Hope Hall
Because we were mainly R&B. by no means the norm in those days, we were selected to play alongside the Roadrunners at Hope Hall, a club formed in the basement of the Everyman Theatre by the Blond Family.

The 'Roadies', in my view the best band Liverpool produced who did not achieve national fame, were already playing Thursdays and Sundays, and we were selected to augment them by doing Fridays and Saturdays. The Roadrunners were only a year or so older than us, which is a lot when you are in your teens, and we admired and learned a hell of a lot from them (at the same time nicking some of their material, of course).

At that time there was no dance floor extension, and both bands played by the bar (convenient), surrounded by a drunken, but wonderful, audience of revellers and dancers. I remember that regulars to Hope Hall were Adrian Henri, Mike McCartney, Roger McGough, Brian Patten and John Gorman. This is the first I remember of Adrian's 'happenings' and, I think you could safely say, was the start of the Scaffold and the Liverpool Scene. Adrian, bless him, had an innocent predilection for schoolgirls, and I can vividly remember being surrounded by rampant totty dressed as ten years olds, at which point we all shared Adrian's fantasies.

Cavern and Mardi Gras
In the second wave of the Mersey scene, after the Beatles had taken the world by storm, the class acts coming in to Liverpool were unbelievable, and we were privileged to play with many of them. Most of our R&B heroes came over from America and British legends such as Alexis Korner's Blues Inc (including Graham Bond, Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce). London bands such as the Yardbirds (including Eric Clapton) and John Mayall's Bluesbreakers also appeared and, whilst the Rolling Stones were definitely in Liverpool (I was in the Beehive with them when, I think, they were staying at the Adelphi), I cannot remember them playing at the Cavern.

At this time the Mardi Gras was having class acts from America and Britain. I remember playing with the Alan Price set, Alan consuming a bottle of scotch during the course of the evening, and with Ike and Tina Turner, Tina changing in the bandroom whilst we young lads were looking on, feigning disinterest naturally but being in a severe state of distress.

The two DJ's at the Mardi Gras were Chris Wharton and one William Butler. Billy Butler, from his Tuxedos days, was always a frustrated rock singer and insisted on rendering Long Tall Sally or Whole Lotta Shakin' with whichever band was on. This could be either great or dire, depending on how much alcohol had been consumed and, if a tone deaf Chris Wharton also joined in the refrain, the results could be excruciating. As the audience at the Mardi was always as pissed as the groups, however, nobody minded. The Mardi was, of course, a licensed club before the Cavern ever got a drinks licence.

Meanwhile at the Cavern, whilst the raw Beatles sound was never repeated (not even by them, once they were Epsteined), there were many exciting years to come. Memories flood back of Sonny Boy Williamson, pissed out of his head, scrimmaging in a plastic bag for the right key harmonica, for which he invariably brought out the wrong one. The backing band would be in 'G' and Sonny would be in 'A', and the band then had to try and find him.

Whenever these legends were on the Cavern, if we were not on the same bill, we other bands would come from far and wide after our gigs to watch the masters and, if possible, organise a jam session. Pubs in those days closed at 10.30pm (if the walls in the Grapes and White Star had ears, what tales they could tell) so fortification was taken in the Cavern in the form of cider bottles filled with wine, ensuring that Paddy on the door didn't see it. Paddy could sink 'em back with the best of them, but the Cavern was dry, and that was that.

Second Georgians line-up
Geoff left to join a newly formed band, the Clayton Squares, and we then recruited Lewis Collins. Lew had recently returned from Hamburg having played with the Eyes (Gibson Kemp, Paddy Chambers etc) and was looking for local Merseyside work.

Mike Sloan also left and we found that an old mate of ours from Quarry Bank, Roger Bioletti, was now a drummer -Nuff said. 'Bio' was in, his claim to fame being that his grandfather's barber shop, 'Bioletti's', was the one featured in Penny Lane by the Beatles (re-created extremely well in the late 1990s Beatles video).

The line-up was completed by a tenor and alto sax not lasting long, but the tenor sax, Roger Lewis, staying with us until the Georgians finished.

We hit the road again and, whilst still playing the odd Cavern and Hope Hall gig, tended to go for the better paying University and larger gigs. Lewis Collins and Roger Bioletti were, as one might say, handsome bastards, which made it more difficult for the rest of us in the groupie recruitment, but we managed.

At this time we were still very much an R&B band but, because we all had such disparate taste in music, the repertoire became quite varied.

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