Many thanks to Steve Sheldon for providing the information below and all of the photos
Formed in Worthing, West Sussex in early 1965, the original line up comprised:
Ian Gander – lead vocals
Pete Wadeson – lead guitar
Steve Sheldon – rhythm guitar
Pete Cushion – bass
Paul Jordan – drums
With the exception of Jordan, who had previously played with Le Bambas and Peter & The Zodiacs, and former Thunderbolts, Sabres and Zabres member Pete Cushion, the core members came from local band Pythagoras and his Theorems.
In late 1965, former Guilty Party drummer Charlie Pert replaced Paul Jordan.
Then, around July 1966, Ian Gander departed and singer (and multi-instrumentalist) Raymond Thompson, briefly joined and shared lead vocals with Sheldon.
Thompson had recently moved to the south coast after his former band, west London outfit Malcolm & The Countdowns split. The Countdowns, incidentally, featured future Sweet bass player Steve Priest.
The new singer, however, didn’t stay long and soon moved to Toronto, Canada with his parents, where he subsequently formed the duo Stillwater.
With Thompson gone, Sheldon assumed lead vocals and the quartet continued to gig locally and along the south coast of England. During 1965 and 1966, The Total backed national acts like The Hollies, The Kinks, The Who, Zoot Money’s Big Roll Band, The Zombies and others at top Worthing venues like the Assembly Hall and Pier Pavilion.
In early 1967, the band expanded its line-up with keyboard player Jim Denyer.
With Cushion unable to get time off his work, the band – Steve Sheldon, Pete Wadeson, Charlie Pert and newcomer Jim Denyer – did an audition at Regent Sound Studios in Denmark Street in Soho, central London during 1969.
Not long afterwards, The Total (with Pete Cushion joining the others) recorded three tracks at Regent Sound with producer Shel Talmy. The track “Think” appears on Ace Records’ compilation CD Planet Mod.
However, in 1971, The Total split up and the individual members briefly worked with local bands.
Cushion, Sheldon and Wadeson subsequently reformed The Total later that year with new drummer Quentin Allen.
The band continued into the mid-1970s but underwent a number of significant changes.
Sheldon moved to South Africa in 1975 but returned to the UK in 2017. While in South Africa he formed the band Easy Street and made some recordings.
The posters below have all been supplied by Steve Sheldon
Well done Steve and The Total!
I roadied for the Total when their line up was Steve, Peter W, Peter C, Charlie P and Jim D!
Such great days, l guess the gig that will always be the highlight, when the Total supported the “Who” at the Assembly Hall Worthing, West Sussex.
Every Thursday a guy called Bannister brought all the top bands to sleepy Sussex, only the Beatles and Stones didn’t play either the Assembly Hall or the Pier Pavilion Worthing! The night in question, Pete Townsend had no quitar to play, having smashed his at a previous gig, he asked to use Peter Wadeson if he could borrow his Gibson, Peter said yes🥴 and Townsend used the Gibson, and was good to his word, and walked off stage leaving it safe, feeding it back into the PA
At another Who gig…We filled up the assembly Hall with diesel smoke one hot summer evening where they’d left the back loading doors open. We’d mistakenly put diesel fuel in the old Ford Thames and we couldn’t shut the engine off in case it stalled. We arrived belching clouds of acrid blue diesel smoke and while we unloaded we filled the auditorium up with it. Bannister was not impressed.
Very nice Steve. Nice way to keep yourself occupied? I will follow this in future! Regards, Brian