Grimsby Groups 5

Nitelife as a 3 piece in 1969.

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

NiteLife 1968

Dave Crowder, Steve + Frank Davidson – with Tony Forth (ex Aztecs) in 1968

Keith Dillan and his Gibson 335 Rick Nelson keyboard player in Blue Waters 1982 Stuart Wilson and his Yamaha (Blue Waters)

(Blue Waters)

Carl Smith on Drums (Blue Waters) Dave Crowder (Blue Waters 1979)

Dave Crowder currently (2013) playing with the Soul band 'Nine Yards Up'.

Sneeky Feet 1975/79

Sneeky Feet (late seventies) Back left to right is : Ian Cawsey (Bass), Bob ? (Sax), Nigel Kirman (Keyboards) and Dave Markham (lead guitar)

Front left to right is : Roy Markham (Vocals, Guitar, Mouth Organ), Glyn Atkinson (Percussion) and Kevin Chapman. (Drums)

They played local pubs and clubs in Grimsby, Scunthorpe and surrounding areas doing a range of classic rock and covers in the late 70’s, previously we were called Flash Arry.

The postpunk band Johnny's Mad. 1985

The above photo -Johnny's Mad live at the Submarine Cleethorpes in 1985

Line up left to right: DAZ Whitelaw (drums), PHIL Eastwood (Guitar), MARTIN Blake (Bass).

Daz had previously played bass with Harry the Spiders... in scunny.

Phil had played with Mick Malaspina in scunny folkpunk group HEY MALASPINA -

Johnny's Mad were in the local music pages (edited by DAVID MARTIN) loads of times during 85/85.

One of their songs 'NOTHING IS NEW' was played by John Peel.

They supported Robyn Hitchcock at the Winter Gardens in DEC 86 (and blew him off the stage)

Johnny's Mad was a new band created out of Hey Malaspina and part of Harry The Spiders Coming Out Party.

Daz Whitelaw had played Bass with Harry, but switched to drums with Johnny's Mad. PHIL Eastwood had

played with Mally, and they started to work with Martin Blake (who ended up playing bass with JM)

Mick moved to London. Within a couple of weeks Daz Joined Phil and Martin and it turned into

Johnny's Mad. Their first gig was at Gullivers (Grimsby) in April 85. This was followed by sell

out gigs at the Submarine in June, July, August and Nov, 85, Tiffs in Grimsby in July, the GY art

college in June & October 85, and Feb 86.

Daz quit in march 86 (concentrating on his art work) and they used Phil Drake (Disk Drive) on

the drums through 86, and another drummer called Trevor ?? who also played with the GY band

The Green Lantern & Fruit Pie Scene. It was with Trevor that they supported Robyn Hitchcock at a

student union arranged gig in Dec 86. By then we had also been joined by ex Green Lantern Bassist

Martin Rowels. The music evolved as they got to be better musicians - from punk to funk (by 87).

This was aided by Trevor and martin Rowels rhythm section - that allowed Martin Blake

and Phil to develop the guitars. The last gig They played was at gullivers (the 3rd gig there) at the

end of Sept 87. They started recording another demo (the last one) in Nov 87. The band folded when they

couldn't afford to finish the recording sessions. The last tapes never did get the vocal tracks

added. What was recorded was quite slick. Drums were played by Carl someone? who played with 96

Tears. He came up from London to help them out. Key Boards by Nathan (someone) who played with the

GY band Object d'art. Nathen used to roadie for us from the star of JM. Martin Rowels bought the

unfinished tapes from the studio (monster mobile at Goxhill) with the intention of us getting

some cash in the new yr (88) and getting back in the studio, but alas real life got in the way

and they found ourselves working in real jobs to earn a living, and the band disolved - shame.

JM was based out of Grimsby because both Daz Whitelaw and Phil Eastwood moved there to study at the art college.

JM had a bit of success, plenty of coverage in both the Scunthorpe and Grimsby telegraph, made quite

The Concords at the Blue Lion Club, Binbrook, with John Gale, Noel Gale,

Ron Stead (ex ‘The Swaydettes’ who replaced Drew on vocals), Keith Line and Dave Amos.

THE SET 1966

The Concords become history as ron stead leaves the band and noel takes on the vocals.

the band take on a new look as a four piece with a new banner “THE SET”.

l/r keith line, drums, dave amos, bass, noel gale, vocals, john gale, lead guitar.

‘The Set’ ‘66

Keith line (drums) moves on and is replaced by Les Allen.— Les was later

to complete a week long drum solo which merited an entry

in the Guinness book of records in the 70s?.

Rod Letter, (Hammond organ) completed the line up when

he joined the band some weeks later. as time passes Noel

reluctantly decides to call it a day but stays on in order to

aid a smooth transition for Dave Ranshaw (later the Rumble

Band) to slip in nicely as vocalist.

The band kept ‘The Set’ banner until disbanding in the late

60s?.

Dave ward and Noel gale.

Dave, bass, (here shown in early 70s? in ‘Unity’ with Noel gale). Dave

replaced Dave Amos on bass in late ‘66? in ‘The Set’. Dave Amos

was to emigrate to Australia and sadly passed away there some

years later.

John Gale, "The Set," 1966.

John Gale, pictured here in the band "NOW" in 1974, ( Steve Hall, drums,

Dave Taylor, bass, Noel Gale, vocals). was with 'The Set' from day one up

to their disbanding in late '66, later to join Rod Tempertons local grimsby

band in Rods pre fame days, early '70s?, rod, organ, Tommo, vocals. other

members, and even the name of the band now lost to John in the mist

of time, 44 years.

John played for various bands as lead guitarist, including 'The Iotas' in

'68,reuniting with brother Noel, having joined 'The Iotas' earlier.

he hung his guitar up after 'NOWs'. last gig in '74 and never played

again.

The guitar shown in the photo was put together by Geoff Mackrill,

brother of Chris Mackrill of The Iotas, he made, sanded, and hard

varnished the body, sourced the fretboard, (hofner), the pickups

and volume-tone control knobs and presented it to John, now a member

of the Iotas. Geoff sadly passed away in 2000 depriving ' The Rumble Band'

of a highly respected guitarist.

The history of the guitar is a little foggy, John stowed it away at home

after his last gig with 'NOW' in '74. as the months passed, he considered

it lost as there was no trace of it in the house!!.

Miraculously it seemed, his sister and brother in law presented it to

him on his birthday in 2008, nicely polished, new strings, John fell off

his chair, he had forgotten passing it on to them all those years ago.

The roads travelled by the five members of 'The Set' on disbanding

were not long, all back with various bands before they could put their

instruments down it seemed.

Before this months end, march 2014, John will bequeath the guitar to Geoffs

brother Chris.

The Rumble Band 1968

Line-up is: Back row: Mos Wyatt, Pete Whitehead, Phil Wyatt, Sony Blanchard,

Barry Dineage, Steve Curry, Frank Singleton, Rod Letter

Front Row: Mick Mills, Steve Mills

Gringo 1977/79

Chris Riley and John Shelton on twin Lead guitar, Tony (Wolf) Housman on Bass and Ritchie Marcussen on Drums.

Noel Gale was the original vocalist but he left and Wolf took over on vocals.

They played rock/blues mainly covers and some original songs which Wolf had written Gringo 1977/79

John Shelton's first band was the 'Tuxedo's' originally mentored by the one and only Leo Solomon.

First gig was the Tech school Xmas party. Geoff Byman was on drums and Steve Coulson was the singer.

They were later joined by Ray Raworth on bass.

This was the original line up with the later band 'Reflection' but Steve was replaced by Ron Stead.

There was another singer called Charlie ? either Coulam or Stenger.

John went on to play twin lead with Chris Riley, Alex Bantock on keyboards/violin, Dave ????? on bass, Dixie on drums who was replaced by Lenny Dale

Name of band unknown

Travellers Express at the Birds Eye Club 1991

Vic Pascoe and John Shelton on guitar, Don Howe singing. Paul Avison on Bass and John Hardy on Drums.

Mick Mills

In the late 1970's a lot of the local Grimsby bands recorded their music at Les Johnson's Humber Music Recording Studio.

The recordings were mainly recorded on Tape and released on vinyl but now Les has gone thru the process of converting the recordings to digital.

Humber Music Recording Studio

Les has now released a complilation of the recordings on a CD which is available on EBay.

If you do a search for

Humber Beat 1978' CD Album. Various pop groups from Grimsby UK

The Cd includes recordings by Brothers Band, Flash Arry, Fifth Avenue, Arrival, Magenta, Jody,

Macarthur Park, Riot Rockers, Bluewaters, Contrast, Seagull and Lincs.

A great look into the local Grimsby district music scene in the 1970's.