New Years Day saw them play the Connaught Hotel. The Move, Soul Seekers and Prim 'n' Proper joined them at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall later that week. At the end of January they shared the same stage with Zoot Money and John Mayall. They played the Silver Blades Ice Rink followed by a local Irish Club in Birmingham.
"We'd do a couple of one and a half hour sets at the ice rink and then do three one hour sets at The Garden of Eden. The pay was £38 for the two bookings... not bad money and it was cash in hand"
Don Powell
They travelled to Scotland frequently for long weekends of club appearances in Glasgow and Edinburgh. The transport came courtesy of an Austin J2 which they nicknamed 'Betsey'
"It was falling apart but it never let us down. Dave's Dad was a good mechanic and he kept it running for us."
Noddy Holder
1967 was the beginning of the Psychedelia set and Flower Power was setting in. The group had acquired a set of stage lights from the Wolverhampton Gaumont Cinema. They had a variety of colours on a revolving filter. Swin would spin the filter by hand to create a 'psychadelic rainbow effect'. At the Wolverhampton Civic Hall as support to The Move, they got a lot of stick over it.
"We changed our set and started to get into Flower Power. I remember that at about this time we played the Civic Hall and it was the first time that I saw the crowd stop and watch the band. It was due to us having some lights, nobody had lights in those days you see. Also we filled the place with balloons and plastic flowers. Everyone was so amazed that they couldn't stop looking at us: We were always trying to do odd and different things."On one occasion they sent somebody to the British Oxygen plant to pick up some helium for the balloons but he asked for hydrogen by mistake. Fortunately, as he was leaving, he was asked what he was using it for. Needless to say, a rather disastrous tragedy was narrowly avoided, more by luck than judgement, and the press were deprived of a spectacular headline.
Jim Lea Interview Apil 1980
The Wolvo Civic wasn't the only venue on The 'N Betweens hitlist. A few suffered from the groups experiments. One of the bands stage numbers was Groovin' (On A Sunny Afternoon) by The Young Rascals. The original has birds (feathered variety) singing on the intro. In an attempt to create atmosphere, the group tried adding atmospheric ambience using a tape player and aromatherapy via the burning of incense sticks. Unfortunately the tape player was somewhat erratic, never playing at a constant speed and occasionally rising in volume. In the case of the Wolfpack Hotel, the performance took place in the basement where the incense failed to disperse requiring the evacuation of the building.
"Everybody was choking. We had to clear the building, nobody could breathe... they had to open the windows and wait half an hour. You couldn't see a foot in front of your face."
Noddy Holder
The Nashville Teens, The Montanas and The Californians can probably bear witness to these events as they were regularly appearing alongside them.
Abbey Road Studios, April 20th, 1967, their contract with EMI, courtesy of Fowley, bought them the opportunity to record "a couple of tracks*" at the Abbey Road studios. In the session conducted by the legendary Norman Smith, they produced Delighted To See You, upon which Smith has written 'Not suitable for long term contract'.
Seems a bit harsh, I wonder if that refers to the group or an unheard song? Although it was never actually released it would be interesting to find out what label Delighted To See You was expected to come out on? Oh for a Polydor contact?
The 'N Betweens themselves (at least Abbey Road got their name right) were far more fascinated by the fact that The Beatles were recording in the next room. It would turn out to be the Sgt. Pepper's album.
Express & Star: May 4th 1967
The song can be found on the 1994 compilation "Psychedelia At Abbey Road".
Summer brought The Cream and The 'N Betweens to the Civic Hall again supported by three other bands. Other interesting artists include Hari Kari (Billy Bonham's latest group), The Mindbenders and A Clockwork Orange. The Bread made an appearance in August and John Mayall's Bluesbreakers (minus Clapton) in September. Other interesting names sharing the bill include Finders Keepers (Dave Holland of Trapeze), The Small Change and the mysteriously named U No Who?
The band again made the long trip via Holland, but this time they were all in the same van. Kiel is a coastal town just north of Hamburg. It was not the famous Star Club in Hamburg, frequented by The Beatles. The band were expecting another dingy club of the variety they were used to. They were somewhat surprised to find a converted cinema with a raised stage, dance floor and dining area. Being a coastal resort, the club attracted sailors and by default: trouble. Jim Lea was the first to notice that the waiters carried guns.
The resident band was Paul Raven & The Boston Showband and they were taking a month long break. Paul Raven of course, later called himself Gary Glitter (before becoming the world's most detestible popstar) but at present he was clad in leather with a big quiff, playing Rock 'N' Roll.
The band had spent all their money on petrol and they were pretty skint so Raven took them around the town and showed them where they could eat cheap. They worked daily from 20:00 till 04:00 . There were two bands trading alternate hours. The German venues were notoriously tight with wages and the band were given a pittance of an advance which was mostly spent at the bar between sets. They were also provided with very poor accommodation. The Boston Showband were taking the month off but staying on site. The other band had arrived first and taken the available beds.
Abbey Road Studios, April 20th, 1967, their contract with EMI, courtesy of Fowley, bought them the opportunity to record "a couple of tracks*" at the Abbey Road studios. In the session conducted by the legendary Norman Smith, they produced Delighted To See You, upon which Smith has written 'Not suitable for long term contract'.
Seems a bit harsh, I wonder if that refers to the group or an unheard song? Although it was never actually released it would be interesting to find out what label Delighted To See You was expected to come out on? Oh for a Polydor contact?
"We were taken to Abbey Road to cut a couple of tracks. As soon as we got there we knew the Beatles were recording there, because their cars were outside. All four of them used to drive around London in black Mini's with dark tinted windows.
We didn't see them but we could hear all these weird sounds coming out of the control room next door. they were locked away recording Sgt. Pepper. We couldn't hear any of the songs of course but they were obviously having one of those days when they were just trying out different tricks, like running tapes backwards. It sounded bizarre to us because it hadn't been done that way with music before. We were thrilled to be in the same studio as The Beatles.
The tracks we did there never came to anything but it was worth it for the buzz. The Beatles were Gods to every band and we had recorded next door to them."
Noddy Holder
Summer brought The Cream and The 'N Betweens to the Civic Hall again supported by three other bands. Other interesting artists include Hari Kari (Billy Bonham's latest group), The Mindbenders and A Clockwork Orange. The Bread made an appearance in August and John Mayall's Bluesbreakers (minus Clapton) in September. Other interesting names sharing the bill include Finders Keepers (Dave Holland of Trapeze), The Small Change and the mysteriously named U No Who?
"The ‘pop’ industry was now well on it’s way. Everyone in a band found loads of work and got paid too, and they also got to travel not just the full length of Britain but Germany opened up more alleyways with the Star Club."
"Manfred Weissleder owned the Star Club in Hamburg and had started opening other ones using the same name. His gig’s always had really big artists.... he had a reputation as a very tough man..."
George Peckham - Growing Up In LiverpoolTowards the end of '67, the Astra agency booked The 'N Betweens for a month at The Star Palast (Star Palace), a former cinema owned by another Manfred. Manfred Woitalla.
The band again made the long trip via Holland, but this time they were all in the same van. Kiel is a coastal town just north of Hamburg. It was not the famous Star Club in Hamburg, frequented by The Beatles. The band were expecting another dingy club of the variety they were used to. They were somewhat surprised to find a converted cinema with a raised stage, dance floor and dining area. Being a coastal resort, the club attracted sailors and by default: trouble. Jim Lea was the first to notice that the waiters carried guns.
The resident band was Paul Raven & The Boston Showband and they were taking a month long break. Paul Raven of course, later called himself Gary Glitter (before becoming the world's most detestible popstar) but at present he was clad in leather with a big quiff, playing Rock 'N' Roll.
The band had spent all their money on petrol and they were pretty skint so Raven took them around the town and showed them where they could eat cheap. They worked daily from 20:00 till 04:00 . There were two bands trading alternate hours. The German venues were notoriously tight with wages and the band were given a pittance of an advance which was mostly spent at the bar between sets. They were also provided with very poor accommodation. The Boston Showband were taking the month off but staying on site. The other band had arrived first and taken the available beds.
"They put us up in the cinema, on camp beds, on stairs that led to a fire escape... we all slept at different levels on a flight of stairs."
Don Powell
There were fights almost every night, usually between locals and sailors, usually over women. They often heard guns going off while they were playing. They were a rowdy and raucous band, the audience loved their heavy sound but the club owner didn't, he wanted them to play pop hits.
"We soon found out why, he'd bought these amazing new Fender amplifiers and they were his pride and joy...
To be fair they were superb and it was the first time we'd used really good equipment. We were twice as loud as the other group. The moment we came on, the boss would coming running down the front screaming at us that 'we were ruining his boxes'. He'd make us play at a pawltry volume. It really wasn't our scene but Paul Raven said put up with it if you want to get paid."
Noddy Holder
They got paid as little as possible and eventually, when they complained, they were told they didn't deserve any money, 'You're too loud and you don't play enough hits' he told us, says Holder.
"We lived on potatoe omlettes and pea soup. The promoter hated us because we played too loud and we knew we wouldn't get paid so after a week we decided to do a runner. We were desperate to get back home."
Jim Lea
After a few weeks it became clear to the band that they were not going to get paid properly. They were skint and playing a watered down version of their set. A pointless exercise for an aspiring band trying to make their name. The band decided to pack their gear and leave but Holder decided it was personal.
"Just before we split Noddy got this pointed stick and poked it through all of their speaker cabinets. He ripped all the cones..."
Don Powell
"I wasn't going to let him get away without paying us... I decided to destroy his beloved 'boxes'.
The club owners kids used to play with toy bow and arrows which were left around the club. I got a razor blade and an arrow and made a slit in the cloth... slipped the arrow through and punctured the speakers... You couldn't tell they had been tampered with. Then I messed with the fuses so that the amps would blow when they were switched on."
Noddy Holder
They then drove like maniacs across Germany and Holland for fear they were being chased. Further worry came from their petrol tank. It had a hole in it and could only take four gallons at a time.
Fifteen hours later, when Kiel would definitely be on red alert, they pulled in to port just in time to see the Harwich bound ferry leaving the quay but Holder managed to talk somebody into letting them board. In his book, Holder claims they actually brought the ferry back for them but I find that impossible to believe. Having said that, this was the late Sixties?
Shortly after, Holder and Powell found themselves in London's Oxford Street, watching the 'Bouncer' from the Star Palast walking towards them. Thinking he had been sent over to 'break our legs' the guys ran and hid in Selfridges.
They changed agencies, leaving Astra Agency and joining the newly formed Astra Allen Agency formed by Maurice Jones & Roger Allen and owned by Nita Anderson. Confusing or what?"Don spotted him first. 'Don't look now Nod, I think we're gonna die' he said... He was an enormous black guy, a real scarey character.
We found out later from the next band that went to Kiel, that the whole show had to be cancelled. The club owner was furious and kept screaming that he wanted us punished.
I was delighted. In those days. bands didn't have a leg to stand on. If you got ripped off - which happened all the time - you had to use your brain to get your own back."
Noddy Holder
Far less confusing was the work. Back in the UK on the 3rd December, they played Wednesbury's Bolero Club on the 5th. There's no New Years Eve gig discovered yet, but Boxing Day was spent at the Woolpack.
*Noddy Holder - Who's Crazee Now? page 61. Much of this section is ripped straight from "Feel The Noize" by Chris Charlesworth. Media supplied by Chris Selby after many hours of research.
The 'NBetweens
1967
The 'NBetweens
1967
Sun 1st January - Connaught Hotel,Wolverhampton
Tues 3rd January -Coleshill & Maxstoke Ex Servicemans Club,Coleshill,Birmingham
Fri 6th January - Civic Hall,Wolverhampton-The Move/Parchment People/SoulSeekers/Prim'n'Proper
Sun 22nd January -Connaught Hotel,Wolverhampton
Mon 23rd January -Baths,Willenhall -The ''N Dex
Fri 27th January - Civic Hall, Wolverhampton-Zoot Money/John Mayall/Savoy Jazz Band/Ken Ingram/Zenith Hot Stompers
Sun 29th January -Bolero Club,Wednesbury
Thurs 2nd February -Baths,Willenhall-Cliff Bennett/Ensemble/Scarab
Mon 6th February -Kingfisher Country Club,Kingswinford-Nashville Teens
Sun 12th February - Queen Mary Ballroom, Dudley-Walkers Walkers
Mon 13th February - Queens Head,Erdington
Fri 17th February - Robin Hood, Brierley Hill
Sat 18th February - Town Hall,Walsall-Love Lots
Mon 20th February - Park Hall Hotel,Wolverhampton-The Peeps/The Californians
Fri 24th February-Robin Hood,Brierley Hill
Sun 26th February -Bolero Club,Wednesbury
Wed 1st March - Queens Ballroom,Wolverhampton- The Montanas/Dual Purpose/Soul Seekers/The Answer
Sat 4th March - College of Commerce,Wednesbury-The Moving Target
Mon 6th March -United Services Club,Bilston
Wed 8th March -Mackadown Club,Kitts Green,Birmingham
Sun 12th March - The Connaught Hotel,Wolverhampton
Mon 13th March -Queens Head,Erdington
Sat 18th March - Town Hall,Uttoxeter
Mon 20th March - Town Hall, Walsall/Bossmen/Sounds Society
Thurs 23rd March - Tiles Club, London
Fri 1st March -Foseco SSC,Tamworth
Sat 1st April -Le Metro,Birmingham
Sun 2nd April -Connaught Hotel,Wolverhampton
Mon 3rd April -Queens Head,Erdington
Tues 4th April -Town Hall,Wednesbury
Thurs 6th April -Baths,Willenhall-The Montanas/Eric Haydock & His Rockhouse Band
Fri 21st April -Greenways,Baddesley Green,Stoke on Trent
Sat 22nd April - Wagon and Horses,Meir,Stoke on Trent
Mon 24th April -Park Hall Hotel,Wolverhampton-The Mindbenders/The Staffords
Sat 29th April - The Place,Hanley,Stoke on Trent
Fri 5th May - St Michaels Y C,Tividale
Sun 14th May -Blue Ball,Risley,Derby
Fri 19th May -Waggon and Horses,Meir,Stoke on Trent
Sat 27th May -Greenways,Baddesley Green,Stoke on Trent
Sun 28th May -Bolero Club,Wednesbury
Fri 2nd June -Town Hall,Walsall,Graham Bond Band/The Vogues
Sun 4th June -Old Crown & Cushion,Perry Barr,Birmingham
Fri 9th June- Civic Hall,Wolverhampton-The Cream/Parchment People/Peasant Set/British Standard
Sun 18th June -Queen Mary Ballroom,Dudley - The Soul Seekers
Wed 21st June - Hen & Chickens ,Langley
Sun 25th June -Bolero,Wednesbury
Sun 2nd July - Bulls Head,Yardley,Birmingham
Tues 4th July -Carlton Club,Erdington
Fri 7th July- Civic Hall, Wolverhampton-The Flower Garden/The Montanas/Hari Kari
Sat 8th July - Woolpack,Wolverhampton-The Choice
Sat 8th July -Connaught Hotel,Wolverhampton-The Clockwork Orange
Sun 9th July - Bolero Club,Wednesbury
Mon 10th July -Bulls Head,Yardley,Birmingham
Thurs 13th July -Regents Club, Langley Green-Californians
Thurs 27th July -Top Rank,Hanley,Stoke on Trent
Fri 28th July - Bolero Club,Wednesbury
Sat 29th July-Connaught Hotel,Wolverhampton
Sun 31st July-Regents Club, Langley Green-Californians
Sat 5th August - Le Metro Club, Birmingham
Sun 6th August -Queen Mary Ballroom.Dudley-The System
Mon 7th August -Civic Hall,Wolverhampton-The Treatment
Thurs 10th August -Kingfisher Country Club.Wallheath-The Agony/The Flower Garden
Fri 11th August - United Services Club,Bilston
Sat 12th August -Woolpack,Wolverhampton-The Bread
Fri 18th August -Civic Hall,Solihull -DD,B,M&T
Sat 26th August -Wulfrun Hall- U. No. Who
Mon 28th August - Parkhall Hotel, Wolverhampton-Lemon Limes
Fri 1st September - Civic Hall, Wolverhampton-John Mayall's Blues Breakers,/Alan Bown Set/The Flower Garden The News)
Sat 2nd September - Town Hall, Bilston-The Flower Garden
Sun 3rd September -Queen Mary Ballroom,Dudley
Tues 5th September -Joseph Sankey Sports & Social, Bilston
Wed 6th September -Civic Centre,Stourport
Thurs 7th September - Kingfisher Country Club.Wallheath-Dual Purpose
Sat 9th September - Woolpack, Wolverhampton-The Small Change
Sat 16th September -Town Hall,Uttoxeter
Fri 29th September -Civic Hall, Wolverhampton-The Montanas/The Californians/Hari Kari/Finders Keepers/Varsity Rag)
Sun 31st September -Queen Mary Ballroom, Dudley-Lady Jayne & The Royaltee
Sun 8th October -Connaught Hotel,Wolverhampton
Tues 10th October -Woolpack,WolverhamptonWed 11th October -The Makadown,Kitts Green,Birmingham
Fri 13th October -Civic Hall,WolverhamptonSat 21st October -Town Hall,Uttoxeter -The Spectres
Sun 22nd October -Queen Mary Ballroom,Dudley-Dantes Inferno
Fri 27th October -Greenways,Baddesly Green
Sat 28th October -Le Metro Club,Birmingham
Sun 29th October -Connaught Hotel,Wolverhampton
Fri 4th November -Bolero Club,Wednesbury
Mon 6th November - Queen Mary Ballroom,Dudley-The Tages
Tues 7th November -The Woolpack,Wlverhampton
Fri 24th November -Civic Hall,Wolverhampton -John Mayalls BluesBreakers/Dantes Inferno
Sun 3rd December -The Swan,Yardley,Birmingham
Tues 5th December - Bolero Club,Wednesbury
Fri 8th December - United Services Club,Bilston
Sun 10th December -Connaught Hotel,Wolverhampton
Mon 18th December - The Broadway Club, Dudley
Sun 24th Deember -Bolero Club,Wednesbury
Tues 26th December - Woolpack, Wolverhampton
Sat 30th December - The Connaught Hotel,Wolverhampton -The Del Roy Good Band.
Does anybody know of any Bee Gees' cover versions that the 'N Betweens performed live? If so, could you please let us know, below?
ReplyDeleteStatus Quo covered their Spicks And Specks the following year, so I am wondering if our lads ever performed that track, as well?