HOBO - Coventry Music Magazine’s blog

WELCOME TO HOBO -COVENTRY'S MUSIC MAGAZINE ARCHIVES OF THE 1970'S AND BEYOND

2008-07-23T22:55:32Z

WELCOME

THIS POST STAYS ON TOP LIKE A HOME PAGE - LAST UPDATED Aug 19th 2008

A HISTORY OF THE COVENTRY MUSIC SCENE IN THE 1970'S BUT NOT EXCLUSIVELY RESTRICTED TO THE 70'S. A RESOURCE FOR RESEARCHERS, FILM MAKERS, WRITERS AND MUSICIANS AS WELL AS FOR THOSE CURIOUS ABOUT THE COVENTRY MUSIC SCENE IN THE YEARS BEFORE TWO TONE BROKE AND THOSE WHO WERE INVOLVED OR AROUND AT THE TIME. WE WELCOME FEEDBACK.

You can scroll down endlessly (there's a lot of posts on here) or for an organised index and to access band and Cov My Space directories and other Cov website click on the

HOBO HYPERLINKED INDEX also visit the HOBO MY SPACE

Following the Gnome Fest, Hobo has uploaded Doc Mustard's video - a song about his busking experiences outside a cinema in Cornwall who installed a TV to drown him out - brilliant song from Ollie Oliver who was of course bass player in Cov Ska band Hot Snacks in the 80's and much more.

GO GO GO was our last featured song by New Coventry Singer Songwriter - Katie Dove-Dixon from Leamington Spa. I felt there's great potential in her songwriting and style and it's been a while since I heard piano based songs. You can still hear the song on the Hobo My Space or Katie's My Space HERE

Katie Dove-Dixon

Recent posts - new

Calling All Heros _ Pete Chambers - Cov Music Exhibition Post

DELIA DERBYSHIRE - COVENTRY BORN ELECTRONIC MUSIC PIONEER

Interview with KRISTY GALLACHER

Gilly Darbey - A Coventry Singer's International Success

Cov Music Exhibition Meeting Minutes for June

Interview with MARTIN BOWES - Alternative Sounds Barricades Rise - New Cov band Shakayla - New Album KRISTY GALLACHER'S NEW ALBUM COVENTRY DISCOS AND VENUES IN THE 70'S WHISTLER (Top 70's band in Cov)

FOLKS MAGAZINE (Collections of Issues)

John Shananahan - 70's interview with recent update (Folk Guitarist)

HOBO INFORMATION

Early Dando Shaft and New Modern Idiot Grunt Band tracks available HERE

Kevin Harrison's Realife Obsessive Album and band history

COVENTRY MUSIC EXHIBITION 2009

Hobo and Pete Chambers are working with the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum to create a Coventry music

Neol Davies and John Alderson

history exhibition for October 2009. Hopefully this will result in a permanent display in the museum if everyone supports it. Although Two Tone will be a central feature of course the Exhibiton will aim to reflect a fuller picture of the Coventry music scene from the 50's to present day with plenty of related features. As 2009 is the 30th anniversary of Two Tone which began in 1979, we are working with Neol Davies on a possible celebration of Two Tone and a tie in with the launch of the Exhibition in the form of a Two Tone jam session with guest musicians and bands. Check out the index to find out more about the exhibition and updates will be posted on here. Hobo is also creating a Covnetry Music Timeline for the museum to be posted on here so that people can make suggestions / corrections. A link to the post will be placed under Recent Posts above.

THE JUNE 2008 MINUTES ARE NOW ON HERE

STOP PRESS - NEW COVENTRY VOX BLOG FROM HOBO MAGAZINE -

COVMUSIC TIMELINE NOW UNDER CONSTRUCTION TO GUIDE RESEARCHERS FOR THE COVENTRY MUSIC EXHIBITION - VIEW AND COMMENT AND WATCH IT GROW - WILL BE A WORK IN PROGRESS FOR A WHILE.

The Hobo wkshop at the Cross 1975

THE GOLDEN CROSS ACOUSTIC HAS CLOSED -

BUT JUSTINE IS OPENING A NEW ACOUSTIC VENUE CALLED THE ACOUSTIC ESCAPE - DETAILS ON THE NEW MY SPACE HERE

NEW UPDATE

"I picked up on your blog piece on Golden Cross Acoustic. Yes, Justine is moving to a new venue - The Escape Bar on Hales Street and her new night is called The Acoustic Escape starting every Wednesday from 21st May 2008. The Golden Cross pub hasn't closed down, just Justine's night there. Golden Cross Acoustic has been running for over 2 years and a change was needed. We are now going to be in a great venue (both in bricks and mortar but also the team at The Escape Bar are fantastically enthusiastic about The Acoustic Escape venture). The night also compliments what they are doing at The Escape Bar with 'Jam' on a Tuesday and The Caberet Club every other Sunday. Check out The Acoustic Escape Myspace at http://www.myspace.com/theacousticescape - it is now fully up and running! Justine's departure was timed with the redecoration at The Golden Cross. The music venue upstairs is now called The Coventry Mint at The Golden Cross and their Myspace is http://www.myspace.com/thecovmint

Thanx for your support!

Anthony

The Acoustic Escape

Disaster Junkie Records & Promotions

visit their My Space sites Golden Cross Acoustic - My Space
Golden Cross - My Space bands
PIECE IN COVENTRY TELEGRAPH ABOUT IT HERE

Loving New Cov Band Rider at the moment (check them out on Vox)

Rider - new cov band

BOOKS
* Godiva Rocked to a Backbeat - launch

Front Cover

Pete Chambers launches his well produced new book on Cov Music

Ska'd for Life: A Personal Journey with the "Specials"

Horace Panter

replete with fantastic photos of Cov's rich musical heritage. At £5.99 it's a must buy for anyone passionate about Cov Music.
...............
Read about Horace's New Book HERE

NOW IN PAPERBACK FOR £7.99

I Wish I Was Me: Pete Waterman - The Autobiography

THE GNOME LABEL

THE NEW CO-OPERATIVE RECORD LABEL!

6a00e398a73a6f000100e398b56bcf0002-320pi

The former Coventry Magazine - Broadgate Gnome launched their new Co-operative Record Label! The idea began in Coventry in 1970 as an alternative to the music business - an early form of the music collectives that formed in the 80's, along with gig-swopping networks to enable bands to play further afield. TwoToner Neol Davies and Selecter Producer Roger Lomus were among those who performed at the initial gigs years before Two Tone.

"We work on the principle of Mutual Aid and devote our time to actively promoting an alternative to the big business of the Music Industry. We have no paid employees but rely on a collective of experienced people who believe in the ethic of cooperation. This is a project that has been 40 years in the making, which is now made possible by new technology.."
The Gnome are aiming for four releases each quarter and to develop from there (keep an eye on their site for details and developments) - Gnome Label and Gnome Fest

More details on these can be found on the Gnome Label site Here

The Gnome wrote -
"Songs from the Coventry Underground Is a collection of the earlier songs from poet and performer Trev Teasdel.

Trevs

It is very apt that he should feature at the very beginning of our Retro-Cov platform.
This is the guy that played an important role in the development of Coventry musical conciousness. He kept an alternative voice alive with the production of Hobo magazine that continued the trail from where the fading footprints of the Gnome could still be identified. Taking over the booking of live bands at the Arts Umbrella, he continued the policy that allowed many of the new local bands an airing as well as bringing in some excellent but not often seen names from outside of the City.
He also created one of the cornerstones of the Coventry Music scene, with the inception of the open jam sessions at the Holyhead Road Arts centre.
He left Coventry to study and has since been as active as ever, with an impressive workload of teaching new writers, running poetry magazines and venues from his Teesside home while still writing and performing his own material.
But that's not the only reason for choosing his work for this release. He is a master craftsman of his artform. His lyrics are carefully honed with the occasional surprise. The working of the words " under the Speenhamland scheme" into the lyric of Captain Swing, written some 20 years before the arrival of Billy Bragg, is phenomenal and deserves a place in the record books.
Aside from that, his work reverberates with the angst and expectations that many living in Coventry at the that time will have felt. Often written on long walks home up the London Road after the last bus, or in teabreaks while working at the GEC. The collective lyrics paint a picture of youthful exhilaration and myradiacl inspirations with echoes of revolt. Some might suggest that they could have been written in and about any city in those times. No they could only come from one place....Our Coventry.

Trev has posted many of his lyrics and the thought and activities behind their writing on his Vox space HERE

....................................................

The brilliant 1980 Coventry Album SENT FOR COVENTRY produced by Martin Bowes of Alternative Sounds

279197S

Magazine in Coventry and now in the band Attrition (who will be featured in the Retro Cov album is now available for download HERE

You can listen to excerpts from the tracks which include - The Wild Boys, Clique, The End, The Urge, Hot Snacks (Machine), Solid Action, The Mix, Vietnamese Babies, Squad, Riot Act, Protege, Homicide.

This is from the illustrious Two Tone Period in Coventry when Coventry was buzzing with musical life and bands. See the Alternative Sounds supplement with more info on the bands shortly - watch this space.
...................................................

KRISTY GALLACHER LIVE

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"The Endless Grey Drone" & The Ghost Town - Background to the Music.

2007-07-08T12:08:25Z

All important music, songwriting, poetry and art isn't created in a Commercial vacuum. It reverberates with meaning, maybe with protest, towards a better way of living, often one that has tolerance for different creeds and cultures and respect for gender, race, the environment, peace and love, co-operation as opposed to exploitation,

The wider, international context of the 60's counter culture movement is well documented and here's a time line from 1960 to 1969 - HERE. There are a lot of stereotypes of what a Hippie was / is - the site linked tries to clarify that.

Much inspiration had been received from Gerrade Winstanley's Digger Movement in 1649 - influencing the formation of

Billy Bragg - World Turned Upside Down

the San Francisco Diggers in the 60's and the notions of Flower Power (the ideals of which became watered down with commercialism and derision).

In Coventry, in the late 60's / early 70's we had our own Diggers developing co-operative ventures and producing a magazine which was the first to give the Coventry music and counter culture a consciousness of itself - The Broadgate Gnome - represented here in it's new form.

The object of this post is to stimulate discussion / thought or research on how both the ideas of the 60's and growing up in post war Coventry helped to shape / characterise Coventry music, poetry and art. (Maybe somebody will rise to the challenge and study it - and there are plenty of primary sources and contacts on this site to facilitate it! If anybody does this - let us know - we'll help with sources). Here's some pointers -

During 50's and 60's, Coventry was in throes of a major regeneration programme as a result of the city centre being flattened in bombing raids during world war two. The regeneration programme wasn't just down to Hitler though, the process had begun in the 1930's - Trinity Street area had been redesign and plans for a new City Centre were on the drawing board. The bombing raids brought plans forward and widened their scope and significance. Musicians grew up in the a city that was at once highly industrialised with the Car factories and engineering and yet had brand new open-spaced city centre with the greenery of the Broadgate / Lady Godiva Island in the centre - a Phoenix city rising from the ashes! Many of the city's young musicians, writers and artists, growing up in the 60's balked at this bland 'Grey' industrial landscape, where all you could be, mostly, was someone who put bolts on cars on the Assembly lines. The symbolic image of this 'Grey' existence occurs in some of the songs that came out of the city -

The 'Grey' is mindless conformity, the 'default', the 'inevitable' - no one thinks for themselves in the land of 'Grey'. They get their opinions from the tabloids or the conventional opinion handed down to them.. They take the path of least resistance and not the one less trodden by. Their environment shapes them and they accept it (albeit begrudgingly sometimes).

The great thrust which came out in the music was to transcend the 'grey', To escape the Rat Race, the Ghost Town, the Concrete Jungle - all images which have come out of Coventry songs. The Broadgate Gnome called it 'Throb City'' - in reference to the background throb of the car factories all through the night - I think!

ESCAPE FROM THE 'GREY'

In Whispering Ned (by top Coventry folk band - Dando Shaft) - 1971 they sing -

Well he came to a land
where heads were banned
and the land was grand
and the people were grey
and they worked all day
in a diligent way
trying to keep out heads
and Whispering Neds

In the Selecter hit Three Minute Hero - Neol Davis wrote

The Selecter ( Three Minute Hero )

THREE MINUTE HERO (Neol Davies) The Selecter
They asked you if you’re alright,
You say yes,
But all the time you know, It’s a mess,
It’s 5 pm and you’re on your way home,
Just another day with that endless grey drone.

(Chorus): Three minute hero, I wanna be, a three minute hero, I wanna be,
a three minute hero, I wanna be, a three minute hero,

Drag yourself along the road, Sit on the bus,
Switch on your transistor, Cause a fuss,
It’s 11 pm and you’re on your way home,
Just another night with that endless grey drone.

(Chorus) I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be, A three minute hero, (Chorus): A three minute hero, I wanna be, A three minute hero, I wanna be, A three minute hero, I wanna be, A three minute hero,

It’s too early in the morning, Stupid job,
Don’t wanna eat, can’t think straight,
Same as yesterday, It’s 7 am and you’re leaving home,
Just another day with that endless grey drone, (Chorus):
A three minute hero, I wanna be, (Repeat to fade)

Escape from the ' Grey' Comes into some early poems by Dave Clarke (Printed in 1970 by a group of Diggers intheir magazine The Broadgate Gnome)

AN EXPERIMENT WITH TRADITIONAL RHYME AND STRONG STRESS METER

Dave Clarke

From Broadgate Gnome 1971

City you cannot last

Nor must you think that time gone past

Will remember you and say

This is how it should be today.

You have no roots, only bricks and mortar.

Conceived in conflict, concerned with slaughter

And shall your offspring, sons and daughters

Pay homage, or plot your doom

Perhaps in the fields at

Their eyes will turn towards your

Shadowed graves and marvel how once

Men lived like slaves.

In the depths of your swollen womb

Perhaps in green grey gardens through

Mirrored moons

They will sit peacefully and reflect

Upon your ghost forms, cold and derelict

None here will mourn your mutilated form

Nor yet will fevered eyes still gaze

In tomorrow’s dawn.

Upon your profit priests in suited grey

Atheist children all robed in nature

They will laugh aloud to read your beasts

Yet see no traces

Of your golden age of your super race

No gods or ghosts will walk this

Wretched ruin of yours

No angry groans or tortured moans will

Pour molten shapes, mutilated forms

That writhe in fear

No super races here

Only the watchful glare of shapeless

Moon and the eternal gloom of your

Quick, unlit tomb.

ON MOVEMENT AND PURPOSE

Spilling from the city's noise they come,

Slipping past evening's first opportune hour.

From the swollen abdomen of the factory some

Drone their weary way, through gate and tower,

Belched out at five.

They, faceless for a time, molten seep

Into human channels, consumed deep

In the irregular flood, at first a patterned tide

Split only by an aching, frenzied halt,

As, like tributaries unperceived, others join, match stride

-Ooze their thoughtless path, eager to assault

Drawn blank in an organic ritual.

Happy those who conjure imagination

Avoiding the fact that they bear no relation

To cloth arms and unknown feet

That move annoyingly close, almost familiar,

with their own purposeful, aimed retreat.

Many tread homeward with ideas similar

Hurrying towards some mystic meet.

Others from college, peacock daubed, set apart,

Flaunt homeward, promiscuously apparent for an early start.

Outcasts but design these, yet not quite free

from economies, or traditions or laws, or all that abstract oppose

The natural instinct. Chained in society;

Yet suspended for a time in freedom's awkward pose,

They, warlike, gimmick a possible future.

Condemned to learn, no tax form claims them or cares

Subtle in her wooing, society hides her snares

Challenging and extreme in her ultimate offering.

Parallel, roars man and machine

linked in dash-daring unison.

Revved hearts spurt mean

Grimaces, turned to defy, shun

Limits with limitless power.

Tailored for destruction, they combine in one

Machine, motor, mind and gun.

With fear streamlined in oiled silence

Watch how they move, slip gear, accelerate away

Substitute war or violence

with symbol. Linked thus, they may,

Fuse metal and power with hand and feet

Hide stature on cushion and seat,

'Till mover and moved blurr totally.

But more likely, they will use the thrill

of combining, creation and will,

To risk a future -

To answer in part the constant need

For measuring life, in space and speed

Seeking pleasure or praise or lust.

Watch though, how death rides too a wheelspin away

Rears at a junction, reducing move or stay

To mere instinct. Til machine and man

Lack purpose, unless the purpose be....

To eliminate the lapse between A and C

Between movement, pause and movement.

Dave Clarke - Coventry 1970

FLOWERS OF THE WAYSIDE

Song lyric By Trev Teasdel 1970 Coventry

As I pass the streets lined with tears of unexpressed souls

Rows of tins of compressed talents chained in their folds

Lines of ‘I could’ve been if I tried, but didn’t pursue my goals’

Chains of the ‘same as the day before and day before that’ plastic moulds

Boxes of ‘shun the new, it’ll be our ruin, stick to the beaten path’ holes

Chorus

I just put my face to my hands

My fear for to hide

That I might yet become just another

Flower of the Wayside.

Their bins are full of screwed up dreams from the morning of their youth

and yes they still have their dreams in the straight-jacket of their lives.

They follow convention down the steps, in his drunken waltz

To fall into the waters deep, to find they cannot swim, to find they cannot think.

They’re too busy not being busy trying to be themselves,

They’ve been hung up upon society allocated shelves.

They pay homage to the idle with numerals on his face

And as his arms rotate, they start their diurnal chase

Machines I once thought were extensions of men’s arms

But men have just become extensions of machines,

Turmoiling in their cogwheel confusion

While I stage my independence – the water bearer’s revolution.

RAT RACE - (Roddy Radiation) The Specials
You're working at your leisure to learn the things you'll need

The Specials - Rat Race

The promises you make tomorrow carry no guarantee
I've seen your qualifications, you got a Ph.D.
I've got one art O-level, it did nothing for me

Working for the rat race
You know you're wasting your time
Working for the rat race
You're no friend of mine

You plan your conversation to impress the college bar
Just talking about your mother and daddy's Jaguar
Wear your political T-shirt and sacred college scarf
Discussing the world situation, but just for a laugh

You'll be working for the rat race
You know you're wasting your time
Working for the rat race
You're no friend of mine

Working for the rat race
You know you're wasting your time
Working for the rat race
You're no friend of mine

Just working at your leisure to learn the things you don't need
The promises you make tomorrow carry no guarantee
I've seen your qualifications, you got a Ph.D.
I've got one art O-level, it did nothing for me

Working for the rat race
You know you're wasting your time
You're working for the rat race
You're no friend of mine

By the time Two Tone hit the world - things had change both in Coventry and the outside world. The ideals of the

The Specials - Ghost Town

woodstock generation had been thwarted, jobs in the car industry had been moved abroad to exploit the cheaper labour and the boom town that had survived the depression and the war years was now an unemployment blackspot, cities had become violent places. The idealism and optimism of the 60's and early 70's, the hope of escaping the 'Grey' and that of the world evolving towards co-operation and peace etc seemed a million miles away - the city (like many others) had become a Ghost Town and violence and apathy had replaced the thrust for a better world.

To their great credit - the Two Tone bands reflected this change in their lyrics and music -

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A BAND CALLED GEORGE

2007-04-05T22:37:33Z

A BAND CALLED GEORGE
Listen NCB Man and others here (My Space)

A Band Called George

C. 1974 Visit their Website HERE

Developed from Sweeney Todd (on My Space)

Band Called george (CET 74)

Bob Young – Lead vocals and guitar. Colin Young – Bass. Nicky Trevisick – Drums

Roger Prince – guitar. Baz Andruszko – accordion. Roadies Ricky and Dave. (Dave wrote something for Hobo under the name of Just a Guy - I think about van hire). Ricky played guitar - I jammed with him a few times and introduced him to guitarist Andy Cairns - they formed a Jazz funk band with Horace Panter on bass and they played at the Hobo Workshop (Golden Cross ) in 1975 among other places.

Band george

A Band Called George were planning a tour of late August 73.

A Band Called George

Joe Reynolds (Joined a reformed version of the band in 1974)

Original material in similar vein to . Members from Coventry & Leamington area.

Single NCB Man (on Bell Records) released .

According to HOBO the BBC did not select the single for airplay and this led to the band’s demise. CET described the song as a ‘ light hearted song about coal miners’

Appeared on ’s Today. (CET) ‘It’s a fun folk rock song, not quite representative of the band live’ (CET)

Abcgeorge3

Managed by Sunshine Agency (SAM) (Managers Craig Ward & Graham

Band george 2

Wood, Bob Young)

Sunshine Agency was set up to record Bob Young’s songs.

I met A Band Called George at the Sunshine Music Agency in Gulson Rd. Coventry in 1974 when I breezed in to introduce myself and Hobo Magazine. Bob Young was one of the managers and there's quite a bit about Sunshine already on this site. Previously some of the members had been in Sweeny Todd (I remember seeing them in the early 70's at the Colin Campbell. Baz Andruszko later played with the reformed Dando Shaft for a while. Nicky Trevisthick was the only one I knew previously - I'd met him at the Lanch and other places. According to Kevin Harrison he went on to play with American Housewives / Café Society / Tom Robinson Band / Moon / The Dukes. Bob Young has a My Space for A Band Called George which you can access at the top of this post.

On their website is says -

The first line up of A Band Called George consisted of Roger Prince, Guitar, blues harp, Mandolin, Barley wine and Vox, Colin Young, Bass, Hilariously funny cigarettes and Vox, Bob Young, Guitar, Kazoo, keyboards, Bikers Grog (Light Ale with a Barley Wine in it. Quite lethal in the wrong hands) and Vox, Basil Stephan Andruzko, on double meat pie and chips,who, was said by some to have played Bass and Accordion as well. He also sang. "Ahhhgh the pain". Harry Heppingstall on drums.

A single NCB Man was released in 1973 on Bell Records published Island Music.

Harry was replaced by Nick Trevisick shortly after the single was released.

We were all replaced by the Branch manager of the Midland Bank when the overdraft became due.

Although He allegedly had a very fine tenor voice we believe he remains unsigned

The following was taken from the the Band's My Space blog -

SWEENEY TODD

A BAND CALLLED GEORGE

Sweeney Todd was formed by Brothers Bob and Colin Young in Leamington Spa Warwickshire England in late 1969 early 1970. We got the idea and name Sweeney Todd from the 30s film, starring Todd Slaughter (what a name eh!!)

The first line up of Sweeney Todd consisted of My self (Bob Young) on lead Vox and guitar, Colin on Guitar and backing Vox, John Cirriani on bass and backing Vox and a drummer from Sunderland whose name Im afraid I cant remember. (If any body remembers him please drop me a line.) Sweeney Todd used to rehearse in St Paul's church hall on Friars St Warwick just up the road from The Seven Stars Pub.( I apologize to the neighbours ). We werent there long; we got chucked out because of the racket we made. Turn it down..WHAT.TURN IT DOWN..WAIT A MO WELL TURN IT DOWN ah! those were the days.

As Sweeney Todd we had various rehearsal rooms mostly church halls. There were no Garage bands then, and amps were either on or off.

If you wanted that nice loud crunchy guitar sound you had to crank it up to number eleven and the neighbours didnt like it.

So to get to your rehearsal room you also had to have transport as well. We were lucky, my dad gave us an old Bedford minibus. Just for fun we painted it matt black (blackboard paint) with runny blood red SWEENEY TODD letters on the back. (We havent come across a photo of the Sweeney Todd van yet. Again any body whose got one, we would love a copy) The state of this Sweeney Todd van got me stopped by the cops about twice a day (ah! perhaps they have a photo)

Control to all cars...be on the lookout for a mat black van with Sweeney Todd written on the back If you see this van lads stop it at all costs, its full of longhaired bleedin' hippies and a danger to society as we know it)

"E..VEN..IN SIR

IS THIS HERE SWEENEY TODD V..HICK..COOL YOURS SIR..

Yes officer

ave you been drinkin sir

No officer

PLEASE STEP OUT OF THE V..HICK..COOL SIR."

I spent a lot of time producing my driving documents down at the cop shop, until the dreaded day when I got stopped yet again. This time my MOT TEST CERTIFICATE (ministry of transport) was out of date. They finally got me. ( I wonder how many police hours it took) I got fined twenty quid. (about $30) I had to pay the fine off at two quid a week. I accidentally missed the last payment; I think we spent it on essentials. A pack of 20 No6 (ciggs) and the rest we wasted down the pub. Some days later there was a knock on the door, there stood a big burly sergeant copper. He said he had a warrant for my arrest (For two quid) and took me down the cop shopI had to be bailed outfor two quid I ask you (less than $4)

It wasnt long after this the Sweeney Todd van got swapped for a ford transit van, a dirty grey green one.nice and anonymous apart from the great iron bar and padlocks across the rear doors. This van later blew up on the way to the M6 some where near Birmingham. We were on the way to a gig at the Cavern in Liverpool. We had to hire a car to continue the Journey..when suddenly..

E..VEN..IN SIR

IS THIS V..HICK..COOL YOURS SIR..

No officer its on hire

I SEE SIR, ave you been drinkin sir

No officer

AH BUT YOU AVE BEEN SPEEDIN SIR

PLEASE STEP OUT OF THE V..HICK..COOL SIR.

They were so pleased you would have thought they had captured The Great Train Robbers in stead of Sweeney Todd.

By now the line up of Sweeney Todd consisted of Me on guitar, and kazoo, Colin on Bass, Roger Prince on guitar, harmonica, and mandolin, Fat Bas on accordion and I think Harry Heppingstall on drums. Unfortunately Roger was driving and got the speeding ticket, we had run through the dreaded radar speed trap. Quite a novel thing for us to do as in those days there were probably only two in the country. (west midlands police had obviously been told we had swapped the van) We arrived at the Cavern with only guitars. This was in the days when you took your own PA as well as all the back line. We used another bands gear for the gig. Im ashamed to say I cant remember who they were. I do remember that they were very good(Again if it was you let us know and Ill stand you a beer)..."AH! ANOTHER PINT OF GROG ROGER? ..Slurrp Ah! where was I ..ER.I SEE! PLASTIC GLASSES!!......ARE WE EXPECTING TROUBLEIt all gets very hazy from here on in But, Sweeney Todd were in the famous Cavern, Aaah! you could smell the .........er...atmosphere.....!!ANOTHER PINT ROGER? WELL THANK YOU..I DO THINK I WILL.We were on form and feelin' good. After a few pints we went to our dressing room.another sort of ..well cavern down a few steps.ripped plastic covered benches around the walls, nothing but the best for Sweeney Todd. Fat Bas lay down on the far bench opposite the door, muttering something about the lack of pies, he farted and fell asleep. He only suffered from stage fright when he was more than five miles from a chip shop. We all sat around wondering what to do next. We had a dressing room but apart from Colin who had a pair of cowboy boots we didn't have any stage clothes to dress up in, although Roger did have some Brut aftershave.

Suddenly the door opened and in came a young lady in a very short black dress. She lent against the door in a very provocative manner drooling slightly from the corner of her mouth. The door closed as she lent on it click..we all looked up.what would happen next..she slowly slid down the door..until she was sitting on the step.skirt rolled up and all legs. She got up and staggered over to where Bas was lying asleep..... on his back....on the bench.

For what seemed like an age she stood looking down at this peaceful sleeping giant.. and then...........threw up all over him.

It was obviously love at first sight.

To those of you who didnt know Bas he was..... Ukrainian..... and seemed to be permanently angry, even when he was happy.

He awoke in an explosion of beer and vomit..We were all very sympathetic of course..but we laughed until we cried, and apart from the threats of violence it all turned out ok because as far as I remember he took her outside and had his evil way with her. Consenting adults and all that.

If that was you drop us a li.. ...........No!! No!! what am I saying.

The gig turned out ok, but we couldnt hear ourselves sing (this was before monitor speakers. You monitored by listening to the sound bouncing off the back wall, and there was always plenty of that). Still we had played the Cavern and that was all that mattered.

I Dont remember where the next gig was..in fact I dont remember leaving the Cavern.I remember coming off stage and thenBluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuur it was 1973.

We used to frequent a pub in Leamington called the Coventry Arms

(I often wondered if there was a Leamington Arms in CoventryPlease no e-mail)

We were all in the pub I think after a rehearsal, all having a jolly old time when the conversation got around to the music we were playing.

The set we were using had the title track SWEENEY TODD in it. All other songs referring to SWEENEY TODD had gradually been dropped and replaced by other stuff of a much gentler nature and somehow the name Sweeney Todd didnt seem to fit what we were doingwe werent a heavy rock band any more.

So in a drunken stupor we decided to change the name Sweeney Todd to something more suitable..Some one produced a matchbox, one of those with the little sayings and proverbs on the backthis one was about a young lady trying to find a name for her babyshe said to her husband that she would like to call the baby George he said No, every Tom, Dick and Harrys called GeorgeWell we all fell about laughingBelieve me YOU HAD TO BE THERE.

from then on we were called A BAND CALLED GEORGE a revolutionary name for the time

We dropped the SWEENEY TODD songs and changed the complete set and later that year released a single NCB Man on Bell Records (p) Island Music.

More from the memoirs of SWEENEY TODD after we have had a lay down

OK every one Heads on desks

To cover ourselves against e-mail from Sweeney Todd fans who have much better memories than us we would like to parody the late Eric Morecambe and say

"We have used all the right memories but not necessarily in the right order"

To be continued

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The Is - Interview with Al Docker's Band

2007-03-20T10:58:36Z

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The Is aren't a Coventry band but have strong Coventry connections with

The Is - Blue Clue cover

keyboard player Al Docker and strong connections with the Broadgate Gnome digger community.

The networking around this site is pretty amazing with more and more Coventry musicians turning up, orffering comments and information, being put in touch with each other again. All important as new projects are slowly emerging, including the possiblility of a Coventry Music Museum. Pete Chambers is already organising a Cov Music exhibition at the Herbert.

The Is - Blue Clue interview

Here is an example of the material coming forth now - The Is - a Cornish band from Truro have got their own Vox site and as well as a My Space.

The Is - Blue Clue interview page 2

They have just sent through an interview, which includes contributions from Al Docker. Quite an interesting interview actually.

Also Al's younger brother John Docker has just opened a Vox blog here - Covmusicsite and uploaded one the songs from his 90's Cov punk band - John plays bass - check his site out - find his icon in the neighbourhood.

We may add some more audio and lyrics here and a few tales when it we receive it.

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