Stallion – Melody Maker win, Roundhouse ticket 27th June 1976 and review.

stallion 1976

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ticket supplied by Iain Cobby      cutting supplied by Sarah Harvey.

Andy Qunta… Still awesome! Brilliant achievement by Stallion! Well done, lads! Still proud of our fellow Hastings muso friends!

John Wilde… Stallion on the Pier 2016? Count me in.

Andy Qunta… I’ll volunteer Factory for some of that too!

John Wilde… That would be a good night Andy.

Sparrow Baker… Factory and the Town Council ?

Phil Gill… Bloody hippies….

Phil Thornton… specially the one with the scarf !

Pete Fisher… 40 years ago…blimey!! The band I was in (who rejoiced in the name of Roger The Cat!) won the semi-final at the Marquee the following year in 1977, but failed to win the final…we were basically a pub cover band doing the London circuit…track at my SoundCloud page…

 

Die Laughing rock The Carlisle 1st November 1980 & Melody Maker Rock Contest The Venue 1st July 1979

all posters supplied by Mick Mepham

Tim Moose Bruce… went to the venue for that one. the bit i remember was £1.70 for half a lager!. DL did a good show. went to the area heat final at the Marquee. that was a great nite. Bite the pillow won it. splodges came 4th i recall. dont know what came of bite the pillow afterwards.

Colin… My pals Bite The Pillow won. What a glorious night it was. We all bussed down from Glasgow and a wonderful celebration was had after this somewhat unexpected triumph. The band went their separate ways shortly after. Russell went on to become lead singer and guitarist with Positive Noise and the others formed Dance Walesa, which is when I joined them on percussion and string machine. We had a great time together and disbanded shortly after our last minute cancelled gig supporting Yazoo at Glasgow’s “Tiffany’s”. The disappointment was obviously too much for us and we did the honourable band thing and called it a day!!

Tim Moose Bruce… Max Splodge got best bum award after their performance of Michael Booths Talking Bum… And Die Laughing’s gig van didnt blow up its engine like it did on the area heat final a few weeks previously.

Harry Randall… Mmmmmm must ask Terry Corder about that?

Alan Esdaile… early heat…

John Bryson… Colin? Colin Clark? Chanced upon this random entry and thought “I was there too, and I know that guy” Or may be “knew” is more accurate. Probs not seen you since early/mid 80’s??? Hope you’re doing good.

Rab Kerr… Just stumbled across this. I was the singer (Rab Kerr) with Rabies. We shared first spot in Scottish heats with Bite The Pillow. We shared a dressing room with Splodge. What a week-end that was. Only one of our entourage got arrested…lol We actually got a hand written letter from Sting a few weeks later. Said he thought we were great and to keep at it. In true rock and roll fashion we folded soon after.

Druid and Jailbait – Hastings Pier 14th September 1974

Rob Grain…R.I.P. Cedric Sharpley, he went on to be the drummer of Tubeway Army and Gary Numan. I was blessed to work with him in the Q Tips (post Paul Young) in the mid 80’s. A powerful drummer and a funny, gentle soul.

Iain Cobby… Great band, I have both the albums. Unfortunately they sounded like too much like a Yes tribute , but hey. They also won the MM rock contest in 1974

Andy Wright… Keyboard player Andrew Mccrorrie-Shand went on to do quite well writing music for children’s shows ie Teletubbies, Rosie & Jim, and the Bass player was the last presenter of R&J.

Dave Weeks… Great first album. Enjoyed seeing them on the pier.

Wally plus Quick Licks – Hastings Pier 29th March 1973 & Druid chat.

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supplied by Sarah Harvey

Sarah Harvey…..Wally were a prog rock group from Yorkshire and they entered the MM Rock Contest in 1973 and got to the final but didn’t win (Druid won), but one of the judges whispering Bob Harris asked them to record a session for his Monday night show. he then set them up with a recording contract with Atlantic.

Alan Esdaile….really love this band

Mick Mepham….Good band too.

Mick O’Dowd….Wally were quite an underated band and never got the success they desrved, but this was not through want of trying. They appeared several times on the Pier. Highly underated!

Yvonne Cleland….They were. Saw them twice on the pier, and once at Brighton Dome.

Clive Richardson….The support band were also good but it should read ‘Quick Licks’ . 3 piece from London and all their songs were made up of licks.

Here in 1974 on the Old Grey Whistle Test with ‘The Martyr’

Dave Nattress… “Wally”…the first album, really wonderful, still play it a lot. The second, “Valley Gardens” was named after the public pleasure gardens in their home town of Harrogate and personally I feel it is not quite so good. These are 2 of my most treasured vinyls and after looking out for the CD versions for many years, I got the first in 2008 and then Valley Gardens in 2010. In fact I then got an absolutely mint, (I’m sure it was unplayed) vinyl of “Valley Gardens” from the record shop in Little Common for about £5.00. I also saw them at the pier. Druid – reminded me and some of my friends of the time – Iain Cobby for one, very much of Yes. Definitely the sound comparison came from the Rickenbacker bass and the Jon Anderson like vocals. Iain, I remember well you changing the Precision for the Rick!! I’ve got the 2 Druid albums on vinyl and CD. I’m sure Druid played the pier.

Iain Cobby… Yes Dave, I remember Druid from Whistle Test then seeing them on the pier. I too have both the CD’s . They were a good prog band in the wake of Yes. Like most prog of that time, they were overwhelmed by the oncoming rebellion . The drummer played with Gary Newman as Tubeway Army. and yes I still have a Ricky, not the 4001 but a 4004 …….. its the clang that’s the thang!

Janine Anne Scott… I sang for the Easter Fashion Parade that year .

Melody Maker Rock Contest Hastings Pier featuring Stallion, Daisy, Bracken 27th April 1974

27th april?? 1974 stallion, daisy, bracken,

Stallion H Ob 1974 copy

cutting supplied by Andy Knight

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Stallion photo by Chris Meachen. Not sure this was from the same gig but would be around this time.

Phil Thornton… I was there ! I joined Stallion after seeing their performance !

Yvonne Cleland… I was there. I was doing Daisy’s sound at the time…

Steve Kinch… Great times!

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Daisy photo supplied by Yvonne Cleland (August 1974)

Yvonne Cleland… .. featuring Will Thomson, Kevin Hoad (Moff) and Tony Barraclough. Terry Corder was there but not in this shot.

Kevin Sherwood… Daisy were very good that night.

Yvonne Cleland… Daisy were exceptionally good that night.

Jo Turner… Oh I loved these competitions and have great memories of jumping in the back of someone’s van frequently in later years to follow local bands doing the competition rounds. Was it Michael Mepham who had the van?

Wesley Magoogan… I remember that well, there were lots of shenanigans between us and Stallion lol.