Category: West Wycombe

West Wycombe – village 3 miles west of High Wycombe

February 1967

February 1967 saw the gig scene in High Wycombe continue with a string of dates at The Town Hall, plus what appears to be a new venture held at the Royal British Legion building close to the Town centre. These are brief details of gigs that I have traced and backed up by advertising evidence found in the Bucks Free Press.  If you have any further details of these gigs or can add more dates, please get in touch.

February 1967 – gig adverts from the Bucks Free Press

Tuesday 7th February 1967 – Geno Washington – Town Hall

Geno Washington and The Ram Jam Band took to the stage of High Wycombe Town on Tuesday 7th February 1967 for a gig billed in the Bucks Free Press advert by the strapline: “We’ve given you The Small Faces, Spencer Davis and now we present the greatest act in the country!” At the time of this performance Geno Washington was aged 23 years old, having starting performing with The Ram Jam band in 1965.  Washington was a former US airman based in East Anglia.
Admission was 7 shillings and 6 pence (37 ½ p) with DJ Don Jordan playing ‘Top Discs’.

This is Geno and his band performing on TV during the era of their Wycombe appearance

Saturday 11th February 1967 – Tom Jones – Town Hall

See separate post on this unconfirmed performance by the famous Welshman.

Monday 13th February 1967 – The Move – Town Hall

See separate post on this performance.

Thursday 16th February 1967 – Ginger Tom Set – The Stereo (Legion Rooms)

The Stereo was a club night held at The Royal British Legion building opposite Wycombe College. The Ginger Tom Set were described in the gig advert as ‘A Strange name but a really good group well worth seeing’.  Admission was 4 shillings and 6 pence (22 ½ p).  At the time of this post I’d found no further background on this band.

Saturday 18th February 1967 – Stacey’s Circle – Town Hall

Billed as a ‘POWERHOUSE OF SOUND’, 5 shillings (25p) would have gained you entry to this Saturday night gig featuring Stacey’s Circle supported by Coffee Set (from London’s Clubland).

Stacey’s Circle – photo as published in Ilford Recorder in 2010

My brief research suggests that Stacey’s Circle were a band from the Ilford area of London and consisted of George Stacey Taylor (vocals), John Campling (guitar), Dave Hawkins (bass) and Frank Edwards (drums). Guitarist John ‘Ducksy’ Reardon also states he was in an earlier version Stacey’s Circle through his autobiography ‘Birth to Reunion’ published in 2015.

Tuesday 21st February 1967 – The Who – Town Hall (CANCELLED)

This was intended to be the long awaited return of The Who to High Wycombe. 8 shillings (40p) was the asking price for entry to the regular Tuesday night slot – with DJ Rod Welling billed set to play ‘Top Discs’.  Sadly the gig was cancelled, with organisers placing an advert in the following week’s Bucks Free Press stating: ‘We apologise for the non-appearance on Tuesday of “THE WHO” for reasons beyond our control. The group will appear at our next dance on MARCH 28th.’

The Who would eventually perform at The Town 25th April 1967.

DJ Rod Welling replaced Don Jordan, who had left High Wycombe for Nottingham.  An article published in the Bucks Free Press during the Spring of 1967 explained the history behind Welling’s arrival on the DJ scene.  Welling claimed that his first public performance with pop music was when neighbours called in the police because of the ‘racket’ from his record player.  The then 20 year old hoped that the Tuesday evening DJ slot at the Town Hall would be the beginning of a ‘career on the pop world’.

Friday 24th February 1967 – Pink Sam and The Shakers – West Wycombe Village Hall

This gig was billed as ‘HANGOVERSVILLE ‘67’ in the small advert carried in the Bucks Free Press. A quick search on the internet at the time this article was published, reveals that well know High Wycombe musician Steve Darrington was a piano player with Pink Sam and The Shakers.
Admission was 5 shillings (25p).

Saturday 25th February 1967 – Growth – Town Hall

Midland based band Growth appeared at The Town Hall on Saturday 25th February 1967 with support from ;London, New Faces, Great Sound, Derek Savage Foundation.  Admission was 5 shillings (25p).  At the time of this post I’d not found any details of Growth but The Derek Savage Foundation released a single on CBS during 1967

Breakin’ Through – Derek Savage Foundation – 1967 single release

References:

Stacey’s Circle – Where are they now?

http://www.ilfordrecorder.co.uk/entertainment/music/stacey-s-circle-where-are-they-now-1-713463

Steve Darrington

http://www.stevedarrington.com/music.htm

Pink Sam and The Shakers

http://pinksam.com/

31 August 1963 – John Mayall – West Wycombe

Saturday 31st August 1963
John Mayall and his Bluesbreakers
West Wycombe Village Hall

A 29 year old John Mayall and his Bluesbreakers play ‘The Wolf Club’ hosted at West Wycombe Village Hall.  This was towards start of the Rhythm and Blues era in the UK and this gig appears to have been organised as part of, or on the back of, the embryonic stages of the famous Ricky Tick Club run by John Mansfield and Philip Hayward.

Flyer for R&B gigs, including those in West Wycombe in July and August 1963 – kindly supplied by Gary Jones

I am indebted to Gary Jones for supplying the above gig flyer. Gary later worked with Ron Watts during his time promoting at The Nag’s Head in the late 1960’s.

The flyer lists a series of R&B gigs in West Wycombe and Reading. You can also see from the flyer, a Rolling Stones gig to be played on 30th July 1963.  This gig would eventually take place at the Royal British Legion in Slough under the curious banner of Club Nod.

In between the first gig listed (Cyril Davies on 27th July 1963) and the Mayall gig, The Rolling Stones would make their High Wycombe debut with an appearance for the first time at the Town Hall on Tuesday 13th August 1963.  That would be opening of the ‘Tuesday Dancing Club’ at the town centre venue – more about those nights in future posts.

The West Wycombe appearance appears to be at a similar time that Mayall had moved to London from his northern roots in the Manchester area in order to take up a full-time career in music . The line-up for the West Wycombe gig is most likely to have included John McVie (bass) and Bernie Watson (guitar) and Peter Ward (drums) but comments are welcome.

It is interesting to read an extract from a biography on John Mayall’s official website, describing the music scene the year before the gig in West Wycombe:

“After Britain’s ten year traditional jazz boom had about run its course, a new generation was ready for something new. Out came the amplifiers, guitars and harmonicas and out came young enthusiasts from all over the country eager to form their own groups.” That seems a pattern of events that would be repeated over time.

Mayall’s appearance in West Wycombe is recalled by Ron Watts in his autobiography (Hundred Watts – a life in music). 20 years old at the time of the gig. Watts says: “It was packed, but as had happened in London at first, the audience wasn’t responding. Because I was into the blues scene by now I was feeling a bit braver than usual, so midway through the band’s second set I walked up to John and said to him, ‘You need to mix things up a bit here, mate.’  To my horror, and to probably the crowd’s delight, John announced to the band, ‘This guy’s gonna sing.’  I’d never, ever done anything like this in public before, I didn’t even know I could sing, but we went through the Little Richard rocker Jenny, Jenny and it went down a storm.”

There are a host of resources documenting Mayall’s musical journey and the huge list of musicians he played with following these early gigs. At the time of this post, the 83 year old was preparing for gigs at Ronnie Scott’s – some 53 years after his performance in West Wycombe!