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John: I was a regular presenter of Let's
Pretend- an ITV kiddies' show-, and a cock-up from one of those
has been a regular item on 'TV's Naughtiest Blunders' I did both
series of Without Motive an ill-starred Ross Kemp (who?)
vehicle, and have done extensive work in theatre and radio.
I got a degree in Music Theatre from York Uni, studying under
the great Wilfrid Mellers- the man who wrote about the Beatles
being the inheritors of Schubert's mantle.
while there I wrote my first musical- Massacre!-(based on
Marlowe's "A Massacre at Paris") with Bill Pryde, which we took
to the Edinburgh festival. The great Harold Hobson said in the
Sunday Times it was 'Mildly Amusing' (bastard)
I also led the (some say) legendary York soul band
"Expensive"--We foresaw many albums in the vein of : FAR
TOO---Expensive! and -REALLY ---Expensive.-- etc etc you get the
picture. Thing is we didn't make any money.
Line up was me on piano and lead vocals, Ruthie Smith, Caroline
Gillfillan and Marion ('Bennie') Lees as backing and occasional
lead vocals-- all of them later formed a Wimmins' band in
London with Lacka (-Daisical) called "The Stepney Sisters".
Ruthie later learned Sax and got considerable success with the
Jazz -Funk Band---.The Guest Stars ( also contained Lacka on
Piano) They also played on 'Pigeon Street' and "Rub- a Dub Dub",
two cartoon shows with music by "Bennie" Lees.I sang on both of
them, the latter together with the wonderful Madeline Bell.
The other band members were (in York) Arthur Rutherford on
drums, Steve Beresford on bass and Jan Steele on alto sax.Steve
did some work with The Slits in the mid 70's and knew Alana
Hamilton (?) from The Thompson Twins. I don't know what happened
to Arthur-- nice guy-- not a good drummer! On one of our gigs we
played warm up for Bob Marley and The Wailers on their "Catch a
Fire" tour. They weren't even top of the bill. after us, but
before The Wild Angels (who?) The Island reps following the
Wailers around liked us- as did Marley- whom we met after the
gig (he was smoking the biggest spliff I have ever yet seen)-
and told us to send our tapes to Island, but also" Get
rid of your drummer!" Alas I had already decided to follow an
acting path (fool) and anyway, we didn't know any other drummers
in York--that's why we had Arthur.
I do remember the gig well--I was transfixed by Carlton Barret's
drumming-- I'd never realised there were so many different
subtle off- beats possible in one bar of music!
I ended up going to The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School for two
years before joining the Old Vic company. the band finished Uni
at the same time and drifted London-wards.
They needed a pianist/ arranger and met up and worked with Nick
Plytas- with whom they cut a demo single "Going Now"this didn't
work out, and when I later met Nick, he was working with the
awesome Danny Adler - we all jammed together at his flat in
town.--his band Roogalator were starting to make waves in
London-(see his web site)
Nick later played on Heaven 17's album (can't remember the
name-- the one with 'Temptation' and 'Live with Me' )
A visit to see my band mates Bennie and Caroline who shared a
flat in Dalston led to me rejoining the band for a Summer season
(ha!) at a pub in Clissold Rd.
This time it was me, Ruthie on Sax and vocals, Bennie on bass
and vocals, Herman Hauge on Sax, Steve (?) on guitar and the
brilliant Dave Solomon on drums-- the only white drummer I've
ever known who really COULD play all those crisp Motown drum
intros in the style of Bennie Benjamin and 'Pistols' Allen Dave
was an awesome stylist with brilliant technique and feel, and
I've often thought that, had we had him in York, my life might
have taken a different path. |
