WEBVTT 00:00:07.140 --> 00:00:23.579 And welcome back to the Chatterbox Redux podcast 00:00:23.579 --> 00:00:26.839 with Sue and Nick. Our guest on this edition 00:00:26.839 --> 00:00:58.729 is Rod Davis of The Quarrymen. you And now on 00:00:58.729 --> 00:01:01.689 Chatterbox UK, we're just lucky enough to have 00:01:01.689 --> 00:01:04.349 Rod Davis of The Quarrymen as our guest. Rod, 00:01:04.370 --> 00:01:07.670 welcome. How are you? Hello, Rod. Oh, pretty 00:01:07.670 --> 00:01:10.290 good. Thank you. Nice to be here. Thanks for 00:01:10.290 --> 00:01:13.090 coming on. Thanks for coming on. Right. The Quarrymen. 00:01:13.290 --> 00:01:17.250 Quite a history. Quite a history. And I see that 00:01:17.250 --> 00:01:19.390 you, if this is right, correct me if I'm wrong. 00:01:19.769 --> 00:01:23.269 but uh according to my research you joined in 00:01:23.269 --> 00:01:27.069 they were formed in 56 you joined in 57 is that 00:01:27.069 --> 00:01:32.989 right uh well um not not my it's not my version 00:01:32.989 --> 00:01:36.629 of history let's hear yours how did it start 00:01:36.629 --> 00:01:41.450 well i'm i'm pretty sure i started sometime in 00:01:41.450 --> 00:01:46.329 56 um we we got various bits of information which 00:01:50.810 --> 00:01:55.250 You see Lonnie Donegan recorded Rock Island Line 00:01:55.250 --> 00:02:00.310 and it was put out as a single in November 55. 00:02:01.349 --> 00:02:05.329 It hit the charts, I think it was probably the 00:02:05.329 --> 00:02:08.770 top 20 or something like that, in January 56. 00:02:09.289 --> 00:02:12.050 Now if you're going to be inspired by Lonnie 00:02:12.050 --> 00:02:15.949 Donegan and go out and get a banjo like I did, 00:02:16.030 --> 00:02:18.550 you're not going to wait until 1957, are you? 00:02:18.599 --> 00:02:25.500 I guess, I guess. Well, I was inspired by Rock 00:02:25.500 --> 00:02:27.659 Island Line and so were so many other people. 00:02:28.560 --> 00:02:31.819 So my contention is, and I've still not been 00:02:31.819 --> 00:02:34.979 able to produce any concrete proof of this, that 00:02:34.979 --> 00:02:37.199 we started sometime, that the Quarrymen started 00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:41.900 sometime probably between Easter and summer in 00:02:41.900 --> 00:02:45.680 56 because at Easter 56 there was a Quarry Bank 00:02:45.680 --> 00:02:54.319 school of his, called Mike Hill, was on this 00:02:54.319 --> 00:02:59.039 trip, and he bought in Amsterdam a copy of Long 00:02:59.039 --> 00:03:01.500 Tall Sally, which he brought back and played 00:03:01.500 --> 00:03:05.340 to John. And in the book he wrote, Mike Hill's 00:03:05.340 --> 00:03:08.539 book, he said that not long after that, John 00:03:08.539 --> 00:03:12.939 started the group. And that tallies with my logic. 00:03:13.620 --> 00:03:16.060 And there's another chap called Bill Smith, who 00:03:16.060 --> 00:03:19.400 was the bass player, a THS bass player, right 00:03:19.400 --> 00:03:23.039 at the beginning. and Bill was a bit older than 00:03:23.039 --> 00:03:28.580 us and his dad said to him look if you want to 00:03:28.580 --> 00:03:30.360 stay on it for another year at school you got 00:03:30.360 --> 00:03:32.460 to stop playing skiffle with that Lenin so that 00:03:32.460 --> 00:03:34.620 conversation must have taken place before the 00:03:34.620 --> 00:03:37.699 end of July 56 now I was playing with Bill Smith 00:03:37.699 --> 00:03:41.639 so I'm pretty sure it started in 56 I know Mark 00:03:41.639 --> 00:03:45.599 Lewis thinks I didn't join till 57 but Mark and 00:03:45.599 --> 00:03:49.819 I have disagree on that point. As you're our 00:03:49.819 --> 00:03:52.840 guest we go along with your with your with your 00:03:52.840 --> 00:03:59.879 history. I'd like to find some concrete proof 00:03:59.879 --> 00:04:03.560 of it. My dad used to write down all his milages 00:04:03.560 --> 00:04:07.919 in a black book and calculate the fuel consumption 00:04:07.919 --> 00:04:11.780 and stuff basically because the fuel gauge on 00:04:11.780 --> 00:04:14.400 the car wasn't working and he used to use a piece 00:04:14.400 --> 00:04:20.970 of dowel rod north wales to buy this banjo for 00:04:20.970 --> 00:04:24.149 me we went in his car and i'm sure there must 00:04:24.149 --> 00:04:26.209 be a record of it somewhere if only we could 00:04:26.209 --> 00:04:31.850 find this black book so okay so that's uh we're 00:04:31.850 --> 00:04:34.430 i'm understanding it that you therefore are an 00:04:34.430 --> 00:04:37.990 original member of the quarry men then not quite 00:04:37.990 --> 00:04:41.029 because it was already going before i joined 00:04:41.029 --> 00:04:44.670 there was john lennon pete shotton eric griffiths 00:04:44.670 --> 00:04:47.629 and bill smith who were the the banks there was 00:04:47.629 --> 00:04:51.529 the teacher space one Monday morning and told 00:04:51.529 --> 00:04:54.050 my friend Eric Griffiths, I got a banjo yesterday, 00:04:54.189 --> 00:04:56.629 Eric. Oh, he said, would you like to be in a 00:04:56.629 --> 00:04:59.129 group? I said, who's in this group? So he told 00:04:59.129 --> 00:05:02.750 me they were all kids from my year at school. 00:05:03.819 --> 00:05:06.100 So I said, oh yeah, that sounds great. So I was 00:05:06.100 --> 00:05:08.199 in. So they were already in existence when I 00:05:08.199 --> 00:05:10.939 joined. So I can't claim to be an absolute original, 00:05:10.939 --> 00:05:14.079 original, original member. But you were there 00:05:14.079 --> 00:05:16.740 in the year it started. That's cool. So this 00:05:16.740 --> 00:05:20.980 is the same group that the Skiffle group that 00:05:20.980 --> 00:05:24.120 John Lennon started as the Black Jacks and then 00:05:24.120 --> 00:05:26.300 changed the name. Is that right? Am I wrong? 00:05:26.439 --> 00:05:29.399 I'm the only person that seems to remember it 00:05:29.399 --> 00:05:35.959 being called the Black Jacks. quite some time 00:05:35.959 --> 00:05:38.839 after me by which time it was most definitely 00:05:38.839 --> 00:05:41.779 the Quarrymen so the Black Jack's name in my 00:05:41.779 --> 00:05:44.480 view only only existed for a few weeks you know 00:05:44.480 --> 00:05:48.079 got you okay that's fine that's good now okay 00:05:48.079 --> 00:05:50.899 so working our way through let's have a look 00:05:50.899 --> 00:05:54.420 at the timeline John Lennon you've mentioned 00:05:54.420 --> 00:05:57.620 Eric Griffiths just look at the timelines here 00:05:57.620 --> 00:06:02.879 um now how long were you with the Quarrymen first 00:06:02.879 --> 00:06:11.800 time around? I think from July, from sometime 00:06:11.800 --> 00:06:17.100 mid -56 to the end of July 57. I know the end 00:06:17.100 --> 00:06:20.779 time rather than the beginning. And what did 00:06:20.779 --> 00:06:23.379 you do when you left The Quarrymen? Where did 00:06:23.379 --> 00:06:27.759 you go on to, gig -wise? Well, as you can see, 00:06:27.819 --> 00:06:31.839 as you know, I was a banjo player and I really, 00:06:32.040 --> 00:06:35.519 I very quickly realised that banjos had their 00:06:35.519 --> 00:06:39.980 limitations and so I needed to... guitar. So 00:06:39.980 --> 00:06:42.480 my brother and I sold our electric train set, 00:06:42.759 --> 00:06:46.100 bought a Spanish guitar, stuck an earphone on 00:06:46.100 --> 00:06:48.000 it and tried to play it through an old wireless 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:52.399 set. So that's how I got into guitar playing. 00:06:52.879 --> 00:06:57.339 A list of former members here and I'm not necessarily 00:06:57.339 --> 00:07:00.639 just looking at the names. But I'm quite inspired 00:07:00.639 --> 00:07:03.699 by, I know we're talking about Skiffle here, 00:07:03.959 --> 00:07:07.399 Pete Shotton played the washboard, Bill Smith 00:07:07.399 --> 00:07:14.100 and Nigel Wally is it? T -Chest bass, yeah? That's 00:07:14.100 --> 00:07:19.480 right, yeah. Nobody could afford a proper stand 00:07:19.480 --> 00:07:22.100 -up bass. In fact we could hardly, I mean the 00:07:22.100 --> 00:07:24.319 guitars and stuff, the instruments we played 00:07:24.319 --> 00:07:26.680 by and large were the cheapest available. Sure. 00:07:34.240 --> 00:07:38.060 Only the professionals ever had a proper stand 00:07:38.060 --> 00:07:45.939 -up base. No, Ivan Vaughan as well, because you're 00:07:45.939 --> 00:07:51.100 slightly earlier than the average guest. I suppose 00:07:51.100 --> 00:07:53.139 Marty Wilds came along just after what we're 00:07:53.139 --> 00:07:55.459 talking about, but usually we talk to 60s people, 00:07:55.939 --> 00:07:59.740 so it's ever so fascinating. So T -Chest basses, 00:08:00.060 --> 00:08:02.579 three of those I see, that's good. Now, okay, 00:08:02.879 --> 00:08:04.899 so you've learnt, let's talk about you. Well, 00:08:05.079 --> 00:08:07.339 only one at a time, only one at a time. Okay, 00:08:07.980 --> 00:08:12.660 okay. Occasionally played the teacher space Nigel 00:08:12.660 --> 00:08:15.980 and Ivan occasionally played the teacher space 00:08:15.980 --> 00:08:18.579 I have to admit I personally don't remember either 00:08:18.579 --> 00:08:20.660 of them playing it, but there's no no doubt about 00:08:20.660 --> 00:08:24.100 it that they did Okay, okay. Okay. So you and 00:08:24.100 --> 00:08:26.680 your brother you learned to play guitar and what 00:08:26.680 --> 00:08:29.759 did you guys do? for the rest of the 50s and 00:08:29.759 --> 00:08:36.659 into the 60s Well, I started playing bluesy stuff 00:08:36.659 --> 00:08:48.320 with a man who played the harmonica Okay I found 00:08:48.320 --> 00:08:51.399 myself in a bookshop in Liverpool called Phillips 00:08:51.399 --> 00:08:53.440 and the nephew and on the bookshelf there was 00:08:53.440 --> 00:08:57.059 a book called Burl Ives American Songbook which 00:08:57.059 --> 00:09:00.700 I took off the shelf and flicked through and 00:09:00.700 --> 00:09:02.820 there were quite a few of the songs in there 00:09:02.820 --> 00:09:06.100 which had been skiffled up by the skifflers and 00:09:06.100 --> 00:09:09.059 a lot of other songs of course and he pointed 00:09:09.059 --> 00:09:11.279 out in the text that a lot of these songs had 00:09:11.279 --> 00:09:13.259 come from the British Isles in the first place 00:09:13.259 --> 00:09:16.039 so I bought this book and I started playing Burlife 00:09:16.039 --> 00:09:20.779 stuff and of course I got interested in American 00:09:20.779 --> 00:09:23.960 folk music then when I went to university I joined 00:09:23.960 --> 00:09:27.440 the Folk Song Society this was in Cambridge and 00:09:27.440 --> 00:09:32.379 I quickly realized that somebody played me a 00:09:32.379 --> 00:09:35.600 bluegrass LP I quickly realized that bluegrass 00:09:35.600 --> 00:09:38.659 made Skiffle look like a very pale imitation 00:09:38.659 --> 00:09:41.480 which indeed it was and so I started playing 00:09:41.480 --> 00:09:44.940 a lot of bluegrass and also got into English 00:09:44.940 --> 00:09:48.039 folk music as well. So I became a folky, I didn't 00:09:48.039 --> 00:09:52.220 become a rock and roll one. And basically you 00:09:52.220 --> 00:09:54.940 kept doing that throughout the 60s, gigging and 00:09:54.940 --> 00:10:02.879 so on? I started gigging in 64, at the end of 00:10:02.879 --> 00:10:05.580 64 when I came back to Liverpool. I was three 00:10:05.580 --> 00:10:08.240 years at university and then a year in Germany 00:10:08.240 --> 00:10:10.940 in which I played the banjo and the jazz band 00:10:10.940 --> 00:10:15.730 actually. from I was teaching English and I came 00:10:15.730 --> 00:10:18.389 back to Liverpool with a couple of guys we formed 00:10:18.389 --> 00:10:22.870 the bluegrass group from 64 to 68 and then I 00:10:22.870 --> 00:10:26.309 went I went traveling after that for a bit so 00:10:26.309 --> 00:10:30.509 I was really playing bluegrass okay so I mean 00:10:30.509 --> 00:10:33.129 it made your living you were a professional music 00:10:33.129 --> 00:10:37.450 musician I take it yeah no no no no I was a teacher 00:10:43.649 --> 00:10:45.289 musician would have been very difficult. Though 00:10:45.289 --> 00:10:47.929 in Germany I was teaching English and playing 00:10:47.929 --> 00:10:50.389 on a frondy night in a jazz band and I think 00:10:50.389 --> 00:10:54.570 it was five Deutschmarks was your salary, was 00:10:54.570 --> 00:10:58.710 your pay, and beer was a Deutschmarker bottle 00:10:58.710 --> 00:11:02.009 so my five Deutschmarks went in the evening while 00:11:02.009 --> 00:11:05.730 I was drinking. So I really didn't make a living 00:11:05.730 --> 00:11:07.490 out of it. I hope you'll be able to answer it. 00:11:07.509 --> 00:11:10.509 Sue's got a question please, Rod. How did you 00:11:10.509 --> 00:11:14.129 come up with the name of the quarrymen? Well, 00:11:14.889 --> 00:11:18.669 the school was called Quarry Bank. It was on 00:11:18.669 --> 00:11:22.049 a slight slope, therefore bank, and it was an 00:11:22.049 --> 00:11:24.190 old merchant's house and he had called it Quarry 00:11:24.190 --> 00:11:28.110 Bank. So, we had a school song which went, Quarry 00:11:28.110 --> 00:11:31.850 Men, old before our birth, straining each muscle 00:11:31.850 --> 00:11:34.210 and sinew. And we used to sort of sing this, 00:11:34.350 --> 00:12:12.440 the very last thing on the... sort of sweaty 00:12:12.440 --> 00:12:16.519 sweaty muscular laborers digging in quarries 00:12:16.519 --> 00:12:20.100 you know and there was also a quarry in Walton 00:12:20.100 --> 00:12:22.679 where we lived so that that helped a bit as well 00:12:22.679 --> 00:12:25.379 nice that was why we were called quarry men brilliant 00:12:25.379 --> 00:12:29.960 Rod were you were you still with the group when 00:12:29.960 --> 00:12:34.720 Paul McCartney turned up I was with him I was 00:12:34.720 --> 00:12:37.679 with the group that day yes but I don't remember 00:12:37.679 --> 00:12:48.730 seeing Paul important day, it was the day you 00:12:48.730 --> 00:12:53.429 met John. Eric Griffiths remembers seeing him 00:12:53.429 --> 00:12:56.470 in the audience when we were on stage and we 00:12:56.470 --> 00:13:00.129 were singing a song called Come Go With Me, which 00:13:00.129 --> 00:13:02.129 turned out to be actually a doo -wop number, 00:13:02.230 --> 00:13:06.190 why we were doing doo -wop, don't ask me. But 00:13:06.190 --> 00:13:10.129 we always had difficulty getting the words. You 00:13:10.129 --> 00:13:12.370 either had to buy every record that came out 00:13:12.370 --> 00:13:15.210 or buy the sheet music and none of us really 00:13:24.080 --> 00:13:28.100 and try and scribble the words down, or do the 00:13:28.100 --> 00:13:29.919 same thing when you're listening to the radio, 00:13:30.100 --> 00:13:32.080 you know. Because you could sit there for an 00:13:32.080 --> 00:13:34.159 hour or two until the song you wanted came up. 00:13:34.200 --> 00:13:36.620 So it was a bit hit and miss. In fact, it was 00:13:36.620 --> 00:13:39.039 more hit than miss. And there were bits missing 00:13:39.039 --> 00:13:42.919 out of the text that we got. So in come go with 00:13:42.919 --> 00:13:46.539 me. The second line is, don't leave me baby far 00:13:46.539 --> 00:13:48.860 beyond the sea. But if you listen to it even 00:13:48.860 --> 00:14:03.950 now, was about a penitentiary so we always sang 00:14:03.950 --> 00:14:08.889 that and Paul remembers John singing those words 00:14:08.889 --> 00:14:11.090 and he thought John was actually improvising 00:14:11.090 --> 00:14:13.429 as it turned out he wasn't improvising because 00:14:13.429 --> 00:14:16.129 we always sang it that way but there you go so 00:14:16.129 --> 00:14:18.769 Paul was there during the afternoon when we were 00:14:18.769 --> 00:14:22.389 playing and then I think I went home for my tea 00:14:22.389 --> 00:14:25.769 before we played in the evening we walked over 00:14:25.769 --> 00:14:28.590 the road to the church hall and put our instruments 00:14:28.590 --> 00:14:33.059 in there And that would seem to be when Paul 00:14:33.059 --> 00:14:35.700 arrived with Ivan Vaughan. I wasn't there by 00:14:35.700 --> 00:14:37.899 then. I'd gone home for me tea, as we say in 00:14:37.899 --> 00:14:42.179 Liverpool. So at the greatest moment in rock 00:14:42.179 --> 00:14:45.399 and roll history, I went home for me tea. Oh, 00:14:46.679 --> 00:14:50.419 brilliant. Paul McCartney turned up on his bicycle 00:14:50.419 --> 00:14:56.240 to St Peter's Rose Queen on the 6th of July 1957. 00:14:57.100 --> 00:15:00.220 And we were on stage with John playing a doo 00:15:00.220 --> 00:15:02.879 -wop number. Well, we were versatile, let's face 00:15:02.879 --> 00:15:08.360 it. And the problem was that we had trouble getting 00:15:08.360 --> 00:15:10.980 the words of songs, so we would sometimes pile 00:15:10.980 --> 00:15:13.519 into the record booth, you know, in the record 00:15:13.519 --> 00:15:16.259 shop with a piece of paper and a pencil and try 00:15:16.259 --> 00:15:18.379 and scribble the words down, and you'd end up 00:15:18.379 --> 00:15:21.700 with a song written in Arabic, you know. This 00:15:21.700 --> 00:15:23.639 one was a particularly difficult one to get the 00:15:23.639 --> 00:15:26.080 second line which I think is don't leave me baby 00:15:26.080 --> 00:15:29.100 far beyond the sea. Still difficult when you 00:15:29.100 --> 00:15:31.379 listen to the record today but John said okay 00:15:31.379 --> 00:15:33.460 we'll just fill a line in there he wrote down 00:15:33.460 --> 00:15:35.940 down down to the penitentiary and we always sang 00:15:35.940 --> 00:15:38.879 it that way but when Paul heard it he thought 00:15:38.879 --> 00:15:42.480 John was making up the lyrics as he went along. 00:15:42.679 --> 00:15:45.899 How did you feel though when the Beatles hit 00:15:45.899 --> 00:15:48.039 it big as the Beatles weren't were you cool with 00:15:48.039 --> 00:15:55.230 it? Well I was more interested in old American 00:15:55.230 --> 00:15:57.730 country music and English folk music, so it wasn't 00:15:57.730 --> 00:16:02.049 my kind of music. But with us, everything in 00:16:02.049 --> 00:16:04.970 those days was controlled from London. The whole 00:16:04.970 --> 00:16:08.429 music scene was controlled from London. Tim Panalli 00:16:08.429 --> 00:16:12.269 and a few record companies. It was absolutely 00:16:12.269 --> 00:16:16.230 brilliant that a group from my hometown, Liverpool, 00:16:17.330 --> 00:16:19.570 with one of the guys I knew in the group, had 00:16:19.570 --> 00:16:22.710 actually gone to London and made it so big, I 00:16:22.710 --> 00:16:24.629 was absolutely delighted. I wouldn't have wanted 00:16:24.629 --> 00:16:28.769 to be a people, but I haven't got enough hair 00:16:28.769 --> 00:16:33.970 for a start, but I was absolutely delighted with 00:16:33.970 --> 00:16:36.559 it, absolutely. that's really cool that's cool 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:38.899 okay rod let's pick up the pieces before we get 00:16:38.899 --> 00:16:42.000 to the modern day you took us to the late 60s 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:44.659 and when you were a teacher in germany and you 00:16:44.659 --> 00:16:48.440 were uh following uh your your sort of the bluegrass 00:16:48.440 --> 00:16:51.120 type stuff that you uh that you really like so 00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:55.259 take us into the 70s as as you progress please 00:16:55.259 --> 00:17:03.779 rod well um over the 68 69 70 or so and i was 00:17:03.779 --> 00:17:07.859 working for an company a holiday company and 00:17:07.859 --> 00:17:12.519 I was driving to Moscow and Turkey and places 00:17:12.519 --> 00:17:15.819 like that and across the Sahara Desert I did 00:17:15.819 --> 00:17:18.519 play some what's called old -timey music which 00:17:18.519 --> 00:17:21.880 is so like pre bluegrass with with some friends 00:17:21.880 --> 00:17:27.559 and then eventually I started playing more of 00:17:27.559 --> 00:17:29.519 this by this time I've been playing the fiddle 00:17:29.519 --> 00:17:48.410 and the mandolin for some years at a pub called 00:17:48.410 --> 00:17:52.750 The Engineer near Regent's Park and that was 00:17:52.750 --> 00:17:55.930 great. I learnt a whole lot there, met some great 00:17:55.930 --> 00:17:59.009 friends, some wonderful musicians. And what about 00:17:59.009 --> 00:18:02.369 sort of mid to late 70s? Were you still teaching 00:18:02.369 --> 00:18:07.210 all the time, all the way through this? No, in 00:18:07.210 --> 00:18:10.650 68 when I gave up teaching and started working 00:18:10.650 --> 00:18:13.289 in the travel business, I then stayed in the 00:18:13.289 --> 00:18:15.369 travel business for about the next 18 years. 00:18:20.400 --> 00:18:22.740 company that sent people on holiday to Paris, 00:18:23.299 --> 00:18:27.420 another one that sent away to Egypt and then 00:18:27.420 --> 00:18:31.519 I got into computer reservation systems because 00:18:31.519 --> 00:18:35.140 by that time holiday companies had gone from 00:18:35.140 --> 00:18:38.319 manual booking systems on to computerized systems 00:18:38.319 --> 00:18:43.220 and I got a bit involved in that. But then I 00:18:43.220 --> 00:18:47.940 gave that up and eventually went back to teaching 00:18:47.940 --> 00:18:54.000 tourism and And marketing I've done a marketing 00:18:54.000 --> 00:18:56.700 post -cred marketing qualification by that time 00:18:56.700 --> 00:19:00.359 But I also started playing with some old friends 00:19:00.359 --> 00:19:04.539 from Liverpool and my sister and another friend 00:19:04.539 --> 00:19:07.480 living in the London area we were playing in 00:19:07.480 --> 00:19:11.460 a Tex -Mex group, okay, and Okay, so I think 00:19:11.460 --> 00:19:14.579 we're taking ourselves into the late 80s are 00:19:14.579 --> 00:19:17.980 we into the 90s perhaps 1990 am I right on that 00:19:17.980 --> 00:19:24.410 sort of era? Okay, and some time in the some 00:19:24.410 --> 00:19:29.650 time in the 80s mid 80s I was invited to the 00:19:29.650 --> 00:19:34.089 Beatle convention in Liverpool and The first 00:19:34.089 --> 00:19:36.329 time really anybody had bothered to find out 00:19:36.329 --> 00:19:38.769 what had happened Before the Beatles, you know, 00:19:38.769 --> 00:19:42.309 they obviously they didn't spring into life overnight 00:19:42.309 --> 00:19:52.410 as people are well aware these days, but So, 00:19:52.890 --> 00:19:57.210 I was quite amused by that and then somebody 00:19:57.210 --> 00:20:01.450 asked us to try and put a CD together. In fact, 00:20:02.410 --> 00:20:06.210 it was a chap called John Duff Lowe who had played 00:20:06.210 --> 00:20:09.470 the piano for the Quarrymen after I'd left. He 00:20:09.470 --> 00:20:12.430 played on In Spite of All the Danger and that'll 00:20:12.430 --> 00:20:27.349 be the day the famous record myself, John himself, 00:20:28.029 --> 00:20:32.650 and John Duffelow and Len Garry and we recorded 00:20:32.650 --> 00:20:35.130 the CD with some musicians from Bristol that 00:20:35.130 --> 00:20:37.650 John had been playing with in the band but the 00:20:37.650 --> 00:20:41.789 CD never appeared and John Lowe made two more 00:20:41.789 --> 00:20:45.710 attempts and as a result of that John and I were 00:20:45.710 --> 00:20:48.549 invited to the Beatle Convention in the States, 00:20:48.970 --> 00:21:13.339 one in Los Angeles oh lovely nice nice and that's 00:21:13.339 --> 00:21:17.200 how the ball started rolling again uh -huh okay 00:21:17.200 --> 00:21:19.920 so there you are at the caverns 40th birthday 00:21:19.920 --> 00:21:26.140 and um i i looks like we've got your good self 00:21:26.140 --> 00:21:31.779 uh len gary uh i just wonder if better you read 00:21:31.779 --> 00:21:34.220 them off it looks like you've got quite a a number 00:21:34.220 --> 00:21:36.799 of the the ones from the 50s turning up anyway 00:21:46.360 --> 00:21:49.740 We had to drag Colin Hanton because he wasn't 00:21:49.740 --> 00:21:51.920 actually, he took an awful lot of persuading 00:21:51.920 --> 00:21:54.960 to get Colin to come and there's a famous photograph 00:21:54.960 --> 00:21:58.940 there with us with Alan Williams and with Gary 00:21:58.940 --> 00:22:02.200 Gibson who was a John Lennon look -alike. Anyway, 00:22:04.940 --> 00:22:19.299 we had a great... So they said, ah, you can't 00:22:19.299 --> 00:22:22.720 go now. There's a TV crew coming to interview 00:22:22.720 --> 00:22:26.140 you guys. And they want you on stage. We said, 00:22:26.319 --> 00:22:29.119 come on, you're joking. And they said, ah, don't 00:22:29.119 --> 00:22:31.420 worry. The audience have all been drinking all 00:22:31.420 --> 00:22:33.240 day. They won't notice if you make a mess of 00:22:33.240 --> 00:22:36.720 it. So anyway, we staggered up on stage and got 00:22:36.720 --> 00:22:39.700 through a couple of numbers. And as a result 00:22:39.700 --> 00:22:42.539 of that, there were some people from the Beatles 00:22:42.539 --> 00:22:45.480 fan club in Liverpool in the audience, notably 00:22:45.480 --> 00:23:09.339 a lady called. and we appeared at St. Peter's 00:23:09.339 --> 00:23:12.680 in July of 97 and there were an awful lot of 00:23:12.680 --> 00:23:14.660 people there some of them even from Liverpool 00:23:14.660 --> 00:23:17.759 surprisingly and then someone said to us have 00:23:17.759 --> 00:23:20.880 you got a CD so we said no so we thought we'd 00:23:20.880 --> 00:23:37.579 better go and make a CD Nottingham and then the 00:23:37.579 --> 00:23:41.359 USA, Cuba and the ball started rolling and the 00:23:41.359 --> 00:23:44.680 world was all lobster after that. Brilliant, 00:23:45.019 --> 00:23:48.640 brilliant, brilliant. I think we've covered the 00:23:48.640 --> 00:23:50.740 Quarrymen getting back together, and you sent 00:23:50.740 --> 00:23:56.099 me some music from that time. I've also, you 00:23:56.099 --> 00:23:59.000 sent me something by the Quarrymen. Penny Lane, 00:23:59.200 --> 00:24:03.559 is that literally, is that a CD, greatest hits, 00:24:03.640 --> 00:24:06.480 or is there some original stuff on there? Well, 00:24:07.019 --> 00:24:10.200 we don't do original stuff, basically. There 00:24:10.200 --> 00:24:12.400 was one original style there that wasn't written 00:24:12.400 --> 00:24:17.630 by us. Well, we do most of our appearances at 00:24:17.630 --> 00:24:21.329 Beatle -related events and people want to hear 00:24:21.329 --> 00:24:24.289 the kind of music which inspired John, Paul, 00:24:24.450 --> 00:24:26.170 George and Ringo, because of course they were 00:24:26.170 --> 00:24:29.970 all in their skiffle groups. They want to hear 00:24:29.970 --> 00:24:32.170 that kind of music because of course there's 00:24:32.170 --> 00:24:36.210 inevitably a number of extremely talented, totally 00:24:36.210 --> 00:24:38.849 competent, fantastic Beatles look -alike, sound 00:24:38.849 --> 00:24:41.390 -alike bands and there's no point in our competing 00:24:41.390 --> 00:24:51.630 with them. So we do our When we're speaking to 00:24:51.630 --> 00:24:54.309 English audiences, obviously they have a better 00:24:54.309 --> 00:25:23.960 idea of our sense of humour. three times over 00:25:23.960 --> 00:25:26.039 you can tell them well look you never paid to 00:25:26.039 --> 00:25:31.140 get in so that's what the cd is and the lane 00:25:31.140 --> 00:25:35.339 cd is it's an attempt to capture the the feel 00:25:35.339 --> 00:25:38.839 of a live a live quarry men gig to an english 00:25:38.839 --> 00:25:41.720 audience that's what the idea of that was it 00:25:41.720 --> 00:25:46.930 was recorded in penny lane fantastic Absolutely 00:25:46.930 --> 00:25:52.230 brilliant. Okay Rod I'm looking at the Lineup, 00:25:52.230 --> 00:25:54.730 I'm getting my stuff from Wikipedia. So if it's 00:25:54.730 --> 00:25:57.809 wrong, please please correct me now the current 00:25:57.809 --> 00:26:01.349 lineup According to this it looks like there's 00:26:01.349 --> 00:26:04.930 five of you and four of you Actually go back 00:26:04.930 --> 00:26:07.809 to the 1950s to the very early days the quarrymen 00:26:07.809 --> 00:26:12.690 you you obviously included So we got Colin Hanton 00:26:12.690 --> 00:26:19.049 yourself then Gary and John Dufflow all date 00:26:19.049 --> 00:26:21.250 back to the 50s and they're still in the lineup 00:26:21.250 --> 00:26:25.150 today with Chas Newby is that right? Well actually 00:26:25.150 --> 00:26:29.690 John Dufflow has retired from performance now 00:26:29.690 --> 00:26:33.049 sadly because he's a keyboard player and he's 00:26:33.049 --> 00:26:36.250 been having problems with his fingers so John 00:26:36.250 --> 00:26:39.569 has decided to hang up his keyboard I'm afraid 00:26:39.569 --> 00:27:02.039 which is a great loss but there we go and of 00:27:02.039 --> 00:27:04.339 course it would look great on their CV. You know, 00:27:04.339 --> 00:27:09.700 I played bass for the Quarry then. So we had 00:27:09.700 --> 00:27:12.599 various people, even in Britain, which we borrowed 00:27:12.599 --> 00:27:15.299 a friend from Scotland, a friend in Merseyside, 00:27:15.319 --> 00:27:20.059 another guy down south. But someone told us that 00:27:20.059 --> 00:27:23.140 Chas Newby was a really nice guy, a lovely bass 00:27:23.140 --> 00:27:26.240 player, and of course he played, Chas played 00:27:26.240 --> 00:27:28.700 with the Beatles, I think three or four occasions 00:27:28.700 --> 00:27:42.400 in 1960. and we originally thought of him as 00:27:42.400 --> 00:27:44.359 a guitar player because he also plays guitar 00:27:44.359 --> 00:27:48.359 but anyway he's such a good bass player and a 00:27:48.359 --> 00:27:53.380 lovely guy so it's Glenn, Colin, myself and Chaz 00:27:53.380 --> 00:27:57.420 Newby now because we lost Eric Griffiths in 2005 00:27:57.420 --> 00:28:02.099 and Pete Shorten in 2017, Duff Lowe's got problems 00:28:02.099 --> 00:28:05.480 with his fingers poor guy so that's what you've 00:28:05.480 --> 00:28:09.819 got left it's the rest Well, three is still pretty 00:28:09.819 --> 00:28:13.339 good out of four. Something to be proud of, you 00:28:13.339 --> 00:28:16.279 know, to be associated with a band going back 00:28:16.279 --> 00:28:19.880 to 1956 as it was. So yeah, there's something 00:28:19.880 --> 00:28:22.019 to be proud of and to still have three members 00:28:22.019 --> 00:28:24.460 from then on, I think, is incredible. Really 00:28:24.460 --> 00:28:30.859 is. Rod's right. Lockdown, I mean... it's obviously 00:28:30.859 --> 00:28:33.740 stopped uh no one's been touring or being active 00:28:33.740 --> 00:28:36.859 or anything else i mean we hope we pray that 00:28:36.859 --> 00:28:40.279 it is all over and uh you guys can get out and 00:28:40.279 --> 00:28:42.539 do some gigs is there anything is there a tour 00:28:42.539 --> 00:28:46.880 lined up or any gigs booked in the jet well the 00:28:46.880 --> 00:28:49.299 problem is there's still big question marks over 00:28:49.299 --> 00:29:10.450 things i mean We went and we had a great time 00:29:10.450 --> 00:29:16.950 in Mexico. And then in March, we recorded the 00:29:16.950 --> 00:29:22.849 CD. In October, again, Colin and Len were able 00:29:22.849 --> 00:29:25.329 to come, but Chas and I went and did a gig in 00:29:25.329 --> 00:29:28.269 Germany. But after that, everything just closed 00:29:28.269 --> 00:29:50.019 down. Strawberry Fields also wants us to play 00:29:50.019 --> 00:29:54.599 there. We should have played in Spain. They'd 00:29:54.599 --> 00:29:56.880 like us to go back to Spain. We should have played 00:29:56.880 --> 00:30:00.740 on a Mediterranean cruise. That is still up in 00:30:00.740 --> 00:30:03.240 the air, so there are quite a few things that 00:30:03.240 --> 00:30:05.480 are still very much up in the air at the moment. 00:30:06.069 --> 00:30:10.250 but it does sound like the second it is okay 00:30:10.250 --> 00:30:12.789 there is finally a permanent green light we hope 00:30:12.789 --> 00:30:15.769 it sounds like that the quarry men are eager 00:30:15.769 --> 00:30:19.309 to be uh uh you know doing doing that cruise 00:30:19.309 --> 00:30:22.069 going to strawberry fields going to the casbah 00:30:22.069 --> 00:30:24.190 it sounds like you know he's literally just waiting 00:30:24.190 --> 00:30:27.690 for the green light you you guys uh uh well ready 00:30:27.690 --> 00:30:31.349 rearing to go aren't you really well we're all 00:30:31.349 --> 00:30:33.670 on the wrong side of 80 but we're almost on the 00:30:33.670 --> 00:30:37.839 wrong side of 80 Well, I think Len and I, Len's 00:30:37.839 --> 00:30:43.539 18 in January and I'm 18 in November, so this 00:30:43.539 --> 00:30:45.319 green light had better hurry up, that's all I 00:30:45.319 --> 00:30:51.640 can say. Oh dear. Well, I hope that you're in 00:30:51.640 --> 00:30:54.460 good enough health to continue for some years 00:30:54.460 --> 00:30:58.079 yet, Rod. Now, I want to ask you a question. 00:30:58.740 --> 00:31:03.720 Lonnie Donegan. Now... Did you at any point ever 00:31:03.720 --> 00:31:06.079 meet him I have a word in his shell like that 00:31:06.079 --> 00:31:09.839 about him inspiring you You're here because of 00:31:09.839 --> 00:31:12.920 him. Did you ever do that? I've actually met 00:31:12.920 --> 00:31:21.500 him twice in 1957 John Lennon sold me his copy 00:31:21.500 --> 00:31:39.750 of Rock Island line for half a crown but I always 00:31:39.750 --> 00:31:42.430 wanted Lonnie to sign it and a friend of mine 00:31:42.430 --> 00:31:46.250 managed to arrange that. In fact it's also been 00:31:46.250 --> 00:31:49.289 signed by Beryl Brydon and by Chris Barber, the 00:31:49.289 --> 00:31:51.609 other people who were on it. So I did get to 00:31:51.609 --> 00:31:54.230 meet Lonnie briefly then and I discovered from 00:31:54.230 --> 00:32:12.299 him... I had some big celebration for something 00:32:12.299 --> 00:32:14.759 or other. I can't remember what it was now. So 00:32:14.759 --> 00:32:17.980 I met him twice, which is fantastic because he 00:32:17.980 --> 00:32:24.700 was a seminal character. Without him, the music 00:32:24.700 --> 00:32:26.920 scene in Britain would have been totally different. 00:32:27.359 --> 00:32:33.099 Just about everybody who came to prominence in 00:32:33.099 --> 00:32:36.680 the late 50s was inspired by London. There was 00:32:36.680 --> 00:32:43.299 a concert at the Albert Hall. was there you know 00:32:43.299 --> 00:32:46.279 it's perfectly true you cannot overestimate the 00:32:46.279 --> 00:32:48.319 importance of Lonnie Donaghan getting people 00:32:48.319 --> 00:32:51.700 playing guitars that's the point you see and 00:32:51.700 --> 00:32:54.680 when Rock and Roll came along the same three 00:32:54.680 --> 00:32:57.279 chords that we used for Skiffle worked for Rock 00:32:57.279 --> 00:33:00.059 and Roll so we were away you know brilliant I'm 00:33:00.059 --> 00:33:02.599 just so glad that you had the opportunity to 00:33:02.599 --> 00:33:06.339 meet and chat with him and let him know how important 00:33:06.339 --> 00:33:14.309 he was Yeah, no illusions by then. I mean, you 00:33:14.309 --> 00:33:17.250 know, what with Van Morrison doing the skiffle 00:33:17.250 --> 00:33:22.410 sessions and so on, there was no equivocation 00:33:22.410 --> 00:33:25.069 as to how important Lonnie's contribution was 00:33:25.069 --> 00:33:27.230 to the music. No question. That's brilliant. 00:33:27.430 --> 00:33:29.089 Sue, do you have any questions for us? I've got 00:33:29.089 --> 00:33:31.970 one question. You've played some fantastic musical 00:33:31.970 --> 00:33:34.130 instruments. Is there a musical instrument you 00:33:34.130 --> 00:33:49.990 would have loved to try to play? but we could 00:33:49.990 --> 00:33:53.930 never afford a clarinet. So maybe a clarinet 00:33:53.930 --> 00:33:56.410 might have been fun. And then when my daughter 00:33:56.410 --> 00:33:59.130 got, who was 21, I said to her, well, what do 00:33:59.130 --> 00:34:01.950 you want? Expecting she'd say, jewelry. So she 00:34:01.950 --> 00:34:04.910 said, no, a saxophone. So I said, oh, well, as 00:34:04.910 --> 00:34:07.109 long as I can have a go at it for a little bit 00:34:07.109 --> 00:34:09.170 before you get it. Anyway, at the end of the 00:34:09.170 --> 00:34:11.630 week, I could play Chattanooga choo -choo. So 00:34:11.630 --> 00:34:16.800 maybe I should have had a car. Nice nice boys. 00:34:17.280 --> 00:34:22.360 Okay rods being fantastic talking to you Yeah, 00:34:22.579 --> 00:34:24.960 absolutely brilliant and you know the history 00:34:24.960 --> 00:34:27.619 all the way through but it's been fantastic and 00:34:27.619 --> 00:34:30.760 What a history the quarry men had which I knew 00:34:30.760 --> 00:34:32.719 I knew it went further than than John and Paul 00:34:32.719 --> 00:34:35.659 So thank you for sharing that with us and thank 00:34:35.659 --> 00:34:38.599 you for letting us know what? Well, you're waiting 00:34:38.599 --> 00:34:43.309 for that green light as we said Rod tell us Tell 00:34:43.309 --> 00:34:47.130 the listeners about how they can find your website 00:34:47.130 --> 00:34:49.650 and any other social media, please. Well, if 00:34:49.650 --> 00:34:52.190 you Google, we've got quite an extensive website, 00:34:52.389 --> 00:34:55.150 a couple of hundred pages actually. It's so big 00:34:55.150 --> 00:34:59.250 I can't move it anywhere else. If you Google 00:34:59.250 --> 00:35:02.630 original Quarrymen, our website will come up. 00:35:02.849 --> 00:35:07.269 There's loads of photographs, sound clips, all 00:35:07.269 --> 00:35:10.369 kinds of stuff on there. Should keep you amused 00:35:10.369 --> 00:35:36.230 for a few days. and live performance on it. Yeah 00:35:36.230 --> 00:35:39.389 we do our best. Our drummer Colin Hantons recently, 00:35:39.650 --> 00:35:42.469 well a year or so ago wrote his autobiography 00:35:42.469 --> 00:35:46.150 so you can buy that on the website. So you know 00:35:46.150 --> 00:35:51.050 we have a little bit of retail therapy for people 00:35:51.050 --> 00:35:54.050 there if they're interested. Brilliant, absolutely 00:35:54.050 --> 00:35:58.219 great Rod. Rod, if you keep in touch and just 00:35:58.219 --> 00:36:01.380 let us know when you are doing some sort of a 00:36:01.380 --> 00:36:03.559 gig or you are actually starting again we can 00:36:03.559 --> 00:36:06.099 get you back on for what we call a 10 minute 00:36:06.099 --> 00:36:08.500 update and then we can play one of your songs 00:36:08.500 --> 00:36:12.699 and you can tell us about how you're getting 00:36:12.699 --> 00:36:14.900 moving with this green light. So let's hope it's 00:36:14.900 --> 00:36:21.670 not too long. And Rod, it's been absolutely brilliant 00:36:21.670 --> 00:36:23.530 and thank you for coming on Chatterbooks UK. 00:36:23.789 --> 00:36:25.610 Thank you very much. Take care, bye -bye. Cheers, 00:36:25.710 --> 00:36:29.650 Rod. Okay, we'd like to thank everybody for coming 00:36:29.650 --> 00:36:31.809 here. Hope you've had a very pleasant afternoon. 00:36:32.329 --> 00:36:34.849 We'd like to thank Julie and all her staff from 00:36:34.849 --> 00:36:38.550 Penny Lane for welcoming us here. Thank you for 00:36:38.550 --> 00:36:47.269 coming. Nothing like a trip down Amnesia Lane 00:36:47.269 --> 00:36:50.909 with The Q uarryman, is there? Ches Newby died in 00:36:50.909 --> 00:36:56.449 2023 and John Duff Lowe passed away in 2024 John 00:36:56.449 --> 00:36:59.349 Duff Lowe was replaced in the Quarrymen by Henry 00:36:59.349 --> 00:37:02.329 Duff Lowe, who is his son The current members 00:37:02.329 --> 00:37:05.630 of the Quarrymen in 2026 are Colin Hanton, Rod 00:37:05.630 --> 00:37:09.090 Davis, both who originate from the 1956 line 00:37:09.090 --> 00:37:12.650 -up from 70 years ago David Bedford and Henry 00:37:12.650 --> 00:37:37.630 Duff Lowe This edition of the Chatterbox Redux 00:37:37.630 --> 00:37:41.269 podcast was presented by Nick and Sue. We thank 00:37:41.269 --> 00:37:45.030 our special guest who was Rod Davis of The Quarrymen. 00:37:45.230 --> 00:37:50.110 Inquiries please to nickelbum at myyahoo .com 00:37:50.110 --> 00:37:53.570 Alternatively, you could write to us or send 00:37:53.570 --> 00:37:56.969 your CDs, vinyls, press releases, merch, whatever 00:37:56.969 --> 00:38:01.389 you like to P .O. Box 26, The Old Observer Building, 00:38:01.670 --> 00:38:05.280 Telford Road, St. Leonard's On Sea, East Sussex, 00:38:05.460 --> 00:38:10.179 England, TN38, 9LZ. We thank you very much for 00:38:10.179 --> 00:38:12.460 your company and look forward to welcoming you 00:38:12.460 --> 00:38:15.559 again next time on the Chatterbox Redux podcast 00:38:15.559 --> 00:38:18.280 when our special guest will be Billy J Kramer. 00:38:18.599 --> 00:38:19.440 Catch you then, bye bye.