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Posted: Wed May 06, 2009 3:57 am
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Hi BC

To answer your question about how easy it was to get the finance for our instruments in the 60s.
An 18 year old would find it almost impossible.
In those days you were only considered to be an adult when you reached the age of 21 that was also when you were able to vote
A bit unfair because you could join the Military and shoot people at 18.
The only way most of us got finance was to persuade our parents to sign a guarantee form so they became responsible for the debt.
The age of responsibility is now 18 in the UK.
That's also the age when you are allowed to buy and drink alcohol


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Posted: Wed May 06, 2009 8:03 am
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BCbassman

Thank you for your kind compliment regarding my writing style.
I did once start writing a book, but as a fiction.
Based broadly on the story you are reading on this forum.
I was going to include episodes, which made references to the more personal aspect that readers would probably find interesting.
Being in a band yourself I’m sure you enjoy the company of female fans.
In 60’s Liverpool it was a pretty wild scene.
I got part way through the book and realised that my wife wouldn’t have been over enthusiastic about the content, also my children might read it.
That’s assuming that it ever got published. (A remote possibility)
I’m afraid I chickened out and stopped writing.
My children are all grown up now so those obstacles no longer apply.
I could write a book now without any problems.
If I might brag a little, at this point.
I did come top of the class, in English, every year at school.

Incidentally, The takover by the Thomas Organ Company is mentioned in full in this article.

http://www.musictoyz.com/articles/voxchop.php

If youve got half an hour to spare. I looked it up after reading your post.


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Posted: Thu May 07, 2009 2:33 pm
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I can understand not wanting to bring up any embarassing details of your band days, but the book would be interesting and I am sure some editor/publisher may find it attractive.

Go ahead and keep posting chapters. I read them here.

Bill

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Posted: Thu May 07, 2009 3:58 pm
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Great chapter!! its getting more and more interesing...... waiting for next one! :)


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Posted: Thu May 07, 2009 6:37 pm
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Continued...

On the day of the Philharmonic contest we started preparing early.
The minibus was loaded up by 10am
We had to be at the venue at midday and present our passes to the security people at the side entrance.
Then we carried our equipment into the large storage area.
The building was designed for the easy conveying of musical instruments, because the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra mainly used it.
For the first time ever all of the more well known groups were together in the same building.
We had a great time, everyone was chatting to everyone else.
I’ve never seen so many Vox amplifiers in one place.
There were also Fender amps, because a lot of the groups were starting to use them.
There were also drum kits splayed all over the place.
The main auditorium was absolutely packed, mostly with screaming teenage girls. They outnumbered the males by about two to one.
In typical fashion they screamed at almost every movement.
I think they would have screamed if the cleaner had come out to sweep the stage.
There where no curtains on the stage, except at the sides, so a loud sound of screaming told us that the first group was carrying their equipment out onto the stage. Each group had to play three numbers
The mains lights went out and the first band started to play.
We all gathered by the side of the auditorium in the darkness to watch.
It was great to see how each group did their thing.
Some, who I’d never seen before, included comedy into their act and were very funny.
Others had unusual instruments (Yes, even a xylophone)
It was soon our turn to go on.
We had practiced our three songs over and over until we got it right.
We were one of the few groups that used a vocal backing.
The audience gave us tremendous applause at the end and I was quite pleased with our performance, but the competition was very stiff.

As it turned out the winner was a band called Freddy Starr and the Midniters.
They had put on a very good show and Freddy who I regarded as a friend was a very funny man.
He had a pronounced stammer but strangely enough never stammered when he was doing his stage act, only when he was talking privately.

Freddy went on to become a star in his own right and later on, after leaving the group, he got his own TV show and became a very rich man.
He was always in the news and once gained notoriety for supposedly
eating a live hamster. A story he hotly denied.
Years later the instigator of that story did admit that it was totally fabricated.
He insisted, however that the story had boosted Freddy's career, which was probably true.

Image


After about three quarters of the acts had done their thing.
I went out into the side passage to make a phone call to my brother.
While I was on the phone, some of the groups were carrying their equipment out to load onto their vans.
I nodded to anyone I knew and noticed that one group also had a brand new Vox amplifier, like Stan’s. I could see the back of the amp and it had the controls for the new Top Boost.
After I had hung up the phone I went back to watch the bands on stage.
This time I watched from behind the curtains at the side of the stage, were it was quite dark.
I spoke to a guy who was also watching.
“Who’s on stage?” I asked
“It’s a group called the Searchers,” he said.
I knew the Searchers; we had been on the same gig with them many times before.
I moved forward to have a better look.
It was then I realised that the guy I had spoken to was Brian Epstein.
He was there with George Harrison who was going to present the cheque for £500.00

I went out to find the rest of the Hi Cats so we could make a move. We had a booking that night.
When I got to the band room were all the equipment was stored the whole group were there and when they saw me Aussie said. “We can’t find Stan’s Amplifier”.

I spent the next half hour helping them to search.
It was definitely gone, and I was pretty certain that I knew were it had gone.
I remembered the group that went past while I was on the phone.
The problem was proving it.
It was a pretty safe bet that they would have hidden it away.
Every Vox had a serial number.
I felt sorry for Stan He was devastated. He was already in debt buying the amp and the payments had only just begun.

The next Saturday, a week after the Philharmonic, I looked in the Liverpool Echo to see where they were playing.
All the groups were advertised, and I saw that they were on at The Iron Door.
We were playing at the Cavern that night which literally, was just around the corner from the Iron door, within walking distance.
I decided to make a call on them. That night.

Image


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Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 12:14 pm
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Excuse me for hijacking this post but if I may say a quick hello to John who I have never (or was too young to remember) met but his brother (Dave) his wife was a teacher of mine during the early 80's.

This story is very intriguing as it holds a place very close to me. Why? Because I am the (legitimate) son of the mentioned Tony Gaskell, bass player extraordinaire ;-) well I have to say that don't I?

My parents split up when I was 13 and I stayed with my mum in Southport so never got the full history of my dads' playing antics (off stage as well as on) and don't worry Merseykid, I know what my dad was like.

Its funny coz Tony (Ant or Anthony) only had the love of a Fender Jazz. It was a black US made one that he had to sell in the late 80's as he was skint and always regretted it.

Not sure what he played in the 60's but all the bands and gigs mentioned on here are true. Now easy to say looking at my profile with it being my 1st post.

From my earliest memory, Tony was in a country and western band Hartford West whilst he owned a music shop in James St, Garston, Liverpool called G+G Electronics. It was where they recorded some stuff and also won a couple of awards for best C&W Group in Liverpool a couple of years in a row. What is also of interest to me was that Tony's brother (my uncle) Barry played steel guitar with Aussie Brown (mentioned previously in Johns write ups) and Frank Swartz on drums. Aussie was lead vocals/guitar.

The studio was quite state of art considering it was early 70's (and a great place to hang about as a kid). The loft insulation on the walls covered with curtains for sound proofing.

Later, my dad went into business with a guy from over the road who ran a records shop and they acquired an old butchers on the main road from James St and called it Gaskell and Gulley Music Centre (centre spelt properly - lol). My dad’s side was instruments and accessories etc whilst John Gulley's side concentrated on vinyl and tape.

Sadly, my dad’s promiscuity from days of old took the better and that's where his retail side of things ended (and his marriage to my mum) until a couple of decades and wives when he started to revitalise himself as mentioned in previous posts about Gaz Gaskells Music Store on eBay.

He also kept his hand in musically though by playing bass for other bands and acting as an agent/manager to the North West of England’s finest.

Bojangles was his latest musical interest but how many Bojangles bands are there throughout the world by now eh? But Hartford West has still kept on going with Aussie et al. In fact, my dad and Aussie plus another 3 went over to the states recently and performed a couple gigs (he did drop a few names to me tonight but honestly? It meant diddly squat) but the fact is he came back a happy man (must have been the ladies).

Me? I picked up the bass when I was 16 and played in a few a few punk rock bands but decided military life was a great diversion from reality and ended up playing 6 string acoustic Brit/Pop to the masses whilst in Bosnia but will never of had the life my dad, Aussie, uncle Barry and Merseykid himself would have had. Catching the 86 buses from Garston to Allerton meeting up in Penny Lane (the song says it all apparently).

As for my ‘uncle Barry’, he left Hartford west and I think he did some stuff for Kenny Johnson and Northwind before doing the duo drum machine stuff but will always remember him being voted the best ‘Gob Iron in the North West of England’. Whether that was by reputation or some sort of official body, I know not but it is good to know that I come from a musical family (even my dad and Barry’s sister Sue played piano).

The one thing missing from all of the previous posts are the following. A tour promoter was acquiring bands for a tour in Germany where the Beatles were part of the show. Now my dad reckons that ‘they’ were offered more money to go than the Beatles but a band member’s girl was pregnant or something or another. Anyway, after Germany when the Beatles became massive, I might or might not have been sat here writing this but sitting in a hot tub next to Paul McCartney’s place being the rich ‘son of’.

Well as I said at the beginning, sorry to hijack the thread but just thought I’d add some diversity and it’s good to know that part of my dad, my uncle and me is keeping history intact with tales and folklore that could easily be lost (hallelujah for the Internet eh?).

I have by the way 3 tracks from Hartford West should anyone be interested, I will try and upload somewhere – or try a PM or something. Thanks for reading and John? Tell the your Daves wife that my education was not wasted. Dave


Last edited by davegas666 on Sun May 10, 2009 3:17 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 12:26 pm
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Cool chapter merseykid!! and davegas666 I would like to listen to those three tracks you have my email address is on my profile!! :)


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Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 1:39 pm
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Had some problems hosting from my own space but have managed to use a commercial one.

One of the tracks is actually 2 tracks in length. Don't know the songs but I'm sure some of you muso's out there will recognise them.

Please also bare in mind that this was all done at the back back of a shop in one of Liverpools 1st 8 track studio in the early 70's:

You should be able to just click the hyper link (don't allow the pop ups - web adverts).

http://www.mediafire.com/file/mdgnennd1rz/01 Someone To Give My Love To.mp3

http://www.mediafire.com/file/wzzkgrtnmmz/02 The Blind Fiddler.mp3

http://www.mediafire.com/file/jkjazzkggmj/03 Sunday Morning Coming Down.mp3

Any probs then please let me know....


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Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 2:11 pm
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Synkronized wrote:
Cool chapter merseykid!! and davegas666 I would like to listen to those three tracks you have my email address is on my profile!! :)


And I want to know if Stan ever got his amp back....Dad's not answering his phone - damned. Thought I was on for some inside information. :o

Another thing, I now live in Bletchley and support the new football (soccer) team Milton Keynes Dons whos sponsors are the one and only Marshall amplification. Not just that, my next door but one neighbour works there at the factory about 5 clicks away.

This picture is with the current MK Dons manager Roberto De Matteo (and not me John)

Image

Jim Marshall is God in this area Bletchley (population 34, 000) though may be meeting him soon as I don't think he is a spring chicken anymore....

This was me some 12 years ago doing a gig in Bosnia at the Sgt's Mess

Image

Sorry John, continue....


Last edited by davegas666 on Fri May 15, 2009 6:11 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 3:30 pm
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davegas666 wrote:
Synkronized wrote:
Cool chapter merseykid!! and davegas666 I would like to listen to those three tracks you have my email address is on my profile!! :)


And I want to know if Stan ever got his amp back....Dad's not answering his phone - damned. Thought I was on for some inside information. :o


Yes!!! I have the answer. Alledgedly (cough) a member of the Dennisons may have been attributed to the missing amp though there was no proof of this and may be pure speculation.

Update on the history of the Hi-Cats: http://www.groupgear.co.uk/about.aspx

And this:

Image

Tony by the way is bottom left of the bottom photo taken (by me) about 8 years ago at Southport' Riverside Caravan Club with Bojangles (UK version)


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Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 4:52 pm
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Well Dave
You have just sprung the biggest surprise possible.

I have been checking back now and again to see if anyone had posted anything.
To be honest I was getting a bit fed up with writing this thread.
As one guy said, I needed to have my sharries kissed in order to carry on with the story.
Well I don’t need that to happen, but I do need SOME kind of feedback to make all this effort worthwhile.
As you can imagine it’s not just a matter of sitting here and writing, I have to check and make sure that I’m not getting the timing out with the various events.
I might say that we were playing at “Thingimebob Hall” in June 1965 and some bright spark posts a newspaper cutting, which reports that Thingimebob Hall burnt down in1964.

One guy who at first posted some very encouraging remarks, and was one of the main reasons why I persevered, suddenly edited all those remarks out, very discouraging, but there were others who were positive. So I carried on.
If you have read this thread from the beginning you will see that there were a lot of doubters, and also a few genuine supporters. (They know who they are).
I have to do some research to get things right.

But getting back to your post. I was delighted to read it.
I know you are the person you say you are.
You know far too much to be an impostor.

I don’t know who told you that your Dad was promiscuous. He was the least successful with the lady’s. Not because there was anything wrong with him but because when he was young Tony was a bit shy to say the least. Although I bet he would disagree.
I remember him meeting your mum. It was at a back street club in Southport called the Click-Click. You had to go up a narrow staircase to the top floor and it was absolutely packed with women, and a few men. All Teens.
That was one of my favourite venues.

If that is a photo of you as you are now, you’ve certainly grown since I first saw you.
I met you once, but you were a babe in arms at the time so I doubt if you would remember.
Your Uncle Barry, incidentally, is one of the best steel players in the UK.
He is also quite a hack on the guitar.

Recently, your Dad invited me to a gig and both him and his brother, Barry were in the same band together. The drummer was Frank Steward, who used to be our drummer in “The Borderliners”, (The group I started, when the Hi Cats called it a day).
It was customary to join a Country and Western band when you got too old to play Pop Music. You can play Country music at any age.
American country music is very popular in Liverpool but I’m not sure about the rest of the country, although that’s another story. Johnny Cash has been here a few times.
Your Dad is still in Bo Jangles.
The band I saw him in lately was a mixture of two bands mixed together for the one night. Your Dad has asked several times if I would be interested in re-forming the Hi Cats, with me singing and playing a second rhythm along with Aussie.
There seems to be a lot of nostalgia in vogue at the moment and I’ve noticed that there are quite a few of the old groups from the 60s have re-formed and are getting lots of work

I probably would like to have another go. There is nothing to stop me. But I would have to develop segs on my fingers again they are all soft now with lack of use. Although I’ve still got all my gear.
Your Dad has always been, and still is, a close personal friend.

I will probably post another chapter in this thread tomorrow, because it’s quite late now, but thank you for your post Dave and please feel free to post as often as you like.

Johnny T


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Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 5:05 pm
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Post Script
before I go to bed.

I just read your post again and noticed that you were one of my sister in laws' pupils. I hadn't noticed the first time.
Did you know that my brother Dave (Her husband) became our roadie in the Hi Cats, also a bodyguard,
If you met him you would know he was built like a Brick Sh*thouse. and a useful lad to have around.

Good night.


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Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 7:30 am
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Keep posting! I would guess for every one person that posts there are hundreds that are reading this. Very interesting indeed.


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Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 6:51 pm
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Hey Johnny T. - Here is a word of encouragement to keep on posting. I love the story. I am busy with playing bass in two bands and working a day job myself so I don't always have time to check in, but you should keep writing. We all want to know what happened to Stan's amplifier?

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Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 7:21 am
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Hi John & Dave, the world is getting smaller when I read all this stuff about the band & my part in it! Next thing you know I'll be famous & that will bugger everything up!

John I smiled at our Dave's comments about other women, & yes you are right, I was very shy when young, though it never bothered me going on stage. However as I grew older I did make up for lost time time & became rather sh*g happy, a habit that still carries on.........but now restricted to my wife!
John, keep the memories going, even though many people will not believe them. We all of us from Johhny Templar & the hicats (& the other groups of the day) have lived lives that most men only get to dream about, & yet to us it was just a normal life style.

I'll add a few bits in due course..... like how John modified Vox AC30 amps to the treble/bass boost models with his home made circuits.....or how I blew 3 fifteen speakers in a week............

Cheers,
Tony


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