george and colins rock n roll disco.. early 1970s

george as frontman for the checkers combo. 1970s

the band started about five years ago..george had played bass and sang in a few bands in the 70,s..notably the oakville tune wranglers ,cutting a few records which they wrote themselves ( apparently they have been turning up on e-bay and some rare record sites,selling for a good price.) the words to one of his songs," heading home" can be found on the lyrics page on the black cat rockabilly site... but eventually he settled down to family life and the bass was put in store....many years later his son,wayne showed an interest in learning guitar and george dusted off his double bass and started to play along with him..

george with the oakville tune wranglers..( on the left is pete mandville,still going strong  with the detours)

colin had always had a guitar since he was a teen-ager..learning to strum chords but not taking it very serious...for a while in the 70s he was singer for a band..the bands name ?...midnight shift  !!!..then playing rhythmn for a country band that never got off the ground and was short lived..that was it till eventually,in his 40,s, he decided to learn to play classical guitar and became quite proficient..being able to play some quite nice pieces,joining the local classical guitar society.

colin as frontman for midnight shift ..1970s

long hair and love-bites !!

then,one summer evening,colin was asked to come along to their( george and waynes)  practise session, to add a bit of lead..they were playing beatles and other stuff from the 60s..the session was a disaster in that colin could not play electric lead guitar..so he listened to a lot early sun stuff,especially scotty moores style, and learnt to play elvis,s mystery train using a thumb pick..wayne was by this time able to string some chords together and we made a reasonable sound..we played a couple of BBQs..we had about 5 songs including lionel ritchies "hello" !!

our first gig..we did,nt have a name and did five songs !!

next,jody,georges daughter, was asked to play drums..she had never played before but said she,d learn,which she did very quickly, boy could she bash those drums ! ..midnight shift was born !!

midnight shift as a four piece.

the band then, was originally a four piece rock and roll band comprising george/vocals and double bass..colin/lead guitar..wayne/guitar and vocals..jody/drums and vocals.(jody has a teriffic voice..if you go to the music page there is a recording  of her singing "my boy elvis" you'll hear how good she is.)  originally, it was,nt our intention to gig.. it was just for fun and we liked the music and putting songs together..but after playing a couple of BBQs and a couple of private partys..it just seemed like the natural progerssion of things..

playing at bexhill carnival with jo on drums.

on the float at bexhill carnival

sadly,the band split after wayne wanted to take care of family stuff,and jody wanted to get  married to an american....

but although the band had split up,george and colin continued to practise together and eventually started looking for a new guitarist and drummer..jody was still in england and would come along and play occasionally during our practise sessions..it was then that we realised that we didn't really need another guitar..I,colin, was getting better at playing lead and although there were a lot of songs that we played that relied on a rhythm guitar,if we did pure rockabilly we would,nt need one.

we tried a couple of drummers but it was,nt working for us..we knew what we wanted and it just wasn't happening.

earlier we had been introduced to brandon at a gig whilst a four piece and he had played the drums on one of our songs ..we thought he was a bit loud and over enthusiastic..but we put it down to his youth.. later,when we were looking to replace jody we invited brandon to join us..we had a rocky start, but for us,he was the ideal man for the job..a rockabilly fan and had played in bands on double bass and guitar...I,m not sure what happened but he quit after a little while and we were back to square one...but eventually I think we all realised that we could be good together and started to practise together again..I,m glad we made that decision because by working together we found our way as regards sound and what we wanted drumming wise..

we had a good run with brandon but we knew that he would have bigger fish to fry and that one day he would want to move on..this happened in july 07..he had become increasingly involved with another fine band called the sundowners and was wanting to do more than just play drums 3 or 4 times a month and so we parted company.

billy..the new boy !

we had seen billy before, playing with the river boys and ice cold, and were delighted when,in a difficult spot,he was able to stand in for brandon one night in june..we were lucky to be able to catch him "between bands" as it were and told him that we may be looking for a new drummer..to our joy,he agreed to give it a go....we have had a couple of practise sessions now and it is working just fine..one thing that comes across immediately is his professionalism and skill as a drummer...our first session together was going ok but not really rattling our bones so to speak..billy was trying different styles and rhythmns,then he did something to his drums and our hair stood up on end..he had found what we were looking for..not being drummers,we could,nt tell him what we wanted,but he found it and boy, did we know it...

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