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It was 1965 and Beatlemania was in full swing. At 16 years of age, I had just bought a second-hand Eko guitar for the princely sum of £3 - I thought the world was my oyster. All I had to do now was find some fellow musicians, form a band and the Beatles had better look out! The first thing I had to do was learn to play so I
bought Bert Weedon’s book ‘Play in a Day’. I started with the
song Bobby Shafto which, after diligently following Bert’s instructions I was
indeed able to play in a day.
Some friends of mine at the local youth club had already decided to
pursue the same idea so I monitored their progress with interest. Phil had
bought a Premier drum kit and was playing competently, Mike had a Rosetti bass
guitar as well as being lead singer. Keith had a Watkins Rapier and was a
natural lead guitarist while Ashley was struggling to strum a few basic chords
on his Futurama. Although not giving Eric Clapton anything to worry about, I was
making steady progress.
I sat in on their practice sessions where it soon became obvious that
Ashley was not going to make it as a guitar player. When asked to take his
place, I grasped the opportunity eagerly. Soon after installing me as rhythm
guitarist, we were doing covers of
about a dozen of the popular songs of the time.
There was only one problem at this stage. Mike had the best voice but
when he was singing he couldn’t play his bass at the same time. Most of our
songs had very little bass music in them. Geraint, a friend of mine at school,
was an accomplished player on his Hofner Verithin so I suggested that we
audition him. The band members agreed and Geraint became our bass player which
allowed Mike to focus solely on his singing.
Geraint also had a fine voice and it was obviously better for the group
if he could sing as well. Unfortunately, he had the same problem as Mike in not
being able to sing and play bass at the same time, although he could sing while
playing rhythm. A conference was
held where Phil suggested that, because I was not a singer, I should play bass
and Geraint play rhythm. Paul McCartney was my favourite Beatle at the time so I
accepted the proposal with no qualms.
We made real progress after this and soon we were booked to play our
first gig in the neighbouring villages’ youth club. The only problem now was
amplification. Keith had a 10watt Selmer amp with two inputs through which he
played and Mike sang. Geraint and I shared the only other amp that we had. We
needed a third, bigger amplifier to accommodate the bass and to allow Geraint to
sing as well.
After visiting several music shops, we found an amp which looked to our
inexperienced eyes to be suitable. First of all it was cheap, secondly it had
two inputs set in a big cabinet which looked impressive. When I asked the
assistant if I could play the bass through it, he said yes as long as I played
only the higher notes. We handed over the asking price of £18 and left the shop
eagerly anticipating our gig the following week.
All we needed now was a name for the band. Several suggestions were made
like The Crusaders or The Luddites but we just could not agree on a suitable
one. So, when the night of the gig came we played as the band with no name. It
didn’t really matter because we had many friends in the audience who just
called us Phil’s Band. We went through our repertoire competently being paid
the grand sum of £5 out of which the van driver was given £1.
A short while later, a popular local band was playing at our youth club
so we all turned out to watch them play hoping to pick up some tips. The club
was full and during the interval Phil asked the bandleader if our group could
play a few songs using their equipment. He was very dubious but was eventually
persuaded to agree. Although the audience consisted of many people we knew, the
tumultuous applause at the end of our first number came as a complete shock. We
played a couple more to the same rapturous applause but then had to leave the
stage to allow the other group back on. It was the most wonderful feeling to
have received such an ovation and it is something which will stay with me for
the rest of my life.
We played several more gigs over the next few weeks by which time we were
becoming more proficient. At this
stage, we needed a manager to take us on to greater things so Phil approached an
agent who came to watch us play. He liked what he saw agreeing to become our
manager at a fee of 15%.
Even more so now, we needed a name for the band. After another long
discussion we still couldn’t decide so on the spur of the moment I said,
“Let’s call ourselves The Undecided then”. Everyone liked it so that’s
that we became.
I was awaiting the results of my 0-levels at this time. Not unexpectedly
they turned out to be rather poor. Being a sensible young man, after considering
my future I decided, with some remorse, to leave the group and concentrate on my
studies. The group continued to play for a few more weeks but were unable to
find a replacement, eventually
breaking up when Geraint left for another band.
On completion of my studies, I was employed by a large chemical company
recently taking early retirement. I have been married for 30 years to a
wonderful wife who has given me a fine son. We own our home and have a
comfortable lifestyle so I do
not regret my decision to leave The Undecided. I sometimes think of that night,
though, when we played to such
wonderful applause and it sends a shiver up my spine to think what might have
been. I still play guitar, recently teaming up with a friend who plays drums. We are now looking for lead and bass guitarists - and if we find them who knows what could happen.
© john davies 2006
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