Penny Peeps

Martin Barre’s Early Years:
The Motivation, The Penny Peeps and Gethsemane

Martin Barre from early 1969
Taken from Beat Instrumental magazine
after he had joined Jethro Tull

Following Mick Abrahams’ acrimonious departure from Jethro Tull in late November 1968, singer Ian Anderson held auditions to fill the vacant guitar slot. One of the many hopefuls to attend was Martin Barre (b. 17 November 1946, Birmingham), who was currently playing guitar in a blues band called Gethsemane. Barre was already familiar with Jethro Tull’s music, having seen them play at the Sunbury Festival during the summer. Interestingly, Gethsemane had opened for Anderson’s group at the Van Dike Club in Plymouth only a few days earlier.

While Barre subsequently failed the audition, he was determined to get the job. Within days of a memorable gig at Dundee College of Art on 12 December, opening for headliners, Pink Floyd, Barre learned that Abrahams’ replacement Tommy Iommi had left Jethro Tull and the position was available once more. Phoning Anderson up to see if he could try out again, his persistence paid off and he was invited round to the singer’s flat for a second audition. The rest as they say is history.

The pairing of Ian Anderson and Martin Barre in mid-December 1968 would be the catalyst that led Jethro Tull into becoming one of Britain’s biggest selling bands of the ‘70s, and one of the country’s most successful exports throughout the next two decades. The story behind Barre’s entrance into the group however, has remained largely untold until now.

Little is known about his early years playing in the Midlands. Although the guitar was always his preferred choice of instrument, Barre also learnt saxophone and flute at an early age and around 1963 joined his first serious group, the Birmingham beat combo, the Moonrakers. While the group operated for a number of years under the leadership of singer John Carter, it’s not certain how long Barre worked with the band because he also studied architecture at Lanchester Polytechnic (now Coventry University) sometime during the early-mid ‘60s.

Whatever the exact details, Barre appears to have resumed his musical career in late 1966 after being encouraged by fellow ex-Moonraker, Chris Rodger, a sax player from Solihull, to reply to an advert in Melody Maker asking for a horn player to join a soul covers outfit called the Motivation. In the end, the group enlisted both musicians.

The Motivation had recently been formed from the ashes of another group known as Beau Brummell & the Noblemen and the Beau Brummell Orchestra (which itself had evolved out of Johnny Devlin & the Detours). The Noblemen’s bass player Bryan Stevens (b. 13 November 1941, North Borneo) and keyboard player and singer Mike Ketley (b. 1 October 1947, Balham, London) were the only surviving members of both bands, which hailed from Bognor Regis on the UK’s south coast.

Stevens had formed the Detours in February 1960 and had recruited Ketley from another local group, the Soundtracks, in 1962. The band had recorded a one-off single, “Sometimes”, for Pye Records in late 1963, and appeared as newcomers on Granada TV’s Thank Your Lucky Stars alongside various other artists in February 1964. Around this time, a London group called the Detours spotted them performing on TV and decided to change their name to the Who! The Detours meanwhile soon went through their own transformation after meeting South African singer Mike Bush (aka Beau Brummell).

Brummell, who now owns a naturist valley in Northern Transvaal, had arrived in England in 1961 and worked under various pseudonyms before adopting the title, “Beau Brummell”, named after the British dandy of the 19^th century, in late 1963. Recruiting the Detours (now renamed the Noblemen) as his support group, Brummell allegedly toured around the UK, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Italy in a converted London ambulance, equipped with a cocktail cabinet and other accessories and is even believed to have performed before the Aga Khan while in Rome! Not surprisingly, his exploits gained him front-page headlines.

While in the Italian capital, the group opened the famous Piper Club on 1 October 1965 before heading home via Germany. Brummell opted to stay behind for a while and on the way back the Noblemen got a gig at the famous Big Apple club in Munich opening for the Spencer Davis Group. Reunited with Brummell, the group played a weeklong show at the Storyville in Frankfurt in mid-March with Liverpool band, The Clayton Squares (more of which later). Finally splitting with Brummell, the Noblemen remained in Germany for about six months and in September the musicians got know another touring group, the Burnettes.

“They had a gangly long legged guy playing lead guitar and over a few days drinking we got to know him well,” remembers Stevens. “He was leaving the Burnettes when their contract ran out in Germany and said he was going back to London to audition for Chas Chandler who had got a guy from the States and were trying to get a new band started – the rest is history. Noel Redding was the gangly bloke and of course the guy from the States was Jimi Hendrix.”

On its return, the Noblemen signed up with the Roy Tempest Agency and one of their earliest gigs was supporting US soul act, the Vibrations at Tofts in Folkestone on 23 September, where the group again ran into Redding, who only a few weeks later would be playing with Hendrix. The following month, on 16 October, the Noblemen supported Edwin Starr at the Beachcomber Club in Nottingham alongside John Mayall’s Blues Breakers.

While the show went down extremely well, most of the members decided that the group had run its course and dropped out, leaving Ketley and Stevens to rebuild the band from scratch. Before splitting the Noblemen recorded two unreleased tracks with guitarist Chuck Fryers singing – “Jump Back Baby” and “Ecstasy”.

Back on the south coast, the remaining members started to plan a new group and Stevens quickly recruited London singer Jimmy Marsh (b. 9 April 1941, Salem, Carmarthenshire, Wales) who in turn recommended a new drummer Malcolm Tomlinson (b. 16 June 1946, Isleworth, Middlesex) to replace outgoing Bernie Smith.

“We had met both Jim and Malcolm when we were still Johnny Devlin & the Detours preparing to become the Noblemen,” remembers Ketley. “They played at a local gig in Littlehampton called the Top Hat club which was owned by Bob Gaitley who managed Brummell and us and ran the Beat Ballard and Blues Agency which was famous in the south in those days.”

Bryan Stevens continues the story. “Bob Gaitley gave me Jimmy’s number when we needed a singer after we left Beau Brummell. Jimmy came down to Bognor and we got working with him shortly afterwards as he was a good ‘soul’ singer doing cover versions of Otis Redding hits.”

The singer had a long musical pedigree. His first band, The Fairlanes, formed in 1961, gigged largely on American airbases but also got the opportunity to back cabaret acts Kathy Kirby and Vince Hill. The following year he formed the Del Mar Trio who on one occasion performed on a ferry to Bolougne with Jerry Lee Lewis. Sometime in 1963, Marsh played an impromptu jam session at Sound City on Shaftsbury Avenue, the top music store in the country, backed by none other than Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones. The Del Mar Trio’s guitarist Allen Bevan worked at the music shop and later that same year introduced Malcolm Tomlinson, who worked at nearby Drum City.

Tomlinson was a talented musician, who while primarily a drummer was also adept at guitar (and later flute). His first musical outing had been the west London band the Panthers, but this was short-lived, and in 1962 he joined Jeff Curtis & the Flames, the house band at the Ealing Jazz Club. While playing with the Flames, Tomlinson witnessed the nascent Rolling Stones get their act together. The Flames later recorded a five-track acetate with the late Joe Meek, but Tomlinson moved on in late 1963 to join the Del Mar Trio.

The new line up decided to try its luck on the south coast during the summer of 1964 and thanks to Bob Gaitley got the opportunity to play at his venues, the Top Hat and the Mexican Hat. Gaitley also arranged an audition for EMI at Abbey Road under the direction of Bob Barratt in February 1965. Four tracks have been logged under the name “James Deene & The Del Mar Trio” – “You Know How”, “Pocket Full of Rainbows”, “Like A Baby” and “Haunting Me”. The group then changed name to James Deane & the London Cats and in April headed for Germany to play the club scene. Over the next 18 months or so, the group members drifted back home leaving Marsh on his own in Germany.

“Bryan found out where I was [in Germany] through the consulate and would I be interested in fronting the band,” explains Marsh. “I got a plane home and I went straight to the south coast and the Shoreline club.”

Being away so long, Marsh didn’t know “the scene” or the “mode of dress” required for the new group, which it was decided would be called the Motivation. “There’s me, I turned up at the Shoreline, my hair’s all swept back, American button down shirt, Levis and a pair of boots. I remember Bryan saying something to me, ‘It’s not your singing Jimmy; it’s your clothes and your hair’.” Stevens took Marsh to Carnaby Street and kited him out in the latest attire.

Shortly after Marsh and Tomlinson’s arrival, Barre and Rodger were recruited via the Melody Maker advert. According to Ketley, Barre’s sound and technique was not particularly good at this point and from the outset, Rodger assumed the more prominent role, playing solos and supporting Barre until he got up to speed. “It wasn’t until months and months later that we would go to bed after a gig to the sound of Martin practising on his 335, and wake up in the late afternoon and Martin was still playing that we realised that he was a much better guitarist that he was a sax player,” says Ketley.

In fact, Barre later admitted to taking the job, so that he could get into the band and play guitar. “It wasn’t until we had formed the Penny Peeps and especially Gethsemane that Martin owned up to getting the sax job under false pretences,” says Ketley. “Clever really and by then we had other plans so it was fine.”

During late 1966 and early 1967, the band found itself heavily in demand, working with such notable soul artists as Alvin Robinson, Ike & Tina Turner, Edwin Starr, Lee Dorsey, the Coasters, the Drifters and Ben E King, to name a few.

Stevens remembers one particularly amusing story while touring with the Coasters. “We were backing [them] on a 7-day (Roy Tempest) tour of England and had a double nighter in Manchester – two large working men’s clubs. I think it was the Princess and the Domino clubs, owned by the same promoter,” he recalls. “We went on the first venue and went down very well, in fact there were encores and it made us late leaving. Then we had to pack up all the amplifiers and follow the promoter’s car on a dash to the other club the other side of Manchester.”

Arriving nearly an hour late, the group set up its amps behind the stage curtain where it could hear the drunken crowd starting to get rowdy. With no time to waste the promoter raised the curtain to a huge cheer and hurried the Coasters on stage. The trouble started immediately. When one of the singers politely asked the drunken crowd to quieten down, some in the crowd continued to shout out. Upset by the reception, the singer responded with an off-the-cuff remark, which was met with a torrent of boos and beer bottles. Soon both the singers and the band (minus Marsh) were in a headlong retreat to the dressing room.

“The crowd started running after us climbing on the stage and chasing us into the dressing room,” remembers Stevens. “We just got into the dressing room before they grabbed us. The Coasters started to barricade the door. Then we looked around and they were getting out their pistols and checking how many bullets each of them had!”

When the noise in the hall eventually quietened down, the band retrieved its amps and managed to get out of the club. “We were given a police escort out of Manchester and onto the M6,” says Stevens.

Jimmy Marsh points out that there is more to the story. “We got to the club and all the bouncers are like Teddy Boys. They were nasty. One of the bouncers wanted to know what we were going to do. I chimed in and said, ‘Well, I’m the lead vocalist and I usually do half an hour before the Coasters come on’. He said, ‘You sing one song’ and my back went up. I always remember saying, ‘Well, fuck you, I’m not singing and I headed off for the bar, so they’d have to bring the Coasters on straight away.”

Perched at the bar, Marsh remembers the beer bottles being thrown at the stage. “The lead vocalist was so camp, it was outrageous and of course up there a man’s got to be a man.

“Then one of the bouncers came over to me and said, ‘We’re going to have you’. Well, I hadn’t done anything so I told him to f-off. Anyway, I finished my drink and headed for the stage door and two of them came up behind me and threw me through the door.” Marsh remembers losing it completely and taking on about five or six bouncers.

“Finally, we got out and, nervous reaction, I’m sitting there in our converted ambulance laughing hysterically. Bryan said to me, ‘You’re mad’ and I said, ‘Well they started it’ and they did.” As the singer points out, Roy Tempest later presented them with a bill for £30 to cover the damage!

Aside from opening and supporting US soul acts on the club scene, the Motivation also began to gain work on the burgeoning rock circuit. On 12 November, the band was billed to play at the Oasis club in Manchester. A few months later on 4 March 1967, the group shared the bill with C James Blues and Malcolm Magaron at Tiles in London.

Marsh also remembers appearing at the Mojo club in Sheffield on a bill featuring Rod Stewart (probably playing with Jeff Beck Group), Sonny Childe & TNT and Geno Washington and the Ram Jam Band and playing at the Scotch of St James in London (around March-April) with Otis Redding in the audience.

On two occasions (6 February and 6 March), the band also opened for the Herd at the Marquee in Wardour Street. On the second occasion, Marsh remembers surprising his band mates by announcing that he wanted to sing a Roy Orbison classic, “Running Scared” among the usual soul numbers. At first the band refused to play it but relented when he threatened to walk off the stage. Marsh notes that the song brought the roof down.

Sometime in May 1967, the Motivation travelled to Rome to perform at the famous Piper club for six weeks, playing six hours a night until 3am. While there Marsh remembers Ray Charles’s dancers came in and asked the band to prolong their solo so they could dance to the music. Marsh promptly leapt off the stage to dance with them!

The pressures on the road, however, began to take their toll. “When we were in Rome I had to attend the hospital,” recalls Marsh. “I punctured my vocal chords and to get it fixed, you would have to be a big time operator to foot that kind of bill.”

With his health failing, Marsh left the band and returned home. He dropped out of the music business, only resurfacing briefly in the early ‘80s with the short-lived west London band, A Touch of Gold. Looking back, he has this to say. “A big problem with Motivation was the rivalry. Martin [Barre] was favourite; he was a lovely kid. I always thought good luck to him when he made it.”

He also remembers a story regarding the future Jethro Tull guitarist. “After I left them I was living in Notting Hill Gate in Pembridge Villas and Martin turned up at my place. I always remember the girl who lived in the room next to me had a lovely clarinet, which she was going to sell and he wanted it but didn’t have the money. I said, ‘Martin, do you want me to get it for you?’ He said, ‘No, thanks’. Next thing I know he’s worth millions!”

Chris Rodger quit the band shortly after Marsh’s departure and the remaining members carried on briefly as the Motivation with Barre concentrating on lead guitar. On 1 July, the quartet shared the bill with Eric Clapton’s band, Cream at the Upper Cut in Forest Gate.

The Motivation

Around the same time, another band called Motivation signed to Direction Records and the group retreated to Bognor and the Shoreline club to reassess its musical future.

A decision was made to change the group’s name and a new lead singer was sought to front the band. Stevens and Ketley remembered a talented singer from the Clayton Squares who had shared the stage with Beau Brummell & the Noblemen at the Storyville in Germany back in March 1966. They duly invited Denny Alexander Thomas (b. 10 March 1946, Liverpool, Lancs) to join the reconstituted outfit – now going by the more “progressive” name the Penny Peep Show.

“When we decided we wanted a change after Jimmy Marsh, I contacted Denny who agreed to join up with us,” remembers Stevens. “I went up to Liverpool and brought him down to Bognor where he stayed at the Shoreline Hotel (the only teenage hotel run by teenagers for teenagers in Bognor) while we got a new act together before going out on the road again.”

Two Marquee adverts featuring the Motivation taken the pages of Melody Maker (early '67)

Alexander, like his erstwhile colleagues, had been active since the early ‘60s, playing with Liverpool bands Tony & the Chequers, the Aarons, the Secrets and the Kinsleys. Alexander’s greatest success, however, came with the Clayton Squares, who joined in February 1965 and with whom he recorded two singles for Decca in late 1965 and early 1966. The band, which was managed by Don Arden, had played extensively at the Cavern but had arrived on the scene too late to capitalise on the success of the first wave of Merseyside bands. Alexander never the less brought both a strong voice and some powerful original material to the Penny Peep Show.

After rehearsing new material, largely comprised of Alexander originals, at the Shoreline club in Bognor Regis, the Penny Peep Show resumed live work. Through Pete Hockham, formerly one of Bob Gaitley’s agents at the Beat Ballad and Blues agency and now working for Brian Epstein’s NEMS agency, the band signed up with NEMS and gained regular work in the London area. One of the group’s first London dates took place on 8 February 1968, opening for the Mike Stuart Span at the famous 100 Club in Oxford Street.

The Penny Peep Show

That same month, the group signed a deal with Liberty Records and got to work recording over an album’s worth of material, most of which comprised demos. “When the Peeps got the Liberty contract, I also got a song writing contract with them from Metric Music, which was on Albermarle Street at the time,” says Alexander. “When I went to sign my contract…there was also a duo who were part of band called the Idle Race. This turned out to be Jeff Lynne later of ELO fame and fortune. The other person sitting in the corner very quietly and looking very shy and schoolboyish turned out be Mike Batt!”

“The contract required a certain amount of songs in a certain period,” continues Alexander “and the band used to act as session men – and therefore got paid which helped when gigs were scarce. Most songs were recorded at the Marquee studio at the back of the old Marquee club in Wardour Street. I probably wrote about 15 or 16 songs.”

Some of these songs, such as “Helen Doesn’t Care” and “Into My Life She Came”, which features Martin Barre on flute, are little gems. So is “Meet Me At The Fair”, which the group had envisaged would be coupled with Alexander’s organ and guitar driven rocker “Model Village” for the band’s debut single. Instead, Liberty chose to go with the poppy Les Reed-Barry Mason collaboration, “Little Man With A Stick”.

“I remember how pissed off we all were when Liberty insisted that ‘Little Man With A Stick’ should be the ‘A’ side as it was not us and none of us liked it,” says Stevens. “I suppose it was the usual case of the record company wanting to use their in-house song writers.”

Released on 16 February, under the new name, the Penny Peeps, “Little Man With A Stick” c/w “Model Village” failed to chart, although it did gain some radio exposure.

“Tony Blackburn opened his Radio 1 show every morning for a week with it,” says Ketley. “Although he said he liked the ‘B’ side, he never played it. Melody Maker and NME at the time all said ‘Model Village’ should have been released on the ‘A’ side and was much more representative of the band live.”

“Little Man With A Stick” received a lukewarm welcome in the music press, with NME reporting: “A new British number by Les Reed and Barry Mason. It’s good fun with a strong novelty content, but not one of the duo’s most memorable compositions. Competent performance.” (Note: a mint copy of the single will now set you back about £35.)

The single’s release coincided with a memorable show at the Brighton Dome Theatre on 22 February where the Penny Peeps backed the Scaffold on a bill that also included the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band.

In the long run, however, the decision to bury “Model Village” on the flip side of the band’s debut, coupled with a weak follow up, Alexander’s “I See The Morning” c/w “Curly, The Knight of The Road” (issued on 21 June) did the band no favours. Disillusioned, Denny Alexander left soon afterwards.

Retiring from professional playing, he tried his hand as a trainee publican for a while but the venture didn’t last long. Back in Liverpool, he gathered together some friends who had a musical cabaret act and the sax player from the Undertakers and recorded six tracks in late 1972. The songs – “Don’t Let It Rain (Wedding Day)”, “Crossroads of Life”, “My Last Goodbye To You”, “I’d Like To Get To Know You Girl”, “Your Alive” and “Babe I Love You” remain unreleased to this day, although Misty Lane may be including them on a long overdue Penny Peeps’ compilation. The songs vary in style although some show touches of a country-rock influence. Like all of Alexander’s songs, the tracks are extremely melodic and a couple could have been huge hits in the hands of a more established artist. With the recordings complete, Alexander turned his back on music and went into the financial services industry, retiring four years ago. He currently lives in Southport.

Reduced to a quartet, the group started to incorporate blues elements into its repertoire. It also took on a new moniker, In the Garden of Gethsemane, which was soon abbreviated to Gethsemane. As Ketley acknowledges, the new musical direction that Gethsemane took gave the band an opportunity to be more creative and to stretch out during live performances. One of the “features” of the band’s stage show during this period was a flute duet featuring Barre and Tomlinson. “Malcolm would come off drums, I would play ‘Hammond’ percussion and we would try to be creative for a while – in the middle of ‘Work Song’ as I recall,” says Ketley.

Two adverts featuring Gethsemane taken the pages of Melody Maker (Aug/Sept '68)

From the late summer onwards, Gethsemane gained steady live work, appearing at such colourful venues as Eel Pie Island in Twickenham on 25 August, the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm on 14 September and the Nags Head in Battersea on 21 October. During this period, the band shared the bill with a wide range of acts, including David Bowie, Edgar Broughton Fleetwood Mac and Jethro Tull. They also attracted the interest of DJ John Peel who allegedly became a big fan.

Without Alexander to front the group, the vocals were shared between Malcolm Tomlinson and Mike Ketley. “Malc always had a great voice,” says Stevens. “At the ‘end’ we were doing cover versions of the Band as we had just got hold of an early copy of Music from Big Pink. If I remember right, Malc sang ‘the Weight’ and ‘Chest Fever’. It was really good.”

Sometime during this period, Gethsemane piqued the interest of Bee Gees producer Robert Stigwood, and through this association signed with Dick James Music (Northern Songs). While the idea was to record an album, the band soon ran into problems in the studio. “We recorded ‘Grease Monkey’ (written by Tony McPhee),” says Ketley and “we did our version of ‘Lady Samantha’…but Elton did not like [it].” Far more serious – “musical differences” erupted between the group, Northern Songs and Robert Stigwood. It seems the producer was looking for something much more “poppy” from the group. The sessions were subsequently abandoned.

“Grease Monkey” fitted well into the group’s stage show, but the decision to cut Elton John’s “Lady Samantha” seemed a rather unusual choice. Perhaps the decision to record the song was made following an Elton John radio session, taped on 28 October at BBC’s Agolin Hall. On that occasion, John recorded three tracks – “Lady Samantha”, “Across The Havens” and “Skyline Pigeon”, abetted by a studio group comprising long standing guitarist Caleb Quayle, session bass player Boots Slade and Malcolm Tomlinson on drums. The three songs were played on BBC’s Stuart Henry Show the following week.

Whatever the reason, the disappointment and frustration surrounding the album sessions appears to have been a major factor in driving the band apart. After playing a memorable gig at Dundee College of Art on 12 December, opening for headliners, Pink Floyd, Gethsemane returned to London to fulfil a few final engagements before dissolving.

Says Stevens: “The last gig we ever did was at a college in Brook Green, Hammersmith and a guy from Island Records asked if we would be interested in signing up. We didn’t want to know. We had had so many people saying so many times, ‘sign here and we will make you famous!’ Anyway, by that time, we had all decided to go our separate ways. Martin Barre had just been offered a job with Jethro Tull following an audition with them.”

Having learnt that original guitarist Mick Abrahams’ replacement Tony Iommi had been dismissed after only a month in the band, Barre phoned Jethro Tull’s singer Ian Anderson to see if he could try out for the band (Barre, incidentally had first auditioned when Abrahams left in late November but Iommi got the nod).

Stevens continues the story. “He didn’t have a very good guitar at the time and mentioned he desperately wanted a Les Paul Gibson for the audition. The guy in the flat below us in our Chiswick flat offered to lend him the £500 – pretty good considering that was quite heavy money in the late ‘60s.”

Invited round to Anderson’s flat for a second audition, Barre got the “gig of his dreams”. The rest as they say is history. But what about his former band mates?

Having led a succession of groups from Johnny Devlin & the Detours through to Gethsemane, Bryan Stevens decided to sell his bass and used the money to help finance his studies. Returning to college, he later became a surveyor and currently lives in Chiswick.

Mike Ketley meanwhile returned to the south coast. Switching from keyboards to bass, he joined forces with a several former Noblemen and for a couple of years worked in a local band called the Concords. He later abandoned live work and now works as senior director at Yamaha Kemble Music UK Limited. He lives in Northampton.

Stevens and Ketley have remained firm friends and in June 2002 rejoined former band mates in a Johnny Devlin & the Detours reunion held in Bognor Regis. Among the guests at the reunion was former Soundtracks guitarist Ray Flacke, who later went on to play with Mark Knopfler. Ketley has also recently re-recorded “Model Village” with his son’s band. The Detours got together again in 2003 to headline a gathering of ‘60s groups from Bognor for a sell out night in aid of the hospice that looked after Barry Benson (P J Proby’s hairdresser) who had died of cancer a few months earlier.

Stevens and Ketley were involved in another reunion more recently – after over 35 years, they finally met up with Penny Peeps singer Denny Alexander in Southport over the Christmas 2004 period.

They have also renewed contact with Malcolm Tomlinson, who, aside from Martin Barre, was the only member of the band to maintain a significant musical profile. Following Gethsemane’s demise, Tomlinson moved to Toronto with his former Jeff Curtis & the Flames cohort Louis McKelvey where they fronted rock bands Milkwood and Damage. (McKelvey, incidentally, had been one of the hopefuls who auditioned for Ian Anderson and the guitar slot in Jethro Tull).

In the early ‘70s, Tomlinson briefly worked with former Elektra band Rhinoceros, and Toronto-based artists Bill King, Syrinx and Bearfoot, before recording an album’s worth of material with Rick James and the original Stone City Band, which was subsequently shelved. In the late ‘70s he issued two solo albums for A&M Records. Last year, he sang on Toronto group, the Cameo Blues Band’s latest album and continues to perform on the local scene. In June 2007, he played drums with ‘60s folk-rock group, Kensington Market to celebrate the “Summer of Love”.

Thanks to Bryan Stevens, Mike Ketley, Jimmy Marsh, Denny Alexander, Malcolm Tomlinson, Louis McKelvey, Mike Paxman, Mike Read, Garth Chilvers, Tom Jasiukowicz, Vernon Joynson, Hugh MacLean, Pete Frame, Melody Maker, NME and Record Collector.

Nick Warburton can be contacted at: nick_warburton@hotmail.com