When Johnny Hubbard left Johnny and The Giants he joined The Silvertones, who then changed their name to The West Coast Sound. Johnny replaced Rodney John, although he would occasionally guest with the band.
The band played the hits of the day, as well popular soul numbers such as Mr Pitiful, Ride Your Pont, In The Midnight Hour and Knock on Wood. The played all around the Newquay area such as Doublestiles, King Mark, Blue Lagoon and Tall Trees.
The band’s manager signed the band to two American recording companies, Gait Records in California and Kent Records in New York. The band was buzzing, but nothing came of this. It was a standard con of the day, a ‘sleeper contract’, with bands being signed up to a label who promised nothing, but would take a large cut if the band made it big. The band’s manager made use of these deals by promoting the band in adverts as ‘come and see the West Coast Sound…..an American recoding band’!
This would back fire on the band at a gig in St Mawes Village Hall when the promoter (and crowd) assumed they were actually American. The band’s manager told the band ‘You’ve got to sound like Americans. If you don’t convince that crowd out there, the promoter wants his money back with interest…...not to mention that the crowd will lynch you!’. Thankfully they managed to get away with it.
They also played the bigger venues in Cornwall, such as The Flamingo and supported famous names including The Merseys, Pretty Things, Billy Fury, The Herd and Paul Raven.
With Rodney John
|
