“Bob Wooler so aptly comments that ‘the Mersey Sound has been replaced by Rhythm & Booze,’ because the main attractions at these venues are the bars. What few local groups are left, support comedians and slick, Cabaret artists. They learn routines, play the numbers that are required of them and dress in uniform suits.

“The clubs are pleasant, well-run, but are certainly no breeding ground for talent.

“Liverpool has made her contribution, there is nothing more left to offer.”

Another feature I wrote for the dummy issue was:

Memories Of Mersey Beat.

“Liverpool in the late fifties. Up at Wilson Hall in Garston for a dance each Saturday night I notice groups for the first time. Post-skiffle. Still a bit of skiffle influence there is in some of them, strong Country leaning and a touch of Rock & Roll. Back at the Art College and while I play kazoo with some students who still like Skiffle, John Lennon is rehearsing with a band downstairs.

“I’m editing a jazz magazine at the college and another for a local music store. I drift down to the Jacaranda and meet musicians. They are groups such as Cass & the Cassanovas and Rory Storm & the Hurricanes. Talk with the lads and learn about lots of groups in Liverpool playing Rock & Roll.

“Decide to start a modest newspaper for them. I think of the term Mersey Beat as a pun – to cover the area like a policeman’s beat and also to echo the sound of the music.

“Beatles are playing in the cellar of the Jacaranda, they are not big locally yet, there are a lot of top bands but the Beatles have yet to make their reputation.

“Begin to discover the halls where groups are playing – Jive Hive, Blair Hall, Holyoake Hall, OPB, Aintree Institute, Litherland Town Hall, Knotty Ash Village Hall, the Casbah.

“Begin to understand that there is a vast, unprecedented number of musicians in Liverpool. Is this unique? British music at the time was Tommy Steele and the Larry Parnes boys and Cliff Richard & the Shadows.

“Their music is nothing like what the Mersey groups play. D.J. Bob Wooler and I sit down to write list of all groups in the Merseyside area, there are over 350 of them!

“Mersey Beat becomes inundated with letters from bands and musicians start to pour into my office. They now call themselves beat groups, after the paper. The Cavern begins to take groups at lunchtime and evening sessions. The local scene begins to grow. The kids have their own newspaper, they have their own bands, they begin to realize what is going on in their own backyard.

“Brian Epstein stocks the paper, calls the same day for more, then more. He visits me, amazed at a small paper selling 144 copies in his shop. Can he write record reviews for it? Sure. He becomes interested in the scene, asks me if I can arrange for him to go down to the Cavern.

“Other managers appear. They begin to realize the potential of the Searchers, the Undertakers, the Big Three, Gerry & the Pacemakers, Rory Storm. Howie Casey & the Seniors become the first Mersey group to record. Everyone is envious, they want to record too.

“The venues have grown; there are now gigantic concerts at the Tower, Locarno, St. George’s Hall with up to 14 groups on the bill. The groups have all previously played for fun, for their love of music, now some hope of them achieving success appears and the competition is fierce.”

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