Denny Alexander (lead vocals)
Martin Barre (lead guitar)
Mick Ketley (keyboards, vocals)
Bryan Stevens (bass)
Malcolm Tomlinson (drums, vocals)

1967

August Having worked as The Motivation since November 1966, the latest line up returns from London to Bognor Regis to reinvent themselves. Eschewing their stax/soul sound and covers material, the band embraces the burgeoning psychedelic scene while singer Denny Alexander starts to write a batch of strong original material for the band. Initially, The Motivation work under the name The Penny Peepshow.

September (15-16) Having rehearsed the new material at the Shoreline Club in Bognor Regis, The Penny Peep Show begin to gig nationally. One of their first shows takes place at the Gala Ballroom in Norwich, Norfolk with Alex Wilson’s Sect and Chances of Life.

(17) The group travels across to the West Midlands for a concert at the Swan in Yardley with Jigsaw.

(23) The band plays at the Royal Ballrooms, Boscombe Royal Arcade, Boscombe, Dorset.

(25) The Penny Peep Show appear at the Belfry, Wishaw, West Midlands with Sight and Sound.

(29) The group plays at the Blue Powder Discotheque in Bilston Town Hall, Bilston, West Midlands.

October (7) The band returns to the Birmingham area to play a show at the Penthouse in the city centre with New Zealand band, The Human Instinct.

(14) The Penny Peep Show appears at the Flamingo Ballroom, Penzance in Cornwall with The Circuit Five.

(21) The group appears at the Steering Wheel in Weymouth, Dorset.

(22)  The band plays at the Indigo Vat, Southsea, Hampshire.

(26) Billed as The Penny Peeps they play at the Concorde in the Basset Hotel, Southampton, Hampshire.

November (3) Returning to the West Midlands, they play at the Penthouse in Birmingham.

(4) The Penny Peep Show perform at the Ringway Club in Birmingham. Around this time they also play the freshers’ ball at Birmingham University where Bryan Stevens meets his future wife.

(9) The group appears at Carnival Hall, Basingstoke, Hampshire with The Wrong Direction.

(10) Originally booked to play at the Royal Ballrooms in the Boscombe Royal Arcade, Boscombe, Dorset, The Just Us is listed on the day the Bournemouth Evening Echo is printed.  However, they may have played the day before after or before the Basingstoke gig.

(11) The group appears at St Nicholas Chamberlaine School in Bedworth, Warwickshire with The Matadors.

(19) Direct from London The Penny Peep Show appear at the Tudor Club, Mercers Arms in Coventry.

(24) One night at the 76 Club in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire.

December (1) The Penny Peep Show play at the Steering Wheel in Weymouth, Dorset.

(2) The band appears at Willenhall Baths Assembly Hall, Willenhall, West Midlands with The Bostons.

(3) The musicians return to the south coast and play at the Indigo Vat in Southsea, Hampshire.

(8) The Penny Peep Show play at the Boscombe Royal Arcade, Boscombe, Dorset.

(10) Another show takes place in the West Midlands with the band appearing at the Swan, Yardley with Magazine.

(20) The band performs at the Steering Wheel in Weymouth, Dorset.

(23) The Penny Peep Show play at the Indigo Vat in Southsea, Hampshire.

(25) Through Pete Hockham, formely an agent at Bob Gaitley’s Beat Ballad and Blues Agency in Worthing and now working for the recently deceased Brian Epstein’s North End Music Stores (NEMS) agency, The Penny Peep Show sign to NEMS. They start to perform on the London scene with a show at the popular nightclub, Hatchettes on Piccadilly.

(30) The group appears at the Wellington Club in Dereham, Norfolk with The Special Offer.

1968

January The Penny Peep Show sign a deal with Liberty Records and begin recording over an album’s worth of original material, most of which comprise demos. Alexander has acquired a songwriting contract with Metric Music, which requires him to produce a certain amount of songs in a given period. The band are paid as session musicians to record the demos in a studio behind the Marquee in Wardour Street. A couple of Alexander’s strongest numbers – “Helen Doesn’t Care” and “Into My Life She Came”, the latter featuring Barre on flute, will surface decades later on Rev-Ola’s compilation CD Psychedelic Jumble Volume One in 2007.

(2) Billed as The Penny Peeps, the musicians appear at the Concorde in the Basset Hotel, Southampton, Hampshire.

(5) The band returns to play at the Royal Ballrooms, Boscombe Royal Arcade, Boscombe, Dorset.

(28) The Penny Peep Show play at the Castaways Discotheque in Birmingham with The Stretch Wilcox Limbo Dancers.

February (2) The Penny Peep Show appear at the Steering Wheel in Weymouth, Dorset.

(8) Billed as The Penny Peeps, the band makes a notable appearance at the 100 Club on London’s Oxford Street with The Mike Stuart Span.

(9) Reverting back to The Penny Peep Show, they travel to Nottingham to play at the Nottingham Boat Club.

(11) The next day, the band appears at the Blue Ball Hotel in Risley, Derby.

(16) Liberty Records releases The Penny Peeps’ debut single, a cover of Les Reed and Barry Mason’s “Little Man With A Stick” backed by Alexander’s mod rocker “Model Village”, which becomes a cult classic and is picked up for various compilation albums over the years, most notably the Rubble CD Acid Drops, Spacedust and Flying Saucers. The band, however, is not happy about the decision to release “Little Man With A Stick”. The musicians had lobbied for “Model Village” to be the A-side, backed by another one of Alexander’s numbers, “Meet Me At The Fair”. The latter track remains unreleased until being picked up by Rev-Ola for Psychedelic Jumble Volume One. Tony Blackburn opens his Radio 1 show every morning with “Model Village” for a week but the single fails to chart.

(17) The Penny Peep Show appears at Framlingham Assembly Hall, Framlingham in Suffolk.

(22) Having changed name to The Penny Peeps, the band is invited to back The Scaffold and perform in its own right at the Dome in Brighton on a bill that also features The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.

(25) The band (billed as The Penny Peep Show) play at the Cellar Club, the County, in Blaby, Leicestershire.

(28) Returning to London, the band appears at the Speakeasy on Margaret Street.

(29) The Penny Peeps appear at the Concorde in the Basset Hotel, Southampton.

March (8) The Penny Peeps perform at the Nottingham Boat Club.

(17) The Penny Peeps perform with the Way of Life at the Crown and Cushion Club in Birmingham.

(22) Billed as The Penny Peep Show, they play at the Fiesta Hall, Andover, Hampshire.

(23) The Penny Peeps return to Nottingham for a show at the Beachcomber Club.

(31) The band plays at the Linden Sports Club, Bournemouth, Dorset.

April  (3) The Penny Peep Show appear at the Steering Wheel in Weymouth, Dorset.

(20) The Penny Peeps play at the Cobweb, Marine Court, St Leonards, East Sussex, with Tony Rivers & the Castaways.

(25) Billed as The Penny Peep Show, the band appears at Hatchetts Playground in Piccadilly, central London.

May (3) Billed as The Penny Peeps, they perform at the Nottingham Boat Club.

(12) Billed as The Penny Peep Show, they appear at the Forty Thieves, Swinging Discotheque in Coventry.

(18) The Penny Peeps perform at the Walton Hop in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey

(31) The Penny Peep Show appear at the 400 Ballroom in Torquay, Devon

June  (6) The group appears at the Summer House, the Portway, Kingswinford, West Midlands.

(15) The Penny Peeps play at the Beachcomber Club in Nottingham.

(16) The band returns to Linden Sports Club, Bournemouth, Dorset.

(21) Liberty Records releases The Penny Peeps’ second single, coupling Alexander’s “I See The Morning” with “Curly, The Knight of The Road” but it fails to chart.

July (2) The Penny Peeps appear at the Concorde in the Basset Hotel, Southampton, Hampshire.

(13) Another show takes place at the Beachcomber Club.

(18) The Penny Peeps appear at Liberal Hall, Yeovil, Somerset with The Knock-Out.

(25) Billed as The Penny Peep Show, the band returns to London for a show at the Hatchetts Playground.

(27) Billed again as The Penny Peep Show, they appear at Leicester Rowing Club with The Trendmen.

(28) Reverting back to The Penny Peeps, they return to the Linden Sports Club in Bournemouth.

August (2) The group are billed to play at the Bag O’ Nails in Kingley Street, Soho, central London around this time (see below) but it’s not certain they appear.

(3) Billed again as The Penny Peep Show, the band appears at the Swan, Yardley, West Midlands with Gilt Edge. Soon after this gig, The Penny Peep Show are playing at a venue where their current set list meets an icy response. Alexander suggests that they play some blues, which goes down a storm. The band decides to move in a blues rock direction and changes name to Gethsemane. Within a week or so, Alexander opts to leave and Ketley and Tomlinson assume joint lead vocals. Alexander will retire from professional playing and try his hand as a trainee publican. Back in Liverpool, he gathers together some friends and records six tracks during 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. He subsequently turns his back on the music industry and works in the financial services industry, retiring in the early 2000s.

(4) The Penny Peep Show play at the Walgrave, Coventry.

September (7) Billed as The Penny Peeps they perform (with St John’s Wood) at the Cobweb, Marine Court, St Leonards, East Sussex.

Sources:
Flying Colours by Greg Russo, Crossfire Publications, 2009.
The South Coast Beat Scene of the 1960s by Mike Read, Woodfield Publishing, 2001.
The Tapestry of Delights Revisited by Vernon Joynson, Borderline Productions, 2006.

Many thanks to Bryan Stevens, Mick Ketley, Denny Alexander, Malcolm Tomlinson and Mick Capewell.

Disclaimer: Concert adverts have been sourced from a number of music magazines and regional newspapers listed below. They have been reproduced fairly for research purposes and are not to be copied for any other use.

Live dates sourced from various sources, including: Melody Maker, Nottingham Evening Post, Birmingham Evening Mail, Evening Argus (Brighton), Eastern Evening News (Norwich), Ipswich Evening Star. Other newspapers sources are listed in the comments below.

Copyright © Nick Warburton. All Rights Reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced or transmitted in any from or by any means, without prior permission from the author.

I have tried to ensure the accuracy of this article but I appreciate that there are likely to be errors and omissions. I would appreciate any feedback from anyone who can provide any additions or corrections. Email: Warchive@aol.com