Grimsby Groups 4

Imperial Bond, with Brian Hockley on guitar, Mik Mills on vocals/bass and Norman Ellis on drums. The trio played, middle of the road stuff and comedy aimed at everyone, they played on 'New Faces' in 1974. In the last year before the group disbanded, Lennie Dales a 16 year old wonder drummer took over on drums.

The Capitols 1963/64. The Capitols were a pro band consisting of Brian Hockley on guitar, Mik Mills on vocals, Bill Lasby on bass, Jake Tully on drums and Mike Kane on secong lead and vocals. The band toured the British Isles, and the American bases in France in 1964. They played the 'Top Ten Club' in Hanburg in 63/64.

Sonny Lee and Norma Grant singing for old times sake.at the Navy Club Cleethorpes 2008

Norma sang the clubs and also with the Gyro's and Pat Volley and The Beat Club

The Rumble Band thru the decades

The first era was in the mid 60’s at the Jazz club when part of the resident Jazz Band got together with the resident blues band to form the Rumble Band. At times this band had as many as 16 musicians on stage and they went on to form the resident band at the Jazz Club Grimsby. Names in this band included: Frank Singleton Guitar and then Noel Skelton Steve Curry Bass, Moss and Phil Wyatt, Sony Iverson Dale Stillings all brass players , Rod Letter on Key Boards, Keith Line on drums and several other musicans. The Main Vocalists at the start of this band were, Charlie Stenger, Steve and Mick Mills. The Band became a great favourite and played several local and Regional venues. Dave Ranshaw joined the band in 1968 replacing Charlie Stenger.

Towards early 1969 the band line up changed and reduced to a 5 piece changing its musical styled to progressive rock. Band members were Dave Ranshaw vocals, Keith Line drums, Steve Curry Bass, Noel Skelton Guitar, Rod letter Keyboards. This band wrote their own material and continued on with the previous bands regular spots both at the Winter Gardens and the Jazz Club. The Band moved to London and was signed to Warner Bros via Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac ( Rod Letter was replaced by Frank Wilson)and recorded and released a single “Richman Poorman” in July 1970 (WB 8011 and apparently available on you tube now) and toured successfully around the UK supporting the likes of Yes, Mott the Hoople and Chicago. Unfortunately the record did not sell as well as required and the band was dropped by the label. The band disbanded with Frank Wilson going onto join Warhorse, and Steve Curry joined T Rex. Other members moved onto less notable bands and Dave Ranshaw came back to Grimsby and stopped his musical interests.

In 1984 Dave Ranshaw was approached by the local paper to put together a “new Rumble Band” on the back of the Live Aid gig which was going to be replicated in Cleethorpes at the Winter Gardens. It is this band that most local people will associate with. At the outset Dave wanted to run the band on a professional setting with road crew, transport and full PA with engineers. The line up of this band has seen several musicians moving through it but some members were consistent through out the lifetime of the band when Dave was there. This band was , for a semi pro set up very successful playing gigs all over the country and for some years picking up regular Corporate work from both London and American Based Companies. Dave called it a day with the band in 2006 and handed “his baby” onto other band members.

Thanks to Dave Ranshaw for the above info.

Blind Lemon 1968/69

Blind Lemon. The group consisted of Roger Wentworth on drums, Simon Rickard on bass, John Cheeseman on lead guitar,

Ian Fee on harmonica, Bryan Ledgard on slide guitar/drums and Mike Argumont on vocals.

Blind Lemon 1968/69

Blind Lemon formed at Grimsby Art College at Nun’s Corner during 1968 with original line up of Ian, Bryan,

Simon, John and Roger and until Mike joined in early 1969.

They disbanded in late 1969 after playing many gigs around Grimsby and Cleethorpes.

Macarthers Park (mid 1970's)

The band featured Dougie Almond on bass, John Crossley on drums, Mark Butler on lead guitar and Tim Guard on keyboards.

Macarthers Park mid 1970's

Tim Guard on keyboards, Dougie Almond on bass, John Crossley on drums and Markham Butler on lead guitar. They played all the usual grimsby venues in the mid 70's.

Black Diamonds 1957

This is the original line up of the first guitars in Immingham. John "Philbert" Sowerby on the left behind his mail-order plywood guitar and "Gigster" snare drum that would be taken over by Terry "Tetley" Parkin within a few weeks, Ron Hill with his junk shop £1-10-0 guitar and Keith "Keyhole" Glover on tea chest bass. They started during the skiffle craze which swept the country in the 1950s

They were all pupils at Barton grammar school and the line up expanded and changed over a couple of years by which time rock ' n 'roll was king and the skiffle groups graduated to rock. From this beginning, Philbert, Keyhole and Tetley went on to form the Echoes, joined by Roy "Spit" Spittlehouse on rhythm guitar and Robert "Little Fred" Dimbleby on vocals. The story is taken up later by Tetley on your Grimsby groups site.

The Wasps at the Tin Mish Immingham

footnote by Terry (Tetley) Parkins

we had spanish-type accoustic guitars with ex-Army throat mikes, ex-salvation Army drums , and a 30watt Linear valve amp which we fed through whatever speakers we could borrow. At this time we were all still at school, and I would have been probably 15 years old.

The Wasps with their two homemade guitars and shop build bass guitar.

footnote by Terry (Tetley) Parkins

The Wasps, with Rob Dimbleby on Vocals. By this time we were probably still at school, but with matching suits and somewhat better gear. Keith even had a shop-bought bass but the other two guitars were home-made. At that time we had only seen "solid" guitars on the TV, and Malcolm "Albert" Kicks had copied his red guitar body from what he had seen on telly ( in Black-and-White ! ). The neck was taken from his spanish guitar and he hand-wound the pick-up himself, encasing it in a silver-painted Elastoplast tin. Philbert played lead on "The Amoeba" - this was an oddly shaped piece of kitchen-top formica, with the neck from an old "cello" guitar screwed on by Bri Huffley ( Ex-Nitehawks). I can't remember where the pick-ups came from, but the bridge sat on a pack of cards, and the action could be adjusted by adding or taking away cards.

Page One swabbing the decks

'Peroxis' 1991 til 1994

Peroxis started in 1991 and went on to win Grimsbys 1993 battle of the bands but fell apart and disbanded a year later.

Members: Vocals - Wayne Collier,Bass - Steve Top/Russ Kyme,Drums - Wiggy Hawkins,Guitar - Rob Collins

During the early 90's the group 'Peroxis' played a big part in the punk and metal scene that thrived in the area at the time. They started through the music workshop

as did a lot of the bands of the time as it was a free practice venue which offered recording opportunities over at Hulls The Warren Studios and they also helped

with a lot of gigs,mainly free and charity events but they got many bands seen and heard.

All members branched out and started other bands after Peroxis, Rob,the guitarist joined 'Imbalance' who were fairly successful and Steve the first bass player also got signed with his Death Metal band 'Crawlspace'. Wayne (Vox) was in local GY bands Pistol Whipped and The Lost Boys and Wiggy drummed for a few bands and various projects. All four guys are no longer in bands anymore.

Peroxis

Biography:

Around the late 80's and into the early 90's a small section of punks,scaters and metal-heads popped up onto the Grimsby music circuit via bands that had formed out of The Music Workshop on Armstrong Street,Grimsby. A local council based youth system that gave bands practice room and time and even an opportunity to record. One of those bands were Peroxis.

Peroxis were a Hardcore Punk/Metal group around Grimsby and Cleethorpes,UK during the early 1990's. They were formed out of the remains of minor band 'The Ice Cream Villains' and then 'M.A.F' who split after their debut gig at the Winter Gardens,Cleethorpes when the resident singer was booted out mid set "For dressing like a ponce" and instantly replaced by a then audience member but soon-to-be new permanent front man.

Under the new name 'Peroxis' the band set about re-writing set lists with their own material and playing shows at almost every venue in the local area including winning 1992's 'Battle of the Bands' before travelling over to Hull's Warren Studios to record on two occasions.

Two years or so on with in-house fighting and the band admitting to running it's course Peroxis split.

Discography:

Suffer (Demo) © 1992 Produced by Chris Pell

Tracks: Mass Hypnosis · Suffer · Buried Alive · Deserter · Black · Cabbie · Get Me Down · Police Harassment · Territorial Pissings

Beyond the Bridge (EP) © 1993 Produced by Johnny V & Mike Tingle Warren Studios,Hull

Tracks: The Obesitist · Baptismal Fire · Terrorists

Sick as F**k 1994 © Produced by Johnny V Warren Studios,Hull

Tracks: Police Harassment · False Sense Of Security · Why Did You Leave? · Sudden Effect · Blitzkrieg Bop · State Control

Members:

Vocals: Wayne

Bass: Steve Topp/Russ Kyme

Drums: Wiggy Hawkins

Guitar: Rob Collins

Genre: Punk,Hardcore Punk

Years: 1991-1994

M.A.F : (which later morphed into Peroxis) at practice, Pete's Pad, Cleethorpes 1989/90

The following story was sent in by Terry 'Tetley' Parkin about a gig he played with 'The Sound of the Echoes' on 1963.

Here’s an advert for a memorable gig “darn sarf” which The Sound of the Echoes played. We joked that WE were the only band we hadn’t heard of ! There’s a story to it…

We played the Gliderdrome at Boston on the Saturday and drove down to London overnight, so it was very early on a blustery Sunday morning when Wes ( our mad Roadie, John Wetherley) halted our Commer minibus on the jetty alongside the MV Royal Sovereign and we set about unloading our gear onto the floating pontoon, and from there onto the boat. Some of the other bands listed had already unloaded before us, but while we were there Billy J Kramer’s roadie arrived, on his own in their van, and he started to unload the contents onto the pontoon; amps, instruments, cables, all the usual gear… and Billy J’s stage suits. He was just about finished when Billy J himself arrived and seeing his suits on the pile of amps he set about giving the roadie a right rollocking, which we thought was undeserved as the bloke had been working hard unloading non-stop for quite a while. Then Billy J went onto the boat.

Meanwhile, the weather forecast had worsened . We weren’t bothered – we were Grimsby lads and a bit of a swell was no problem for us, but it seemed that Billy J was rather more concerned and he refused to perform, got off the boat and “stormed” away, leaving his Roadie to shift all the gear back up the dockside and reload it back into their van.. We later found that Billy J had given the reason that “There wasn’t a piano” on his deck stage – which was obviously not a true reason because the Dakotas never had a pianist. Needless to say, bearing in mind his treatment of their roadie, from then on we had our own, non-complimentary opinions of Billy J and his behaviour. None of the other bands complained. Even Nicky Hopkins, who was pianist at the time with Screamin’ Lord Sutch and went on to be a much-in-demand session man and a regular on tour with the Rolling Stones, didn’t cause a fuss – they just unloaded his own battered piano from the van. We soon had found and set up in our allotted performance areas, sound checked, got our playing schedule, and then we watched the stream of people boarding the boat.

At the allotted time, 9.30 am, the gang plank was raised and the boat eased out of its moorings. By now there was quite a storm blowing up, and as the boat lost the shelter of the London cityscape and got further down the Thames estuary it became quite rough. Nevertheless, all the bands were performing their sets, and between playing they were going on the other decks to watch the other bands. It was rare that any top band got the chance to see the other top bands as we were all top-of-the-bill groups, and so were always working at the same times as the others. There were some big names watching us that day. After our first spot we went to watch our pals, Freddie and the Dreamers.

By now the boat was rockin’ and rollin’ as much as the bands. The bow of the boat was rising and plunging down and waves were crashing over the front of the boat and onto the saloon windows. I don’t know why, but the rough weather played havoc with the on-board electricity supply (which was DC converted to AC) and was already struggling to cope with the demands of so many bands. The voltage was continuously rising and falling and having the same effect on the volume of the amps. Then the Dreamer’s lead amp cut out completely. They didn’t have their own Roadie at the time so what did they do ? They shouted for Wes, OUR roadie to fix the problem, which he did, no problem. This happened several times and to other bands as the storm got rougher and rougher. Subsequently, because Wes had kept Freddy going, Freddy offered Wes a job, which Wes declined, because he was getting married to June. (Wes that is)

Eventually word came round that conditions were too rough to land at Margate as advertised, and that the boat had been diverted to dock at the end of Southend Pier, which it did. We didn’t mind – we had gigged the huge Margate Dreamland venue a couple of times but hadn’t yet been to Southend. We had a couple of rain-lashed hours ashore then everyone, performers and audience all returned to the boat. Thankfully the weather had quietened down and we cruised the return trip, us watching the other bands and them watching us. The effect of rock’n’roll drifting over the waters grew even more enjoyable as the daylight faded, but eventually we docked again at London Tower Pier and unloaded into our minibus in the dark. With so many group vans unloading on the pier it was incredible that no-one got their equipment mixed up, but the banter and backchat between the various bands was lively and consisted mainly of the Northern bands taking the pisces out of the Southern bands, and vice versa..

It had been a long and tiring day, but a great adventure and we had been able to see bands who we knew, and admired, but had never seen perform in the flesh. Y’know – I think we enjoyed the gig every bit as much as the paying passengers did.

And with hindsight we have to smile at the part of the advert which says “ Tickets £2.10s each – you can pay by installments”. Obviously that was a significant sum of money for some folks, and WE got paid for doing it.

Tetley

December 2012

The Brothers Band

The surviving ex: original members, Carl Harris, Steve Newby, Alex Bantock and Paul 'Dixie' Bird one of Grimsby's most popular bands during the 1970's The Brothers Band, are celebrating the re-release of their album they recorded 36 years ago in 1976. 'The Brothers Band Album -1976' will be out on; Monday 11th Feb. on CD only, available online from, www.humbermusic.co.uk.

(In remberence of the late; Noel Skelton & Mick Mortimer)

The Brothers Band

Left - right: Alex Bantock-keyboards, Carl Harris-bass guitar, Steve Newby-vocals, Paul 'Dixie' Bird-drums, Noel Skelton-guitar & Mick Mortimer-guitar.

This photograph was taken during one of their live performances at the Winter Gardens, Cleethorpes.

Below are a few of Dave Crowder's bands over the years

Blue Water live the British Legion Healing in 1982 1979 November Dave Crowder replaces Bev Nelson in Blue Waters : Dave on bass, Stuart Wilson (yes – the undertaker! on lead vocals + guitar), Rick Nelson (keyboards + vocals), Keith Dillon (guitar + vocals) and Perry Nichol on drums. Perry Nichol soon replaced by Carl Smith.

The studio picture is taken at Les (allan) Johnson’s Laceby studio for a Grimsby News item about the recording of an LP for the opening of the Humber Bridge in 1977. It was late! This band never made it to the LP as it was deemed ‘not a working band’ which was mainly true. Dave Crowder on bass, Bob Pearson on keyboards + Pete Fisk (Gypsy) on guitar.

Beat n Blues 1967

1967 BeatnBlues - Ron Cowling (rhythm guitar), Keith Arnold (vocals), Steve Davidson (lead guitar, Frank Davidson (drums), DC (bass and vocals -in all bands)

1968 BnB becomes The Grimsby Nite Life (later shortened to NiteLife) : Ron Cowling replaced by Pete Fisk (from The Bishops, London) then Tony Forth (from The Aztecs). Vocals taken on by Steve Davidson, Dave Crowder and Frank Davidson.

1968-69 NiteLife operates as a trio : Steve Davidson, Dave Crowder and Frank Davidson

1966 :Dave Crowder joined a band with Ted Krunkhurn (featured), John Shelton (guitar also) ,Tony Smith (drums) and a vocalist called Paul. Band name unknown.

The Rowndabout (1972) shows Steve Davidson, Viv Peterson, Mick Horsfall and Dave Crowder

1970 Dave Crowder joins Rowndabout : Julie Dalton (vocals and organ), John Howden (drums), Viv Peterson (guitar)

Late 1970 Julie Dalton goes solo and is replaced by Steve Davidson, John Howden leaves and is replaced by Mick Horsfall.

1972 Mick Horsfall replaced Steve xx?xx

1973 Dave Crowder plays in Reflection with Ted Crunkhurn (guitar) and Ron Stead (vocals) and, possibly John Crossley on drums

McArthurs Park

1979 Dave Crowder joins MacArthur Park with John Crossley (now on guitar + Vocals), Denis Cator (ex Illusions – drums + vocals). Mark Butler (guitar + pedal steel)

1965 : The Schmoes – school band (Wintringham Boys Grammar)

The Schmoes are Dave Pitcher, Tony Howden, John Carpenter and Dave Crowder –

all very young doing church fetes and local cinemas and the odd Cleethorpes seafront club.