biog4

The line-up of APLEY RISE was (left to right;): new boy (me) on lead guitar and vocals. Gary on vocals and twelve string, Cliff Edwards on drums and Keith Elliot on bass and harmony vocals. (Tom Baker look-alike!)

It was early 1974 when I finally went on the road with Apley Rise. I got on well with the guys and we played the usual circuit of local working men’s clubs. Keith bore a striking resemblance to 'Doctor Who' star Tom Baker and when I mentioned this to him, he just smiled and said he'd never watched the program. . Cliff was a quiet easy going sort of guy, a good solid drummer and someone who would be turning up again in a future band. We enjoyed playing working men’s clubs and functions. I of course had no electric guitar and so for the first 6 months with the band I borrowed Gary's 'Les Paul' 'Black Beauty' copy. It sounded and played really well.

One highlight with the band I recall was in 1976, we were the support band for DEL SHANNON at 'The Island Club' in Leysdown on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent. Del's backing band 'Impala' were very good and at the end of the show I chatted to their guitarist who remarked about my (borrowed) 'Les Paul copy'

"Sounds nice mate, you can always tell a Gibson Les Paul.." he remarked. I nodded and then grinned at Gary, we never said it was only a Jap copy..

We met Del Shannon and he signed autographs for us. Keith took one of his old Del Shannon albums for him to sign, it was a memorable night. Del Shannon died a few years ago now, but I remember him as a really pleasant and likable guy.. It was with much sadness that I learned of his death a few years ago...

Eventually I was able to return Gary’s guitar and buy a white Fender 'Telecaster' from 'Pepper Music' in Cliftonville, Margate. We used to rehearse at a children’s home over at Westgate-on-Sea, this was where Keith (a carpenter by trade) had done some work and the owner Jerry, gave Keith permission to use a back room for the band to practice. The home was called 'Apley Rise' and that's why Keith had given the name to the band. We were never short of an audience when we were over there! Loads of wide-eyed smiling kids, peeping round the door at us..It made me feel emotional, all those unwanted children..so sad......

Over the time I was with the band things were good. We even did a most unlikely gig supporting IVOR EMANUELLE the opera singer at Christ Church College, Canterbury. He was a real gent, so nice..I was in awe of him because 'Zulu' was one of my favourite films at the time, in which he starred... Yes, looking back, we had some great times.. But as sometimes happens we played out as far as we could, and eventually it was time to move on.

Keith married an American girl and is now living out in the States near Baltimore. The last I heared he was playing in a country rock band.

I was looking for a bit of a change in late 1977 and happened to meet my old friend (from The Satans and The Variations) Buster Osmond. He was still with Barry Morgan and a guitarist called Geoff Ball. Jim Brice was on Bass. Buster asked if I would be interested in rejoining the band. I agreed it would be fun. 1977 saw THE VARIATIONS (Mk 2) back on the road again. The Line-up for the new 'old' band was Barry on keyboards and vocals, Geoff on shared lead guitar with me, Jim on Bass, Buster on drums and vocals, yours truly on vocals. Geoff was a nice guy, I had known him for many years, I first met him way back when he was with Doug Copeland in The Rousers (back to the early days of Chartham youth club.)

Geoff's style was very dance band orientated and this made us much more versatile in our range of music. Geoff is also a very good chord guitarist and he taught me a few things musically. This was perhaps the best (musically versatile) version of The Variations.

(Left to right;) Geof Ball (guitar). Jim Brice (bass). 'Buster' Osmond (Drums/vocals) . Myself (guitar/vocals). Barry Morgan (keyboards/vocals).

The 'new' Variations decided to make a demo album and we spent some time over at a recording studio in Ramsgate. It was above a cafe as I recall and on one session that was going on well into the early hours, we were dubbing vocals on a cover version of The Eagles song 'Lying eyes'. It had been a long night, and lots of work had gone into the harmonies. Outside a thunderstorm raged, suddenly there was a loud clap of thunder that dipped the power and lights down for a second.

The Engineer (who will remain nameless) had re-recorded over the original lay-down tape and there was no back up. We lost the whole song after spending hours on the session! Out of the sessions came four popular covers from our stage act. 'I shall be released', 'Witchy Woman', Long cool woman in a black dress' and 'This Boy'. I had the tracks on cassette somewhere but over the years I seem to have lost them. I think Jim still has the master tapes.

I remember the time that I had a student staying with me from the Middle East, the son of a wealthy prince. His name was Hedhadheed. I don't know if the spelling is correct, but that’s the pronunciation. Anyway, the band sometimes came over to my place in the evening to run through some vocals and harmonies and on this occasion my student came down from his room. There we were, drinking beer and singing away, myself, Buster and Barry. In his country alcohol is illegal and his face lit up in disbelief at the sight of us. He quickly disappeared and then returned with his camera! He sat with us and I offered him a drink. This was accepted and I think he enjoyed sitting with us, drinking beer and listening to us practice! When he eventually went back to his room we laughed and joked that he had probably never seen anything like it and needed photographic proof when he told his parents back home....!

........He was a nice guy, he couldn't speak a lot of English but he was very polite and well mannered, a pleasure to have around...

The band built its reputation as a really good 'all round' act and our set included 'Mud', 'Eagles' and quite a bit of rock music. I was really into ' Quo' at this time. My new Fender Telecaster served me well.

Jim was a part time fireman in his home village of Wingham. One Christmas we did a charity dance at the station for the local children.

The cabaret act was a Punch and Judy man, I think the band laughed louder than the kids! He was so good.

For the Kids :. Wingham Fire Brigade, children’s Christmas 'do' ...Jim, Buster, Geoff, Me and Barry...1977...

The band (as often) got really drunk..When I look back I really don't know how we survived those years.

The band also saw the beginning of the 'twin lead guitar breaks' 'as I was sharing solos with Geoff.

It was in September 1978 that I had the opportunity to travel away and work as an electrician doing shop fitting around England with Barry. It was not practical to be in a band now as a lot of the work was done over the weekends and also a long way from home. So after 18 month in the Variations 'Mk 5' we split again for the last time. Geoff’s son Trevor replaced me and a new keyboard player called Jeff Byde was recruited to replace Barry. They recruited a girl singer by the name of Jackie and soon after changed the name of the band to 'Cascade' . They played mainly functions, the music was less rock and more dance. .

The spring of 1979 found Barry and I still working all over the country as electrician shop fitters, but the itch to be in a band play was beginning to return...Barry said that he had spoken to Buster and that they missed the old days..Meanwhile Barry and I took our annual holiday away together with our families to Butlins, Bognor Regis. It was a great holiday, I finally learned to swim and also won 1st prize in the male vocalist competition. Oh..The prize? ..A travel alarm clock!! Also I was invited to judge the kiddies talent show. This meant I would miss the motorbike stunt show on the green that afternoon. ..Some prize!! Barry and I also went in for the main talent contest,

We had taken our guitars and an amplifier with us.. We played and sang the old Everly brothers song 'All I have to do is dream' anyway, we were runner’s up..It was good fun and yes; the band bug was getting stronger...

Barry and I wanted to try something different in the formation of a new band and decided that it would be nice to form a really first class comedy show band. This came about when we had been talking to 'Grump' after he had returned with Gary Cooper from the north. They had been involved in a road accident and had decided to pack in and come home. They were interested in forming a band with Barry and myself and so this would be the basis of the band. I would be lead guitarist, Barry would play bass, Gary had a good knowledge of keyboard chords so he would take care of those and Grump would be the front 'comedy' man. A guy we knew from Ashford, Dave Spratt agreed to join us as drummer. Gary's friend Bill Higgins would come in a handle the 'front of house' sound mixing. I can’t remember who thought up the name 'FLAME'

We performed our debut gig at the old Littlebourne village hall where we had played years before (remember the fuss about the dressing room door?) .It was in front of invited friends and family and gave us a really good dress rehearsal. At first things went ok, in fact very good. But return work is so difficult when you perform comedy and the clubs were few and far between who could afford us..

(I have no photos of this 'short lived' band, some were taken and I believe Gary Cooper has them. Unfortunately I am not in a position to obtain them as due to recent developments in my personal life, people take it upon themselves to be judge and jury of things that are of no business of theirs, they put 2 and 2 together and make 5. It takes events like recently to find out who your real true friends are...Hi Gary...)

Flame invested in a lot of new equipment and PA gear, we had a good sound and everything went ok to begin with. Whilst the first show at Littlebourne went well, further gigs seemed to be a lot harder work and the venues never seemed up to it. I think looking back now, maybe we should have found a good agent and worked further afield. .. Did I say GOOD agent? ha ha! There also seemed to be a misbalance in the act somehow and this compounded the feeling between Barry and Gary who never seemed to get on very well. Because of these factors Flame was short lived and we were thinking of calling it a day after only a few months. Barry was talking of returning to the 'function' dance scene...Barry had actually been in touch with Buster from Cascade. Jackie their singer had just left them and they had recruited a new lady vocalist from Faversham called Kim Sharpe, she was said to have a really good voice...

Apart from Jackie, Geoff Ball and his son Trevor were also thinking of leaving Cascade, so it was in early 1980 that Barry and I rejoined Buster once again this time with the 'function' band CASCADE. It was quite a big line up, the largest I have ever been in.: Buster: Drums/vocals, Kim: Vocals, Me:Lead guitar/vocals, Jeff: Hammond/Fender Rhodes/vocals, Barry: Synths/piano/rhythm guitar, Jim: Bass. -It was a six-piece band. This line up was held only through the summer, during which time we had a weekly residency at The Kings Hall, Herne Bay.

L to R : Jim (bass), Me (lead guitar/vocals), Buster (Drums/vocals), Kim (Vocals), Jeff (Keyboards/vocals), Barry (Rythm guitar/Synth/Harmonica/vocals).

Due to busy work commitment, Jim left as autumn approached and Barry swapped from guitar and synth to bass guitar, leaving us as a five-piece unit. In the pics taken at that time at the front area of The Odeon Ballroom, Ashford, you can admire our various coloured suits.

CASCADE played many venues and we went down very well. Of course the music we were playing was very different from my rock n' roll roots, but hey- I was working regularly and the money was good! Later in '81 Fred Belfield who Buster brought in to front mix the sound joined us. This worked well and Fred was great company and a good help, contributing towards the front of house P.A. by using his own Bose speaker set up and other equipment as well as ours.

Time passed and I was beginning to get restless, I was not going in the same direction musically as Jeff and Buster wanted to go... As 1981 drew to a close, I was about to make a major change in my music, more so than I had ever done before. It happened in a very roundabout sort of way.

I left Cascade and auditioned for a comedy showband called 'LIFE N' SOUL'. I remember turning up at Deal to the drummers house, Terry had a garage fitted out as a rehearsal room with drums and sound gear. . I did a bit of this and that, I played Apache (very badly I thought at the time) and did a take off of Frank Spencer. I got the job. Previously I had learnt all the songs and guitar parts to their Album and I was amazed when they informed me that they would not be performing any of their old material, but would rely on me for new songs! I felt as if I had wasted weeks learning all their songs! I was a little let down and unconfident at the time, mainly because I had been backing Kim and had very little material of my own, not to mention the wasted hours learning guitar parts from their L.P.! I started to think very seriously about my new role within the showband. Meanwhile, back in Cascade, my replacement was a musician called Mick Rook. A very good guitarist more suited to them.

I heard Barry had also just left the band and had been replaced on bass by a guy called Richard. In telephone conversation one evening to Buster I was telling him about my doubt as to whether I would join LIFE N' SOUL ...or not. He said that Mick was really good and that since Barry had left, they had not been happy with the bass player Richard. He apparently was used to playing a lot of rock and although he was an excellent player, he couldn't get used to some of the middle-of-the-road type of music that was expected at functions. Buster said that they were thinking of replacing Richard and if I decided not to join the showband, would I like to give it a try on bass guitar and rejoin Cascade? This put more of a decision on me, I quite fancied having a go on bass, so I borrowed an old Aria semi-acoustic from Fred (the soundman) and practiced. I found it came quite easy and soon became confident, it made a change from guitar and was good fun. After a couple of days I decided to tell Life n soul that I had changed my mind and that I would not be joining them.

It was good to be back in Cascade with my old friends in my new role as bassist/harmony singer and I soon got to know and make friends with Mick the guitarist. My first gig as bass player was at 'The Winter Gardens ballroom' in Margate, January 1982.

(These pics were taken during a function at The Odeon Ballroom in Ashford, Summer 1982, with Fred Belfield on sound.) photos: c. F. Belfield

As time went on Fred decided he wanted to commit to other things and so Mick recruited a guy called Pat Solly to join us on sound and also lights. Pat was an old friend of Mick's. Back in the 70's he was in Pats band called Suspicion with Cliff Edwards (our old Apley Rise drummer).At that time also touring 'The Honeycombs'..-

At the end of 1982, I had noticed the returning popularity of '50's and 60' music. The advent of popular films such as 'American Graffiti' and 'Grease' had a lot to do with it I suppose. Also Shaking' Stevens was constantly in the charts at the time. Many pubs and venues seemed to be booking this style of rock n roll music. Although I was reasonably happy in Cascade, I was missing the rock music. Jeff wasn't that keen on rock n' roll and I think at that time I was only singing about four or five rock 'n roll type songs. As 'Grease' was having a lot to do with the revival of 50's music, Cascade did feature some of the music from the movie. I sang duets with Kim on a couple of songs from the film 'You're the one that I want' and 'Summer Nights'.

That year Cascade decided to take a break from a new years eve gig and I had met up with Ray Fairbrass from the old days. He had been bassist with The Satans / Just 3 / Just 4 up until 1966. In 1967 Ray had replaced Les in 'The Ways and Means' and recorded a single with them called 'Breaking up a Dream'. The band had long since dis-banded and Ray was now going out solo now under the name of Ray Summers. We talked about the new revived interest in rock n' roll and he suggested a 'one off' New years eve rock 'n roll night. He was friendly with Colin who is entertainment’s secretary at The St. Stephens club in Canterbury. Ray and I hired the function hall there and obtained a good drummer who I knew and Ray had worked with by the name of Ronnie Silk. Fred Belfield our sound man in Cascade kindly came along to engineer our mix, using his PA and lighting.....and we were set. Ray had thought it best not to rehearse at all, we all knew the songs and besides, we thought it would be spontaneous and exciting just to go on and 'do it'..We needed a name for this gig, Rays stage name was Summers...so....'Summers and Winters' appeared at the club for a very packed new years eve rock n' roll party...It was great working with my old mate Ray again.. We had a terrific evening.

This new found energy gave me ideas.... The idea struck me that as Cascade were only playing on Saturday nights, it would be nice to form a little rock 'n roll pub band with similar minded musicians and just play now and then on a Friday, Sunday or maybe midweek. I mentioned this to Buster and he liked the idea. A name that came to mind for the band had to be... NOW N' THEN!