Some of the local bands with a strong fan base were The Blues Creatures with Pete and Eddy Sayer in the line-up. Eddy drummed in several bands before achieving success in Scandinavia with a Brighton based band called Shelley; he also made an appearance on Disc Quiz, a top ITV show of the day. Pete and Eddy also played together in The Dimensions. The Plain and Fancy (featuring Alan Moscrop on keyboards), The Alex Lane Band (Alex, like many of the leading local musicians, played in several bands); Sound Around with the lovely Carole Albon on vocals, The Mike Stuart Span and the legendary Gary Farr and the T-Bones.
The keyboard virtuoso Keith Emerson played in the T-Bones 1965 -1966, the final year of the bands life. He previously played in another Brighton band called John Brown’s Bodies. Keith soon returned to Brighton with The Nice first supporting Jimi Hendrix and later as a headline act. With The Nice Keith developed his wild playing style, plunging knives into the keyboard to hold down keys, swinging his Hammond organ around on castors, tilting it at dangerous angles as well as leaping on it and over it. If you can imagine a combination of Pete Townsend and Keith Moon playing a Hammond organ then you can understand the excitement Keith generated on stage. If the Who line up had included a keyboard player then Keith would have fit the bill perfectly.
The Beat Merchants were officially from Horsham but they became a leading Brighton band. Sometimes billed as Peter and the Hustlers they supported the Rolling Stones at a gig in Horsham. The Stones had just released their first single Come On and their R&B set had a huge influence on the Merchants. They enjoyed considerable success touring the UK and Europe, a record deal and a number 1 in the US (The B-side of Freddie and the Dreamers song You Were Made for Me was released there with the Beat Merchants track So Fine on the reverse.) Sadly their success was not long lived and soon after playing in their home town in mid-1966 the band disbanded after playing a gig in Worthing.
The Klik was in the basement of the Brighton Boys club in Edward Street. This was a small, atmospheric venue used by predominantly local teenagers and showcasing Brighton bands interspersed with local dj’s playing a wide selection of music from in and outside the ‘Hit parade’. There were occasional visiting bands from further afield such as The Longboatmen from Sweden. I remember one time there was a charity 24 hour roller skating event held on the rooftop. Members of the Brighton Boys club would be enjoying the gig in the Klik, and then they would disappear for an hour so to put in their time in the sponsored event. As part of the Brighton Boys club it was much more than a youth club style venue. It was well managed by the boy’s club team and became a much sought-after gig for local bands.
The Brighton College of Technology, on the A27 at Moulsecoomb, played host to some excellent gigs in the 1960’s. The Move, just prior to releasing their first single Night of Fear, played there supported by Sound Around. We had not heard of The Move but Carole mentioned to a friend of mine that they were a great band. How right she was. Sound Around played a red hot set and then The Move swaggered on stage. Dressed in sharp mod clothes with back-combed mod haircuts they looked the business. Their set included covers of American West Coast, Motown and Rock classics along with Roy Wood’s Night of Fear. With an act that included flash bombs, smoke and vocalist Carl Wayne hacking effigies of political figures with an axe and smashing up old TV sets the audience loved them.
WORDS BY ALLAN FOWLER