source & info: Kent MusicBiz
Mark Dean Ellen, Bernie Hagley, Nigel Gilchrist and John Wheels. Trevor Horn(Buggles/Yes) joined Canterbury Tales later when Bernie left.
John Warner… I see my old mate Dave Sutch up there at number 3. We became friendly in the late 60’s when he lived at Pinner. Sad loss when he died.
Sarah Russell… My dad is John Wheels (Wheals) and i am so pleased to see this. Thank you
supplied by Sarah Harvey
Sarah Harvey… The Onyx – Mainly based around Cornwall – This is the 4th line up that appeared at The Pier on December 14th, 1968. There are loads of photos and a history of the band here http://the-onyx.co.uk/index.html
Alan Esdaile… Seeing the name of the support band makes me think of comedian Mike Reid!
Steve May… The Boomtown Rats! My first proper gig!
Matt Thomas… Your first gig is a bit more credible than my Brotherhood of Man one
Kevin Hackman… Antique & bric a brac these days
Steve May… Kevin, yeah, whatever happened to them?
supplied by Len Smith Eastbourne Bands From 1960 on.
Here’s when they played the pier in 1964.
Andre Palfrey-martin collection
Roy Penfold… These teenagers and their raves…..I just don’t know what the world will come to!
Alan Esdaile… Lots of the gigs were called raves in those days. I wonder when it first appeared.
Glynn Brown… I have a feeling they were the support band when the Honeycombs performed on Hastings Pier in the early 1960’s.
Andre Martin… You are right Glynn when they changed their name to Shelly…. this week we have The HoneyCombs and the support from Brighton – Shelly – formerly known as The Sabres, who were about to embark on a future playing in Europe, and would become top names in both Denmark and Scandinavia within the next few years. This was to be one of the last appearance from the band in Hastings.
Andre Palfrey-martin collection
Keith Flanigan… Anyone know the names of the guys in the Eastbourne band the Sabres, back in the early 60s.
Alan Esdaile… you were asking about The Sabres line up. Pretty sure its the same line up as Shelley????
Ken Copsey… Love the Wem Watkins Dominator, matching Copicat and Burns Sonic guitar.
Keith Flanigan… 1963?
Mike Archer… Just picked your post. Two of the members were Stuart Hinchliffe and Dick(?) Plant
Supplied by John Busbridge
1975 advert
John Busbridge… Who remembers the Sundowners Club? Great place to go on a Friday night back in the day. Can anyone date this?
Alan Esdaile… Sundowners was great. Thanks for posting John.
Kevin Sherwood… I saw Showaddywaddy over there before they were in the charts so it was around 1973.
Robert Searle… Nice to see my old group there, Haze, for two nights too. Great days. It was their first gig,although unofficial, at the Sundowners, comprised of two groups, Choise and Golden Hammers, great night. I was there too.
Chris Chantler… Guess this was 73 …. great place, saw Showaddy there several times (and Mud) and met my husband there too!
Pete Millington… We (SPYKE) used to zip over to The Sundowners every Friday night after playing at the Alexandra Hotel in Hastings. So many good groups played there. Dating the programme is tough but Showaddewaddy we’re formed from two different groups who played there, can’t remember their names. So I would guess this programme is from 1971/2
Willie Wicking… Remember seeing Showaddwaddy there must have been one of their 1st gigs
Peter Thomson… I’ve always been convinced we saw Karl (Carl?) Douglas there but without a band. Don’t remember it being advertised and we were surprised when he appeared on stage. Whoever it was either mimed or sang along to backing tapes, quite early on in the evening. No, not everyone was Kung Fu Fighting.
Tony court-Holmes… went there often
Sheila Maile… Used to drive over in our mates Robin Reliant after the local pub shut in 1977
Keith Veness… Great place to go car full of people good times
Leigh Mitchell… Went there a lot in the 70s
Dennis Torrance… I went to Sundowners a few times and enjoyed it there
Colin Bell… DJ’d there in the 70’s, always a good gig i enjoyed doing.
photo supplied by Amanda Hawkings, ad supplied by Sarah Harvey
Sarah Harvey… November 2nd, 1968. No information regarding this group….anyone else?
Mick O’Dowd… New one on me perhaps St Johns Wood members might remember.
Ray Harper… Saw Modes Mode at The Continental more than once and Eastbourne Town Hall. They played blues and soul music in particular Curtis Mayfield. I thought they were from Brighton but they are not listed on Brightonbeat .com site. Great band though.
Amanda Hawkings… The drummer in Modes Mode was my cousin Clifford Grensted. The manager was my uncle Brian Grensted. They were based in the London area. The photo was taken in Stanmore, I believe.
Mike Mitchell… That’s a fabulous suit on the right there.
Lil Fuller… Brian Grenstead ( “Mr.G”) was our neighbour in Stanmore ..we lost touch when we left for Australia in 1970. He lived around the corner but our back garden in Tintagel Drive backed onto his… think He was Manager of Modes Mode then ..in the late 60’s ??? He was always wonderful to our late Mum Sheila and Us Kids and we have many Happy Memories. Fond Regards to His Family from Old Neighbours The Fuller’s … now in Adelaide …Down Under xx
Mick Gilfrin… Yep went to the E/B Town Hall gig. Does anybody remember the free fest @ Cow Gap Beachy Head 1967 ish. Skin Alley were top of the bill
Colin O’Donoghue… They were looking for a new singer and I went to about 3 gigs with them in Brian’s van and did a few numbers. They were from Stanmore – soul band – Otis Redding, Sam & Dave etc. I particularly liked The Action and these guys were similar.
Peter Seven… Leaving a message for Amanda Hawkins: My name is Peter Seven former lead singer for Modes Mode.
Martin Richter… fantastic clothes
John Stafford… Mick, Yes, I saw Skin Alley at Cow Gap, but don’t recall any of the other acts. The organiser was a young guy who looked a bit like Ginger Baker, so probably from the Art School. Skin Alley tried to kid the audience that their guitarist hadn’t turned up, so their sax player would have a go at playing guitar instead.That was rubbish of course, as their sax player (Bob James) was their usual guitarist too.
Toby Grensted…. Amanda, Cliff is my dad, I’m trying to find any recordings as I’ve never heard their music and can’t remember what label they were on. Something about it being 55 years ago.
ad – Andre Palfrey-martin collection. Mojos photo source: http://www.merseybeatnostalgia.co.uk/html/the_mojos.html
Well here we are almost at the end of August – a month that has seen so much happening in the town and no less than on Hastings Pier, in the Happy Ballroom andBar, Saturday 22 August 1964. Topping the bill tonight – “The Merseybeat” sound of The Mojos and in support The Orbits, making a return to the town. Originally called The Nomads, they recorded a track for the ‘This Is Mersey Beat’ LP then discovered a London group had registered the name so changed it to The Mojos. In october 1963 Adrian Wilkinson left the group and was replaced by Nick Crouch, former Farons Flamingos lead guitarist. While they were appearing at the Star Club, Hamburg,[ Many people have asked – “what did it look like – so I have found a picture and added to the images ” they recorded what is now considered one of the classics of the ‘Mersey Sound’, ‘Everythings Alright’ which entered the UK top 10 charts. The next two releases were less distinguished and prompted Stu James to say “We made our name in Liverpool as Blues specialists but were persuaded to do all sorts of lightweight pop stuff. After our initial success, we just stumbled on in a fairly aimless way, the acclaim we got was for our live performances which remained loud and raucous” . In December 1964, Stu James and Nick Crouch split from the others and formed Stu James & the Mojos bringing in Lewis Collins on bass and Aynsley Dunbar on Drums, this line-up continued till 1966 when Nick left the music business and Lewis Collins entered into a successful acting career appearing in the hit TV series ‘The Professionals’
Friday night good times would have been started off with “Ready Steady Go – The Weekend Starts Here” from Kingway Studios London – with Cathy and Keith introducing amongst others – The Cherokees – “Seven Daffodils” Brenda Lee – “Is It True” P.J. Proby – “Hold Me” ,other guests included Helen Shapiro, Brenda Lee – “Is It True” ,Wayne Gibson and the Dynamic Sounds & Duffy Power. For the adventurous amongst us, we would have a mile further west and stopped at Marine Court the home of The Witch Doctor, where the line up over the next few days would have included :-The Habits & Mark 4 [Saturday] The Voodoos [Sunday] Bern Elliott and his Clan [Wednesday] Dave Champion and The Strangers [Friday] and advanced notification for Sunday 30th – Alexis Korner. It is not difficult to see that the battle lines were drawn between the Happy Ballroom & The Witch Doctor. Until next week’s edition of the History of The Happy Ballroom, enjoy the Bank Holiday Weekend – as moved to the end of August from the following year 1965. And don’t forget to catch Matthew Banisters’ Production of the Mods & Rockers Re-booted on BBC 1 South/South East – 7.30pm by Andre Martin
Glynis Phillips… Went to see Mojos on pier 1st band I ever saw.
Robert Searle… Don’t forget that’s the original Mojos on that record.
Pete Fairless… In The Summer Time… Now, what was that lyric? “If her Daddy’s rich buy her a pier…”
Mike Guy… I’m still performing The Man Behind The Piano, Mighty Man, and Baby Jump! How many songs do you know where a bloke gets drunk, touches a woman, gets a thump from her husband, & gets peed on by a dog?
Joe Knight… See him early 80s Kings Country Club
Gerry Fortsch… Is this the gig that we the Hippo Band played support at? Mungo Jerry were a great bunch of guys.
Alan Esdaile… Not sure Gerry who the support band was. Anyone confirm?
Linda Day… We saw Mungo Jerry in a field somewhere can’t remember where
Micky Erends… he was great, saw him on Hastings Pier
poster supplied by Colin Fox, photo (1969) supplied by Len Smith Eastbourne Bands from 1960 on.
Chris Howard… Great photo
Stuart Moir… The great voice of Mr Dave Shaw .
supplied by Nastassja Kaschevsky. with Nastassja, Doug DuggyFresh Smith and Chris Kimber.
Peter Fairless… Were they all left handed?
Ad 1984
Tony Ham… I saw them several times in Rye, I remember they played Jilted John.
Nastassja Kaschevsky… That’s right!
Mick O’Dowd… Do you do wallpapering?