Name the band & members?

Any idea of the name of the bands or the members? Supplied by Bertie Wiseman and featuring Paul Wiseman.

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Dave Kent commented on top photo….. The guitarist is Russell Madge and the lady is Anna Maria. Russ and Anna went on to form The Mobiles who had a top ten hit with “Drowning in Berlin”. The drummer may be Eddie Smithson but I’m not sure. pretty sure That’s Russ and Anna, though, and the photo may have been taken at The Star at Normans Bay. If so, I was there. Paul Wiseman is quite a character and likeable with it.

SMART 17 coffee meet report.

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Vangelis001 cellars

Vangelis ticket supplied by Eric Cawthraw

SMART 17 Coffee meet Report. We made it to 2015 and a great turn out to kick start the new year. Among the newbies this time was Brian Wood. He was guitarist with the band The Flirts and had some interesting photos and posters which featured Michael Wheeler on vocals , Paul Wiseman guitar and a young Steve Demetri on drums. Colin Bell was talking about starting a record review column on the website and brought along a great photo of him in the studios at Hastings Rock interviewing Roger Daltrey. Usual chat about the future of the Pier and much love for Andre’s regular pier column. Stinger new magazine was handed out and Eric Cawthraw was complimentary about the record shop in Claremont called Wow & Flutter. He also had with him the ticket for the Vangelis Royal Albert Hall gig from 1976 and made the suggestion that we have various band photos in their youth on the site but what about the rest of us! Archie Lauchlan turned up to film the proceedings for a future pier documentary. Talk was about the sad loss of Paul Burton, The Beatles Day, The Dharmas, Denny Laine, Pink Floyd’s pulse lighting on the pier, The Who, John Peel, Bexhill clubs, recording processes, Fat Tuesday and more. Mick O’Dowd brought along a copy of a very interesting book called Best of Cellars The Story Of The Cavern Club by Phil Thompson which was a bargain from Poundland. Phil Gill mentioned Highway to play Queens Head Icklesham on the 8th Feb. Pete Prescott had some more photo albums with him and some great cuttings which I missed before. Too many people to mention but everyone had a great time. Lots I missed , so please feel to add any further comments here.

Eric Cawthraw…  Vangelis ticket  only 39 years ago! Ticket -£2.00, a small fortune then, I probably paid in pennies. The set was ‘Heaven and Hell’ with approx 40 kettle drummers in tow. When they gave them a good thumping – it sounded like thunder, nearly as loud as John Bonham!  With regard to Wow & Flutter I popped in to this shop in Claremont – a good selection of LPs and singles and they know their stuff. I hope they can make a go of it – definitely worth a visit, albeit that the shop is a bit small.

Justin Bridger…Next one x

Mick O’Dowd… Another great Meet from the organisational skills of Alan Esdaile Johnny Mason! Thoroughly enjoyed myself and met new friends as well as old ones. Interesting talk and items. Had a good chat with Peter Millington. Archie Lauchlan lurking in the background filming although he didn’t catch the obsenely big portion of cheesey chips that Michael Mepham was devouring before he left for his gig at The Dolphin. The atmosphere, as usual, was laid back & friendly and well done Alan for another great Meet. Roll on the next!

John Kingdon… When and where do you meet next please Alan, I would love to get there next time.

Alan Esdaile….Hi John you would be most welcome to join us at the next SMART meeting. The next one will probably be early March. It will be posted here as normal and I will send you a separate email at the time to advise you.

 

Strawbs story – 1974 by Philip John – Mott Road Crew Live

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supplied by Philip John

Philip John… London Gardens,home of The London Knights Ice Hockey Team !
First time we’ve played in an ice rink. The line up for this show had been changed due to Queen having to drop out. The Strawbs were topping the bill as they were in the charts with ‘Part of the union’ followed by us then Blue Oyster Cult were opening. The Cult weren’t too happy about this as they’d just brought out their new album ‘Secret Treaties’ and the top track ‘Career of evil’ written by Patti Smith who was also the lead singers girlfriend at that time was getting a lot of radio play.
Anyway before we started the load in the staff covered the ice rink in straw mats. This stopped it being slippery but didn’t do much for the chill factor.Still everything went off OK and once the show started I headed off to check out BOC. Got to say they were a great heavy rock band with biker overtones. Eric the singer came on in full leathers cracking a 10 ft bull whip and they really got the crowd going. Mind you I couldn’t help but notice that once the hall filled up the place began to fill up with clouds of vapour and I wondered if the Cult had a dry ice machine back stage. On further investigation it turned out to be the ice floor warming up .
Mott went on next and went down a storm even though they were partly obscured by the clouds of moisture rising from the floor. I began to think we were rather lucky not to have been topping the bill that night. Blue Weaver who was currently sharing keyboard duties went back stage to catch up with the guys from the Strawbs, seemed he’d spent a few years on the road with them before he’d joined Mott. They were also getting a bit worried about the steaming ice but thought they’d go ahead and play anyway.
Well by halfway through their set they were almost totally invisible . Great clouds of vapour had enveloped the audience and the stage. Occasionally a spare hand or guitar neck would become visible soon to vanish leaving us with with this strange disembodied music floating through the mists.
When the show finished the management opened all the exits and the vapour clouds slowly dispersed. Fortunatly every one saw the funny side of this and as we all got paid there was no problems.
I believe The Stones also played this gig, can’t imagine they were as easy going as our lo