Here’s a list of the blog entries appearing below:-
Les Gofton and Pete Watson (6/4/2010)
‘It’s My Life’ – book review (4/3/2010)
Band friends reunited (20/2/2010)
‘Rock Roadies’ book / Jimi Hendrix death (6/9/2009)
A Promoters Tale – Geoff Docherty (7/6/2009)
North East Beat exhibition (24/5/2009)
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6th April 2010 – POSITIVE NEGATIVES
Les Gofton and Pete Watson
I recently came across a strip of negatives that hadn’t seen the light of day for over forty years. The images on the negatives were of one of my old bands, the Jazzboard, taken at the New Cellar Club, South Shields in the summer of 1967.
One of the pictures was of particular interest to me because it includes guitarist Les Gofton and bassist Pete Watson; two people with whom I lost contact in the sixties and have recently been in touch with.
Before joining the Jazzboard in 1967, Les had played in a few local bands – the Sneakers, Brave New World and the Bond. Not long before his stint with the Jazzboard, the Bond (including Les) had been the support band for one of Jimi Hendrix’s few appearances in the north east. The gig was at the New Cellar Club in South Shields on 1 February 1967.
After the Jazzboard broke up in the summer of 1967, Les joined John Miles’ old band – the Influence which included drummer Paul Thompson who later found fame in Roxy Music. He also started to play in folk clubs alongside all kinds of blues and folk musicians.
Les went on to study at Durham University and whilst he was there continued to play solo folk and blues, sharing the stage with artists such as John Martyn, Keith Christmas, Al Stewart and John Renbourn. After gaining his doctorate he began playing a regular gig once a month with some musician friends at a bar in South Shields. On one occasion (which Les describes as the highlight of his musical career) he played on the same bill as Bo Diddley.
According to Les, he didn’t perform very much once his two kids started playing music because he couldn’t stand the idea of telling them how to do it. He definitely didn’t want to play the “dad knows best” card. Les’s two kids are Pete and Lauren (Laverne) who first came to prominence in the Sunderland band Kenickie. Les says: -
“They were both naturals. Pete is a brilliant drummer as well as playing keyboards and guitar, and a fantastic producer – he’s done loads of his own stuff. Lauren of course is a wonderful writer and singer too – various top ten singles with Kenickie, two best selling albums and squillions of TV appearances – TOTP. Jooles Holland etc. She also wrote “Don’t Falter”, which she recorded with Mint Royale, and that got to number two.”
Here’s Pete Gofton’s up and coming new band – Frankie and the Heartstrings
Les, with a couple of books to his name, has spent most of his working life as an academic. Pete Watson, on the other hand, was a professional bass player from 1965 until he retired from music about ten years ago.
Pete joined a Sunderland band called the Quandowns when he was just seventeen. Following in the footsteps of the Beatles and many other British bands of that era, the Quandowns went to Germany to try and kick start their bid for fame and fortune in Hamburg night clubs. Pete returned to England in 1966 and did two periods with the Jazzboard in 1966 and 1967. Between these stints, he formed a band called the Enterprise with Nigel Olsson and Mick Grabham. After a further spell with the Quandowns, Pete played with many bands over the next few decades, including the Lee Francis Show, the Johnny Duncan band and the Federation Brewery Roadshow. He also spent time as a resident musician in the Crescendo Club at Whitley Bay and the 101 Club in Carlisle.
Pete with the Federation Brewery Road Show
Although Pete no longer plays professionally, he still keeps his hand in by playing bass at his home in Washington.
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14th March 2010 – IT WAS OUR LIFE
It’s My Life – published by Tyne Bridge Publishing
If you’ve stumbled upon Ready Steady Gone via Google and you’ve got as far as this page, there’s a strong probability that you’ve got more than just a passing interest in the north east music seen of the sixties.
If so, then I can thoroughly recommend a book that I’ve just read about Newcastle in the 60s. “It’s My Life”, published by Tyne Bridge Publishing is on sale through Amazon and other book shops. The book is a compilation of memories and stories by people who grew up in Newcastle in the sixties. There are also lots of photos, posters and newspaper cuttings from that era.
I met one of the book’s editors, Anna Flowers, last year at the launch of the North East Beat exhibition. Anna was interested in using some of the images from the Ready Steady Gone site as part of the book. In the end she did not use any of the RSG material but she has collected lots of information about important north east sixties bands including the Animals, the Junco Partners, the Gas Board, Downtown Faction, Toby Twirl, Lindisfarne plus some of the early sixties jazz bands that played at the New Orleans Club, the Downbeat and the early Club a’Gogo. Some other venues mentioned are the Dolce Vita, the Mayfair, the Oxford Galleries and the Majestic. There are anecdotes and stories from band members and managers of some of the bands mentioned above.
“It’s My Life” isn’t just about the Newcastle music scene in the sixties. There are other chapters about street life, fashion and some of the shops that were around back then – shopping places such as Marcus Price and the Handyside Arcade.
There are 192 pages of memories for those of us who were around in the swinging sixties, including the two pictures shown on the right, which were actually taken at the Club a’Gogo in 1968. At £10 it’s a real bargain.
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20th February 2010 – FRIENDS REUNITED
After moving away from the North East in 1973 I gradually lost contact with the people I played alongside in bands in the late sixties and early seventies. Now, thanks to Ready Steady Gone, a lot of my old friends have contacted me and we are back in touch again.
I’ve also heard from a lot of people who were in or connected with North east bands at the same time as me in the sixties; some I knew at the time and some I didn’t.
Here are some of the people that have contacted me over the past year or so: -
Brian Short, vocalist with the Sect, got in touch a while ago regarding the old Cellar Club in South Shields. As well as sending me some pictures of that venue (which can be seen on the ‘Cellar, South Shields’ page), Brian sent me this picture of the Sect from around 1966.
(l to r) Steve Gatiss – lead guitar, Tom Duffy – bass, Brian Short – lead vocals, Alan Atkinson – rhythm guitar and Dave Corker – drums.
The Sect was one of the top Newcastle bands during the mid to late sixties with a huge fan base. I still remember their excellent version of Bob Dylan’s “It’s All Over Now Baby Blue”.
Nick Thorburn, the guitarist with Toby Twirl contacted me recently after seeing a link to Ready Steady Gone on the Vintage Sixties Live web site. Nick and I used to work together at the MPNI, Longbenton in 1966. I was playing in the Jazzboard at the time and he was with a band called Shades of Blue, later to become Toby Twirl who were subsequently signed by Decca. In 1966 Nick embarked on a career as a professional musician which lasted until 1984.
Toby Twirl with Nick – second right
More recently I was contacted by an ex-north east drummer called Dougie Vickers who now lives in Devon. Dougie is a veteran from the golden days of the Club A’Gogo, Newcastle and played in a band called the Invaders who, alongside the Animals were resident at the Gogo in 1963 and 1964. Here’s a picture of Dougie with the Invaders in 1963 – (there’s more on the Club A’Gogo page).
Dougie with the Invaders
Some non-musicians who have been in touch are – Eric Punshon who ran the el Cubana and La Cubana clubs in Sunderland; Dave Wood, proprietor of Impulse Studios in Wallsend and Colin Hart, ex-tour manager with the legendary rock band Deep Purple. Colin (pictured) now lives in Orlando, Florida and works in the Greg Rike Productions Studio. He started his musical career as a roadie, driving an old ambulance for the Jazzboard in 1967. He then went on to work as a roadie for Toby Twirl, Vanity Fare before touring in the USA and securing the gig with Deep Purple.
Finally, the most surprising email I received took me way back to my schooldays in 1962 when I was learning to play the sax. At that time I was listening to my dad’s collection of Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey records and I was convinced my future was as part of a saxophone section in a big band. Dance orchestras, such as Joe Loss, David Rose, Frank Chacksfield and Mantovani were still quite popular in the early sixties and even charted from time to time. A group of school friends and I got the chance to play for ten minutes at a dance in South Hylton near Sunderland while the proper band were taking their break. We had a couple of saxes in our line up and opted to play “Must Be Madison” by Joe Loss and a few similar tunes. The band appearing that night were Paul Ryan and the Streaks, the first rock band I’d ever heard playing live music. What’s more, they had a terrific tenor sax player called Bernie. The combination of Bernie’s playing and the sound of the amplified sax made me revise my plans to join a dance band. From the first moment I heard Bernie I knew I wanted to play in rock bands and began practicing non-stop so I could be as good as him. Not too long after I began playing in local rock bands.
Bernie at the el Cubana in 1962
A few weeks ago I got an email from the very man who changed my musical direction back in 1963 – Bernie Walsh. It was great to hear from him and the good thing is that he has sent me lots of material from the days when he was with the Streaks (see the Early Stuff page).
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6th September 2009 – WHO KILLED JIMI HENDRIX?
Many people have tried to piece together the events in Jimi Hendrix’s life on 17th September and the early hours of 18th September 1970, the period leading up to the discovery of his body in a London hotel room. Officially, his death was an accident, the result of him choking on his own vomit following a night of partying.
Quite recently the whole can of worms has been reopened and several reports have appeared in the media about whether or not Hendrix was murdered. The two articles I have read were in the Daily Mail on 18 June 2009 and in the August edition of Classic Rock Magazine .
So why has the subject of Jimi’s death been revived yet again? Quite simply because Jimi’s ex-roadie, James ‘Tappy’ Wright has published his autobiography in which he suggests that Jimi was, in fact, murdered by his manager, Mike Jeffery. Tappy Wright claims that Jeffery told him in 1973 that had been involved in the killing of Jimi Hendrix. The motive being that Jeffery stood to gain a lot of money if Jimi was dead. Jeffery, who was the owner of Newcastle’s Club a’GoGo, died in a plane crash a few weeks later, so unless anyone else confesses to being an accomplice in the murder, the truth of that fateful night is unlikely to ever emerge.
The contraversial ‘confession’ featured in the book will no doubt contribute to the sales figures. Some people have even suggested that the admission by Jeffery is pure fiction designed to sell copies. I haven’t read the book yet but because of the north east connections it should make interesting reading regardless of the murder allegation. I’ll be ordering my copy from Amazon shortly.
James 'Tappy' Wright
As far as I can remember Ivan Birchall’s empire remained in tact and Tappy moved on to pastures new elsewhere.
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17th JUNE 2009 – SEX, DRUGS & ROCK ‘N ROLL
There’s lots of it in Geoff Docherty’s account of his life as a promoter in the late sixties and seventies. And quite a bit of violence chucked in too.
When I visited the North East Beat exhibition last month (see the blog below), I saw ‘A Promoter’s Tale’ on sale at the Discovery museum shop. I knew about the book when it was first published about 7 years ago but I didn’t think I would like it so never bothered buying it.
I was playing in Newcastle bands at the same time that Geoff was around and we knew the same people – Nigel Olsson and Mick Grabham, for instance. But our paths apparently never crossed back then and although I played at the Bay Hotel, one of Geoff’s early venues, I can’t remember ever meeting him.
Anyway, while I was up in the North East last month, my sister loaned me her copy of ‘A Promoter’s Tale’. Once I started reading, I couldn’t put it down and actually finished it in two sittings. It’s a fascinating account of Geoff Docherty’s achievements of bringing top bands to Sunderland and Newcastle at prices the average punter could afford. Geoff gives some graphic accounts of his encounters with some of the hard cases he had to deal with while he was establishing himself as a promoter. What did surprise me is that he is very modest about his skills in negotiating the appearance of bands like the Who, Free, Led Zeppelin and Country Joe at his venues.
The book itself is another great achievement by Geoff and I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone interested in the North East music scene of the sixties and seventies. I’m even going to buy my own copy after I return the one I read to my sister.
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24th MAY 2009 – NORTH EAST BEAT
View of the Sage, Gateshead from Newcastle’s quay side
I don’t get back to the North East very often but when I got an invite to the launch party for North East Beat I just had to go.
North East Beat is a new exhibition at Newcastle’s Discovery Museum exploring the North East music scene from the fifties to date. The exhibition’s organiser, Kylea Little asked me a few months ago if she could use some material from this site – hence my invitation to attend the event on 19th May.
I knew that the Junco Partners and the Cornshed Sisters would be appearing. Apart from that, I wasn’t sure what else to expect or who else would be attending. It turned out to be a couple of hours well spent. The exhibition itself is well put together with material covering six decades. Exhibits include photographs, posters, cuttings, concert tickets, clothing, videos and a jukebox featuring records by North East bands. There’s information on most of the North East’s well known bands and musicians from the Animals to the Tygers of Pan Tang.
The Juncos at the launch party
I didn’t spot any ‘A’ list musical celebs – such as Sting, Bryan Ferry, Eric Burden or the like but there were a few well known faces present; Ray Laidlaw (Lindisfarne), Marie Nixon (Kenickie), Geoff Docherty the promoter and probably a few more I didn’t see. I was pleasantly surprised to see my name up on the list of contributors with, amongst others, Brian Bennett the drummer with the legendary Shadows.
Entrance to the exhibition
List of contributors
While I was in the North East I got to a couple of music venues. The first was to see the blues band – the Alligators at Egypt Cottage, City Road, Newcastle on the same night as the North East Beat launch party. Consequently, I only caught the second set from the Alligators but it was a set well worth seeing. The pub was crammed and had a fantastic atmosphere. I’m told that the band have been together for a long time and this certainly showed in their dynamic performance. I’m reliably informed that Brian Eno was in the crowd, propping up the bar and listening to the band.
I had a couple of good years in the sixties playing in the same band as Bruce, the Alligator’s harmonica player. When I met him a few days after the gig, he told me that I’d missed the best set. Perhaps I had but I was still very impressed with the set I saw.
On Saturday 23 May I saw Raw Spirit at the Magnesia Bank in North Shields. My reason for going to see Raw Spirit was that the trumpet player is Jimmy Hall who I played with in various bands over a five year period in the sixties and seventies. The Magnesia Bank is an excellent music venue with a good atmosphere and a crowd who really like their music. Raw Spirit played mostly blues numbers with a couple of soul classics thrown into the mix to a very appreciative audience. There were some great solos from saxophonist John Hall throughout the evening.
Raw Spirit at the Magnesia Bank, North Shields
All in all it was an enjoyable trip to the North East and well worth the 600 mile round trip. I’ll certainly try and catch Raw Sprit and the Alligators next time I’m in the area.