The Neons were Phil Seddon (guitar/vocals) Phil was from Walton where his dad ran a hardware store 'Seddons' on Walton Road; Paul (lead guitar) also from Walton; Richie (bass) a telephone engineer from Norris Green and myself.

I bought my own first drum kit from Rushworths of Whitechapel for £40. On hire purchase, 'ten bob down and the rest when they catch you.' The kit had a tiny red sparkle 'Edgeware' bass drum, an 'Edgeware' snare drum and a Stratford floor tom. The cymbal was an 'Ajax' 18". It was truly awful. It had calf skin heads, which broke every gig and had to be hand lapped by a disapproving old gentleman at Rushworths, who thought rock and roll was an abomination. I paid for the kit by a combination of working in Wallys Chippy for 12 shillings and sixpence a week and doing gigs for £1 a night.

I chose this particular kit because it was all I could afford and I gradually replaced all the components with Premier equivalents, (with flash plastic heads). Richard Starkey with Rory Storm & the Hurricanes had a white Premier kit "so they must be good." My Dad had Richard working briefly and unofficially as a 'can lad' on one of his building sites. I have never had this confirmed from another source - it would be fun to ask Richard, my Dad sadly is no longer with us.

Over the other side of Whitechapel, a scruffy group called the Beatles was attracting big crowds and some twit said they were even better than the Shadows!

For the next 10 years I played two to five nights a week at every venue in Liverpool, Warrington, St. Helens, Southport etc. As you know, Liverpool was alive with venues then. The Neons appeared a lot in the billings in the Echo and, I think, even Mersey Beat - but I'm not sure. We were the usual 'covers' band - two guitars, bass and drums - we briefly had a Lowrey organist - which enabled us to play 'Telstar' to great effect, but the bloody piece of oak furniture was too heavy for the spiral staircase at the back of Southport's Kingsway Casino, so we sacked him.

We had one R&B record (12" vinyl) from which we cribbed Otis Rush, Elmore James and Muddy Waters. We also learned 'Mashed Potato', 'Money' and 'Roll Over Beethoven' - which seemed a sort of 'folk music' endemic to the Caverns and 'Graves' of central Liverpool. We never 'officially' played the Cavern - my Dad took exception to the low fee - £5 for the whole band. My Mum was also unimpressed by Bob Wooler and the general seedy scene (I was only 12). I was pissed off, but with hindsight I understand her reticence. Terry from the Richmond Group joined us on guitar. We played Butlins in Pwhelli, North Wales.

Butlins was very tame. It was a time warp with 'variety acts' still dominating the scene, some of them still rooted in music hall, including many George Formby imitators and 'Tiller Girls.' The huts or 'Chalets' were ex-army and very basic. The scenario in the film 'That'll Be the Day' with Ringo and Billy Fury catches the emergent rock 'n' roll 'outlaw' scene perfectly. We were all deeply 'unrespectable' and not proper 'showbiz.'

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