Mullett Smith Music – Hastings Early 70’s & talk on Supertramp record shop.

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What memories do you have and what did you buy from them?

Jim Breeds…  I don’t remember either of those at all! Further long Robertson St. towards the seafront there was a place on the left called Supertramp. They sold records, posters, joss sticks,hippy bells, etc., etc., and loon pants if I remember correctly. smile emoticon I hope my brain hasn’t made that all up, lol. Who ran that and what do we know about it? It wasn’t you was it Alan?

Alan Esdaile… No nothing to do with me Jim but your right and it was called Supertramp. I’m pretty sure Mullett Smith was in the same building a few years earlier?

Phil Gill… I never actually bought anything off them. Just used to wander in and gawp at the guitars. Sometimes, they’d let me play one.

Jim Breeds…  If you mean as per the ads Alan, it says 34 which was closer to Geo. Halls than Supertramp was, I think.

Alan Esdaile… yes definitely in that block, just checked Cafe des Arts which is in the old Hall’s building and that is listed as 28-29.

Natassja Kaschevsky… I remember Mullett Smith’s shop. It became Supertramp later…….my dad had a shop at no 37 at the same time!

Jim Breeds… Wow. Thanks. I might have a Supertramp carrier bag somewhere with some other memorabilia I can’t find frown emoticon

Chris Meachen… Ahh, Mullett Smith, the well-known hairstyle & music shop…. I might still have something I purchased from there…

Terry Pack… I bought my first bass amp and cab from them in 1973, and a bass guitar. All Vox: a semi acoustic, a 50 watt, and a 2×15 cab.

Phil Gill… Bet you wish you still had ’em Tel.

Terry Pack… The amp was pretty good, Phil. It had tremolo and distortion built in. The cab was enormous but not too heavy. I got a good sound, with that Antoria bass I sold to you at first and then a beautiful Ibanez copy of a Rickenbacker that I bought from CassMusic for £165 in 1974. The Vox bass was nothing special, but it looked nice.

Phil Gill… Well I wish I still had that Antoria! That was a nice guitar.

Paul Dengate… The business was first located at a shop in Norman Road before moving to London Road.

Keith Winton… Paul worked in the London Road shop in 71(?) and repaired the tremolo on my Strat.

Barry French… Still got a Sims Watts condenser microphone which I bought from Mullet & Smith in 1972. Still see Bob Smith at the Comet Pub where he still does an occasional gig with his band Alamo.

Chris Meachen… Supertramp was owned by a guy called Rob, who later started a double glazing business & cut all his hair off..

Phil Gill… Were the two events connected in a sort of cause and effect kind of way?

Chris Meachen… I got the feeling he wanted to be taken seriously as a businessman, as he started wearing suits & ties at the same time.. I guess he didn’t make much of a living from running a hippie shop..

Brian Sandall… Wow! What memories. I recall Bob Smith & Ben Mullet well. Bob and his wife lived out Bexhill way at the time and drove a white Jaguar XJ6. The London Road premises were fairly small – but they still carried a pretty comprehensive stock of instruments and organs. I remember going to an organ demonstration they put on somewhere in Hastings or Bexhill where Jerry Allen, Alan Haven, Keith Beckingham and a couple of other well-known organists demonstrated the various makes and models available from the Company – and I heard Bob Smith and The Alamo somewhere; might even have been at the pub you mentioned (Comet)!

Lance Collins… John Fisher was always on hand for a quick repair before the next gig. Always cleaning and replacing faders on my Deltec decks. Worked at Computing Devices when the shop closed.

Iain Cobby… Well well Phil, may I just say that your 72 Precision bass came from the London Road shop of which I conned my father into buying me. I also had a Sound City bass rig from them I think was from the Norman Road shop. Think Mr Kinch had one too? am I correct Steve? I do remember a Xylophone they had in the London Road shop that Steve D took to like a duck to water. They were very possessive of their stock and would hope that if you put your fingerprints on an instrument you had to buy it……………. great days.

Steve Kinch…That’s right, Iain! I had Sound City 120 amp + 2 4x12s. I don’t remember where I bought them. If I remember correctly I bought my first bass (Precision) from a Silverhill store – I think it was called Hastings Sound (Unfortunately, anything before yesterday is a bit of a blur). In fact that very bass is stood right next to me as I type – different colour now, though!

Lance Collins… My first sound system was a pair of Vox columns wish I had them now. Then purchased some H H dual concentrics from Hastings Sound.

Phil Gill… Iain Cobby, thanks for supplying some history to my Precision. I dated it from the serial number a while back and it’s actually a ’71. I’m guessing you bought it in ’72.

Dave Nattress… Hi Iain. I remember your Precision for sure and then in a particular Chris Squire period you bought the Rickenbacker 4001. I have some poor photo’s of our pier gigs. In one, behind you is a Marshall top and a pair of (I’m sure) Marshall 4 x 12’s which I think you were plugged into. Next to the stack another Marshall on it’s side, next to Mick Kemp on his Silver Pearl Full Dimension kit.

 

5 thoughts on “Mullett Smith Music – Hastings Early 70’s & talk on Supertramp record shop.”

  1. Barry French..Still got a Sims Watts condenser microphone which I bought from Mullet & Smith in 1972.
    Still see Bob Smith at the Comet Pub where he still does an occasional gig with his band Alamo.

    Reply
  2. Wow! What memories. I recall Bob Smith & Ben Mullet well. Bob and his wife lived out Bexhill way at the time and drove a white Jaguar XJ6. The London Road premises were fairly small – but they still carried a pretty comprehensive stock of instruments and organs. I remember going to an organ demonstration they put on somewhere in Hastings or Bexhill where Jerry Allen, Alan Haven, Keith Beckingham and a couple of other well-known organists demonstrated the various makes and models available from the Company – and I heard Bob Smith and The Alamo somewhere; might even have been at the pub you mentioned (Comet)!

    Reply
  3. Well well Phil, may I just say that your 72 Precision bass came from the London Road shop of which I conned my farther into buying me. I also had a Sound City bass rig from them I think was from the Norman Road shop. Think Mr Kinch had on too? am I correct Steve?
    I do remember a Xylophone they had in the London Road shop that Steve D took to like a duck to water. They were very possessive of their stock and would hope that if you put your fingerprints on an instrument you had to buy it……………. great days.

    Reply
  4. Hi Iain. I remember your Precision for sure and then in a particular Chris Squire period you bought the Rickenbacker 4001. I have some poor photo’s of our pier gigs. In one, behind you is a Marshall top and a pair of (I’m sure) Marshall 4 x 12’s which I think you were plugged into. Next to the stack another Marshall on it’s side, next to Mick Kemp on his Silver Pearl Full Dimension kit.

    Reply

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