Emotion – The Regent Hotel Seafront Hastings late 1970

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supplied by Barry French

Barry French… The name on the Bass drum is Emotion. (1st Emotion was added later when my Sister Jenny joined the band). Barry French on Guitar, Den Wootton on Drums and Clifford Wootton on Bass.  At that time my Dad was the maintenance manager of the Regent Hotel & he pulled many strings to get us regular gigs there.
Mum & Dad would be on the door taking the admission, while we played a set of pop songs of the day to a mixture of foreign students & bikers. Looking at that picture makes me wonder where the years have gone, Cliff & I would have been 17 while Den was 15. (Makes you feel old!!!)

Yvonne Cleland… Wow! This takes me right back to the Lido days. We used to go to the Regent every single weekend in those days, and do biker dances to Emotion! I remember Barry’s mum was in charge. She was a friendly and kind lady. It was a great place to go to, Emotion would play all of our requests, and we loved it.

Cliff Wootton… Yeah this would have been a very early incarnation not long after we started and probably before Pete Cunningham from Mullet Smith Music offered to be our ‘Manager’. I think that’s a Jennings transistor amp behind me and maybe a Rosetti bass. We are probably singing Yellow River. A song that is indelibly etched on my mind. We were impressed with Baz because he had just bought all this new gear.

Lucy Pappas… That’s how I remember you Cliff and Den x

Cliff Wootton… I do look a bit different now. Something like a cross between James Robertson Justice, Long John Silver and one of the hairy bikers. 😉

Barry French… Thanks Yvonne for your kind words. Initially the owner of the Regent gave us a months trial. The first couple of weeks the place was pretty much empty and if you guys hadn’t turned up we would have lost the gig for sure. I remember lines of people doing the biker dances (A kind of forerunner to line dancing!!) Fun times.

Yvonne Cleland… Barry it was so nice to read that we meant as much to the band as they did to us! That we’re still talking about it all these years later says it all! xxxx

Cliff Wootton… Awesome! Very chuffed to find that people remember us from back then.

Yvonne Cleland… Lots of us weren’t old enough to legally drink hahahahaha