Day: 24 February 2024

supplied by Sarah Harvey

Sarah Harvey…  Skip Bifferty on the Pier (February 24th, 1968). A psychedelic band formed in early 1966. Band members were…Graham Bell: vocals – Mick Gallagher: Keyboards – Colin Gibson: bass – John Turnbull: guitar, vocals – Tommy Jackman: drums. Following their demise in 1971 , together with , Bell, Turnbull and Gallagher, formed Bell & Arc. Bassist Colin Gibson went on to work with Ginger Baker, Bert Jansch, Alvin Lee and Van Morrison. John Turnbull and Mick Gallagher reappeared in 1977 in The Blockheads, backing Ian Dury; in 1979 Gallagher played and recorded with The Clash and The Only Ones.

Mick Mepham…  Haven’t heard On Love since we played it in Die Laughing. Great song!

Terry Huggins… They were also known as ‘Heavy Jelly’ and had a song called ‘I keep singing that same old song’ on the ‘Nice enough to eat’ sampler. Can’t recall what the story behind this was, but apparently there were several bands using the ‘Heavy Jelly’ name.

Phil Thornton… that was a great song !! written by Colin Gibson !! When we had a revival of Stallion recently we had planned to play a new version of ‘I keep singing that same old song’ as an encore !!

Terry Huggins… One of the best piano riffs ever.

Kev Towner… Now that would’ve been cool Phil!! I had no idea Colin wrote it – I think I’ve got a copy somewhere.

Sarah Harvey… Heavy Jelly…… Skip Bifferty had been clandestinely recording a new single “I Keep Singing That Same Old Song” with Paul Nicholls replacing Tommy Jackman on drums and with producer Guy Stevens at the helm. Writers of the London magazine ‘Time Out’ had written a review of a fictitious band with the name of Heavy Jelly as a spoof and a number of bands contemplated using the name. Skip Bifferty managed to be first out and the Heavy Jelly single was released on Island. For a while it was rumoured to be Spooky Tooth moonlighting, but journalist Chris Welsh almost disclosed the true identity of the group when his review punned “this one really skips and biffs along”. The single didn’t sell in the UK but did well in Europe.

Mick O’Dowd… Only just recently caught up with listening to this group. Most impressed especially their version of I Am The Walrus. Good band.

Wendy Wells… I have their autographs somewhere, I got from this gig, I’ll try and look them out lol!

Steve Cooke… … and of course Colin Gibson has lived locally for many years, forming Buick 6 with Roger Hubbard and Liam Genockey as well as numerous other musical and artistic achievements.

Gavin Martin… Good band!

Carol Ann Bolton… Excellent.

Nigel Ford… Never knew that….thanks everyone… “I keep singing that same old song” by Heavy Jelly was part of a set of covers by Maidstone band KRISHNA KUDU who played at Battle dances a number of times around 1969 – 72 and were a crowd favourite, even courted two Battle girls. I bought “Nice enough to eat” LP when I saw the track listed on it and have played it on Hastings Rock Radio many years ago.
Krishna Kudu were the first band I saw to use strobe lighting and I believe only to this track.  They also covered Rare Bird’s “Flight – As your mind flies by” brilliantly and “Hammerhead” aswell as Deep Purple, Black Sabbath covers etc.

Tich Turner… Ha, only just seen this. I was at the Skip Bifferty gig and was blown away. I went and bought their album right away and still have it. [probably their only one]! I’ve known Colin Gibson for many years now and only in the past year did I discover he was in the band, brilliant. Hi Mick, hope you’re well. I’m assuming you meant Spooky Tooth recording ‘I Am The Walrus’ as opposed to Skip Bifferty. I was chatting to my old pal and former guitarist in Whiskey Mac recently, and we got round to talking about Spooky Tooth, I absolutely loved that band and have all their albums, and solo ventures. So I mentioned to Graham that I went to see them at The Witchdoctor, and how great they were. He laughed and said, “of course you saw them there, we were supporting them”! Doh!!! Tich Turner.

Colin Bell… ‘On Love’ was one of my favourite 60’s singles, I’ve played it many times on my radio shows.