Formed by a group of friends in Fowey who, like many, were somewhat inspired to make music by the onset of Beatlemania. The Beatles proved that young people could make music, and suddenly teenagers all over the UK were picking up instruments.
David came from a music family, but all the rest of the group were also musical and were taking lessons.
Although musical they had little equipment. Pete Nutt ran an electrical shop in Fowey and subbed them for a Vox A30. They bought the rest of their equipment piece meal, paying a bit off each month. Gordon's dad owned a garage and they stored their equipment there. They also had a transit van, so Gordon became the band's driver.
They soon started learning new songs. David took up bass, learning by playing along to slowed down records by the Yardbirds. The group started off playing Beatles, Stones and Yardbirds before moving on to play a lot more R&B. Their main signature tune became House of The Rising Sun. With David on lead vocals this always got the crowd joining. They had excellent three part harmonies and learned new material quickly.
Decked out in black trousers, pale blue shirts, black ties and cuban heals they were soon playing across Cornwall. They were regulars at Fowey Town Hall, regularly filling the venue. They would also play a lot of village halls and towns and villages such as Polruan, Saltash, St Mabyn, Lostwithiel, Par and Polkerris (where they played in a fish loft!)
They were earning a decent wage for a group of teenagers and soon paid off all their equipment.
Before long they were playing at some of the bigger venues in Cornwall and supported some of the big acts of the day including The Pretty Things, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich, Fleur de Lys and The Barron Knights.
In July 1965 David's family moved to Wales and he left the band. He would continue music, turning pro in 1978, joining Brenda Wotton on acoustic guitar and backing vocals, touring and recording with her full time for three years across Europe and Australia.
Geoff Dunn would replace David and the band continued for some time afterwards, with Geoff being replaced by Ray Edwards and also Roger Elgin joining on Sax.
Geoff remembers playing at Blisland and they refused to pay us the band, and still owe them £10!
Gordon subsequently went pro, playing keyboards with
Djiin, Kingdom, Sunshine, The Electric Banana, The
Pretty Things, Metropolis, The Kinks, The Firm,
and also as a Sessional Musician and sadly died in 2003.
Gordon's Neice has
set up a Go Fund Me account to help raise funds for
a memorial headstone
https://www.gofundme.com/gordonjohnedwards |
