and had some odd ideas about economy,
often driving through country lanes in the
pitch dark and with the lights off because he
reckoned it saved the battery. Remarkably,
Dave (and the rest of us) survived long
enough for him to be ‘let go’ and replaced
with Vince Martin of Friary Promotions in
Coventry, a professional agency.
U
p until now, most of our gigs had been
pubs and clubs, and we had long since
become familiar with that singular species,
the Entertainment Secretary. My favourite
comment from one such came as we were
unloading the gear outside the club.The Ent.
Sec. pointed at my amp and said, “You’ll only
need one of those, lads, it’s a small club.”
We also became adept at circumventing
those devices that clubs installed to cut of
the power if the sound level peaked above
a certain level. We made a point of carrying
very long extension cables to run from
the dressing room, avoiding the on-stage
sockets.
month engagement playing to American
servicemen at the NATO bases in France.
This necessitated us becoming a full-time
group with another name-change, this time
to, ‘The Establishment’. Nov felt he couldn’t
give up his safe day-job, so Ed took over on
bass. Up until then we had been a two-leadguitarist group. Now it was just me on lead,
Keith Gudger on rhythm guitar, Ed on Bass,
Wal on drums and Keith Redfern on vocals.
W
ould our (t)rusty Morris J2 be up to
the ravages of international travel?
How long did it take us to realise our hotel
in Orleans was actually a brothel? Why did
our bass player have to take a shower, fullydressed before our gig in Fontainebleau?
To be continued.
U
nder Vince’s management, however, we
started playing better venues across
the breadth of UK and in 1964 spread
our wings even further with a three-
“How long did it take you to
learn tha , Mister?”
t
“He was up all night trying to
write music - looks like he onl
y
got as far as ‘M’!”
www.thecartoonistsclub.com
“You’’re right it’s an ancient
,
Sta
tus Quo gig!”
17