south coast ska stars

Uppers On The South Downs – LP

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Terry Pack on the South Coast Ska Stars…One of the many, many records of mine that I don’t have a copy of. A Ray Fenwick production. The South Coast Ska Stars were Wesley Magoogan, Tony Bird, Kevin Hoad,  Ray and I. We did two songs: Head On (sung by Ray) and Ring Of Fire, an instrumental version in 5/4.

Kevin Hoad…..As Terry has stated.That was the line up.I have a copy still.And the album on safari records is selling well.In the Parker is Wes Magoogan, Tony Bird on the left. I Thankyou.

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Wesley Magoogan….This compilation album was put together by our own version of Simon Cowell ,Ray Fenwick .

Andy Knight….Re the covers, the top one is the CD version, the guy on the Vespa is the Vinyl version, that’s what I have anyway, the vinyl was what we were given at the time, I bought the CD from HMV! the CD came out in 1994 I think.

Mick O’Dowd….Still got my vinyl version with scooter boy.

Tony Bird….Uppers on the South Downs LP was recorded at my Studio (WING) in Ninfield and Ike Nossel (Park Gates Studio) in Catsfield ………produced by Ray Fenwick

Terry Pack….The tracks done at Wing (8 track) often sounded better than those done on 24 track at Park Gates! Most notably the demo versions of certain singles

Andy Knight….We (Missing Persons) did some recording at a studio on the road to Hawkhurst called Bluebell Studios, owned by an author of children’s books I think?

Ken Copsey…  As a 16 year old it would have been nice to have had a bit more care and guidance. The production on everything the Teenbeats recorded was appalling. The only thing anyone was interested in was trying to make a fast buck out of Huggy’s charasismatic personality, which apart from stopping and starting at the same time was all the Teenbeats had. Its good to see that someone is making some money out of these recordings because we never did. Not even the 50,000 singles sold in Canada. Rock ‘n ‘ Roll. Same old story. On the subject of songwriting credits all the self penned Teenbeats tracks appeared on later compilations credited to people I have never heard of. A new mod compilation has just been released with Strength Of A Nation on it but strangely none of the other tracks on Uppers.

Pete Prescott… I don’t know what happened to my copy. So many Hastings guys on it. A lot of it was recorded at Tony Birds studio. And some at park gates.

Robert Searle… Did some tracks at Bluebell studios with Ray Fenwick with Rev Stockdale,Paul Freeman and a fantastic sax player didnt know his name and me on bass guitar. Didnt know what happened to the recordings.

South Coast Ska Stars – Head On 1980

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Ray Fenwick, Pat Keane, Tony Bird, Andy Caine,Terry Pack,Kevin Hoad .

Michael Mepham….Good player Pat. Drums, bass, guitar – all good.

Tony Bird….the guy in the front is Andy Cunningham and I’m standing behind him, photo taken about 1981 at the manor barn Bexhill

Terry Pack…..Just read your comment about the wallet, Phil. I think I’m more concerned about the dodgy intentions of the John Lennon lokkalike behind me! Andy Caine is practising his Sting look. What does Fenwick look like?

Andy Knight… Really?

Terry Pack… I’m pretty sure that these tracks were recorded at Tony Bird’s studio in Ninfield on his 8 track, which I think was one inch tape, meaning that the sound was excellent, especially the bass end. I just listened to the track (for the first time since 1981). I’d forgotten how averse Ray was to variation and development. The only thing that changes during its 3 minutes is Wesley’s saxophone. The rest could have been programmed or copied and pasted from the first 12 bar sequence. I remember a different song on which I started in the middle register so that when I dropped down the octave later in the tune, it would sound heavier. Ray’s response was to ask me to overdub a second bass part down the octave from the top, thus losing the effect altogether.