September 2008 Archives

For some weeks before Denny Laine and the Diplomats final appearance together, at Birmingham Town Hall, we had been rehearsing with our new line-up of the Diplomats.

Another respected Birmingham band to break up at the same time as us was Gerry Levene and the Avengers, pictured below. (They had a record released in 1963 on the Decca label, Dr Feelgood, but it failed to chart ).

Drummer Graeme Edge joined Denny in his new outfit, The Soul Preachers (who went on to become the M&B Five, then the Moody Blues Five and finally the Moody Blues ).

To replace Denny we also recruited from the Avengers lead guitarist Mick "Sprike" Hopkins and bass player / singer Jim Onslow.

On some numbers we actually utilised two bass guitars, which along with my sometime use of two bass drums, must have produced an amazingly bottom-heavy sound.

After my goodbye handshake with Denny after the Town Hall show (a moment captured on camera by Midland Beat), the new Diplomats wasted no time on getting back on the road.

It was the next night in fact, March 26th, at the Station Hotel in Selly Oak, Birmingham.

Following the disappointment of another recording deal coming to nothing, and in spite of lots more gigs coming in, the group morale within Denny Laine and the Diplomats towards the end of 1963 was beginning to wane and cracks were beginning to show.

Denny was the most ambitious member of the band, with me a close second. His desire to be the dominant one and to get noticed by a wider audience was getting stronger and stronger. He had bought himself a second hand Triumph Herald convertible from one of the many car dealers who frequented the "Moathouse" club, and started to drive to gigs on his own. Phil, Steve and I travelled to the shows as usual , in our lipstick adorned Commer minibus, bringing our equipment.

In the Spring of 1963, on a one-off trip towards the East coast of England we found ourselves doing a gig at Scunthorpe Baths.

Although Denny Laine and the Diplomats had begun to develop a healthy following in our native West Midlands, the good folk of Scunthorpe had clearly never heard of us, and the show was poorly attended.

Amongst the sparse crowd though was a lad from our neck of the woods - Tipton, in fact.

His name was Nicky James, a tall, skinny, good-looking guy with a mop of Brylcreemed black hair, swept back Teddy Boy style. He asked us if he could get up on stage and sing with the group.

Now this was something we never allowed to happen, but taking a look at Nicky's rough-looking mates and not fancying getting ourselves getting beaten up as we loaded the van, we agreed.

He asked us if we knew any Elvis Presley numbers, which we did, and he launched into One Night With You. He was sensational - the best Elvis soundalike I have ever heard to this day.

My diary this week goes back 13 years to the second week of September 1995, when I was on tour with ELO Part 2 in North and South America.

Thursday September 7th

Drove down to Gatwick in pouring rain. An hour in the Delta Airlines lounge before a business class flight to Atlanta. Couple of hours wait there before connecting flight to Kansas City (what a waste of your life it is sitting around in airports!) Checked into a Holiday Inn Express.

Friday September 8th

Day of extremely boring rehearsals.

Saturday September 9th

Awake too early with the usual jet-lag. Minibus to the venue - a lovely open air amphitheatre set in a huge park - and we ran through most of the show with the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra, Louis Clark conducting.

Nice gig catering of salmon, salad and rice. Good crowd of about 6,000 and went down very well.

I found it hard to relax though, having to really concentrate on keeping strict time to hold together band and orchestra, and having to play too quietly for my liking.

I'm one of the loudest drummers around - I want to play loud rock 'n' roll!