The Big Three...

Last year I was fortunate to be invited to play at the Cavern and it was my first time back in 40 odd years. OK it wasn’t the real Cavern, but it was the next best thing. Having packed up my axe for over forty years I freely admit I’m a newcomer when it comes to “miked up” PA driven systems that are now the norm.

In the sound check, the desk guy was setting the levels he wanted by asking each of us to play a little piece and it was then that it struck me.

Listening to the Big Three at the Cavern was an awesome experience, the walls shook, the paint peeled off the ceiling and the sheer energy of the band created an experience that few of us would ever forget. Fast forward to the studio and the band they recorded on those Decca sessions was far removed from the “animals” from the Cavern.

Yes it struck me, MerseyBeat wasn’t about levels and dials it was about taking the sound to edge of distortion and not worrying about someone else’s idea of what the sound level should be. The bass was always louder than it should be, the drums were thunderous and guitars didn’t know the meaning of a rhythm sound a la The Shadows. It was this raw animalistic combination that separated the Liverpool Beat from anything else on the planet.

When the desk guy is in charge, it’s in his ears and not yours and the result is all too plain to see at any modern Concert or Gig… the bands all sound the same…because the bands are the desk guy.

The Big Three didn’t sound like any other band and were truly one of the great Liverpool bands of the 60s. Incredible to think so much noise could emanate from just three players. But it wasn’t only the volume of the band that stood out; they were all very accomplished musicians who could put their own flavour into songs of the era.

Along with the Beatles, the Big Three featured regularly at the top of the popularity list of Bill Harry’s "Mersey Beat", the bible for the Liverpool entertainment scene.

The group’s first guitarist Adrian Barber was one of the great characters of the era, being responsible for the design of the coffin, a huge amp and speaker cab that was surely the forerunner of Jim Marshall’s original concepts. He was as eccentric as anybody could be and there are many stories about him, most of which can’t be printed. Some say it was a competition between him and John Lennon to see who could be the maddest.

The roots of the band started in 1959 when guitarist Brian Casser got together with Adrian Barber also on guitar joined forces with Brian Hudson on drums. In those days they didn’t have a bass player. Soon Brian left the band and was replaced by Johnny Hutchinson on drums and shortly after he was joined by Johnny Gustafson on bass. In 1961 Cass decided to try his luck in London and three remaining members became The Big Three.

Forgetting the cabaret style of Cass they soon developed into a hard rockin’ rhythm and Blues outfit and quickly became firm favourites at the Cavern.

Incidentally Cass who had left Liverpool at the very time the scene was exploding later formed Casey Jones and the Engineers in London and released one single called One Way Ticket with a certain Mr Eric Clapton on guitar.

Following the early lead of the Beatles, the Big Three embarked on the first of several brief trips to Hamburg. During one of these trips Adrian Barber decided not to return to Liverpool, taking up the job of manager of the Star Club. Adrian also designed the sound system at the Star Club and it was his recordings that you can hear on many of the Beatles at the Star Club tapes. Adrian also went on to design the sound system at the Peppermint Lounge in New York..

On returning to Liverpool in 1962 the final piece of the jigsaw fell into place when Brian Griffiths joined the band. Griff had been playing with Derry & the Seniors, who started out in 1959 and went on to become Howie Casey & The Seniors.

Griff was a guitarist of rare talent, and was one of the first guitarists to combine rhythm and lead playing at the same time. Griff’s arrival coincided with the band really taking off and their following rivalled that of the Beatles.

The Cavern was their home ground and they could pack the place just as successfully as the Beatles. Their sound was never successfully transferred to acetate and therein lies the main reason for their failure to become the success they deserved. It would be different today where video technology would have spread their unique sound to all corners of the planet and they would be up there with the Who and Hendrix.

Frustrated at the lack of a breakthrough Johnny Gustafson and Brian Griffiths left the band in November 1963, Griff to form the Seniors, and Johnny Gustafson to replace Billy Kinsley in the Merseybeats. Later on Johnny Gustafson would feature with a number of bands including the Pirates, The Ian Gillan Band and Roxy Music.

They were replaced in the band by two musicians from Faron's Flamingos: Faron on bass, and Paddy Chambers on lead guitar. In May 1964 Faron left and Paul Pilnik became the bass player. Johnny Hutchinson was the only member of the group who remained from their halcyon Cavern days, and that combined with the choice of Decca as a record label consigned the group to the back pages of MerseyBeat away from the success they so richly deserved.

But what fools the record industry were; they missed the second biggest opportunity in MerseyBeat history. Their then revolutionary line-up, leaving out the almost obligatory rhythm guitar, perhaps meant that the short sighted idiots at Decca thought there was something missing from their music. But Cest la Vie, the MerseyBeat boom came to an end without the Big Three taking the country by storm as so many people had predicted they would.

Here are some extracts from their E.P. 'Live at the Cavern' with just a little taste of how they really played…and the paint is still peeling off the ceiling and walls are still shaking.

Don't Start Running Away- Live At The Cavern   

Zip A Dee Do Dah - Live At The Cavern                

Death to the Desk Guys!!!!!!

Johnny Gustafson Watch Out For The Bat 1975

 With Eddie Jobson (Ex Roxy Music) on Violin.

Epilog:

Brian Griffiths has lived in Canada for the past 30 years and teaches music. Here's a sample of Brian playing recently.

Johnny Hutch is a builder in Liverpool and Johnny Gus I believe lives in Whitstable. Adrian Barber now lives in Hawaii, Brian Hudson is a lecturer in Australia and Cass also lives in Germany. Faron who will be the subject of a separate feature, lives in Liverpool and has recently had some serious health problems. Paddy Chambers died in 2000.

In 1973 the band got together again with Gus on bass, Griff on guitar and drummer Nigel Olsson who had played with Elton John. They made an album under the auspices of former Beatles manager and Apple MD Tony Bramwell called 'Resurrection', which featured many of their original Cavern numbers.

And finally, a couple of quotes from Griff which just about sum it all up.

"They (Decca) couldn’t grasp the notion that many of the bands out of Liverpool didn’t want to sound like the British rock ‘n’ rollers of the 50’s. We were playing songs by American R & B singers unknown to most people in England. Being a Trio we played the music more aggressively and this was not accepted in the studio. It wasn’t long after, that bands like "The Who" were allowed to record like this. Some of the songs we liked to play live were Some Other Guy (toned down in the studio), Tricky Dicky, Ain’t That Just Like Me, Rockin Robin, Fortune Teller, Ya Ya, I know, What'd I Say, A Little Bit Of Soap, and Angel Baby."

"Who cared if a band was playing one of your songs? We helped the Beatles with the words to "Some other Guy" which they later played the first time they appeared on Granada TV (I think it was "Scene at 6:30"). I remember that they had helped us to learn "Mr. Moonlight" at one time. There was a band called The Dennisons and they would ask us if we minded them playing "our material" because they liked it so much. The Hollies liked our band and I think they heard us play "Ain’t that just like me" and later recorded it." 

SINGLES:

March 1963: Some Other Guy/ Let True Love Begin

June 1963: By the Way/ Cavern Stomp

Oct 1963: I'm With You/ Peanut Butter

June 1964: If You Ever Change Your Mind/ You've Gotta Keep Her Under Your Hand

Extended Play:

July 1964

The  Big Three Live at the Cavern

• What'd I say?
• Don't Start Running Away
• Zip a Dee Doo Dah
• Reelin'-& Rockin'