Journal Features
Sarum rockers roll back the years
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| Authors Frogg Moody and Richard Nash (centre) at the book launch with some of the champions of the Sarum Sound. DB3042P08 |
SALISBURY has never been able to match Liverpool or Manchester or Birmingham as the birthplace of great pop idols.
To be fair, few cities could.
But there was a time when Salisbury churned out a steady stream of home-grown bands, one of which even made it to the top of the charts with the crack of a whip, gaucho costumes and a song about love and betrayal in the black barren land that bears the name of Xanadu.
Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich found their feet in the Salisbury music scene long before they gravitated to the walls of teenage girls' bedrooms across the country, alongside the Beatles, the Hollies and the Rolling Stones.
As Dave Dee and the Bostons, they had a huge following in Salisbury, but it was only when they returned from a trip to Germany and replaced drummer Stan Poole, who had family commitments, with Mick Wilson that the legend of Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich was born.
But just as the city exported guitar-wielding young men for national consumption, it imported chart-toppers on a regular basis and it was possible to see some of the country's top bands playing on a stage near you most weeks of the year.
This was the golden era of the Sarum Sound, a phrase coined by local legends Danny and the Detonators, and recorded faithfully in a new book by Frogg Moody and Richard Nash, which was published last Friday.
Hold Tight! chronicles the years of swing, jazz, blues, beat, skiffle and rock'n'roll between 1945 and 1969.
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| Dave Dee and The Bostons winning the Walls-sponsored Southern Area heat of the National Beat Contest at the Royal Pier Pavillion in Southampton. |
The authors have tapped into the memories of the popular music enthusiasts who mis-spent their youth at the gigs of the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, the Byrds, the Kinks, Manfred Mann, Pink Floyd, the Nice and more.
When they weren't roaring their approval for the latest band to break into the charts at the City Hall or the Gaumont, they were at the Alexandra Rooms in New Street, the Palais in Wilton Road, the Walking Dog Club in Quidhampton, or the Assembly Rooms in the High Street supporting local heroes like The Purge, The Bohemians, The Pathfinders, Just Us and Heap in their attempt to be the next big thing'.
They were heady days, says Frogg and Richard, south Wiltshire lads both. "It was a special time," they tell me.
"The youth culture in Salisbury has never been documented.
"In the 60s in particular, every band you could think of came here.
"You could see bands in the charts sometimes twice a week - it was a who's who of British bands."
Their book is 232 pages of photographs - many of which have never been published before - plus memorabilia and interviews with the people who were there.
At the back of the book, three appendices list the rock family trees of Salisbury bands, discographies and chronological lists of appearances made by some of the bands who played the city between 1955 and 1969.
Cliff Richard, Lonnie Donegan, Adam Faith and Billy Fury appeared at the Gaumont.
The Beatles came to the City Hall in June 1963, The Kinks were there in May 1964, The Who in August 1965, and Cream and Pink Floyd in February and April 1967.
The Gaumont boasted a bill in October 1963 featuring The Everly Brothers, Bo Diddley, Little Richard and the Rolling Stones.
The Stones were back to top the bill at the City Hall in January and March of the following year.
But it wasn't all big names.
In June 1964, legendary DJ Alan "Fluff" Freeman compered the Battle of the Beat for the Salisbury Times Trophy at the City Hall. Ricky Vernon and the Pathfinders, The Satellites, Ten Feet Five and The Sceptres were in the running.
Local bands regularly supported the big acts or played their own gigs at the Alex Rooms and other venues in the city and the surrounding villages.
The city's teacher training college and the art college became the spiritual home of Salisbury folk artists like Chris Sandford.
Hindsight is, of course, a wonderful thing.
"When the Beatles came, they were big but not that big.
"Looking back, it seems a lot more significant, " says Richard.
Certainly very few of the visits by bands that have since reached iconic status seem to have been chronicled in any detail by the Salisbury Times or Journal.
Most merited little more than a small mention - and it was these tiny nuggets of information that first triggered Frogg's research.
He had been busy researching other projects, including musical treatments of Jack the Ripper and the Titanic tragedy, and kept coming across articles that mentioned bands that were to pass into musical legend.
Trawls through the Journal's archive of newspapers from 1960 onwards brought pieces of pop history to light.
"I'd hit on articles like The Kinks attacked on stage," he says.
"Then someone mentioned Buddy Holly appearing on stage, so I put an appeal in the Journal and was contacted by two people who had been there."
It was this appearance - over the course of three sets of 20 minutes or so at the Gaumont on 22 March 1958 - to which Frogg and Richard attribute the birth of rock'n'roll in Salisbury. "Almost everyone who was to become a face on the Salisbury scene over the next few years was in attendance as Buddy Holly and the Crickets stopped by on their only UK tour," they write.
More than 3000 fans attended, among them Tich Amey who said: "I was very young, and he astounded me just by his presence."
Frogg's intention was that this should be the starting point of the book but when Richard Nash came on board to help with research and writing, he suggested that they delve further back.
"The original idea was to cover the late 50s and 60s, but when we looked into it we realised there was a hell of a skiffle scene," says Richard.
Further research revealed the dance band scene in south Wiltshire - which produced Salisbury's own singing superstar Rosemary Squires - was also worthy of attention, so the remit of the book became the post-war Sarum Sound.
Now the pair expect the book to be the catalyst for further trips down memory lane.
"We're half expecting a lot of people to come forward with more 60s stuff and we've talked about doing a 70s/80s book," says Frogg."
Hold Tight! Voices of the Sarum Sound 1945-1969, is published by Timezone, price £12.99. It is available from Cross Keys Bookshop in Crosskeys Chequer and will also be available from the League of Friends shop in Salisbury District Hospital. A donation from sales will be made to Salisbury Hospice.
Frogg and Richard will be signing copies of the book at Cross Keys Bookshop on October 27 between 10am and 12 noon.
10:39am Thursday 25th October 2007
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CommentPosted by: trevor.head on 7:10pm Fri 26 Oct 07
Hi I#ve read your story about the old days, AND I would like to introduce myself, I am Danny of the Detonators. I am now living in France and enjoying my retirement, but I think of the good old days in the sixties.
Hi I#ve read your story about the old days, AND I would like to introduce myself, I am Danny of the Detonators. I am now living in France and enjoying my retirement, but I think of the good old days in the sixties.
Posted by: geoff dorsett, salisbury on 10:59pm Thu 24 Jan 08
This is a message to Frogg Moody & Richard Nash .I read with great interest the article which was given to me this week only!!!!!
I am a radio DJ OF 40 YEARS .IN LAST FEW MONTHS I INTERVIEWED GENESIS ,FOREIGNER ,BARRON KNIGHTS/TREMELOES /MARMALADE /SEARCHERS.ETC .I'D LOVE TO DO A RADIO INTERVIEW WITH YOU GUYS.
PLEASE CONTACT ME or give me a contact number
chunkygeoff@tesco.ne
t.
Regards
Geoff
This is a message to Frogg Moody & Richard Nash .I read with great interest the article which was given to me this week only!!!!!
I am a radio DJ OF 40 YEARS .IN LAST FEW MONTHS I INTERVIEWED GENESIS ,FOREIGNER ,BARRON KNIGHTS/TREMELOES /MARMALADE /SEARCHERS.ETC .I'D LOVE TO DO A RADIO INTERVIEW WITH YOU GUYS.
PLEASE CONTACT ME or give me a contact number
chunkygeoff@tesco.ne
t.
Regards
Geoff
Posted by: davidstjohn, Southampton on 2:07am Fri 11 Apr 08
I sang with many Southampton based pop groups through most of the 60s + 70s and we loved appearing all over the Salisbury area - many Army bases and classic venues such as the Stonehenge Inn at Durrington Walls. I was also with an Amesbury based group called The Cellars Of Sound (cool pun eh?) around 66/67 and our then drummer Dave Maggs went onto play with the current Troggs lineup.
I have been in touch with the Sarum Sound guys and wish them all the good luck with this fascinating look back at the Golden Years. In fact, I have my own website which is mostly based on the Southampton area and please take a look at:
www.davidstjohn.co.u
k
I am also in the process of writing a similar book which mirrors my site and Wilts will be well mentioned. Always great friendly audiences in between the regular punch-ups at venues inn which soldiers and locals mixed!
I have been a professional comedy entertainer since 1972 so still enjoy the odd gig in the area.
I sang with many Southampton based pop groups through most of the 60s + 70s and we loved appearing all over the Salisbury area - many Army bases and classic venues such as the Stonehenge Inn at Durrington Walls. I was also with an Amesbury based group called The Cellars Of Sound (cool pun eh?) around 66/67 and our then drummer Dave Maggs went onto play with the current Troggs lineup.
I have been in touch with the Sarum Sound guys and wish them all the good luck with this fascinating look back at the Golden Years. In fact, I have my own website which is mostly based on the Southampton area and please take a look at:
www.davidstjohn.co.u
k
I am also in the process of writing a similar book which mirrors my site and Wilts will be well mentioned. Always great friendly audiences in between the regular punch-ups at venues inn which soldiers and locals mixed!
I have been a professional comedy entertainer since 1972 so still enjoy the odd gig in the area.
Posted by: davidstjohn, Southampton on 2:07am Fri 11 Apr 08
I sang with many Southampton based pop groups through most of the 60s + 70s and we loved appearing all over the Salisbury area - many Army bases and classic venues such as the Stonehenge Inn at Durrington Walls. I was also with an Amesbury based group called The Cellars Of Sound (cool pun eh?) around 66/67 and our then drummer Dave Maggs went onto play with the current Troggs lineup.
I have been in touch with the Sarum Sound guys and wish them all the good luck with this fascinating look back at the Golden Years. In fact, I have my own website which is mostly based on the Southampton area and please take a look at:
www.davidstjohn.co.u
k
I am also in the process of writing a similar book which mirrors my site and Wilts will be well mentioned. Always great friendly audiences in between the regular punch-ups at venues inn which soldiers and locals mixed!
I have been a professional comedy entertainer since 1972 so still enjoy the odd gig in the area.
I sang with many Southampton based pop groups through most of the 60s + 70s and we loved appearing all over the Salisbury area - many Army bases and classic venues such as the Stonehenge Inn at Durrington Walls. I was also with an Amesbury based group called The Cellars Of Sound (cool pun eh?) around 66/67 and our then drummer Dave Maggs went onto play with the current Troggs lineup.
I have been in touch with the Sarum Sound guys and wish them all the good luck with this fascinating look back at the Golden Years. In fact, I have my own website which is mostly based on the Southampton area and please take a look at:
www.davidstjohn.co.u
k
I am also in the process of writing a similar book which mirrors my site and Wilts will be well mentioned. Always great friendly audiences in between the regular punch-ups at venues inn which soldiers and locals mixed!
I have been a professional comedy entertainer since 1972 so still enjoy the odd gig in the area.
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