JOHNNY DARK & THE MIDNIGHTERS

Early 1960, David Sutch, who now he wore 18 inch long hair, proposed to Carlo to get a Rock & Roll group together.
They recruited two guitarists Rick Brown (aka Fenson) and Bernie Watson then pianist, Nicky Hopkins.
Three months later, despite they were ready for gigs and to tour they finally parted company.  
Dave Sutch had auditioned at the 2i's Coffee Bar then the manager Tom Littlewood decided to put him on the road for a summer package tour, backed by the Vince Taylor Playboys. 
Although, from June 1960 to Early 1961, Dave Sutch worked with a line up of The Savages that evolved out of a Rock’n’Roll band called Johnny Dark & the Midnighters. This Band was based in Muswell Hill, North London and featured two musicians who have worked with Johnny Kidd: saxplayer Pete Newman and guitarist Vic Clark.
Indeed Both Vic and Pete had played in the Mike West's band and did stand-ins for Johnny Kidd & the Pirates for whom Mike was a back-up singer until late 1959 ("Please Don't Touch" and "Feelin"). Pete Newman had been earlier a member of The Fabulous Freddie Heath Band.

Beside them, The Midnighters also featured pianist Charlie Parker, Baritone Saxophonist Jeff Wickens and drummer Brian Norman.
 
Basically, they were an instrumental band just covering American records
such as Johnny & the Hurricanes hits. Then they added singer Johnny Dark whose father owned a pub called “The Black Bull” in Whetstone, North London and that allowed them to have free rehearsals and a residency there.

They used to cover songs of Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Cliff Richard and even early Johnny Kidd’s numbers, and some instrumentals:
• Johnnie B Goode (Chuck Berry)
• Sweet Little Sixteen (Chuck Berry)
• That'll Be The Day (Buddy Holly)
• Peggy Sue (Buddy Holly)
• Move It (Cliff Richard)
• Please Don't Touch (Johnny Kidd)
• Red River Rock (Johnny & the Hurricanes) 
• Beatnik Fly (Johnny & the Hurricanes)
• Wild Child


“We had a sound unlike anything in England at that time. We were probably ahead of our time. The record companies considered us un-commercial. I guess the best way to describe our sound was the same genre as George Thorogood, but remember we were more than 20 years ahead of GT. So the Midnighters sound became the Screaming Lord Sutch sound.”
In fact, according to Vic Clark, David Sutch came and saw them at The Black Bull.
He introduced himself and said he needed a band for this fantastic Act inspired from the American performer Screaming Jay Hawkins. 
So the members of the Midnighters invited him to their next rehearsal at The Black Bull.

According to Vic Clark, Screaming Lord Sutch did his first live gig ever with them the following Saturday at 'The Athenium' at Muswell Hill, North London, the place where Emil Ford had been discovered and where they were playing once a month.
 
At that first gig, sax player Jeff Wickens introduced David Sutch as the "Wild Man from Borneo". They did their usual act then Sutch did just one song " The Train Kept-a Rolling" to close the show. As Vic Clark said “It absolutely 'brought the house down”!

Once They became The Savages, the vocalist Johnny Dark went, then Pete Newman and Vic Clark took over the vocals With David Sutch finishing off the shows.
After six months Screaming Lord Sutch and the original Savages parted company.

Pete Newman still worked with Screaming Lord Sutch and recorded on his debut single “Till the Following Night”, produced by Joe Meek before joining the Tornados, then the Felders Orioles.
Brian Norman, who went to live in Africa, passed away a few years ago.