Peace and Quiet were form by a group of school friends in Camborne. Through their links with the Dolcarth Fair in Tuckingmill Peter Blakely would become the bands manager. Peace and Quiet would hold dances in an old warehouse space in Tuckingmill, however with only one small speaker for all the band to plug into it the events never quite took off.
The band's first drummer was Paul Keating, a Canadian. The band were on hand when he purchased his first kit, each of them bringing a piece of kit back on the bus! In the early days the band would practice in the front room of Dave Fisher, later moving to an old dynamite factory in Dolcarth (now the location of Warrior Warehouses).
As with many of the local bands at the time they started out playing Motown, Rock & Roll standards and hits of the day. As the sixties progressed the band started moving into more psychedelic territory, which was at odds with Trevor's interest in classic rock and roll. This change in musical direction would lead to Trevor leaving the band so he could continue to perform the style of music he loved. He would be replaced by Danny Gill who previously sang with Danny's Passion.
Peace and Quiet would enter and win the 1968 Rock & Rhythm Contest. The West Briton report the win;
The hallucinatory lighting was part of the act of the winning group, the Peace and Quiet, of Camborne. They produced the weird lighting effects with a system known as liquid projection, and it riveted the attention of the 600 teenagers who crowded the hall to watch and hear the 12 groups in the contest. The Peace and Quiet's unconventionally dressed members were Danny Gill, Barry Pascoe, David Fisher, Jasper James and Tony Richens, with dancer Joel Maddocks.
Peace and Quiet were heavily influenced by West Coast psychedelic bands, and would adopt a similar style to the Grateful Dead, playing extended 20 minute versions of song such as Smokestack Lightning. The band's main audience draw subsequently became many of the local 'potheads'. They had their own light show, which was put together by same person who ran the light shows for The Reaction.
There were two record shops that played a big part in not only influencing the sound of the band, but also 'turning on' a generation of Cornish teenagers. The Golf Cafe and Record Emporium and Gyllanvase
Beach in Falmouth was opened by somebody who had moved down from London after being involoved in the jazz scene. Although in his mid-50s he was still in tune with the latest trends and as well as importing rare jazz LP's he also started to bring in records from the burgenoing West Coast psych scene, so teenagers from the likes of Camborne and Redruth were suddenly greated with LP's from the likes of Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Clear Light and Fever Tree. The mind blowing sleeves and music would be a revalation for a generation raised on the pop and beat of the hit parade. John Oliver's record shop in Redruth would soon start doing the same, and while psychedelia was never the prevailing trend in Cornwall there was a hardcore group of teenagers, including Peace & Quiet, who delved headlong into this new musical and cultural revolution.
Trevor would go on to play in numerous bands including Face Value, who would back up Screaming Lord Sucth on many occassions. Since 2001 he has performed in the duo Out of Bounds, playing regular on the pub, club and holiday park circuit of Cornwall. |
