Years active:

1971-73

Location:

Newquay

Band Members:

Line Up 1 (1971)

Line Up 2 (1972-3)

Graham Hicks (Guitar/Vocals)
Tony Cousins (Keyboards/ Vocals)
Duncan Yelland (Bass Guitar)
Ivan Lyne (Drums)
Bill Gill (Drums)

Thanks to Graham Hicks here some information on Hairy Magpie

Line-Up 1

Hayle Towans Holiday Park

Some of the equipment we used:-

Hiwatt P.A
Hammond Organ and Leslie Rotary Speaker Cabinet
Trixon drum kit
Gibson Les Paul guitar with Hi-Watt 200w with two 4x12inch speaker cabinets.
Wilson Bass Guitar and Marshall amplifier.
I remember buying the Hi-Watt PA and my Hi-Watt 2000 Lead Amplifier from the Band Box Music Shop in Redruth.
I still have the Hi-watt speaker cabinets.
                                              
Some of the songs we played:-

Rock Me Baby
Paranoid - Black Sabbath
Long Tall Sally - Little Richard/The Beatles
Strange Kind Of Woman - Deep Purple
America - The Nice
Intermezzo from the Karelia Suite – The Nice
American Woman - Guess Who

Rock Me Baby (St Just Town Hall, 31st July 1971. With Paul Foster)

Set list from the early days

The band’s mode of transport was an old Bedford J Type RAF ambulance.

Roger Taylor of Queen also played drums with us on one of our residencies at the Driftwood Spars. If I remember correctly we played, "Strange Kind of Woman" by Deep Purple and "Rock Me Baby". The date of this performance is most likely to have been the 5th August 1971.  

Dave Bunday remembers that Roger played his Trixon drum kit and “sat-in” with Hairy Magpie for approximately 20 minutes. “Roger Taylor and Queen” played at the Driftwood Spars on the following Monday.

Hairy Magpie also played under the name of "The Graham Quartet - with Hammond Organ". We realised that we could also play in hotels, such as the "Beachcroft Hotel" in Newquay, with this more refined name.  We used to play songs such as "Time is Tight" by Booker T. & the MG's.

Some of the venues that Hairy Magpie/The Graham Quartet (1st Band) played during 1971.

Manderley Country Club, Budock (This is possibly our first booking as "Hairy Magpie".)
Indian Queens Hall
Beachcroft Hotel, Newquay  (This would have been a Graham Quartet gig)
Flamingo Ballroom, Redruth
Blue Lagoon, Newquay
Doublestiles, Newquay
King Mark, Newquay
Driftwood Spars, St. Agnes
Hayle Towans Holiday Park
St Just Town Hall (a recording exists from this gig)
RAF Chivenor
St Agnes (Driftwood Spars)
Winter Garden in Penzance

Sadly Paul Foster passed away in late December 2010.

Line-Up 2

Line-Up 2 at Drum Major, Bodmin

Some of the equipment we used:-

Wem P.A
Lowrey Organ and Leslie Rotary Speaker Cabinet
Premier drum kit with a Ludwig snare drum
Gibson Les Paul guitar with Selmer n Bass Amp
Fender Precision Bass Guitar and Marshall amplifier.


Some of the songs we played:-

Gypsy - Uriah Heep
Sheep - The Strawbs
Paranoid - Black Sabbath
Locomotive Breath - Jethro Tull
I Can't Explain - The Who
Looking Back - John Mayall
Wishing Well - Free
Living For The City - Stevie Wonder
Better by You, Better by Me – Spooky Tooth
With A Little Help from My Friends – Joe Cocker
Willie The Pimp - Juicy Lucy/Frank Zappa

Locomotive Breath (Drum Major, Bodmin. With Tony Cousins)

The band’s mode of transport was a long wheel-base Black Transit Van.

Tony Cousins joined Hairy Magpie around 1972 following the folding up of his previous band, Easy Moses. Tony replaced Paul Foster on keyboards.

We were based in Bodmin and one of our regular gigs was at the Drum Major where we were frequently joined by Leo Orton who would leap from the high stage during his rendition of Jethro Tull’s “Locomotive Breath”. Another personal favourite of the band was Uriah Heep’s “Gypsy”.
Tony Cousins used to enjoy doing a Sunday night after Ginhouse had played on a Friday at the Drum Major, as Dick Gynn used to leave his Hammond organ for him to play instead of his old Lowrey, It also saved us carrying the Hammond organ up all of those stairs at the Drum Major.
 
Graham Hicks living in Cornwall, and still “on the road”
Duncan Yelland emigrated to Canada.
Tony Cousins living in Cornwall and still occasionally plays keyboards
Ivan Lyne living in Cornwall, and still “on the road” playing drums with “Rickety Bones”.

Some of the venues that Hairy Magpie (2nd Band) played during 1972-1973.

Tony Cousins remembers Hairy Magpie

I joined Hairy Magpie around 1971 following the folding up of my previous band, Easy Moses.

At the time the line up was myself, Tony Cousins (keyboards), Graham Hicks (Lead guitar and vocals), Duncan Yelland (Bass) and Ivan Lyne (Drums). I replaced Paul Foster who I believe moved to Saffron. Bill Gill later replaced Ivan. One of our regular gigs was the Drum Major, Bodmin where we were frequently joined by Leo Orton who would leap from the high stage during his rendition of Jethro Tull’s “Locomotive Breath”.

Another of my personal favourites was Uriah Heep’s “Gypsy”.

I used to enjoy doing a Sunday night after Ginhouse had played on a Friday as Dick Gynn used to leave his Hammond organ for me to play instead of my old Lowrey, (many roadies will remember with pain humping that beast up and down the stone steps at the Drum).

Roger and Rodney Bentley were the landlords and Roger would often come up and play his bongos during such tracks as Santana’s “Black Magic Woman”.

Our regular roadie was “Spud” Tatum, later to have his own Disco “Arrno’s Sound Circus”

I remember I still had EASY MOSES painted on the front of the organ and Bill Gill got so fed up with asking me to paint over it, he arrived at a rehearsal one evening with a tin of black paint and a brush and proceeded to do, with gusto, what he had been telling me to do for weeks. Over 20 years later I was playing with Beaver at the Red Lion, Newquay when the landlord (Geoff Treverton) said to me “There’s a bloke at the front door saying something about you owing him for a tin of paint”. And there was Bill and family.

With thanks to Graham Hicks for the audio & images

Please check out Graham Hicks website for great pictures of the band - here

Links to other bands:

Graham Hicks played with Shivering Sands, Lynn and the Travellers, Western Union, Coconut Grove and Safron

Dave played with the Big Four, Other Five, Jaguars, Good Times, Trevenson Tree Tramplers and Hairy Magpie

Paul played with Good Times and Western Union

Tony Cousins played with Easy Moses

Ivan would also play with The Jaguars, Trevenson Tree Tramplers and Mr Rusty's Raz-A-Ma-Taz Revival Machine and The Druids

Bill Gill also played with The Confederates, The Individuals, The Onyx and Ginhouse