The Early Days

Too much has already been written about the Beatles, so we will concentrate on the early days with some new and revealing information about the Fab Four from the start up days of the Quarrymen onto the Silver Beetles and finally the emergence of the band following their tours of the Hamburg clubs and their return to Liverpool, when they were discovered by Brian Epstein.

Clubmoor Conservative Club, the Centre of the Known Universe....

As far as we can ascertain their first public appearance was at the Clubmoor Conservative Club, Norris Green, Liverpool in 1957. I find this fact quite amazing as I lived at 19a Broadway a flat which backed onto the club. In fact the club car park was the scene of some of the greatest five a side football matches in the History of Liverpool (Authors prerogative). I was 10 years old when the Quarrymen appeared at the club and too young to be aware or interested.

Ironically some years later my band The Bumblies used the venue for practice and performed its first gig at the club. During this austere post war era clubs thrived. With very little of interest on TV and no drink Driving laws, Liverpool clubs sprouted up everywhere.

The Run....

There was a time when there weren't enough acts to meet the demand which meant that the bands in particular use to do "The Run" which entailed playing usually a 45 minute spot at as many as three clubs a night. Where we got the energy from, only the power of youth knows. A typical run would be Knotty Ash Village and then onto the Orrell Park Ballroom (OPB) and then perhaps a late finish at the Cavern.

The average fee was around £5-£10 per band and out of that you had to pay the Roadie and the Manager. As the Beatles' reputation grew they could demand as much as £25 per booking...wow heady days.

No Love Lost....

During the early days of the MerseyBeat boom, The Beatles were not that highly regarded and more established bands such as Rory Storm and The Hurricanes and King-size Taylor and The Dominoes were the top acts. I spoke with Ted (King-size) Taylor a few years back and it was apparent that there was no love lost between the Dominoes and the Beatles and he maintained that most of the early Beatles songs were a straight steal from his set, quoting Some Other Guy and Money as specific steals.

Beetles, Silver Beetles, The Beatles, Where Did They Get The Name From?...

More myths...they called the band after Buddy Holly's Crickets, John thought of it, no, he didn't and so it goes on. Well here's a short recording where George puts all the myths to bed.

Who is this German Band?....

When they first disappeared over to Hamburg, they were not particularly well known around Liverpool and on their return ( Now a much changed and more experienced band) many people thought they were a German Band.

You Wanna Be A Roadie when you can Be a Draughtsman?....

Soon the word spread, and another coincidence, I attended Hillfoot Hey Grammar School in Woolton, Liverpool and one year ahead of me was a young man called Tony Bramwell who had already started helping the Beatles out, lumping their gear from club to club. It was at a School dance where I first heard about this amazing band overhearing a conversation Tony (Who was extremely trendy) was having with other 5th Year students. I was 4th year, so I might well have been on a different planet. I also remember the band playing that night were The Renegades rough loud and amazing. It was about to begin...

n.b. The picture shows Tony receiving a honorary life membership badge from MerseyCats Chairman Wally Shepard in Aug 2009 at the Hard Days Night Hotel, Liverpool, the band in the background is non other than The Bumblies with yours truly dissecting the two old codgers.

The Best Band in Liverpool?....

The arguments still rage about who was the best Band around at the time and some people have really foggy memories...the simple fact was the Beatles were the best band by far, after their return from Hamburg where the 12 hours a night sessions had honed them into a superb Rock Band. The Pete Best story?.. I hear people say even today, that Pete was slung out because he wasn't good enough...absolute rubbish... Pete started the "Atom" beat" which later became the MerseyBeat. He hit them hard and created the thunderous backbeat from which the other Beatles could layer their sound.

With Pete's drumming and Paul's "lead" Bass played very loud the first half of the "Sound" was formed. The next innovation was the twin lead guitar approach. Until the Beatles, guitar bands always had a lead guitar and a softer Rhythm guitar layering behind the lead. With the Beatles you had three fine guitarists (Paul too) and George and John used the twin lead sound to great effect. There was a Bell like clank to the Beatles riffs that was brand new at the time.

The Myth of the Rickenbacker....

A desire to be as far away as possible from the Britpop scene was I believe the reason for the strange looking guitars the Beatles used following their Hamburg days. John's Rickenbacker a dubious purchase in Hamburg had never been seen in the UK before. The guitar has since taken on an almost Holy Grail status and now costs a considerable amount of money. As a guitarist I think the 325 is one of the worst guitars ever built and I find it amazing that with a neck only suitable for children under the age of twelve, John could ever play anything on it. If you would like to read more about John's Ricky click here 

Much the same goes for George's Gretsch, dodgy bridge that moved if you strummed too hard and two 'orrible single coil pickups, but somehow they made them sound fabulous... as most guitarists will tell you...it's all in the fingers, but I think the guys had some help from a Mr Vox.

In the later days neither George nor John would be seen anywhere near these iconic models.

Now Here's A Real Guitar....

They did make an excellent purchase on their return to Liverpool in the form of two Gibson J160E Electro Acoustic guitars. These guitars were to feature on many of the early records. John's was stolen sometime in 1964. Pictured here is Bob Hobbs the manager of Rushworth & Draper a music store about 50 yards from NEMS and just a stone's throw from the Cavern. In those days the stores ran their own Hire Purchase schemes and it was relatively easy to buy from  them. The hard bit was paying it back, although interest rates were at the time very reasonable and the phrase APR hadn't been invented.

The Original Bass Riff that Wasn't....

When Paul took over albeit reluctantly as Bass Guitarist from Stuart Sutcliffe, an electric left handed bass was still the stuff of future dreams. So anyone who was left handed had to turn a right handed guitar upside down and make do. Playing the wrong way round had its problems as sometimes it was hard to visualise the runs back the front. One one such occasion Paul enlisted the help of the only other left handed bass guitarist in Liverpool, Wally Shepard from Earl Preston's TTs. Paul asked Wally to teach him the riff from Chuck Berry's "Talkin Bout You". Paul was later to use this riff as the basis for the bass line on " I Saw Her Standing There.

Wally can be seen here with Earl Preston's TTs on the left.

The Beatles Come To Town

Live In Munich 1966

The Early Days...Boy, they Were Rough But They Did Get Better....

Some early and rare recordings

 More to come.....You should have been there.....

Ive just completed a website for a great product launched to coincide with the release of the Beatles re-masted series.

We've also done a Virtual tour of the product, which is a must have for all Beatles fans. Click the graphic to take a look.