The future Crazy World of Arthur Brown front man formed this group around December 1965 after leaving The Arthur Brown Union.
The line-up above headed to Paris around early 1966 and played at the Ange Rouge Club in Montmartre until about May/June. The group’s performance on French TV can be seen on You Tube. At one point French drummer Christian Deveaux took over from the original sticks man.
During this time, the group recorded two tracks for the Roger Vadim/Jane Fonda film La Curee (aka The Game is Over) – “Don’t Tell Me” and “Baby You Know What You’re Doing”.
However, around June 1966, Brown returned to England briefly and convinced former Arthur Brown Union guitarist Paul Brett to join his band. It’s not clear, however, if it was the same formation as above with Brett succeeding Martin Kenny.
Brett recalls that the group played at the James Palladium for several months before landing some work in Spain and working there for several months at a club in Marbella. Arthur Brown’s band also worked at the Bus Palladium, taking over from The Ingoes according to that band’s guitarist Jim Cregan.
Around October 1966, Brown returned to London and formed the original Crazy World of Arthur Brown with Drachen Theaker. Barry Dean joins the remnants of The Bo Street Runners in Patto’s People.
Singer Dave Terry (aka Elmer Gantry) who’d replaced Arthur Brown in The Arthur Brown Union remembers that he later shared a house in Putney with Brown, Theaker and Vincent Crane alongside former Arthur Brown Union sax player Tony Priestland.
Thanks to Arthur Brown, Paul Brett, Elmer Gantry (aka Dave Terry), Jim Cregan and David Else for helping with the story
Photo: Roy Stacey. The Arthur Brown Union live. Pictured: Roy Stacey, Heather Swinson, Paul Brett, Tony Priestland and Derek Griffiths. Missing from the photo: Jim Toomey (behind Swinson), Art Regis and Arthur Brown
Arthur Brown (lead vocals)
Heather Swinson (vocals)
Paul Brett (lead guitar)
Art Regis (keyboards)
Tony Priestland (aka Tony Crane) (alto sax)
Derek Griffiths (tenor sax)
Roy Stacey (bass)
Jim Toomey (drums)
While still studying at Reading University and recording with The Diamonds, Arthur Brown joined The Swinging Machines around April 1965 (Ed. Arthur Brown says he had previously sung with The South West Five).
The band minus Heather Swinson outside Brett’s parents’ house in Fulham. Left to right: Brett, Griffiths, Toomey, Stacey, Regis and Priestland with Brown on the floor. Photo: Paul Brett
Stacey remembers that the group opened for The Spencer Davis Group at the Ricky-Tick in Hampshire (possibly Basingstoke) and went down a storm. (Ed. This gig is likely to be at the Galaxy Club at Basingstoke Town Hall on 27 August 1965.)
“There were lots of foreign students. Spencer opened the first and closing sets with The Arthur Brown Union in the middle,” he recalls.
“Once Spencer started up the students left the dance floor moving into the bar. When The Union opened the middle set old ‘Brownie’ introduced us in French then went into medley of up-tempo soul and funk. The dance floor was heaving. They loved us. When Spencer returned for the closing set the students vacated the dance floor.”
The bass player also remembers that Don Arden booked the band for a gig near Manchester but failed to tell them that he’d booked the gig under the name The Echoes, Dusty Springfield’s backing band.
“When we arrived, the promoter looked somewhat puzzled,” remembers Stacey. “To our surprise, Arden had booked us out as Dusty Springfield & The Echoes. We said, ‘Dusty’s ill’, couldn’t come’. Less than pleased he was. We did the gig and didn’t get paid.”
Sometime around late November (possibly mid-December), Arthur Brown departed and Dave Terry (aka Elmer Gantry) from The Impacts took over as front man. The group then briefly worked as The High Society before reverting to the name, The Union.
Notable gigs as Arthur Brown & The Machines:
8 May 1965 – Galaxy Club, Victoria Hotel, Basingstoke, Hampshire (Hampshire and Berkshire Gazette) Spelt Machenes (says seven piece)
15 May 1965 – Co-op Rainbow Suite, Birmingham with The New Tones and The Taverners (Birmingham Evening Mail)
29 May 1965 – New Brompton Football League, Kent Alloys Canteen, Strood, Kent (Chatham, Rochester & Gillingham News) Billed as Arthur Brown and his band so may be a different group
5 June 1965 – Galaxy Club, Town Hall, Basingstoke, Hampshire (Hampshire and Berkshire Gazette) (Says eight piece)
6 June 1965 – Galaxy Club, Addlestone, Surrey (Woking Herald) Opening night
Notable gigs at The Arthur Brown Union:
27 August 1965 – Plug Hole, Tottenham Court Road, central London (Melody Maker)
3 September 1965 – Plug Hole, Tottenham Court Road, central London (Melody Maker)
13 September 1965 – Marquee, Wardour Street, Soho, central London with Jimmy James & The Vagabonds (Melody Maker)
6 October 1965 – 100 Club, Oxford Street, central London (Melody Maker)
9 October 1965 – Galaxy Club, Town Hall, Basingstoke, Hampshire (Hampshire and Berkshire Gazette)
13 October 1965 – 100 Club, Oxford Street, central London with The Downliners Sect (Melody Maker)
20 October 1965 – 100 Club, Oxford Street, central London with The Downliners Sect (Melody Maker)
31 October 1965 – Whitehall, East Grinstead, West Sussex (Sussex Evening Express)
11 December 1965 – Galaxy Club, Town Hall, Basingstoke, Hampshire (Hampshire and Berkshire Gazette) This may have been with Dave Terry although it is billed as with Arthur Brown
Thanks to Paul Brett, Arthur Brown, Roy Stacey, Art Regis and Elmer Gantry (aka Dave Terry) for helping with the story
Guitarist Paul Brett put this band together around February 1965 after playing in The Southwest Four (aka SW4) with future Blonde on Blonde guitarist/singer Ralph Denyer, who’d gone on to play with Rag Men & Women.
Having started out playing with some local groups around the Fulham area, Brett’s first big break had come in early 1963 when he took over from Jimmy Page in Neil Christian & The Crusaders joining Neil Christian (lead vocals); Matt Smith (piano); Jumbo Spicer (bass); and Tornado Evans (drums). He left in June 1963.
The SW4 may have evolved into The South West Five who played at the Ealing Club on 29 November, 6 December and 24 December, but this needs confirmation. The South West Five also played at the Bromel Club in Bromley on 4 January 1965.
Art Regis came on-board after playing with The Impacts but it’s not clear what the other members had done before. Toomey, however, was from the Catford area in southeast London.
Early on it became clear that the group needed a strong lead singer and after bringing in back-up singer Heather Swinson and bass player Roy Stacey (both ex-The Impacts), Brett recruited singer Arthur Brown who was studying at Reading University and had recorded a flexi disc with The Diamonds comprising the Brown sung “You Don’t Know”.
Photo may be subject to copyright
Stacey recalls one gig at Reading University supporting The Nashville Teens where they upstaged the headliners. It’s quite possible that this gig was organised by Brown if he was studying at the university at the time (he’d leave summer 1965).
With Brown joining the group, they became Arthur Brown & The Machines.
Thanks to Paul Brett, Roy Stacey, Art Regis and David Else for helping with the story
The Impacts, 1964. Left to right: Tony Noble, Roy Stacey, Dave Terry (aka Elmer Gantry), John Reeves and Chris Allen
Dave Terry (later Elmer Gantry) (lead vocals)
John Reeves (lead guitar)
Tony Noble (rhythm guitar)
Roy Stacey (bass)
Chris Allen (drums)
This Barnes, southwest London band had started life as The Southbeats in early 1963.
As Roy Stacey notes, the group was part of the Bob Druce circuit with The High Numbers (later The Who) and performed regularly at The Goldhawk Social Club in Shepherd’s Bush, west London, Watford Trade Union Hall in Watford, Herts, the Railway Hotel in Wealdstone, Middlesex and the Glenlyn Ballroom in Forest Hill, southeast London.
Photo: Boyfriend magazine, October 1964
Changing name to The Impacts in November 1963, they appeared in The Contact, a small budget film for the Spastics Society, in January 1964. An early outing for John Hurt, Pauline Collins and Wendy Richard, the film included a cameo performance by the group playing live in one scene, which can be seen on You Tube.
Later that year, actor Hugh Halliday, who had starred in The Contact and also played drums, took over from Chris Allen (who may be the same musician who went on to play with The Attack and The Syn among others).
The Impacts appeared at the 100 Club in Oxford Street, most notably on 21 April 1964 when they opened for The Art Wood Combo and The Pretty Things.
Photo Roy Stacey. The Impacts audition for the Crawdaddy in Richmond, circa 1963. Only Roy (left), John (centre) and Tony (right) are in the shot
The group also played at Eel Pie Island in Twickenham, Middlesex (most likely in 1963/1964), supporting The Graham Bond Organisation on a Sunday. Stacey notes that John Platt’s book London Rock Routes features a photo of an unknown band who are in fact The Impacts.
“The shot shows Dave [Terry’s] old Vortexion pa amplifier,” he says. “Tony [Noble] was playing his early ‘50s blonde Fender Esquire.”
“The photo in the book is tiny and shows two of the band at a great distance,” adds Dave Terry (aka Elmer Gantry).
“Tony Noble on the left and Roy Stacey on the right. It’s a bit strange that guitarist John Reeves, the drummer and I are missing from the photograph. I don’t know why; you can’t even see the drum kit. Maybe Tony and Roy had just got on stage and were tuning up.”
The band also appeared at the Blue Moon, Hayes, Middlesex supporting Chris Farlowe & The Thunderbirds on 19 April 1964 and Cliff Bennett & The Rebel Rousers on 26 April 1964.
Photo: Surrey Comet
The Impacts also played at the Jazz Cellar in Kingston upon Thames in Surrey, including on 29 July 1964 and 13 November 1964.
Stacey remembers that The Impacts were featured in the popular teen beat magazine Boyfriend on 10 October 1964 on its “Undiscovered British Groups” page.
Photo: Boyfriend Magazine, 10 October 1964Photo: Boyfriend magazine, 10 October 1964
That same month, the band participated in a two-day Belfast tour with Jerry Lee Lewis. Don Arden had booked The Impacts to back the rock ‘n’ roll legend and Stacey remembers they didn’t get paid.
“On the first night, Jerry Lee took a chunk out of my Precision Bass,” he recalls. “As he kicked his stool in my direction, whack! Then hammered the piano keys with his left foot.”
On 24 October 1964, the group joined fellow west London band The Second Thoughts for a show at Studio 51 in Leicester Square, central London.
Stacey says that back-up singer Heather Swinson became part of the group towards the end of 1964. Also, keyboard player Art Regis joined the line-up. He also remembers that Richard O’Sullivan jammed with The Impacts on organ at one point.
Art Regis had first joined Rupert & The Red Devils in 1963 replacing original keyboard player Mike Finney. Featuring future Spencer Davis Group guitarist Ray Fenwick and sax player Rupert Clahar (later in The Rick ‘N’ Beckers), Rupert & The Red Devils travelled to Nuremburg in West Germany to play some gigs that same year but broke up.
Regis then joined Dutch band The Defenders (later The T-Set) before returning to London and hooking up with The Impacts.
On 1 December, The Impacts joined The Grenades, The Fairlanes and Wainwright’s Gentleman for a show at Hammersmith Town Hall.
On 12 December 1964, The Impacts played at Studio 51 again, this time with The Loose Ends, returning for a second appearance on 16 January 1965 (also with The Loose Ends).
However, later that month (or in early February), The Impacts split up with Dave Terry/Elmer Gantry pursuing his blues/folk interests, working with guitarist Simon Lawrence. The duo landed a regular gig at Studio 51 in Leicester Square.
Photo: Melody Maker. Dave and Simon on 22 July 1965
Tony Noble meanwhile joined The Derek Savage Foundation while John Reeves formed John Brown’s Bodies, a Hammersmith group not to be confused with Keith Emerson’s Brighton band of the same name.
According to Stacey, John Reeves and Tony Noble would reunite in 1968 in Othello Smith & The Tobago Bad Boys and recorded the LP The Big Ones Go Ska for CBS Direction. Derek Savage was also a member.
Stacey meanwhile joined The Mike Leander Band for a tour. “It was pure chance that I got to meet Mike Leander at his apartment,” says the bass player. “He was a co-producer of the Drifters’ ‘Under the Boardwalk’ the first record I ever had. Mike Leander worked as a producer and arranger with Ben E. King and The Drifters at Atlantic Studios, New York.
“On that tour was black ex-G.I. Ronnie Jones of The Nightimers’ fame, who Herbie Goins replaced. Leander’s band did loads of Motown and featured two drummers and a big horn section. It also featured Paul Gadd (aka Gary Glitter), a Ready Steady Go dancer.”
During this period, Stacey also did some session work with Unit 4 Plus 2 thanks to Hugh Halliday, who’d joined the Hertfordshire group in 1965.
A short while later, the bass player joined Arthur Brown & The Machines on the recommendation of Art Regis who had joined this outfit when The Impacts split up (and just before Arthur Brown came on-board). Former Impacts back-up singer Heather Swinson also became a part of this group during 1965.
Thanks to Roy Stacey, Art Regis, Elmer Gantry (aka Dave Terry) and David Else for helping with the story
The Mad Lads were a popular Belfast R&B group who took over Them’s residency at the Maritime Club when Van Morrison’s band moved to London in the second half of 1964. Singer Ken McDowell later assumed Morrison’s place as lead singer in Them in late 1966.
Cityweek, 5 March 1965
The group were featured regularly in Belfast publication Cityweek, most notably its 5 March 1965 issue, which contained a detailed column and colour photo. According to the article, promoter Eddie Kennedy picked them out of dozens of applications for the Maritime’s resident spot and he became their manager in December 1964.
Despite playing three nights a week at the Maritime, The Mad Lads found time to travel to Dublin in late February 1965 and perform some gigs, according to the article.
During May, The Mad Lads travelled over to London and recorded three tracks at Decca’s studio with Them’s producer Bert Berns – “I Went out with My Baby Tonight”, “So Long” and “Answer the Phone” with session players Andy White (drums) and Phil Coulter (keyboards). This website has more information on The Mad Lads’ recordings and personnel changes.
Cityweek’s 9 July 1965 issue noted that The Mad Lads had left their Maritime residency and signed with the Solomon Agency in London.
On 31 July, The Mad Lads played at the Red Rooster Club in Bangor, Northern Ireland, a venue they would return to again in the future.
However, one of their most notable gigs was opening for folk singer Donovan at Ulster Hall in Belfast on 20 September 1965.
Cityweek’s 23 September issue noted that The Mad Lads were about to change their name to Moses K & The Prophets to avoid confusion with US soul act The Mad Lads, who were about to start a British tour. Also, Decca was going to release their debut single – “I Went out with My Baby Tonight” c/w “So Long” on 1 October under this name. According to the same article, Ken McDowell had travelled alone to London in the summer to double track his lead vocals on the tracks on 31 August at Regent Sound Studios in Denmark Street.
In early November, Moses K & The Prophets appeared at the Overend Club in Mount Merrion, Dublin in front of 1,200 fans, which Cityweek’s 11 November issue noted was a record for an Irish R&B group.
The Belfast publication’s 23 December issue reported that Moses K & The Prophets would top a seaside bill with a return to the Red Rooster Club in Bangor on 7 January 1966. The following week, they were due to appear in Larne.
However, not long afterwards, manager Eddie Kennedy sacked the musicians and kept McDowell for a new version which never took off.
Cityweek‘s 17 February 1966 issue reported that McDowell was due to record a solo 45 as Moses K (see below).
While the others subsequently reformed The Mad Lads in March 1966, the singer later replaced Van Morrison in Them.
We’d love to hear from anyone who can add more information about The Mad Lads in the comments below
A Kingston-upon-Thames area band that formed in 1962, The Cavedwellers featured future Thane Russal & Three guitarist Martin Fisher and bass player Jack Brand who later formed The Factory. Apparently, Liverpool singer Freddie Starr fronted the group sometime in 1966.
We’d love to hear from anyone who can add more information in the comments below
Photo: Kingston & Malden Borough News
The Cavedwellers were featured in the Surrey Comet’s 19 June 1965 issue (see below)
Photo: Bryan Stevens/Mick Ketley. The Penny Peeps (not long before becoming Gethsemane). Clockwise from bottom left: Martin Barre, Denny Alexander, Malcolm Tomlinson (centre), Bryan Stevens and Mick Ketley
Blues-rock aggregation Gethsemane was the final version of a group that guitarist Martin Barre (b. 17 November 1946, King’s Heath, Birmingham) had first joined in July 1966 before landing the “gig of his dreams” with Jethro Tull.
Bass player and leader Bryan Stevens (b. 13 November 1941, Lha Datu, North Borneo) and keyboard player/singer Mick Ketley (b. 1 October 1947, Balham, London) were there from the outset, having been integral members of Beau Brummell & The Noblemen from late 1964 to June 1966.
Photo: Bryan Stevens/Mick Ketley. The Noblemen, early 1966. Mick Ketley (far right) and Bryan Stevens (front centre)
Returning to England after touring Europe, Stevens and Ketley had decided to put together a new version of The Noblemen, adding new musicians, including drummer Malcolm Tomlinson (b. 16 June 1946, Isleworth, Middlesex; d. 2 April 2016) from west London and Martin Barre.
All four musicians survived the group’s evolution from Mod/soul outfit Motivation through to psychedelic pop band The Penny Peep Show/Penny Peeps.
Photo: Bryan Stevens/Mick Ketley. Motivation, early 1967. Left to right: Chris Rodger, Martin Barre, Mick Ketley, Jimmy Marsh, Malcolm Tomlinson and Bryan Stevens
However, despite garnering plenty of work on the club scene in the first half of 1968, the emerging blues explosion headed up by Fleetwood Mac was starting to make psychedelic rock bands redundant.
That July, Canadian group The Band’s Music from Big Pink had been given a UK release and had turned musicians’ heads, The Penny Peeps included.
After playing at Nottingham’s Beachcomber Club on Saturday, 13 July; Leicester Rowing Club, two Saturdays later; and the Swan in Yardley, the West Midlands on Saturday, 3 August, the musicians realised another change in style was required.
The decision was influenced in part by the audience’s response at one particular gig (possibly the Walgrave in Coventry on Sunday, 4 August) where the group’s performance was poorly received.
In the interval, the band’s current singer Denny Alexander suggested that the band play some blues numbers in the second set and with Mike Ketley and Malcolm Tomlinson also helping out with lead vocals, the fresh approach went down a storm.
Taking on a new name, In the Garden of Gethsemane, which was soon shortened to Gethsemane, the group began to plough a more blues-based direction.
The decision to adopt a new style may also have been prompted by the Eighth National Jazz and Blues Festival held at Kempton Park racecourse in Sunbury-on-Thames on Sunday, 11 August.
Malcolm Tomlinson had attended and was blown away by Jethro Tull and its enigmatic front-man Ian Anderson whose mastery of the flute made an impression on the drummer. Both he and Martin Barre had recently started to play flute and Tomlinson came back raving about the group to Barre, urging the guitarist to check out Anderson’s inspirational group.
Around this time, however, Denny Alexander dropped out to pursue a non-musical career.
Reduced to a quartet, the new musical direction that Gethsemane took gave the band an opportunity to be more creative and to stretch out during live performances. One of the “features” of the band’s stage show during this period was a flute duet featuring Barre and Tomlinson.
Mike Ketley believes the genesis of Gethsemane began when the musicians played an (unadvertised) all-nighter at the Gunnell brothers’ Flamingo in Wardour Street around mid-to-late August.
“What I remember is Malc Tomlinson on drums, Bryan on bass, Martin Barre on guitar and me on Hammond. We were definitely a four piece there and by then Malc had decided to take up the flute. Martin by this time was becoming a much better flute player than he was a sax player.
“One of our set numbers was ‘Work Song’ made famous by Cannonball Adderley plus others. After we had played the main theme twice through with some ad lib from me and Martin, Malc said play some percussion rhythm on the keys and he came out from behind the drums flute in hand and between him and Martin, who by then had realised this was something completely spontaneous, we played some pretty bizarre stuff, completely unrehearsed with two flutes talking to each other, while Bryan did his own thing on bass in line with me just using the percussion tabs and hitting the keys to make a tempo. Having lost Denny Alexander it was almost like the start of a new direction for us.”
One of the first advertised gigs with the new name (albeit it as Gethsemane Soul Band) was at the Royal Lido Ballroom in Prestatyn, north Wales on Saturday, 24 August.
The next day, the group played the first of several shows at Eel Pie Island in Twickenham, west London. The popular island hangout had closed briefly in September 1967 and only reopened on 31 July. Ketley distinctly recalls opening for The Nice at the venue (who were billed to play there on Wednesday, 28 August).
One of the most significant dates during this period was Saturday, 31 August when Gethsemane (misspelt as Gethsemanie) opened the Van Dike Club in Plymouth, Devon, playing first before headliner Jethro Tull. It was the first opportunity that Martin Barre had to check out his future employers.
Interestingly, an advertised gig at the Cobweb at St Leonards in East Sussex on Saturday, 7 September (see above) reveals that the group was still occasionally billed as The Penny Peeps, which raises the question of whether Denny Alexander was still a member at this point. (Ed: Ketley says that Alexander had definitely left the band once they had redefined the music they wanted to play and chosen the name Gethsemane.)
Like the previous incarnations, Gethsemane had a busy diary, which increasingly took in blues clubs and the burgeoning university circuit.
On Sunday, 8 September, the quartet performed at the Aurora Hotel in Gillingham, Kent. That Saturday (14 September), the group (billed as Geth Semane) played one of its most prestigious shows – the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm on a bill that also featured The Scaffold, David Bowie, Junior’s Eyes and The Edgar Broughton Band.
DJ John Peel apparently was a huge fan and recorded the band’s set, which he played the following week on his radio show.
On Saturday, 28 September, Gethsemane played at the Stage Club in Oxford.
The following Saturday (5 October), the group landed an important gig, opening for blues trailblazers Fleetwood Mac at the Links in Borehamwood, Herts.
Without Alexander to front the group, the vocals were shared between Malcolm Tomlinson and Mike Ketley.
“Malc always had a great voice,” says Stevens. “We were doing cover versions of The Band as we had got hold of an early copy of Music from Big Pink. If I remember right, Malc sang ‘the Weight’ and ‘Chest Fever’. It was really good.”
Two days after the Fleetwood Mac support gig, the band headed for south Wales to play at the Landland Bay Hotel in Swansea (billed as Gethsemaney).
A few weeks later, on Wednesday, 16 October, the band (billed as Geth Semane) appeared at the Railway Hotel in Bishop’s Stortford, Herts. The group would return to play there on Wednesday, 6 November.
Later that month, Gethsemane appeared at popular blues haunt the Nag’s Head in Battersea on Monday, 21 October and then two days later returned to Eel Pie Island to share the bill with Alan Bown.
Around this period, Gethsemane piqued the interest of Bee Gees producer Robert Stigwood, and through this association signed with Dick James Music (Northern Songs). While the idea was to record an album, the band soon ran into problems in the studio.
“I have an acetate of Elton John. It’s just him playing at the piano singing ‘Lady Samantha’ which is all about a ghost,” says Ketley.
“Dick James Music, Elton’s publisher gave us a recording to try and do our own version but Elton paid a visit one recording session and said he didn’t like what we were doing with his song so it never went ahead.”
“Musical differences” erupted between the group, Northern Songs and Robert Stigwood. It seems the producer was looking for something much more “poppy” from the group, who also cut a version of “Grease Monkey”, allegedly with future Average White Band member Alan Gorrie providing the bass and lead vocals. At the time, Gorrie’s band Hopscotch were flat mates with Gethsemane.
The decision to cut Elton John’s “Lady Samantha” seemed a rather unusual choice for a blues band. Perhaps the decision was made following an Elton John radio session, taped on 28 October at BBC’s Agolin Hall.
On that occasion, John recorded three tracks – “Lady Samantha”, “Across the Havens” and “Skyline Pigeon”, abetted by a studio group comprising long standing guitarist Caleb Quaye, session bass player Boots Slade (formerly of the Alan Price Set) and Malcolm Tomlinson on drums. The three songs were played on BBC’s Stuart Henry Show the following week.
Whatever the reason, the disappointment and frustration surrounding the LP sessions, together with an aborted attempt to record with guitarist Jeff Beck (the most plausible recording date is 18 September), appears to have been a major factor in driving the band apart.
During November 1968, the band ploughed on but was soon running out of steam. After a show at the Industrial Club in Norwich on Friday, 8 November, the group travelled to Reading the following Wednesday to play at the Thing-A-Me-Jig before moving on to Wolverhampton the next evening (14 November) to play the Club Lafayette (billed as Gethsemany).
Back in London, the group landed a gig at the Hornsey Wood Tavern in Finsbury Park the following evening (Friday, 15 November), sharing the bill once again with Jethro Tull. Aware that Mick Abrahams was leaving, Martin Barre auditioned for the guitar spot but it didn’t go well and he worried he’d missed out on his dream job.
With a show at the Crown Hotel in Birmingham on Tuesday, 26 November, Gethsemane began winding down operations, agreeing to split that Christmas.
A highly memorable gig at Dundee College of Art on 12 December opening for headliners, Pink Floyd, followed before Gethsemane returned to London to fulfil a few final engagements, including a show at the Pheasantry on the Kings Road, before dissolving.
“The last gig we ever did was at a college in Brook Green, Hammersmith and a guy from Island Records asked if we would be interested in signing up,” says Stevens.
“We didn’t want to know. We had had so many people saying so many times, ‘sign here and we will make you famous!’ Anyway, by that time, we had all decided to go our separate ways.”
Martin Barre has different recollections about Gethsemane’s final gig. “Terry Ellis form Chrysalis approached me to invite me to audition for Tull, which I did a few days later. It was the first one… it took two [to get the position]. He had been sent by Tull to find me and wasn’t interested in the band.”
Having discovered that Mick Abrahams’ replacement Tony Iommi had been dismissed after only a month in the band, Barre phoned Jethro Tull’s singer Ian Anderson to see if he could try out a second time for the band. [Ed – Tomlinson also auditioned at the same time.]
Stevens continues the story: “He didn’t have a very good guitar at the time and mentioned he desperately wanted a Les Paul Gibson for the audition. The guy in the flat below us in our Chiswick flat offered to lend him the £500 – pretty good considering that was quite heavy money in the late ’60s.”
Invited round to Anderson’s flat for a second audition, Barre got the “gig of his dreams”. The rest as they say is history. But what about his former band mates?
Having led a succession of groups from Johnny Devlin & The Detours through to Gethsemane, Bryan Stevens decided to sell his bass and used the money to help finance his studies. Returning to college, he later became a surveyor and currently lives in Chiswick.
Mike Ketley meanwhile returned to the south coast. Switching from keyboards to bass, he joined forces with a several former Noblemen and for a couple of years worked in a local band called The Concords. He later abandoned live work and after leaving music retail, worked for the Hammond Organ Company, then joined Yamaha Music UK retiring as MD after 32 years.
Stevens and Ketley have remained firm friends and in June 2002 re-joined former band mates in a Johnny Devlin & The Detours reunion held in Bognor Regis. Among the guests at the reunion was former Soundtracks guitarist Ray Flacke, who later went on to play with Chet Atkins and Mark Knopfler. Ketley has also re-recorded “Model Village” with his son’s band called The Vybe.
Johnny Devlin and The Detours got together again in 2003 to headline a gathering of ’60s groups from Bognor for a sell-out night in aid of the hospice that looked after Barry Benson (P J Proby’s hairdresser) who had died of cancer a few months earlier. Called “Back to the ‘60s” such was its popularity that the annual event lasted for 10 years and raised nearly £70k for local charities in and around the Bognor Regis area.
Stevens and Ketley were involved in another significant reunion – after over 35 years, they finally met up with Penny Peeps singer Denny Alexander over the Christmas 2004 period. Another reunion took place on 29 March 2009.
Bryan Stevens, Mick Ketley and Denny Alexander, 2009
They also renewed contact with Malcolm Tomlinson, who, aside from Martin Barre, was the only member of the band to maintain a significant musical profile.
After Gethsemane’s demise, Tomlinson reunited with his former Jeff Curtis & The Flames cohort Louis McKelvey and in February 1969 moved to Toronto, Canada where the pair formed Milkwood with future Celine Dion backing singer Mary Lou Gauthier. (McKelvey, incidentally, had also been one of the hopefuls who auditioned for Ian Anderson and the guitar slot in Jethro Tull).
Milkwood, 1969. Left to right: Ron Frankel, Jack Geisinger, Louis McKelvey, Mary Lou Gauthier and Malcolm Tomlinson
During his first few months in the city, Tomlinson was called on to play drums and flute on ex-A Passing Fancy guitarist and singer/songwriter Jay Telfer’s ambitious solo album, Perch but unfortunately the recording was subsequently shelved, as was Milkwood’s own album, cut in New York that summer for the Polydor label with legendary producer Jerry Ragavoy.
However, Tomlinson did make a notable session appearance on label mate, Life’s eponymous lone album recorded in late 1969, providing a superb flute solo to the Terry Reid cover “Lovin’ Time”.
Milkwood’s greatest claim to fame was appearing at Toronto’s famous Rock ‘N’ Roll Revival concert on 13 September, just before John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band. Yet despite garnering praise from Jimi Hendrix in Cashbox magazine after he’d spotted the quintet playing at the Penny Farthing club in Yorkville Village, Milkwood imploded shortly after a show in Ottawa in late October.
Next up, Tomlinson briefly played with McKelvey in the short-lived biker group, Damage. One of the band’s most high profile shows was an appearance at the Toronto Rock Festival on 26 March 1970, appearing on the bill with Funkadelic, Luke & the Apostles, Nucleus and Leigh Ashford among others.
When that group folded in late 1970, Tomlinson briefly teamed up with former Elektra Records band, Rhinoceros before joining Syrinx in October 1971 and recording material for True North Records under the name, JFC Heartbeat.
He then worked with Toronto-based groups, Rambunkshish and Zig Zag alongside Toronto blues guitarist Danny Marks, before signing up with Bill King’s band during 1972.
Zig Zag, 1971 with Malcolm in white
More impressive, in 1973, he recorded an album’s worth of material with Rick James and the original Stone City Band, which is still to see a release.
Versatile as ever, Tomlinson subsequently played drums with Jackson Hawke, did sessions for Jay Telfer and then joined Bearfoot before recording two solo albums for A&M Records in 1977 and 1979 entitled Coming Outta Nowhere and Rock ‘N’ Roll Hermit. He dropped out of the recording scene during the ’80s and ’90s.
Malcolm Tomlinson 2004
However, in 2007, Tomlinson sang on Toronto group The Cameo Blues Band’s latest album. In June of that year, he played drums with ’60s folk-rock group, Kensington Market to celebrate the “Summer of Love” and also doubled up with Luke & the Apostles. Tomlinson died on 2 April 2016.
Louis McKelvey and Malcolm Tomlinson, Toronto, 2004
Denny Alexander has also passed away. He died on 6 December 2018 and both Mike Ketley and Bryan Stevens were pall bearers at his funeral in January 2019.
Thanks to Bryan Stevens, Mike Ketley, Martin Barre, Denny Alexander and Malcolm Tomlinson.
The Penny Peeps 1968. Clockwise from front: Martin Barre, Denny Alexander, Malcolm Tomlinson, Mick Ketley and Bryan Stevens
Aficionados of UK freakbeat will be familiar with The Penny Peeps’ Who-inspired rocker “Model Village”, which graced the ‘B’ side of the band’s debut single “Little Man with a Stick” for Liberty Records in February 1968.
With its swirling organ, driving guitar and powerful lead vocal, the track is justifiably revered as a minor ’60s classic and has turned up over the years on a number of compilations, most notably the Rubble series and the box set Acid Drops, Spacedust & Flying Saucers.
Little is known about the Penny Peeps, aside from the fact that they recorded two hopelessly obscure, yet highly collectable singles for Liberty Records, which today can fetch astronomical sums of money.
Collectors may be surprised to learn, however, that The Penny Peeps’ guitarist was none other than future Jethro Tull axe man Martin Barre (b. 17 November 1946, King’s Heath, Birmingham).
Perhaps more surprising is news that The Penny Peeps recorded around 15 demos for the label in early 1968, including the marvellous “Meet Me at the Fair”, the band’s preferred choice as ‘B’ side for “Model Village”. The infectious soul-tinged rocker was subsequently dropped in favour of the more commercial “Little Man with a Stick”.
Photo may be subject to copyright
As fate would have it both “Little Man with a Stick” and its follow up single, “I See the Morning” sank without a trace and the group’s lead singer and song-writer, Denny Alexander, departed during August 1968. The group briefly continued as a quartet under the name Gethsemane before the musicians went their separate ways that December.
While Barre subsequently “landed on his feet” joining highly respected blues band, Jethro Tull, the music he recorded with his pre-Tull bands has often been overlooked.
Martin Barre, who’d previously played with Midlands bands The Dwellers and The Moonrakers, had joined the group that would become The Penny Peeps in July 1966.
Known as The Noblemen at the time, the group also comprised singer Jimmy Marsh; guitarist Chuck Fryers; bass player Bryan Stevens (b. 13 November 1941, Lha Datu, North Borneo); keyboard player Mike Ketley (b. 1 October 1947, Balham, London); sax player Chris Rodger; and drummer Malcolm Tomlinson (b. 16 June 1946, Isleworth, Middlesex; d. 2 April 2016).
However, Fryers dropped out soon afterwards (later to join The Sorrows) and after a few months, the band changed name to Motivation (sometimes billed as The Motivation – see earlier entry).
Motivation, spring 1967
During a trip to Italy in March-May 1967 singer Jimmy Marsh departed followed soon after by sax player Chris Rodger when the group returned home. With Ketley handling lead vocals in the short-term, the band started to look for a new front man.
Former Clayton Squares and Thoughts singer Denny Thomas Alexander (b. 10 March 1946, Liverpool, Lancashire, d. 6 December 2018) answered the call and joined in early June 1967.
With a Cheshire version of The Motivation increasingly active (they opened for The Jeff Beck Group at Nantwich Civic Hall on 24 June 1967) and yet another group billed as The Motivation signing and later recording with Direction Records, the musicians decided to become The Penny Peep Show in August 1967.
One of the first advertised shows under this name was at the Gala Ballroom in Norwich on 15 and 16 September (Friday and Saturday). On the Sunday, they travelled over to Birmingham to appear at the Swan in Yardley.
Other dates that month included a return to the Royal Ballrooms in Boscombe on Saturday, 23 September and an appearance at the Belfry in Wishaw, near Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands two days later, with The Sight & Sound.
The Penny Peep Show were back in the Birmingham area early the next month for a show at the Penthouse in the city centre with New Zealand group The Human Instinct on Saturday, 7 October (they would return here on Friday, 3 November).
It was possibly this same weekend that Stevens met his future wife Beth.
“We played at Birmingham University for the Fresher’s Dance, which is where I met Beth. I definitely remember that gig. Beth lived in Hersham, near Walton-on-Thames and she used to go to Walton Hop where we played some months later [in May 1968]”.
The following weekend, the musicians headed down to the southwest for a show at the Flamingo Ballroom in Penzance on Saturday, 14 October and headed home via Dorset to appear the Weymouth’s Steering Wheel on the following Saturday evening (21 October).
Throughout the next month, the band continued to crisscross the country, playing at venues like Birmingham’s Ringway Club on Saturday, 4 November; the Carnival Hall in Basingstoke, Hampshire on Thursday, 9 November; Coventry’s Tudor Club at the Mercers Arms on Sunday, 19 November; and the 76 Club in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire on 24 November.
Newspaper adverts reveal that during December, The Penny Peep Show returned to play shows at Weymouth’s Steering Wheel, the Royal Ballrooms in Boscombe (returning in early January) and the Swan in Yardley, closing the year with a show at the Wellington Club in Dereham, Norfolk on Saturday, 30 December.
Through Pete Hockham, formerly one of Bob Gaitley’s agents at the Beat Ballad and Blues agency and now working for Brian Epstein’s NEMS agency, the band signed up with NEMS around January 1968 and gained regular work in the London area.
One of the group’s first London dates took place on Thursday, 8 February, opening for Brighton band The Mike Stuart Span (who shared the same agency) at the famous 100 Club in Oxford Street.
The next day, the group played at the Nottingham Boat Club. Over the next year, the musicians would regularly perform in the city and its surrounding area.
That same month, the group signed a deal with Liberty Records and got to work recording over an album’s worth of material, most of which comprised demos.
Photo may be subject to copyright
Interested listeners can hear early demos of the four tracks that made up The Penny Peeps’ two singles plus unreleased tracks online. Acetates of “Model Village”, “I See the Morning”, “Curly, The Knight of The Road” and “Meet Me at the Fair” reveal just how powerful these demo versions were.
Photo may be subject to copyright
“When The Penny Peeps got the Liberty contract, I also got a song writing contract with them from Metric Music, which was on Albermarle Street at the time,” says Alexander.
“When I went to sign my contract there was also a duo who were part of band called the Idle Race. One turned out to be Jeff Lynne later of ELO fame and fortune. A third person sitting in the corner very quietly and looking very shy and school boyish turned out be Mike Batt!”
“The contract required a certain amount of songs in a certain period,” continues Alexander “and the band used to act as session men – and therefore got paid which helped when gigs were scarce. Most songs were recorded at the Marquee studio at the back of the old Marquee club in Wardour Street. I probably wrote about 15 or 16 songs.”
Photo may be subject to copyright
Some of these songs, such as “Helen Doesn’t Care” and “Into My Life She Came”, which features Martin Barre on flute, are gems. So is “Meet Me at The Fair”, which the group had envisaged would be coupled with Alexander’s organ and guitar driven rocker “Model Village” for the band’s debut single. Instead, Liberty chose to go with the poppy Les Reed-Barry Mason collaboration, “Little Man with a Stick”.
“I remember how pissed off we all were when Liberty insisted that ‘Little Man with a Stick’ should be the ‘A’ side as it was not us and none of us liked it,” says Stevens. “I suppose it was the usual case of the record company wanting to use their in-house song writers.”
Photo may be subject to copyright
Released on 16 February, under the new name, The Penny Peeps, “Little Man with a Stick” c/w “Model Village” failed to chart, although it did gain some radio exposure. (Ed – mint copies of this single will set you back a hefty price.)
11 February 1968 gig
“Little Man with a Stick” received a lukewarm welcome in the music press, with NME reporting: “A new British number by Les Reed and Barry Mason. It’s good fun with a strong novelty content, but not one of the duo’s most memorable compositions. Competent performance.”
The single’s release coincided with a memorable show at the Brighton Dome Theatre on Thursday, 22 February where The Penny Peeps backed The Scaffold on a bill that also included The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band and also played their own set. Back in London, the group appeared at London’s Speakeasy six days later.
Throughout this period, the group toured extensively, and even made a brief trip to Belgium to play some dates.
“We played in Belgium for an Embassy party on-board a ship tied up at the docks,” says Stevens.
Sean Connery and Bridget Bardot were in the audience that night and Ketley thinks they may have been celebrating after wrapping up filming on the movie they were in together called Shalako.
Penny Peeps, spring 1968. Clockwise from bottom left: Martin Barre, Denny Alexander, Malcolm Tomlinson, Bryan Stevens and Mick Ketley
On Friday, 8 March, The Penny Peeps returned to play a show at the Nottingham Boat Club.
A few weeks later, on Saturday, 23 March, they were back in the city to appear at the Beachcomber Club. The previous evening (billed as The Penny Peep Show), the musicians performed at the Fiesta Hall in Andover, Hampshire.
Closing the month, The Penny Peeps returned to Bournemouth for a show at the Linden Sports Club, a venue they would perform at regularly throughout the year.
31 March 1968 gig
Newspaper adverts for April reveal that The Penny Peeps performed regularly along the south coast.
Besides the usual trek to Weymouth to play the Steering Wheel (Wednesday, 3 April), the band also played at the Cobweb, situated at the Marine Court in St Leonards, East Sussex. The show (on Saturday, 20 April) found the band playing on the same bill as Tony Rivers & The Castaways, soon to morph into Harmony Grass.
On Thursday, 25 April (again billed as The Penny Peep Show), the musicians played at Hatchetts Playground, a flash club on Piccadilly Circus.
With the band’s original material going down a storm on the road, the group returned to Nottingham on Friday, 3 May for another show at the Nottingham Boat Club.
Later that month (Saturday, 18 May), The Penny Peeps played at the Walton Hop, situated in the Playhouse at Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, the UK’s first discotheque.
On Saturday, 15 June, The Penny Peeps returned to Nottingham for a show at the Beachcomber Club, returning home to Bognor Regis that evening to perform at the Linden Sports Club in Bournemouth the next day.
Six days later, the band’s second release Alexander’s “I See the Morning” c/w “Curly, The Knight of The Road” also failed to chart despite Tony Blackburn using the song to open his Radio 1 Breakfast show every morning for a week.
Beachcomber gig July 1968
Despite plenty of work, including a return to Nottingham’s Beachcomber Club on Saturday, 13 July; Leicester Rowing Club, two Saturday’s later; and the Swan in Yardley, the West Midlands on Saturday, 3 August, the emerging blues explosion headed up by Fleetwood Mac was starting to make psychedelic rock bands redundant.
25 July 1968 gig
That July, Canadian group The Band’s Music from Big Pink had been given a UK release and had turned musicians’ heads, The Penny Peeps included.
During a gig that month, possibly at the Walgrave in Coventry on Sunday, 4 August (see above) The Penny Peep Show/Penny Peeps’ current repertoire was met with an icy response and Alexander realised that drastic measures were needed.
In the interval, he suggested that the band play some blues numbers in the second set and with Ketley and Tomlinson also helping out with lead vocals, the fresh approach went down a storm.
Taking on a new name, In the Garden of Gethsemane, which was soon shortened to Gethsemane, the group began to plough a more blues-based direction.
The Penny Peeps before Denny Alexander left. Left to right: Martin Barre, Mick Ketley, Denny Alexander, Malcolm Tomlinson and Bryan Stevens
The decision to adopt a new style may also have been prompted by the Eighth National Jazz and Blues Festival held at Kempton Park racecourse in Sunbury-on-Thames on Sunday, 11 August.
Malcolm Tomlinson had attended and was blown away by Jethro Tull and its enigmatic front-man Ian Anderson whose mastery of the flute made an impression on the drummer. Both he and Martin Barre had recently started to play flute and Tomlinson came back raving about the group to Barre, urging the guitarist to check out Anderson’s inspirational group.
Around this time Denny Alexander dropped out to pursue a non-musical career.
Retiring from professional playing, he tried his hand as a trainee publican for a while but the venture didn’t last long. Back in Liverpool, he gathered together some friends who had a musical cabaret act and the sax player from The Undertakers and recorded six tracks in late 1972.
The songs: “Don’t Let It Rain (Wedding Day)”, “Crossroads of Life”, “My Last Goodbye to You”, “I’d Like to Get to Know You Girl”, “Your Alive” and “Babe I Love You” remain unreleased to this day.
The songs vary in style although some show touches of a country-rock influence. Like all of Alexander’s songs, the tracks are extremely melodic and a couple could have been huge hits in the hands of a more established artist.
With the recordings complete, Alexander turned his back on music and went into the financial services industry, retiring in the early 2000s. However, he did reunite with Bryan Stevens and Mick Ketley in the late 2000s.
Reduced to a quartet, the new musical direction that Gethsemane took gave the band an opportunity to be more creative and to stretch out during live performances.
To be continued:
Thanks to Bryan Stevens, Mike Ketley, Martin Barre, Denny Alexander, Malcolm Tomlinson, Mike Paxman, Vernon Joynson and Hugh MacLean. Thank you to Bryan Stevens and Mike Ketley for the band photos.
Joe Higgins – lead vocals (replaced by Sketto Richardson in February 1967)
Douglas West – vocals
John Wright – lead guitar
Nicholas Lait – bass
Steig Neilson – alto sax
Dudley Brown – tenor sax
Neil Willis – tenor sax
Jeffrey Brooksmith – drums
A Woolwich, southeast London band that was formed sometime in 1965, The Little Joe Set were profiled on page 2 of the South East London Mercury on 1 December 1966 and again on 2 March 1967.
Don Sheppard, who also played saxophone, managed the group and helped Joe Higgins form the outfit. The group apparently worked extensively on the club scene in London and had also played in the US and Denmark.
Photo: Melody Maker
The Little Joe Set played at Tiles on Oxford Street on 24 November 1966 with The Quiet Five. They also played at the Location in Woolwich and the El Partido in Lewisham, southeast London as well as the London Cavern.
Photo: Jeff Brooksmith’s family
Of the musicians listed above, Jeffrey Brooksmith had previously worked with The Just Blues (and is rumoured to have also played briefly with The Pretty Things).
South East London Mercury, 2 March 1967, page 2
In February 1967, manager Don Sheppard replaced Joe Higgins with singer Sketto Richardson and the group continued to play the club scene.
The group went through further changes and evolved into Sketto Rich & Sonority, who included the singer plus Don Sheppard and John Wright alongside new members.
South East London Mercury, 2 March 1967, page 2
We’d be interested to hear from anyone who can add more information about the group in the comments below
Photo: Del Paramor. Sketto Rich & Sonority
Photo: South East London Mercury, December 1966Photo: South East London Mercury, 1 December 1966
Photo: South East London Mercury, 13 July 1967, page 2. Image may be subject to copyright
Ruby James (aka Ruby Mason) (lead vocals)
Frederick Rose (lead vocals)
Cornel Ellis (lead guitar)
Clinton Creary (bass)
Richard London (organ)
Austin Pigott (tenor sax)
Len Burke (drums)
Formerly known as The Heads, this short-lived Catford-based band added female singer Ruby James and sax player Austin Pigott and worked in Majorca during May-June 1967 before returning to London and signing with South East London Entertainments Agency.
During 1968 Richard London left to join Joe E Young & The Tonicks while Clinton Creary later formed Black Velvet with musicians from The Coloured Raisins.
Photo: South East London Mercury. Image may be subject to copyright
We’d love to hear from anyone who can add more information in the comments section below.
Notable gigs
15 July 1967 – Conservative Club, Biggleswade, Bedfordshire with The Nemkons (Bedfordshire Times)
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11 August 1967 – Concord Club, Bridport, Dorset (Bridport News)
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18 August 1967 – White Tiles, Swindon, Wiltshire with The Change (Swindon Evening Advertiser) Billed as Ruby James & The Stax
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19 August 1967 – Princes Theatre and Ballroom, Yeovil, Somerset with The Safety Catch (Western Gazette) Billed as Ruby James & The Stax
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8 September 1967 – Riverside Club, Cricketers Hotel, Chertsey, Surrey (Woking Herald) Billed as Ruby James & The Stax
7 October 1967 – White Tiles, Swindon, Wiltshire (Swindon Evening Advertiser) Billed as Ruby James & The Stax
14 October 1967 – Ritz, Skewen, Wales with support (Neath Guardian) Billed as Ruby James & The Stax
22 October 1967 – Sunday Club, Addlestone, Surrey (Woking Herald) Billed as Ruby James & The Stax
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5 November 1967 – Upper Cut, Forest Gate, east London with Simon Dupree & The Big Sound (Newham, West Ham & East Ham, Barking and Stratford Express) Billed as Ruby James & The Stax
12 November 1967 – Hotel Ryde Castle, Ryde, Isle of Wight (Contract with Galaxy Entertainments Ltd)
3 December 1967 – Sunday Club, Addlestone, Surrey (Woking Herald) Billed as Ruby James & The Stax
Image may be subject to copyright
9 December 1967 – Newmarket Discotheque, Bridgwater, Somerset with Denise Scott & The Soundsmen (Central Somerset Gazette) Billed as Ruby James & The Stax with Glenroy
9 December 1967 – Glastonbury Town Hall, Glastonbury (Western Gazette) Billed as Ruby James, Glenroy and The Stax
10 December 1967 – Beat Centre Discotheque, Co-op Hall, Warrington, Cheshire with Eddie Floyd and Sounds Incorporated (Liverpool Echo) Billed as Ruby James & The Stax
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24 December 1967 – Carlton Club, Warrington, Cheshire (Warrington Guardian) Billed as Ruby James & The Stax
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24 January 1968 – St Matthew’s Baths Hall, Ipswich, Suffolk with The Herd, James Brown, The Healers and Delroy Williams (Ipswich Evening Star)
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8 June 1968 – Queen’s Head, Six Ways, Erdington, West Midlands (Birmingham Evening Mail)
This site is a work in progress on 1960s garage rock bands. All entries can be updated, corrected and expanded. If you have information on a band featured here, please let me know and I will update the site and credit you accordingly.
I am dedicated to making this site a center for research about '60s music scenes. Please consider donating archival materials such as photos, records, news clippings, scrapbooks or other material from the '60s. Please contact me at rchrisbishop@gmail.com if you can loan or donate original materials
