1960 - 1970

Skooldaze

Some good things about attending Southend High School were the list of musos that had been, were currently, or would go to school there. A list of Southend's finest would definitely include Gary Brooker and Robin Trower (the Paramounts, Procol Harum, Robin Trower band), Mickey Jupp (the Orioles, Legend), Barrie Martin (Eddie & the Blizzards, the Kursaals, the Hamsters), and the King brothers (the Fugitives). Noted musicologist, lyricist and sometime drummer Will Birch, and stalwart of the bass guitar and journalist pencil, David Murdock, met up with me in the almost-famous Surly Bird, precursors of the Kursaal Flyers.

It was a struggle at Southend High - after a brilliantly studious couple of years, in which I starred in the football and cricket teams and came top of the year, I succumbed to insulin-dependent diabetes, which forced a couple of spells in hospital of some months. My classmates thought I was a weirdo so I didn't get to socialize much with them. Suffering from teenage angst and horrendous acne, I became a bit of a loner until Junior School classmates, having formed a pop band, thought of me as a suitable candidate for the position of piano player in the Saints and Sinners ("heavenly music with a devilish beat" - in fact, totally incompetent music with no sense of beat whatsoever). We did manage to play at various church youth clubs etc. David Hatfield, the original Kursaals bassist, was also a member. I was very keen on being in a pop band - it seemed like a good way to meet girls.

The King brothers then invited me to join the Fugitives; it was good to get paid for playing music. (On the recent Naughty Rhythms 2001 tour, I was accosted by Peter King, who I don't think I'd seen since 1967 - he reminded me that I never paid him for the extended hire of his Selmer Thunderbird amplifier.) The bass player (Barrie Cleasby) and I became good friends, terrorizing Southend Youth Center dances with our arrangements of mod classics with Who, Hendrix and Small Faces covers thrown in. I had graduated to the Loud Guitar, and it was with some pride that I persuaded my mother to sign HP forms for my first Marshall stack, took it to the Friday night gig, and proceeded to give them definitive versions of "Kids are all right", "Purple Haze", "My friend Jack eats sugar lumps" and "All or nothing". Drummer in Pig Iron was Bob Welsford, who has contributed some photographs to the Photo Page. Keyboards were handled by the Mighty Mouse, Ian Gibbons. Ian has played for every successful band from Southend, to my knowledge - he, currently, plays for the Roger Chapman band

Hippie daze

About this time, public exams were looming. Having dealt with O-levels with no let up to my extra-curricular activities, I found the job of going to school for A-levels too tedious, consequently I didn't achieve good enough results. Needing a re-sit, I enrolled at the local tech. and scraped together a few passes. This led to a job at May and Baker, Dagenham, as a trainee research technician. It became apparent very soon that I had no real talent for messing about with toxic chemicals, and even less talent for getting the 7.30 train each day from Chalkwell station. After a spectacular incident which involved a bunsen burner, a flask full of alcohol and the Dagenham Fire Brigade, which left the entire Research building taking cover on the football pitches, it was suggested that I re-think my career path in Medicinal Organic Chemistry research. I left to take up a teacher-training course at Brentwood College of Education. This also featured a bloody train journey each day until one of my fellow trainees Stuart mentioned that he drove up from Leigh and would I like a ride? You betcha!! Funnily enough, this Stuart (whose surname has escaped me at present) was an old boy of Belfairs High School, and this was a school in which I would find employment after graduation.

Photos

1960 - 1970

Hippie daze