A RAG-AND-BONE MAN AT THE 2 I'S

The exact circumstances of Screaming Lord Sutch’s debut are difficult to pinpoint. Dave Sutch didn’t become Screaming Lord Sutch in a day and at the beginning he hadn’t long hair.
In late 1950s, Dave Sutch lived in South Harrow, Middlesex. Originally he had an Elvis Presley look-alike apparel and hopped onto his newly acquired second-hand BSA Bantum 125cc motorbike*, he used to head to Coffee Bars such as Ace Cafe on North Circular Road and the Cannibal Pot Coffee Bar on Harrow Road.
*It seems that it would be legend: David Sutch would never had a motorbike in those days but just a Vesper scooter that had to be push started.
Those places became his favourite haunts.
There he met an acquaintance called 'Big Ginger Bill' who persuaded him to buy his window cleaning round for £15.
Now as self employed and part-time window cleaner but outlandish full-time layabout, he was free to develop his desire to stardom.
“The work gave me the freedom to be myself, let my hair grow long and wear whatever I liked as well as practise songs as I went on my rounds. All the money I earned I kept. I was on my way”.
“I was the first of the longhairs... I had grown my locks to 18 inches long and turned myself into a freak years before the hippies came along”.
There are variations on the derivation of Screaming Lord Sutch’s title.
According to Pete Newman, sax player in one of the very first line ups of the Savages, “Sutch turned up at rehearsal with a top hat and I said, “Hey, Dave, you look like a lord”.”
Although Dave Sutch would apparently use the top hat for something else as Vic Clark, guitarist with him, recalls:
" In 1959/60 men’s hair was generally kept short. So it was really extreme to have long hair. He would pull it up over his head and wore a hat during the day. No-one would be seen in public with hair like that in those days. When he went on stage David Sutch kept his hair under his Top hat and during a song the hat would be thrown off, his hair would fall down and this created quite an impact. Girls would scream from sheer fright."

contact: tomusicstorytellers@gmail.com

WHIP & SCREAMING LORD SUTCH

Screaming Lord Sutch & The Savages on the 2 'I' coffee bar float at the Soho carnival, on July 14th 1960.
Left to right: Prince Monolulu, a racing tipster, Dave Lord Sutch, Vic Clark and Barrie Taylor aka "Whip", hanging the buffalo horns.

Barrie Taylor aka "Whip" played bass occasionally for Screaming Lord Sutch & The Savages after they had supported The Johnnie Reb's at the Clay Pidgeon, about July 1960, and as they had no bass player at the time. He also used to freelance at the 2 I's Coffee bar where he often sat in with The Savages

Pete Newman:
"We have a bass player at one time called "Whip"... He was in fact Whip Taylor who played with a band called the Johnny Rebs at the same place we did gigs in, The Clay Pigeon Pub, near Harrow. The drummer of that band was none other than the now world famous Jim Marshall inventor of the Marshall amplifier!"

At the Soho's annual street parade they were on their own float. Vic Clark: "Sutch virtually 'stole the show' as he was jumping off the float and going crazy amongst the crowd lining the streets. This event received media publicity."

THE JOHNNIE REBS

The Johnnie Reb's, named after the national personification of the Southern states in the American Civil War of the 1860s, were formed in 1956 at the Red Lion Pub, North Lambeth, by the Taylor brothers Vince and Barrie, while they joined the resident drummer, Terry Woods aka "Woofer", and did Skiffle with him.
They were soon supplemented by a pianist. The first big venue they did after the pub circuit was Streatham Locarno as resident band with skiffle bands filling up the evening (The Karl Denver Trio also did a gig there).

When Rock'n'Roll took over from skiffle, in 1957, their line-up changed: now including Ted Page on lead guitar, a bass player and a sax player nicknamed "Honker".
Some months later, the band backed Jayne Mansfield, promoting the film ‘The Girl Can’t Help It’ at the Tooting Granada, with a new line-up: Barrie Taylor switched to upright bass and Willie Garnet replaced "Honker".

By 1958, they became a 7 piece-band with a 2nd sax player Charlie Pelling and an Indian guy named Eddie Bowers on Rhythm guitar.

Incidentally another British Rocker used the stage name Vince Taylor from late 1958 and they had a problem once or twice with an agent but nothing came of it.

During 1960, the Johnnie Rebs were the resident band in various venues such as Club Perdido, Grandison ballroom, Norbury on Fridays; at the Clay Pidgeon Pub, Eastcote, on Saturdays; at Kew Boathouse; and at the Southall Community Centre, on Sundays (1). They played there until September of 1962 (2).

They mainly played all the current popular hit parade: e.g. the likes of Duane Eddy, Fats Domino, Larry Williams, Little Richard, Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochrane etc. (2).

They had a manager called Jim Marshall, not to be confused with the inventor of the Marshall amplifier.

Whip also later joined Emile Ford & The Checkmates (1963), The Flee-Rekkers (1963-1964) and Joe Brown & The Bruvvers (1964-1965).
Micky Burt later joined The Crescents, Cliff Bennett & the Rebel Rousers and Chas & Dave.
Willie Garnet is still doing the rounds of the Brit jazz scene nowadays.


Notes: (1) Barrie Taylor aka "Whip"
"The Johnnie Rebs were the resident band at the Southhall Community Centre, this venue had a lot of big name appearing there."

(2) Antion Meredith aka Vic Briggs
"During my teenage years, before I turned pro, if we were not working on a Sunday night, we would be at Southall. They played every Sunday night at the Southall Community Centre. That would be from late 1960 until September of 1962...
They were a band of what seemed like middle aged men in a time when being 25 was very old in the Brit rock world...
They would do whatever was on the charts. Like I remember them doing "You're Sixteen" by Neil Sedaka. They also always
used to play two songs by Charlie Rich, "Lonely Weekends", and the flip side, "Everything I do is Wrong."
The promoter, Peter Lindsey had asked them to make the songs longer - pop songs were all about two and a half minutes in those days - as the guys in the audience had asked him for more time to dance with the girls. So just about every song they did had two full on sax solos; one from Willie and one from Charlie."


Check out the article on Obscure Bands Of The 50's & 60's

Jayne Mansfield & The Johnnie Reb's at the Tooting Granada

‘The Girl Can’t Help It’ is a comedy musical film starring the American sex symbol Jayne Mansfield, Tom Ewell, and Edmond O'Brien. It was produced and directed by Frank Tashlin, with a screenplay written from an uncredited novel Do Re Me by Garson Kanin.
Its influence on rock music is significant, although it was originally intended as a Hollywood screen-vehicle for Jayne Mansfield, with the subplot being a satire of teenagers and their rock 'n' roll music. It featured cameo performances of early rock 'n' roll stars such as Little Richard, who performed the title song, but also Eddie Cochran, and Gene Vincent & His Bluecaps... The unintended result is the "most potent" celebration of rock music ever captured on film.
The movie was first released in America on December 1, 1956, and reached England in early 1957.
The Johnnie Reb's backed Jayne Mansfield at the Tooting Granada while she was promoting ‘The Girl Can’t Help It’.
A the time, the band became a sextet including sax player Willie Garnet instead of "Honker", and Barrie Taylor switched to upright bass.

BARRIE "WHIP" TAYLOR

• The Johnnie Reb's Skiffle Group (1956 - 1957)
• The Johnnie Reb's Rock Group (1957 - September 1962)
• Screaming Lord Sutch & The Savages #2 (July 1960)
• Emile Ford & The Checkmates #2 (Late 1962 - June 1963)
• The Flee Rekkers #4 (October 1963 - Late 1964)
• Joe Brown & The Bruvvers #10 (Early 1965 - 1966)

Barrie Taylor aka "Whip" played bass occasionally for Screaming Lord Sutch & The Savages after they had supported The Johnnie Reb's at the Clay Pidgeon, about July 1960, and as they had no bass player at the time. He also used to freelance at the 2 I's Coffee bar where he often sat in with The Savages (3).

His father called him 'whippet' as he was a skinny kid, thus the nickname and it being on his bass strap.

In fact Whip started off on on Rhythm guitar during the Skiffle days, and then switched to upright bass with rock 'n' roll. He later had a Hofner fiddle bass and then a Epiphone Rivoli bass, which he used with a Fender Bassman Amp.

Whip later played bass for Jerry Lee Lewis (1), Jess Conrad, Marty Wild & the Wildcats, Emile Ford & The Checkmates (1963), The Flee-Rekkers (1963-1964) and Joe Brown & The Bruvvers (1964-1965) among others.


Notes:
(1) Barrie Taylor aka "Whip"
"The Johnnie Rebs were the resident band at the Southhall Community Centre, this venue had a lot of big name appearing there. I played with Jerry Lee Lewis there on bass as he didn't have a band only a drummer!!"

(2) Pete Newman:
"We have a bass player at one time called "Whip"... He was in fact Whip Taylor who played with a band called the Johnny Rebs at the same place we did gigs in, The Clay Pigeon Pub, near Harrow. The drummer of that band was none other than the now world famous Jim Marshall inventor of the Marshall amplifier!"

(3) Barrie Taylor aka "Whip"
"We had a manager for a short while whose name was Jim Marshall, not the one of the Amp Fame !! I did know Jim Marshalls son and Pete Fleerackers used to make the cabinets for the amps for the Marshall amps."

THE FIRST LONG-HAIRED POP STAR

The exact circumstances of Screaming Lord Sutch’s debut are difficult to pinpoint. Dave Sutch didn’t become Screaming Lord Sutch in a day and at the beginning he hadn’t long hair.
In late 1950s, Dave Sutch lived in South Harrow, Middlesex. Originally he had an Elvis Presley look-alike apparel and hopped onto his newly acquired second-hand BSA Bantum 125cc motorbike*, he used to head to Coffee Bars such as Ace Cafe on North Circular Road and the Cannibal Pot Coffee Bar on Harrow Road.
*It seems that it would be legend: David Sutch would never had a motorbike in those days but just a Vesper scooter that had to be push started.
Those places became his favourite haunts.
There he met an acquaintance called 'Big Ginger Bill' who persuaded him to buy his window cleaning round for £15.
Now as self employed and part-time window cleaner but outlandish full-time layabout, he was free to develop his desire to stardom.
“The work gave me the freedom to be myself, let my hair grow long and wear whatever I liked as well as practise songs as I went on my rounds. All the money I earned I kept. I was on my way”.
“I was the first of the longhairs... I had grown my locks to 18 inches long and turned myself into a freak years before the hippies came along”.
There are variations on the derivation of Screaming Lord Sutch’s title.
According to Pete Newman, sax player in one of the very first line ups of the Savages, “Sutch turned up at rehearsal with a top hat and I said, “Hey, Dave, you look like a lord”.”
Although Dave Sutch would apparently use the top hat for something else as Vic Clark, guitarist with him, recalls:
" In 1959/60 men’s hair was generally kept short. So it was really extreme to have long hair. He would pull it up over his head and wore a hat during the day. No-one would be seen in public with hair like that in those days. When he went on stage David Sutch kept his hair under his Top hat and during a song the hat would be thrown off, his hair would fall down and this created quite an impact. Girls would scream from sheer fright."

contact: tomusicstorytellers@gmail.com

A RAG-AND-BONE MAN AT THE 2 I'S

Left to right: Pete Newman (sax), Brian Norman (drums), Dave Sutch (vocals) and Vic Clark (guitar). Photo courtesy Vic Clark

In 1959, resolved to be a rock'n'roll singer, Dave Sutch attended auditions at the famous Two I's Coffee Bar in Old Compton Street, Soho, London.

The coffee bar run by Tom Littlewood being a mecca to budding pop stars - The hottest place to be - as it was here that Tommy Steele and Cliff Richard were discovered. Apparently Rock star Vince Taylor, who was one of the main acts at the venue, would recommended Sutch to Littlehood after he heard him scream somewhere.

Although auditions were interrupted because the auditioner got fed up with all the Elvis Presley look-alikes who came. Littlewood advised the newcomer: “Get a gimmick, and you’re in”. So Sutch decided to swap his former apparel for the 'wild man of Borneo' look after he saw a pair of old buffalo horns for sale at 15 shillings in a place called "Jack's Second Hand Shop".

The next day, Sutch returned to the Two I's Coffee Bar, disguised with buffalo horns glued to his crash helmet and his aunt's leopard skin jacket, which he tored the sleeves off.

Flaunting his wild man image, he impressed at his audition, singing an old song called “Bullshit Boogie”.

Tom Littlewood remembers his first encounter with SLS:

“One afternoon a strange individual came in, presenting himself as Mr. Sutch and asked if he could do an audition. I was very much amazed when he arrived, looking like a rag-and-bone man. He had with him a large bundle of miscellaneous equipment – sheepskin, pair of Buffalo horns, a man-trap, snow shoes and so forth. He sang an obscure old number called “Bullshit Boogie”.

He therefore landed a spot singing at the Two I's, and began to pick up bookings for gigs. Although he spent the proceeds of his first two gigs reimbursing his aunt the cost of the coat. The material of his debut is impossible to pinpoint though his early influences were Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Bo Diddley. Also impossible to determine: who was backing him at that time? Perhaps guitarist Glen Stoner and his friends who used to performed there as The Two I's Coffee Bar Junior Skiffle Group. Waiting for the big day, David Sutch let his hair grow...