- Stuart Scott - Lead Guitar
- Richard Jones - Bass Guitar
- Bryan Calloway (deceased) - Lead Vocals / Harmonica
- Robin Brown - Rhythm Guitar / Vocals
- Barry Creed (deceased) - Drums
This band evolved from the aquaintance between my father and Bryan's father who both worked at Burmans in Kings Norton. Barry was known to Bryan but I'm not sure how we met up with Robin. The band commenced rehearsals at a church / scout hall on Billesley Lane with the most rudimentary of equipment. We also rehearsed in a cellar coffee bar under the St.Pauls church hall in Balsall Heath. Material was mostly Chuck Berry and Beatles songs.
Having upgraded from the Rosetti to the superior Futurama Coronado I recall an attempt to make the popular (because it was dirt cheap) Linear Concorde 30 watt amp perform along with a hand-built 2 x 12" chip board speaker cabinet loaded with the equally popular (and dirt cheap) Fane speakers. This was never particularily successfull due to the amp's very limited tonal range which went from subsonic at the bass end to 'muddy' at the top end. Playing lead guitar through Robin's Selmer Zodiac Twin 30 with the volume cranked up I got my first hint of the power of overdrive but backed off having been warned by well meaning hi-fi types about the 'dangers' of distortion.
The acquisition of decent equipment was essential if the band was to meet its objective of gigging and, as the equipment inventory was built up, it became apparent that Richard's priorities lay elsewhere. Some tension built up resulting in his replacement by Bryan's friend, Roger, and leading to acrimony between Richard and myself who were apprentices together at Avery's.
- Stuart Scott - Lead Guitar
- Roger Ottley - Bass Guitar
- Bryan Calloway (deceased) - Lead Vocals / Harmonica
- Robin Brown - Rhythm Guitar / Vocals
- Barry Creed (deceased) - Drums
The Garden Party
L to R : Stuart Scott, Robin Brown, Roger Ottley
L to R : Stuart Scott, Bryan Calloway, Roger Ottley,
Barry Creed, (at rear - Robin Brown)
Having rehearsed in the new bass player the band did several gigs still playing the Chuck Berry / Beatles set. Photographs exist of an open air gig at a garden party at an institution on Wake Green Road. This gig was (possibly) my first contact with Wendy Peacock, otherwise known as "The Fan".
The band also played gigs at a church hall in Northfield and at the King Edwards Camp Hill School dance (supporting Mike Sheridan and the Nightriders?). This latter gig was notable in that it proved that Barry (known to Roger as "Greeb") could not, and was never likely to be able to play, the intro to "In The Midnight Hour". These may have been the only three public appearances of this band.
We met a (later notorious) character called Tony Noble who made extravagant claims for his management capabilities but could not deliver. In one instance we drove to a club on the North side of Birmingham where we thought we had a gig but, on arrival, were turned away. On the return home with Robin in his grossly overloaded mini-van we collided with a motor cyclist who jumped the lights across our path at Aston Six ways.
Finally, Roger, a musician of much greater experience than us, became frustrated with the material we were playing and our seeming inability to break out of the 12-bar blues idiom. He left and the band folded.