CAMBRIDGE ROCK AND ROLL HISTORY

CAMBRIDGE GROUPS 1960-1982 and beyond...

These web pages are inspired by a couple of articles that appeared a long time ago in the Cambridge Evening News (England)

See new additions below

The charts shown here were developed by Graeme McKenzie, a student at Cambridge University who wanted to practice creating genealogy data, and chose this as his project.

He created a "pedigree" chart for all of the rock and roll musicians in the Cambridge area, known throughout the 1960s and 70s as a place that was fertile with student groups rocking their way through grammar school and college, or just working lads letting off steam and livening-up things in the city, and in the towns and villages around the region of the old county of Cambridgeshire.

From Graeme MacKenzie, January 2012:

If you can get into the Local Collection at the Cambridge City Library they should have a complete run of “Blue Suede News”, the magazine I started - to continue the family trees of Cambridge bands, and to campaign for venues in the city. You should give the BBC Radio Cambridgeshire “Rock Show”, which ran in the 1980s, a mention too, since it helped a lot in promoting the local music scene – and of course was incidentally responsible for launching Kimberly and the Waves into their well-deserved, albeit, too short-lived, stardom.

Rock On,
Graeme.

SEARCH THIS SITE

NEW! LETTERS FROM READERS!

The Cambridge Evening News published one of two articles on the 4th of May 1982

CHARTING THE CHANGES ON CITY'S ROCK SCENE

When the 'News' published a family tree of Cambridge rock groups (earlier) this year there was much controversy over who had been left out. JOHN GASKELL spoke to compiler Graeme Mackenzie.

It is ironic that Cambridge, today so short of pop venues, should have nurtured so many stars of the pop world.

Pink Floyd, Yes, 10CC, Roxy Music, Foreigner, Procul Harum, Small Faces, Quiver, Elvis Costello's Attractions, The Clash, The Foundations... all have or formerly had links with Cambridge bands, some more tenuous than others.

In January (1982), the 'News' published a chart showing the roots of Cambridge rock, a family tree taking in Pink Floyd, Telephone Bill and some of the more recent local groups. But that particular chart was only a tiny part of the whole story.

It was drawn up for the 'News' by Graeme Mackenzie. And if you think Graeme took a lot of trouble over our little chart, you should see his master work of Cambridge musicians and their bands. It measures 9 feet by 5 feet - a staggering 45 square feet of meticulous detail. To adapt it to poster size, many important names had to be omitted. Indignant musicians and disgruntled fans should consult the master plan before complaining too loudly.

The bands listed on our chart were not necessarily the most important ones to have emerged in Cambridge since 1964, but they are the closest to the mainstream. We felt Floyd and Bill had to be included.

The idea for a rock family tree came to Graeme while working behind the bar at the Eagle in Cambridge. He is a History graduate of Emmanuel College and one of his hobbies is genealogy. The first family tree he drew up was of medieval kings and queens of Europe.

"The complications were unbelievable," he says. But that was before he encountered a different nightmare in the form of musicians' appalling memory for names and dates.

"As a student in Cambridge I had only gone to big-name concerts. I was surprised to find out how much was going on locally. I got most of my information from Ivan Carling, who was doing the sound for the Soft Boys at the time." (Ivan claims to have played with Ringo Starr at a Butlins' Holiday Camp in the days of Rory Storm and the Hurricanes.)

"I carried a notebook around and as I was introduced to different musicians I would make notes of their connections. I did bits of the chart as I went along, but my aim was to link them all together. After a year of gathering information I started it."

"One practical difficulty is that musicians tend to forget things and often don't know the surnames of others. They can also be very vague about dates. And the Cambridge scene is so incestuous. Some bands are very loose. People come and go with line-ups which don't last for much more than a jam session. I made a stipulation that a line-up had to be in existence for at least three gigs to qualify."

Frustrating

Even so he admits there are bound to be mistakes and gaps. He asks musicians to be tolerant and try to understand the difficulties.

Graeme would like to see group photographs. He hopes eventually to put on a library display of the chart and memorabilia. Suitable material should be sent to 5 Beaumont Road, Cambridge. Eventually he plans to have the full chart published.

In the course of his research Graeme noticed how strong a link there was between Cambridge and London, partly due to the shortage of venues for local musicians to play, although there are other factors.

"Robyn Hitchcock was told by people in the business to come up to Cambridge to form a band because the Cambridge music scene had so many good musicians around," says Graeme.

"Obviously it's very frustrating because there are all these good musicians with nowhere to play. Many of them don't want to move away. They don't want to take the tremendous gamble of giving up a job and risking everything by going to London to try to make it big. They just want to play for the fun of it."

Graeme also noticed how much Town-Gown collaborations there had been between musicians. "There certainly seems to be an intellectual element in Cambridge bands. There are dozens of student bands which only exist in the academic year. What happens is that students become part of the music scene."

"It's a great pity that so many colleges don't let the town public in to hear the bands. And some of the colleges are very unfair about letting their halls be used at all."

THE RAMBLERS in Cambridge, 1962

And now the charts!

(These first ones are the largest and easiest to read:)
NOTE: The bit about "The Chequers 1960" is totally wrong, as is the date.
Bubs White played lead, Andy Peters Sang, Jenny Peters (wife) played drums. I am pretty
sure Noel was the bassist but don`t remember for sure. They certainly were not playing
much earlier than 1962.

Original Chart Top left - Original Chart Top Right

Original Chart Mid left - Original Chart Mid Right

Original Chart Lower Mid left - Original Chart Lower Mid Right

Original Chart Lower Left - Original Chart Lower Right

The Original chart pages put together

And now almost as it may have appeared in the original two page spread:

"Anyone for a trip down The Alma, The Red Cow, The Eagle or the Anchor for a pint
and some stories of the old days?"

THE MUSICIANS

Adrian Chilvers (See Animal Magnet)

Adrian Foster

Adrian Kendon

Alan Davies

Alan Markham

Alan Sizer (Those Without - 1963)

Alan Smith

Alan Wilder

Alex Cooper

Andrew 'FITZ' Fitzpatrick

Andy McGee

Andy Metcalfe

Andy Northfield

Andy Peters

Andy Swann

Anne Baker

Anthony Ellerton

B.J. Cole

Barney Barnes

Bev Parkin

Big John Phillips

Bill Sharp/Sharpe

Bob Bampton

Bob Close

Bob Jakins

Bobby Haylock

Brian Bowles

Brian Carling

Brian Wren

Bruce Thomas

Bubs White

Cal Batchelor

Charlie

Charlie Heber-Hall

Chris Cox

Chris Culpin

Chris Cutler

Chris Gentle

Chris Jones

Clive Timperlee

Clive Welham

Dag Small

Dan Kelleher

Dave Altham

Dave Beal

Dave Broad

David Cook

Dave Gamble

Dave Gilmour

THE GROUPS

The 101'ers

Advertising

Amyl Dukes

Animal Magnet

Baby Whale

Bitter Sweet

Blotto

Blues Anonymous

Bowles Bros.

Bullet

The Chequers

Cochise

Cops

Dennis

Dennis and The Experts

Duke Duke And the Dukes

Duncan & The Darts

Eucalyptus

Finger In The Dyke

Geof Mott And The Mottoes

Hamilton Grey

The Hi-fis

High And Lonesome

Highway

Hondo

Inserts

Johnny 'R-n-B' Philips and the Swinging Hi-Fis

Jokers Wild

Junction Band

Kimberly Rew and The Waves

Live Wire

The Lonely

The Look (from Ely)

Luna

The Models

The Movies

The Newcomers

Nick, Nick and The Nickettes

Pariah

Pete Sayers

The Phantoms

Pink Floyd

Portrait

Public Foot The Roman

Quiver

The Ramblers (Albie Pryor, Richard Baker, Mervyn Marriot, Albie Prior, Clive Welham, John Gordon, Syd Barrett etc.)

Rank Amateurs

Real To Real

Red Express

The Redcaps

Ricky G and The Ferret-Tones

Rob Appleton Band

Rocksoff

Shakatak

The Soft Boys - and their description of Cambridge Pubs...

Soul Committee

Special Moment

Spriguns

Stars

The Students

The Sundowners

Swinging Hi-Fis

The Swinging Vibros

Telephone Bill

Telephone Bill & The Smooth Operators

Terry Reid And The Redbeats

Thunderbox

Tranzista

Trax

The Vikings

Vogue Sound (somehow ommitted from Graeme's list!)

Some pictures, text and data on this page are the sole property of Cambridge Evening News and may not be reproduced.

There is some more Cambridge Rock & Roll History here

Graeme Taylor

Mandy Morton and Spriguns

Here is a great Pink Floyd History site, (in French!) but it has some interesting information & pictures.

Here's an interesting bit of Pink Floyd history

A bit more Pink-Floyd-ology here: Did you know where the name came from? It says that:
(Re: PINK ANDERSON of South Carolina)
"Unless you've followed the juke joint or medicine show circuits of the deep South, Pink Anderson hasn't exactly been a household name. Fortunately, Pink's Prestige and Bluesville discs from the early 60's have been reissued by Fantasy under the Original Blues Classics imprint. Pink Anderson was a fixture on the Piedmont country blues circuit that began in his native South Carolina. His Medicine Show Man re-release captures some of the best country blues found anywhere, particularly when ol' Pink finds his "Greasy Greens," or when he howls "I Got A Woman Way Cross Town." For 40 years, Pink traveled the string band and minstrel show circuit in the South, and he played hillbilly, folk and boogie blues. I don't think he realized the impact country blues had on a young British musician named Syd Barrett who played the blues in bands in the early 60's that went by the name of Hollerin' Blues, Blues Anonymous or The Ramblers. Syd later met up with a bassist named Roger Waters, and after a few twists and turns, they helped form a "psychedelic" band named Pink Floyd. The Floyd part of the band's name is from another bluesman, Floyd Council. "

Pink Floyd Genealogy - includes a number of people listed on this site too!

Cambridge Entertainment Search:

March, 2001

From Andy Wright

Subject: Cambridge musos

Hi, Paul from the Boat Race forwarded your e-mail to me as he thought that I might be able to help you. I had a look at your website, great to see that someone is preserving our local musical heritage. I have been looking for something like this for ages. I was given a book on the music scene in my old home town of Bishop's Stortford, and I couldn't believe how many famous bands had played in such an iffy excuse for a town. This made me wonder how Cambridge had fared. Surely it must have had even better gigs. I have heard about some of them (Jimi Hendrix, an off night from what I've heard, John Lennon's first gig after The Beatles and a performance at one of the outdoors gigs by David Bowie which was apparantly cut short by Dave Broad making his opinions known regarding the set).

I have been playing in Cambridge for about 8 years, I think, and have been subjected to about 7 years of the Boat Race Blues Jam. So, I probably know most of the gigging musicians in town at the moment. Other jams have been visited at different points including one at Newmarket. I cannot recall the name of the pub at the moment, but it had an attempt at a club in the back room called Chat Noir. One of the resident musicians at this jam was one Ivan Carling. We have been telling eachother how to play rock 'n' roll ever since! Obviously, the bands in the family trees on your site are before my time, but I know some of the musicians. I don't know how much you know of their present activities so I will just tell you what I know. Nick Barraclough is now a Radio 2 DJ and appeared at the Boaty with The Light Blues Band in Feb. Paul Maguire is the chairman of Rocktech, a kind of rock school run at The Junction. This has just started it's own record label for local bands.

Alex Cooper is one of the regular performers at Good Question gigs held on the first friday of each month at the Boaty. As well as The Waves, he is playing in The Midnight Creepers. This is a new blues band which also features Pete Towers. Pete is also a regular at the Acoustic Blues nights which are at The Boaty on tuesday nights.

Also, but not recent news, did you know that Jimmy Page approached B.J. Cole to play with The New Yardbirds? He reckoned that Procol Harum would be a safer bet.

I hope that this has helped, if you have any questions, feel free to ask. Ted Koehurst might be worth talking to as he seems to know everything about the musical history of Cambridge. If you ever come to the Boaty, ask for me at the bar. I am usually there, even if I have a night off.

Keep up the good work.

Andy Wright

December, 2000

From Mark Williams

I saw your website. I used to enjoy watching Duncan & the Darts in the seventies. They played a blinding version of Road Ladies from Frank Zappa's Chunga's Revenge. Do you know anything about them and are there any recordings around today?

March, 2000

From Jon Ward

Hiya,

Just thought I would let you know about some info that may be of interest to you. I was around playing in bands from the late 60's to current - most well known being "The Frigidaires" - I was a founder member (guitar).

Graeme loved our band and two or three others bands around at the time and created a family tree all of its own. Without going in to too much detail I think I still have copies of this together with cuttings from "Scene and Heard" a local fanzine of the time that Graeme wrote for. I'll try and locate them and if successful will scan and forward.

Have a good one

Jon

From East Anglia UK - land of the fen tiger

September 2001

From Stephen Brooks

I was very interested to read your web page about Cambridge and bands etc.
I grew up in Cambridge in the 1950s - 1980s and played in several Cambridge
bands. My name is Steve Brooks, you may know of me or of some of the bands
I have played in. Here are some of my Cambridge connections and memories,
most of which are undocumented in the history of Cambridge Rock bands...

I played in the following bands:
Steve Brooks and The Raiders - early 1960's
Netherhall School Band,
Lead Singer: Steve Brooks
Lead Guitar: Steven Staples: now plays with the New Vaudeville Band.
Rhythm Guitar: Rob
Drums: Ashley Woodhead (shot dead as a soldier in Northern Ireland I am told)
Bass: Spud
Repertoire: Cliff Richard, Beach Boys, Everly Brothers

Five Shades of Blue - early 1960's R'n'B band made up of a bunch of beatniks
Lead Singer / harmonica: Steve Brooks
Bass: Adrian Thurston
Drums: ?, Guitar: ? Guitar: ?
Repertoire: Yardbirds, Animals, Pretty Things,Rolling Stones etc

The Down 'n' Outs - mid 1960's University band made up of undergrads and
other posh people:
Drums / Vocals: Steve Brooks
Lead Vocals: Star Robinson (female)
Lead Vocals: Alan Hazel (younger brother of famous tambourine playing Cambridge road sweeper Colin Hazel)
Rhythm Guitar: Peter Robinson
Lead Guitar: David Pass
Bass: Andy
Repertoire: American stuff, The Who, Beach Boys, Rock

Cornelius Haig Aquarium - mid 1960's 3 piece Hendrix tribute band
Steve Brooks: Drums / Lead Vocals
Bass: ? (was stationed at RAF Oakington)
Guitar: Vic Ramsey: Vocals / Guitar (yes he was black and played a white Fender strat)
Repertoire: Hendrix

The Toby Jug and Washboard Band - mid/late 1960's comedy blues / jug band
Steve Brooks; Lead vocals, washboard, harmonica, banana, etc.
Trevor Vincent: Guitar, kazoo.
Alan Vincent: Jug, bass
Repertoire: early Jug Band classics and self penned material, mostly comedy and obscene.
Recorded a famous album (Greasy Quiff) in 1969 which became a collectors item rated in
the top three most expensive collectable LPs. in the world, (number 1 and 1 were rare Beatles
and Elvis albums). It also featured an introduction by Nick Barraclough.
Changed their name to Melton Constable for a couple of years and then reverted to
Toby Jug and Washboard Band during a revival of interest in the early 1980's when
we did three one hour shows for BBC Radio Cambridgeshire with Nick Barraclough
and gigs at the Alma Brewery. The album has just been re-released on CD in 2001.
Signed to Robert Stigwood and EMI for a while.
Toby Jug toured or supported: Eric Clapton, Black Sabbath, Alexis Korner (he jammed
with us as well at the Cambridge Blues Club over the Red Cow - where Fleetwood Mac
and Free used to play each week), Martin Carthy, Geno Washington, we did Cambridge
Folk Festival of course, 6 spots on Look East on Anglia Television, Folk club circuit, etc.

Baby Whale - early 1970's 4 piece folk rock unit that took the Edinburgh festival by storm
and based in huge Edwardian house in Royston.
Steve Brooks: Lead vocals, guitar
Nick Barraclough: Guitar, banjo, vocals (now radio presenter)
Anne Baker (later Barraclough), Lead vocals, guitar (she was Fred Astair's niece)
Adrian Kendon: Bass (now teaches Jazz in Brighton)
Later joined by: Brian Wren on Drums (later ran a Camden Empire Comedy Club?)
Repertoire: All own stuff, American folk rock, later influenced by Fairport Convention
(with whom we toured)
Signed to DJM Records made an unreleased album produced by John Anthony, producer of Queen,
Lindisfarne and Ace.
An album of unreleased Baby Whale material was to be released on CD in 2001.
Later joined by Lindsey Scott (awarding winning fiddle player) from the Scottish band
The JSD Band (toured with David Bowie) and John Cullerton on bass from Harlow.
Baby Whale toured or supported Fairport Convention, Chuck Berry, Incredible String Band,
Mud, Cambridge Folk Festival etc.

Fair Warning - mid 1970's large Royston band that developed from Baby Whale when Nick and
Anne Barraclough left.
Steve Brooks: Lead Vocals, lead guitar
Sally Oldfield: Lead vocals, guitar (brother of Mike Oldfield) - (erum, wouldn't that be SISTER? - Bry)
Raf Ravenscroft: Tenor Sax (he later played the sax intro on Gerry Rafferty's Baker Street)
John Cullerton: Bass
Brian Wren: Drums
Lindsey Scott: Violin
Dave?: Percussion
The band broke up when Sally was signed to Warner Brothers as a solo artist and me as producer.

Andy Goes Shopping - early 1980's Cambridge pub band
Steve Brooks: Percussion/ vocals
Andy Metcalf: Guitar (previously Soft Boys and later Squeeze)
Dave? (Became director of Andy's records)
Bob ?: Bass
Mark: Noel-Johnson: (now owner of the Music Village chain)
Repertoire: The Monkeys, other rock stuff that took Andy's fancy.

Camera Shy - early 1980's 3 piece studio band
Steve Brooks: Vocals / producer / songwriter
Graham: Lead vocals (worked in Ken Stevens music shop and now in Music Village)
Chris: Keyboards
Managed and engineered by Chris Denis (previously lead vocalist with the Screaming Ab Dabs,
the first incarnation of the Pink Floyd. Graham later expanded the band into a working
pub band and went on to play with several Cambridge bands. Chris went back to Wales.

I stopped playing in bands at this time and concentrated on setting up my own businesses.
But other related musical connections are:

When I was about 14, I auditioned as drummer for Joker's Wild and got the job but my Dad
wouldn't let me join because they were all much older than me, had long hair and probably
took drugs - a missed opportunity. Much later, I was good friends with Richard Wright
of the Pink Floyd (near neighbours in Royston) and sat in on some of the Abbey Road
sessions of Wish You Were Here. Richard offered me a job as engineer at Abbey Road,
which I turned down because of the poor salary, another missed opportunity.
Jack Bruce (of Cream) jammed on bass with Baby Whale at a gig in a church hall
in St Andrew's Street, Cambridge. No one could believe it was him as he was
a legend at that time, however, he was so out of his head, that we had to lend him 50p
to telephone his wife to come pick him up. I produced a single with Mike Oldfield
for Island records, an album for his sister Sally (who was living in Sewards End
near Safron Walden) and film music with his brother Terry Oldfield. I also produced
and wrote a songs for Brian Poole (of Brian Poole and the Tremolos). Also
Reggae band Black Slate and had some of my songs produced by Human League producer
Colin Thurston and Police producer Nigel Gray. Police drummer Stewart Copeland also recorded
one of my songs. I produced two of Nick Barraclough's Telephone Bill and the Smooth Operators'
singles for DJM. I also produced numerous punk bands.

From 1985 - 1999 I had a very successful Hypnotherapy Training College in the UK with
offices in Burleigh Street Cambridge. I have been living in Thailand on and off for
the past ten years where my wife has a Thai restaurant and an export business.
I am desperate to get back into playing music, so I am forming a blues band.
We will be opening an Irish Pub in Chiang Mai called "The Tin Whistle" so that
I can gig every night until I drop! Come and see us.

Steve Brooks

September 2001
From Brian Collins

I've just come across the CAMBRIDGE ROCK AND ROLL HISTORY page and can
remember a couple of other bands around 1975-76, which are not mentioned,
although both (I believe) are dead-ends in the geneology. Both involved John
Dyer, front-man for Duke Duke and the Dukes. One was Larry Lounge and the
Good News Trio (all 5 or 6 of them!) which ran concurrently with DD&tD, and
was yet another permutation of the same crowd. They played more "lounge style"
and I remember an encore once of "Summer Holiday"! The other was Sheboigan which
contained John Dyer and (possibly) Simon Boswell in a 5-6 piece band playing
a "harder", less MOR, range. I remember a great version of Barrytown (Steely Dan).

I don't know if this is of any interest or relevance at all to anything, but you did ask!!

Bry

NEWLY ADDED INFORMATION JANUARY 2010:

Thanx brian for just takin the time to reply, its been quite an emotional morning for my sis
and I to even know that people still remember dad!

I'm sure he said he was in/had conections with a band, The Burnets (?spelling) and also
was approached by David Gilmore to form a band, not long before he married my mum in 1964/65.
(I'm sure he thought he was gonna be a star!) He had bros Paul and Royce and 2 sisters Josie and
Gill, one of his mates at the time was a Mick (John) Dunn. He also mentioned that he helped (?)
run a club above the Red Cow pub in town and how they were often closed down by the local
constabulary for the use of illegal substances on the premises, ha ha! My dad and drugs, what
a rebel!!! I know he was arrested for throwing a bag of flour through a shop window in Rose
Crescent during rag week in 1963 I fink. He lived in Whitehill Road when growing up and went to
Milton Road Primary, though not 100% sure of that. I don't really know more than that, its all
a bit sketchy I'm afraid, though early pictures do suggest very long tall legs and black
greased back hair, lots of memories of him singing in front of the mirror and continually
making references as to how many people likened him to Elvis.... yeah, big it up dad!
Thanx again, kindest regards - Nicky Wildman

All the latest on music and bands in Cambridge can be found here:
http://www.cambridgebands.com/

Here is some more discussion about Cambridge Bands:
http://www.wereallneighbours.co.uk/idlechat/message.php?id=9116

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CAMBRIDGE ROCK AND ROLL HISTORY

CAMBRIDGE GROUPS 1960-1982 and beyond...

CAMBRIDGE EVENING NEWS:

CHARTING THE CHANGES ON CITY'S ROCK SCENE

Frustrating

And now the charts!

NOTE: The bit about "The Chequers 1960" is totally wrong, as is the date. Bubs White played lead, Andy Peters Sang, Jenny Peters (wife) played drums. I am pretty sure Noel was the bassist but don`t remember for sure. They certainly were not playing much earlier than 1962.

THE MUSICIANS

THE GROUPS

NOTE: The bit about "The Chequers 1960" is totally wrong, as is the date.
Bubs White played lead, Andy Peters Sang, Jenny Peters (wife) played drums. I am pretty
sure Noel was the bassist but don`t remember for sure. They certainly were not playing
much earlier than 1962.