My contribution to the Corby music scene 1961 to 1977 by Martin Olley
My first introduction to Corby as an eight year old was in 1961 when my father previously a professional photographer with Aveling Barford in Grantham landed a position at Stewarts and Lloyds, the large steelmaking industry in the town. A good percentage of Corby’s working population worked there and I can remember my father taking me right into the ‘Works’ as it was called but I had to stay in the car due to the dangerous environment. The scene was extremely busy with steam locomotives running up and down, lots of smoke and sparks everywhere, it was a very busy place and almost like a town in itself.
My new school was to be Beanfield Junior School, one of three schools built on a site on Farmstead Road. Failing the 11 Plus I was destined to go up to the Secondary Modern school just North of the Junior school and it was there when I was just fourteen years of age I started my long association with the Corby music scene. My father was a drummer himself and played regularly with a dance band in Grantham called the Sessionaires and did a few dep gigs for a short while once we’d moved to Corby but seemed to lose interest eventually which gave me a chance to commandeer his drum kit - An 18” Beverly bass drum, a Premier snare and a hi-hat with some pretty awful cymbals. After a short attempt at playing the guitar at school I was determined to make it as a drummer and practiced as much as I could on my dad’s kit at home and eventually landed an audition where two guys came to my house to check my abilities out as they were looking for a drummer. One of them was a guy from my school called George (surname escapes me) who didn’t play anything particularly but he brought with him a guitarist who was well known in the town at that time. Again, I can’t remember his name either but I do know he eventually went on to play with Tangerine Fantasy - maybe it was Bob Grimley but I can’t be certain.
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| Papas Orphans |
The audition didn’t go very well, I failed miserably not being able to play even the basic of beats. The guitarist showed me what he wanted and said once I had achieved it to get back to him and he would reconsider me for a place in his band. That was the last I saw or heard from him! Not wanting to embarrass myself again I practiced more and more and with the help from my dad managed to accomplish a talent worthy of any ‘Beat Group’ of the day. I guess my first drumming influence was a local guy called Billy Mathieson of ‘Pappas Orphans’ who I used to stand and watch down at Nellie’s Bin, a Friday evening dance featuring local bands held at a Catholic School hall down Occupation Road. I really liked Billy’s playing and he was well aware I was watching him all night. I never really got to know Billy that well but he was aware I was another drummer. I remember a bus trip being organised by a local company to go and see American drummer Buddy Rich and his big band at the Albert Hall in Nottingham. Buddy was one if not the paramount drumming influence that ever lived which every drummer, even today long after his death aspires to. He was famous for his amazing energy and his ability to do a roll on the snare drum with just one hand! I went on the trip with my dad and I noticed Billy was also on the coach. When we were all getting back on the coach after the concert to return to Corby, Billy walked on with a huge grin across his face and shouted, holding a pair of drumsticks in the air “I’ve got his sticks!”. The looks of envy from the other guys on the coach was coupled with shouts of “Bas**rd” directed at Billy! Another band that influenced me in my younger years was Corby band Sasperella who made a 45rpm cover version of ’Spooky’ of which I still have to this day. I’ve no idea who the personnel were in this band but I remember them playing at the Civic Hall one Saturday afternoon and I was able to get a seat right behind the drummer and picked up a lot of tips from him.
The Civic Hall in Corby used to hold big Saturday night dances that always featured a couple of top London bands in one evening. The place got packed and there was always a fight at some point. I remember some guy being hurled across tables knocking glasses flying and at one point it got a bit too near the stage which was making the band who were playing at the time get a bit anxious. We always drank too much in those days and many a Saturday evening after the dance was spent lying on the grass bank on Westcott Way wondering why the sky was moving and getting home only to talk to God on the big white telephone saying “Never again” and my dad informing me that he hoped that I had learnt my lesson. We hadn’t obviously, as the escapade was rapidly repeated the following week!
Early days of playing drums included sessions at Bill Drummond’s house with Bill on guitar and a guy called Peter Calderbank on piano. Bill went on to form the very famous KLF and was an old mate of mine from junior School who went on to do a course at Northampton School of Art the same time as me. We used to get the United Counties bus from Corby to Northampton, to be joined at Kettering by Horace Panter of ‘The Specials’ fame. I remember Horace having very long hair past his shoulders and making a point in telling everyone that he hated reggae music! As young boys we used to call for Bill to see if he was coming out only to be met at the door by his father who was a Priest at the Scottish church St. Ninians opposite the Phoenix pub on Beanfield Avenue. He looked at us over his half rimmed glasses and informed us that “William is not able to be released until he has completed his messages”, messages being the Scottish word for errands. One time Bill was set the task of creosoting the garden fence before he was able to hang out with us. Little did we know in those days how Bill and Horace’s careers in the music business would pan out. If only I had kept on playing drums with Bill all those years ago…
A couple of years passed with me improving my skills and my parents taking on the building of their own house on the Lodge Farm estate. The new house was ready to move into and I was sent up in advance to open up and wait for my parents and the furniture to arrive. I used the time to practice ‘Wipeout’ on an old Indian tom tom which my dad had given me. The neighbours must have been terrified at the noise and at what was coming to live next to them! Over the back at another house I frequently heard someone playing the guitar and made it my duty to find out what was going on. This is where I met Clem Morrison who was indeed at the same school as me albeit a couple of years ahead. Clem’s father was an established guitarist working the clubs backing his two elder daughters who were accomplished singers. Clem (real name Carrol Lewis Earnest Morrison) also played the guitar and was messing around trying to get a band together called ‘The Clem Set’ with the Haselip twins, Tony and Mick to do a gig at the
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| Tony and Mick Haselip |
interval for the Saturday morning kids flicks at the Odeon on Rockingham Road but they were missing a drummer. Of course, I stepped in and did the gig however still using my dad’s old drum kit it was missing a tom tom and the first song we were to do was ‘Wipeout’ by the Surfaris. Another friend at school who played drums for Tangerine Fantasy was Graham Smith who went on eventually to play with St. Cecelia of ‘Leap up and Down and Wave Your Knickers in the Air’ fame. Graham had made a tom tom from an old snare drum and was willing to lend it to me for the gig which turned out to be loaned to me for a couple of more gigs with the same band (Drum kits in those early days were a lot of money for us teenagers on limited pocket money and Saturday jobs so we adapted old stuff we could get our hands on). I did a couple of gigs with Clem’s dad’s outfit as well but eventually drifted in search of better things.
Eager to move on I met Jimmy Irving, another mate in the same year at school who played the bass guitar who was getting a band together called ‘Marble Arch’ with his brother Stuart on guitar and was looking for a drummer. A short session in the kitchen at Jimmy and Stuart’s parents house got me the job and the first gig was at the school with another local accomplished guitarist in the town at the time, Chris Ward. We never had a set list and played a rendition of ‘Sunshine of My Love’ by Cream which seemed to go on for ages. At last my teeth were cut, so to speak, and my journey into the Corby music scene had begun in earnest. For a small town in the heart of Northamptonshire Corby boasted an amazing about of local amateur bands, far more than any other town of the same size and the opportunities for local musicians at the time was second to none. As Marble Arch progressed, I was conscious that I was still missing any tom toms on my kit however Jimmy had been talking with another drummer he knew called Johnny Heron who had one for sale as well as a cymbal that was much better than the one I had so the sale was secured which made things a lot better.
Making improvements all the time to my dad’s original kit, time moved on playing with various other local bands doing gigs at The Rangers Club, British Sealed Beams and the Raven Ballroom, one of which was ‘Knobbs’ where I was one of the original forming members, quickly to be replaced due to a fall out which I cannot remember for the life of me what it was about! I do recall the guitarist was a guy (I think it was Bob Burnett) who used to be in a Birmingham band called ‘The Uglys’ who had a hit called ‘It’s Alright’ in 1966 on the Pye label. We were doing a gig at the Rangers Supporters Club one evening and right in the middle of a song the MC stepped up on stage, grabbed a microphone only to announce that the hot (Scotch) pies had arrived! I also got involved with Ray Richie for a while playing drums in his backing band, again short lived. It was during this time I was introduced to Dave Martin who was the guitarist with a cabaret band called ‘Paperweights’ who were looking for a drummer after their original drummer Johnny Heron had left. Joining them was great fun and we had a very polished act playing different songs that I was used to such as ’Piece of my Heart’ by Erma Franklin. We all wore red jackets like the Four Seasons and looked like a crew of red coats from Butlins! We were very friendly at the time with Mick Harper who had been singing with ‘Paperlace’ from Nottingham and now had his own band based in Corby. Dave and I went on to be good friends and hanged out socially when the band wasn’t playing. We used to go everywhere in his Ford Escort van which was bright red. He came with me to York for a weekend once staying at my cousin’s place as I wanted to introduce my cousin’s husband to him, another Dave, who was a professional drummer on the Mecca circuit and had a residency at the local ballroom called ‘The Cats Whiskers’. Paperweights used to practice at the Corby Boys School on the same night that St. Cecelia who practiced in a different room. We always used to pop in and out of each others rooms to see how each band were progressing and the banter and sarcasm was rife. I was again acquainted with my old school friend Graham Smith who after the band’s demise went back to his old job as carpenter at the steel works.
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| St Cecelia |
Shortly after St. Cecelia packed up and Paperweights had gone their separate ways, I decided to trade in my kit for a secondhand Premier kit in black pearl which I bought from the music shop in Kettering. The sales assistant was also a drummer a lot older than myself who took great delight in trying to educate young lads in ‘Groups’ from his wealth (apparently) of drumming knowledge and technique. I was asked shortly afterwards to get together with some other musicians who I knew to form a band for a gig at some young farmers college in Lincolnshire which was being managed by ex St. Cecelia’s Keith Hancock’s entertainment agency called ‘KeRi Enterprises’. All the gear went in a van before us and we were transported to the gig in Keith’s red Jaguar which majestically pulled up at my house to the surprise of my neighbours all rubber necking to see what was going on! Although more commonplace these days, Jaguars, especially red ones were a rarity in 1970’s Corby!
My final musical ensemble before I left Corby in 1977 for Leicester to take up a residency in the resident band at the Grand Hotel on Granby Street was a band called Karnival. This was run by Dave Noble, the younger brother of Barry Noble, a respected cabaret singer at the time. We used to practice at Dave’s parent’s pub in Isham, just outside Burton Latimer. Barry wrote us a song called ‘Pink Tiger’ which we played at gigs and it was destined to be recorded and released by Barry but never did really happen.
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| Barry Noble |
