When York was fab

By performing their own songs, with increasing inventiveness, the four pioneers from Liverpool blazed a trail that is still being followed by rock musicians today, more than 30 years after the Fab Four broke up with the lyrics "the love you take is equal to the love you make".

York drummer Colin Carr, who played with the Clubmen, remembers seeing John, Paul, George and Ringo play the Rialto at the height of Beatlemania.

He said: "The Beatles were so famous then. They took the world by storm, and you just could not believe you were so near to them when they were running on to the stage.

"The way they announced it, the curtains went back, there were just drums on a rostrum, all gleaming and shining, and three guitars, and the compere would be teasing you, waffling on.

"Then 'And here are the Beatles' and they'd run on, and it was just deafening. The girls were absolutely out of their minds. And you were sat there, so involved in it, you're struck dumb.

"It just got you. I've never felt like that since, so emotionally involved."

Colin's description of the Beatles is included by York writer Van Wilson in her book Something In The Air, which has just been published by York Oral History Society. Its companion volume, Rhythm And Romance, concentrates on the dance band era.

Members of the society have spent the last three years interviewing about 130 people associated with popular music in York between 1930 and 1970 and extracts from these interviews have now been published.

York had scores of groups in the 1960s. According to the underground pop magazine Ouse Beat, edited by Yorkshire poet Pete Morgan, the most popular acts were: Tony Adams And The Viceroys, Barry Adams And The Swingalongs, Steve Cassidy And The Escorts, Gerry B And The Rockafellas, the Cheavours, the Morvans, and Mal Dyman And The Tycoons.

Rockafella guitarist Murray Addison recalls the flamboyant Gerry B pulling off an astonishing coup by convincing a capacity audience at a York pub that he was the American star P J Proby.

Gerry placed a newspaper advert stating: "Appearing one night only, White Horse, Coppergate. Don't miss the great P J Probie, singing his latest hit." He deliberately miss-spelt the singer's surname to cover himself.

Describing the gig, Murray said: "You couldn't move in Coppergate. It was terrifying; there were hundreds of people down there. All the band was worried, except Gerry."

He added: "So they got the big build-up, somebody introduced it, very professional, drum roll, lights out, we start playing, on comes the ultraviolet light, Gerry comes out of the toilet, and he looks really good. Full white suit and a wig.

"He did this one hit and brought the house down. He left the stage, went back into the toilet to get changed again.

"They put all the lights on and somebody made an announcement that this guy had to go off and do a big gig in Leeds. I was very worried that we would get lynched that night, but we actually got away with it."

Gerry B became the TV comedian Dustin Gee. In January 1986 he died of a heart attack, aged 43.

York skiffle pioneer Johnny Newcombe formed the Wabash Four in the 1950s. He said: "We played at the Rialto quite a lot. One night I was in the dressing room watching 6.5 Special with this guy sat on a chair playing the banjo.

"I said: 'Can I borrow your guitar?' and he said: 'Yeah, go on, if you like'. So we sat playing together for a while, and he was at the bottom of the bill then. That guy was Cliff Richard."

Drummer Colin Berriman was playing with Steve Cassidy And The Escorts at a West Yorkshire public swimming pool that had been boarded over to create a dance floor. Also on the bill were The Beatles.

He said: "I was tuning up and Ringo Starr said to me: 'That's a real lovely roll that you do, it's so smooth'. And so I showed Ringo Starr how to do a roll."

Musician Mal Luker is a member of a York showbusiness dynasty. His mother, Trudy Luker, was a jazz pianist and singer while his grandmother, May Passmore, was a music hall entertainer.

Mal's musical ambitions took him to London in 1964 with a York-Scarborough group called the Shots. They supported P J Proby on tour, which led to a meeting with a millionaire called Alan Brush who ran a sand and gravel business. He let them rehearse at his mansion at Morden, near London.

In October 1965 the group's first single, Keep Hold Of What You Got was released on Columbia and Mal and his mates were gearing up for a nationwide tour. But they were accused of breaking a contract with one of the infamous Kray Twins.

Mal explained how the group met the Krays: "We played at their club and they liked us. We had no idea at the time about them, they were always nice to us and they had some involvement with this agent that we were with.

"One of the Kray brothers was on the contract. He showed up, he was as sweet as pie, 'You know boys, why don't you call me, if there's a problem we can sort it out'. And we scared each other to death, subsequently, hearing stories about those guys."

The agent's lawyer demanded £750 to tear up the Kray contract and when the group failed to pay up he locked their instruments in his office.

But he reckoned without Mal's grandmother, the old trouper May Passmore, who roared from York to London on her scooter. She sat outside the lawyer's office until the instruments were returned.

In February 1967 the band, now renamed The Smoke, released their most successful single My Friend Jack (Eats Sugar Lumps). Despite being banned from radio play lists because of alleged references to drugs, the record made number one in Germany and the Smoke became one of the most popular live acts on the Continent.

But, fed up with touring, the group decided to split in September 1968. However, their legacy lives on. The Record Collector magazine in 2000 described the Smoke as "unquestionably one of Britain's finest psychedelic rock acts".

Mal, now an award-winning composer of movie soundtracks, has fond memories of the Sixties. He said: "It was a cultural revolution and music played such a great part in it."

- Both books are available in York at the Barbican bookshop, Borders, WH Smith and the Castle Museum, which was today opening an exhibition about the oral history music project. The books are also available by post from York Oral History Society, 15 Priory Street, York YO1 6ET. Each book costs £9.95. Add £1 for postage for each book ordered

Updated: 12:55 Monday, November 18, 2002