Sixties pop stars shine again at reunion

Roger Francis compared notes about guitar chords with George Harrison.

And Gerry Ward was there when an angry German nightclub boss blasted The Kinks' expensive stage equipment with both barrels from a 12 bore shotgun.

These were just some of the tales when members of Shropshire bands who were part of the vibrant 1960s and early 1970s pop scene got back together to remember great old times, and meet old pals who in some cases they had not seen in half a century.

There were names to resonate down the years. Johnny Silver was there, the last living survivor of Johnny Silver and The Falcons. The Skylons, The Greasers, The Deltas, The Pacifics, The Soul Party, Bird 'n' B's, Fluff, and more.

They brought with them cuttings and cherished photos, some a little faded and battered, but others could have been taken yesterday.

The reunion on Saturday, April 28, held at the Ugly Duckling at Long Lane, near Wellington, was organised by Gerry Ward, who hails originally from Church Hill, Ironbridge, but lives now just outside Hamburg and came over.

"I would see one or two of them at funerals and thought, damn it, let's meet up and have a good time rather than miserable at funerals.

"There's got to be 40 to 45 here, with some still to come," he said.

Gerry was in several different bands in those heady days, including in Fluff, Shropshire's most successful band of that era, who had radio airplay, television appearances, and record releases, but didn't quite make the big time.

"We nearly, nearly cracked it," said Gerry, who is 70 in July.

Fluff's success was eclipsed a generation later by T'Pau, headed by Shrewsbury's Carol Decker, although Gerry does draw a distinction.

"They weren't a working band and didn't come through the ranks, doing the gigs, if you know what I mean."

Fluff played the famous Top Ten Club in Hamburg and witnessed that incident with The Kinks' equipment including new Vox amplifiers, which happened when, because of a dispute, The Kinks left without doing their gig but already having been paid, which enraged the club's boss.

"For us it was very memorable, boys from Dawley watching a guy with a shotgun in a club shooting up a wall of Vox equipment."

Gerry went back a few years' later and The Kinks' shot-peppered equipment was still there lined up in the cellar.

As for those days, he says: "The 1960s and 1970s was a very communal sort of thing. We all knew each other in the bands, and there were lots of them. There was no jealousy, we were all friends, and if a van broke down you could sometimes borrow one from one of the others if they weren't playing."

Most of the bands represented at the reunion were from east Shropshire, but Roger Francis was there from The Deltas, a Shrewsbury band which achieved a form of musical immortality on December 14, 1962, when they were the support act at The Music Hall in Shrewsbury for a certain group from Liverpool - The Beatles.

These were still the early days of the Fab Four, such early days in fact that Roger, originally from Shrewsbury but now from Arleston, has a photo of The Deltas performing that night in which Ringo Starr's drumkit is in the background bearing the name, not yet of The Beatles, but of Ringo himself.

"It was good fun. The dressing room upstairs was a communal one. I got on pretty well with George Harrison. We were swapping chords. When he was doing his set I was watching what they were up to and asked what was that chord and he would say 'do you mean this?' and showed me.

"Then when they did their second set he was holding his guitar up when he was doing his solos so I could see what his chord sequences were.

"They were a good bunch of lads. Paul McCartney dropped his plectrum while playing and I had a plectrum in my pocket and reached up and gave him mine.

"I got the Beatles' autographs but one of my ex-girlfriends had it from me."

In the early 1960s The Deltas were regulars at Terry Heath's Town House in Wellington as support band for the Trevor Williams Band.

Roger was on rhythm guitar and lead vocals.

He speaks with some sorrow about how things have changed from those days for local live musicians.

"When we were playing everybody was watching you. In our day they were transfixed. That's all gone. It's sad really, but it's how things go."

Then there was the adulation.

"I got pulled off the stage at Harlescott Girls School."

Frank Wills, 74, from Little Dawley was the lead singer Johnny Silver in Johnny Silver and The Falcons, but his trademark silver lame suit has long gone ("one of my fans bought it"), and so have all the other members, now playing on that stage up in the sky.

"Unfortunately of the original band I'm the only one alive."

Frank moved to Shropshire from Birmingham when he was 18 in 1962 and got the band together, a five-piece from the Dawley area.

"I got into many troubles with boyfriends. It was very scary sometimes. When the band used to do vocals without me I used to have a coffee and have a few threats from the boyfriends. They would say: 'My girlfriend is screaming at you.' I said: 'I can't help that.'"

Later Johnny/Frank forged a solo career.

"They used to call me the singing postman. My stage name was Frankie Warwick. I was a postman around Telford. I eventually became post office manager - I ran Newport delivery office. I won the vocalist of the year award in Birmingham as Frankie Warwick."

Frank/Johnny added: "I gave up about four years ago now. I was getting fed up. The pubs were dying a death. The kids aren't interested now.

"It's all rap music which is very hard to learn - and I'm not a rapper."

Dawn Rice, nee Cullis, originally from Dawley but now living in Shifnal, was at the heart of the scene, putting the beat into the beat music as she was something unusual at the time, and still unusual now - a female drummer.

Dawn played in several different groups, notably the Bird 'n' B's in which she was the "bird" of the title. Spellings of the group vary, incidentally, and when it had two females it was Birds 'n' B's.

"I've met people tonight I haven't seen for 50 years," said Dawn.

Fifty per cent of the original The Soul Party were there, seeing each other again for the first time in nearly 50 years.

Back together were Jeff Mansell, Dave Baker, and Louis Noble.

Keyboard player Jeff said: "I last saw them 48 years ago, although Dave only lives in Broseley and I live in Muxton.

"We started out in 1965 and we played all around the Midlands to start with at soul and Motown venues.

"We played at Terry Heath's the night Fleetwood Mac were booed in 1967 because they were a blues band and it was a soul and Motown venue. We had to go back on early."

The Soul Party were reformed in 1992. Jeff, now 69, only finished last year.

Alan Phillips, from Dawley, started out in pop very early, aged just nine, with The Skylons, their first gig being at Ludlow Youth Club.

They played in Mid Wales, the Webb Youth Club in Dawley, and the Majestic in Wellington, to name just a few places.

Younger than the other band members, when the others went professional at 16 or 17 Alan was still at school. He formed The Street with Dennis Jones, Rob Green, Dave Phillips - no relation - and Arthur Brown, and no, not that Arthur Brown.

Later Alan joined Fluff.

"Those times were a lot better than they are now. People actually wanted to come and see and hear you play. Now all the pubs are really foodie pubs and the gigs aren't there any more," he said.