A notable rock music venue in the South of France, the Voom Voom Club in St. Tropez was frequented regularly by French actress Brigitte Bardot and her husband, the late Gunter Sachs.
During the mid-late 1960s, many notable British bands performed at the Voom Voom, including Carl Douglas & The Big Stampede, Jimmy Cliff & The Shakedown Sound, The Soft Machine, The New Formula, Mickey Finn & The Blue Men and The Ray King Soul Band.
I have started to compile a list of bands that played at the Voom Voom Club but would welcome any additions and corrections in the comments below.
March 1967 (Melody Maker lists 16 days in St. Tropez but may not be Voom Voom):
The Herd: Peter Frampton (lead vocals/lead guitar), Gary Taylor (bass), Alan Bown (keyboards/lead vocals) and Andrew Steele (drums)
May 1967:
Carl Douglas & The Big Stampede: Carl Douglas (lead vocals), Del Grace (lead guitar), Mike Manners (keyboards), Tony Charman (bass), Mel Wayne (sax), Verdi Stewart (trumpet) and Del Coverley (drums)
New Formula: Mike Harper (lead vocals), Martin Fallon (lead guitar), Bruce Carey (bass), Ricky Dodd (vocals/saxophone) and Tommy Guthrie (drums)
July 1967:
Jimmy Cliff & The Shakedown Sound: Jimmy Cliff (lead vocals), Kevin Gammond (lead guitar), Terry (Verden) Allen (keyboards/vocals), John Best (bass) and Sean Jenkins (drums)
August 1967:
Ray King Soul Band: Ray King (lead vocals), Roger Dean (lead guitar), Terry Leeman (keyboards), Paul Slade (bass), Jim Lang (tenor saxophone), Ken Horton (baritone saxophone) and Malcolm Jenkins (drums)
August 1967:
Mickey Finn & The Blue Men: Alan Mark (lead vocals), Micky Waller (lead guitar), Rod Clark (bass/lead vocals), John Cooke (keyboards) and Richard Brand (drums)
Circa August/September 1967:
The Soft Machine: Daevid Allen (lead guitar/lead vocals), Kevin Ayers (bass/lead vocals), Mike Ratledge (keyboards/vocals) and Robert Wyatt (drums/lead vocals)
21 May-11 June 1968:
Ray King Soul Band: Ray King (lead vocals), Paul Price (lead guitar), Malcolm Aldridge (Hammond organ), Frank Farrell (bass), Tim Whelan (sax) and Malcolm Jenkins (drums).
When I Was With CARL DOUGLAS The BIG STAMPEDE
Playing At The VOOM VOOM Club
MIKE D’ABO Came On Stage With Us
I was keyboard Hammond player at Voom Voom club with Carl…I replaced usual keyboards who was indisposed..we did Whiskey Agogo too in Nice.
My own band was The Jets…the first garage band in Hamburg…at Top Ten.I shall add to your Top Ten page.
Stay cool.
Pretty sure that Mike Piggott’s band, The Bone Idles from Kingswood, Surrey played here in the summer of 1966. Piggott went on to Ivan Sinclair and The System Soul Band and later Junior’s Conquest among others
Hello, there seems to be a photo floating online of the band you are talking about. I’m not familiar with them. Thx Francis
The Carnaby played the Voom Voom Club, as well as Hotel Westminster, probably late 1966. The line-up would have been: John Cahillane (vocals), Steve Minors (guitar), Kip Smith (guitar), Andy Andrews (bass), and Ronnie Ross (drums).
Interested on anything regarding The New Formula.
Thanks.
Have a look at some of the club gigs on this side like Speakeasy, Bag O’Nails, Hatchetts and others. I have seen quite a few gigs
Error in Carl Douglas info….
I played Hammond on the St Tropez gig..we also played Nice….
Iain Hines,
Icarus
Think that was the second time they were there Iain
From Scotland, The House Of Lords played a couple of Weeks at Le Voom Voom. We never met miss Bardot but one night the singer Rab Munro , jumped off the stage to dance with a beautiful young lady , Jane Fonda ! This was in the early sixties.
In 1968, the Voom Voom Club, was run by Jerome Dodero. The club had two stages, with two bands rotating back and forth all night — from 11 pm to 6 am. For the entire summer of 1968, the one stage was manned by Freddie Meyer’s band Salvation and His Army, with their special guest vocalist Randy Crawford. The bands playing the other stage were Herbie Goings and the Nightimers, Dynasty Crisis, and Dave & JJ.
I was the manager of Freddie Meyer and Randy Crawford.
Fantastic information.Thank you
Saw Brian Auger and the Trinity at the Voom Voom Club in 1966. Tried to hit on Julie Driscoll, but she was being chased all over France by some loser on a motorcycle. Befriended Long John Baldry while he was playing at Papagyo’s at the same time. Those dudes played hard and fast, on and off the field.
Good times.
Summer 72 two great french bands: Il Etait Une Fois, then Dynastie Crisis