis and later played with Fat Daughter.

Thanks to Phil Hearn for photo and information

The Scimitars

Photo: Phil Hearn

Mike Inkster (guitar/vocals) 

Phil Hearn (bass/vocals) 

Derek Taylor (guitar/vocals)

Del Coverley (drums)

Hailing from the Bexleyheath area in southeast London, Phil Hearn and Del Coverley had started out in 1963 with school band, The Millionaires alongside guitarists Ron Cochrane and Stuart Robinson.

One of Hearn’s friends, Mike Inkster was looking for a bass player and drummer to replace outgoing members and invited Hearn and Coverley to join.

According to Hearn, the group mainly played youth clubs and social gatherings in Bexleyheath and the surrounding areas. However, they did play the famous 2 I’s coffee bar in Compton Street, Soho before they split up in late 1965.

Coverley joined The Big Wheel and subsequently played with Carl Douglas & The Big Stampede, Kindness (the final incarnation of The Fenmen) and later Clark-Hutchinson.

Hearn meanwhile joined The James Set.  Both Coverley and Hearn played with Fat Daughter (albeit at different times) in 1969.

Thanks to Phil Hearn for photo and information

The Motion

The Motion 1966. Left to right: Greg Peck, Martin Jarvis, Alex Macpherson and Kerry Watson

Martin Jarvis (lead vocals, guitar)

Greg Peck (vocals, guitar) 

Kerry Watson (bass) 

Alex Macpherson (drums) 

This north London group started in 1964 as The Henchmen with Bernie Holloway on bass. Bernie was from Liverpool and had played with some well-known Liverpool groups pre The Beatles. He was replaced in early ‘65 by Kerry Watson and the same line up lasted until late 1967.

After the band split Kerry Watson went on to tour Germany with Jackie Edwards who wrote the hits ‘Keep on Running’ and ‘Somebody Help Me’ for The Spencer Davis Group. Kerry failed an audition for Cupids Inspiration but the manager of both these groups, who auditioned him, gave him the job with Jackie Edwards. Kerry died in 2014.

Martin Jarvis is still in the business as the UK’s foremost Tom Jones Tribute act. He worked in various bands over the years and did session work for a couple of record labels. He went to Las Vegas with Anthony Newley’s show. At Newley’s suggestion he started doing Tom Jones songs (Tom was the big hit in Vegas at the time). Martin has been doing them ever since.

Biography provided by Greg Peck