Day: 30 April 2024

Them – Witch Doctor 30th April 1965

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Ad Andre Palfrey-martin collection. photo London Records Ad 1965

John Storer…Does this get votes as one of the most influential singles ever? both tracks are now standards and both sound as brilliant today as they did back then. “Gloria” was the b-side to “Baby Please Don’t Go” when it was released in the UK but the tracks were reversed when the single was released in the States. Yet it was “BPDG” as a b-side that caught the imagination of many American bands and it was a cover of that song by The Amboy Dukes in 1967 that brought a certain Mr Ted Nugent to prominence.

Andy Qunta…..Funnily enough, Gloria was the B-side to Baby Please Don’t Go, although it is perhaps the better-known one now. I like both, but I still prefer the A-side!  By the way, they say that if you drop a guitar down the stairs, sooner or later it will play Gloria!

Len……Saw ‘Them’ in the club upstairs above the Fiesta Coffee Bar, on the day they played the Witch Doctor.

Alan Esdaile….Anyone remember seeing Van Morrison at The White Rock Theatre in 1991?

Mick O’Dowd…..Yes I was there. Fantastic show from The Master and if I remember Mike Cotton Sound were a more than adequate band.

David Edwards… Well I never knew that Them had played the Witchdoctor.

John Warner… Mike Cotton, came across him again on a cruise, great trumpeter. Them – Van Morrison. Lonely Ones – Noel Redding. Great times!

Nutz – Hastings Pier 30th April 1977

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all cuttings supplied by Sarah Harvey

Ticket supplied by Peter Houghton

Bizarre billing for the original support!

Sarah Harvey……Nutz first appearance on 30th April 1977 plus Stephen Turner’s preview of the gig. Also a quick return 3 months later on July 16th. Note the forthcoming gig with Head On and Steppin’ Out on the following Thursday.

Alan Esdaile… The lead singer Dave Lloyd was the voice of .. only the crumbliest flakiest chocolate ad.

Pete Prescott… Although I still lived in north Kent I visited Hastings that weekend and went to this gig.

Dave Weeks… Nutz. Yes I was one of the very few there. Good night though and good fun band.

Central Recreation Ground (Cricket Ground) Queens Road Hastings about 1908

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shared from Historical Hastings https://historymap.info/Main_Page

Nigel Ford… What’s the big property just down left of the chimney on horizon central? Still standing?

Peter Fairless… Nigel, Hastings Grammar School, long since gone.

Andy Davies… Peter, I knew that, being an old Hastonian but What was the chimney? Was it a power station as there was one in a similar place in the 60s?

Peter Fairless… Could be, Andy. Would need to check an old map to see if anything obvious stands out.

Roy Penfold… The chimney was indeed the power station, albeit a smaller one than that which caught fire a number of years ago.

Peter Houghton… That’s a great photo of the old Cricket Pitch

Peter Ellingworth… I believe the tall chimney seen in the distance behined HGS was the original Hastings Tramways power station in Parker Road, built around 1900-3. The chimney itself was 53.3 metres high (175 ft. for those of us who remember proper money), erected by Babcock & Wilcox Ltd. and obviously as coal was the prime source then for power stations, it was situated close to and with a spur off to the Ashford-Hastings rail line at Ore. This is covered by the way with extensive detail in Robert J. Harley’s excellent book “Trams & Trolleybuses in Hastings, St. Leonard’s & Bexhill 1905-1959”. Hope this helps.