Blue
Joe Alley, the 19-year-old Jamaican vocalist with the Mersey Blue Beats tells me that the group is now looking for a new sax player. "We lost John Hart quite soon after he joined us," said Joe, who sings in a red wig, "he got a job down in the Birmingham area and he couldn't stay."

He adds that the group is beginning to establish themselves - but that they've had to miss out a few bookings because of the absence of a full team.

Clem
Back on the scene as a DJ is Clem Dalton, one-time road manager for Tommy Quickly.

Clem used to work at the Locarno and now he's teamed up once more with ex-Locarno manager Gordon Knowles at the new beat centre in Rochdale.

"It's a fantastic place," enthused Clem, "they all go for Mersey groups - but they've quite a swinging little scene of their own."

Clem went on to tell me that any local group in search of fame and fortune and a following should play in Rochdale.

"There's no doubt at all," he said, "that there's still a future for beat, despite the popularity of R&B or blue beat - it all goes down in Rochdale and they holler for more."

Arrest
It happened to the Merseybeats recently - now it's happened again.

I'm talking about a group getting arrested on the grounds that the look and act suspiciously - and the group this time is a new one called the Ferrymen.

The boys decided to stroll down to the riverside to get some atmospheric photographs - but no sooner had they begun prowling around the docks when the police pranced.

Finally after questioning, they convinced the police that they were on the waterfront for purely innocent purposes and released.

"We hadn't realized that we needed permission to go on the docks," declared rhythm guitarist John Austin.

"But we made sure that we had it before we went again to get pictures."

John, who's been playing the guitar for about six years, is actually a cousin of John Barry of John Barry Seven fame.

But he's determined to reach the top by his own merits rather than those of his famous relative.

"In fact John Barry doesn't even know I play for the group," grinned John.

Line-up of the Ferrymen is John Austin, Dave Richardson, lead, Keith Crellin, bass and Len Holden, drums.

Return to main section