Anyway,
the band's main claim to fame was the complete undanceability
of
their stuff, ranging from an uncontaminated-by-keyboards version
of Deep Purple's Child in Time to the ever popular
Groundhogs'
Split Part 2 - via Rocky Mountain Way, Hocus Pocus,
Electric Funeral and other enduring Radio 2 favourites
(the only exception to this being a brief foray into the music
of
the artistically misunderstood Bay City Rollers which was designed
[unsuccessfully -Ed] to get up our agent Gogs Wilson's nose).
Needless
to say, all this resulted in a public popularity rating (PPR) somewhere
between 0 and -# except in
the blue toon o' Peterhead - to which we were oft consigned for
25
quid a time - where musical tastes were more on a par with general
drinking and violence levels.
Although
to be fair we were ahead of our time (about 2 mins). No, seriously,
people very often used to say it. They would walk up to the stage
and yell, "Yer timin's oot!" We were always very
courteous on these occasions, for a band, and never allowed
such praise to
go to our heads.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
--
Who?... oh the band - who cares? Probably all bald, overweight
and even three inches shorter, stuck in front of UKGold with their
arran sleeveless cardies, one hand on a can of Caffreys and the
other clasped tightly to the wallet and pretending (?) to be deaf,
watching endless re-runs of Saxondale.
-- Anyway for those sad enough to be
interested (you know who you are!) here goes...
"Duh...
to be continued..."-------
. . . . .---------
OK,
continued...
Pod is a sort of door-to-door/tele-salesman named after some long-forgotten
South American god.
Eric
achieved superstar status as an industrial chemist and now has his
own guitar.
Billy
designs websites with hardly any pictures from a
cave near Jerusalem.
Lyall
bides in Turra.
Due
to a certain amount of public demand-(my
son showed interest one day)-we
present. . .
A
BRIEF (yet uncannily
complete) HISTORY OF THE BAND
--
Lyall
and me used to 'practice' every night along to Deep Purple etc.
then a few years later in 1974 we got an amp and at Banff Academy
the mannie Burke announced the formation of a school group. We
put
our names down but unfortunately so did Pod. Anyway he wouldn't
leave (even though he was rubbish) and he threatened (a) to beat
up anyone who said publicly that he was rubbish and (b) to buy
his own drums. His great ambition was to play Dance with the
Devil by
Cozy Powell, but even the Devil couldn't have danced to Pod's
version.
This
Pod did (see (b) above) and amazingly came back after the Christmas
holidays being able to play them, having experienced the personal
revelation that "beats is fit its aboot". So, the next
stage was to send Pod to inform all the rest of the hopefuls
that
they were 'oot the band'. Paterson was recruited and we made a
racket in the X-Block and played in the hall one dinner time
(hence the
photo) and at a school play thing called 'Fagin's Fief'
where we scintillated the unsuspecting aul' biddies (aka parents)
as
they came in
with renditions of Paranoid,
Black
Night & Sunshine of Your Love.
Next
we got Gogs Wilson the agent to come and hear us. He was suitably
impressed and in the nicest possible way threatened us with what
would happen if we took gigs from anyone else (ah... the music
business). We then embarked on a two year career that saw us grinding
our heavy rock (pearls before swine, it has to be said) round
the
classic venues of the North East - such fondly remembered occasions
as Foggie, Macduff, Rothie, Edinvillie and of course the Granada
in Peterhead. Unfortunately for us the people wanted to dance,
and we never made that easy for them. Along the way we spoke
to
Midge Ure, backed Bilbo Baggins, smashed our van, got thrown out
of the Sands Bar and even saw a speaker cabinet with Blackfoot
Sue
written on it! What more could one ask?
The
band folded in early '76 when Pod received a personality transplant
as a result of which he got a haircut, went off Black Sabbath,
started liking the Eagles, and went away to Wales to join the
RAF.
To
be continued... NOT.
Well
ok... In 2005 one of the four surviving members of the original
four-piece [Pod -Ed] suggested a reunion charity gig
maybe at the Fife Lodge, Banff to celebrate the
30th anniversary of the band's demise. After initial
deliberations were entered into it
seemed as though time stood still, but the years gently removed
their rosy specs, revealing to each what a pain the other
three actually were.
Since
this was probably the main reason we split in the first place
(that and Pod's inability to stretch from Wales), it
was felt that the best way to celebrate would be by not. Also
Lyall
- ever the optimist - thought
nobody
would
come.
Thanks
for visiting the site.
Please
don't hesitate to get in touch with Billy who
will be more than happy to tell you about Jesus.
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