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My first band was the The Rasjaks. The name was created after a suggestion, from my father Harry Scott, to find an anagram
using the initials of each band member. The band played just 3 gigs! The first was at St Peter's Hall, Smithfield Road, Hightown,
Wrexham in November 1963. This venue is now called "Caia Park Community Rooms" and a youth club still meets there every Friday
just as it did in 1963. Apart from appearing in the Gang Shows with the Scouts, this was my stage debut. The second gig was at
the British Celanese club, Maesydre, Wrexham, on December 31st 1963. It was New Years Eve and we had equipment problems which
embarrassingly left us without vocals for most of the evening. Our "instrumental" repertoire only ran to 4 or 5 tunes so we decided
to play them again and again. As we launched into them for the third time someone in the audience shouted out that he quite liked
them the first time round, found them mildly irritating second time and begged us not to play them again! The final gig was
supporting a band called 'Guitars Incorporated' at St. Margaret's Church Hall, Chester Road, Garden Village/Acton, Wrexham
during January 1964. Unfortunately our Drummer - Dave Kirkham went 'AWOL' the day before the 3rd gig and the writing on the wall.
The Rasjaks were: Drums: Dave Kirkham Bass Guitar: Andy Scott Rhythm Guitar: Murray Robinson Singer: 'Bugsy' Jones Guitars incorporated were having some 'player problems' and both Murray and I knew at least one of the band members from our School, Grove Park Grammar, and we therefore decided to join the band. We played in local pubs, community centres, Fairways coffee bar and the Memorial Hall in Wrexham. We played our most prestigious gig at The Royal Lido, Prestatyn. Guitars Incorporated were: Drums: 'Shep' (Dave Owens?) Bass Guitar: Andy Scott Vocals and Rhythm Guitar: Barry Clutton Alternating Lead Guitar: Jim Humphries Alternating Lead Guitar: Murray Robinson Guitars Incorporated lasted until September 1964 at which point Jim Humphries and myself teamed up with Dave Kirkham (again) and formed The 3-D's (the Liverpool band The Big 3 were our idols at the time). Murray Robinson also left Guitars Incorporated at the same time but was grounded by his parents for a while because he was starting to fall behind with his school work. The 3-D's mainly played a weekly show at the Acton Community centre, although our very first gig was at The Swan, Pen-y-bryn, Wrexham. Other venues we played at were the Memorial Hall, The Royal Lido, Prestatyn, Llangollen Youth Club, Froncysylte Youth Club, The Pier New Brighton (a Competition) The Working mens Club in Leasowe (The Wirral). All the gigs were in 1964. This line-up lasted a couple of months until I left to join The Four Winds. 3 D's were: Drums: Dave Kirkham Vocals & Bass Guitar: Andy Scott Vocals & Guitar: Jim Humphries At this time, according to Murray, I had become known as one of the best bass players in the area plus I could also play guitar. I was often called by other bands to stand in for missing members due to holiday or sickness. I was trying to find my 'niche' in the music business and found myself moving from band to band. This included The Saints, The Four Winds, The Missing links and The Strangers who won a battle of the bands competition at Trentham Gardens, Stoke On Trent. I even played a one off gig with Clive Williams and Ian Davis (later both in the Silverstone Set) with the Vocalist, Glyn of the Strangers. This came about after the Strangers had a bust-up backstage and we were all in the audience and got up to play as a scratch band! Whilst I was playing with various bands, my friend Murray Robinson had now joined The Silverstone Set Set and by the summer of 1966 the bass guitarist position had become available. Murray suggested that I would be a good replacement. I made my very first television appearance not long after joining the group. We appeared on a T.W.W programme called "Popportunity Now" and at the audition for the show we played "The In Crowd" By Dobie Gray. We passed the audition and were selected to perform "live" on the show, which was transmitted on 26th July 1966. We performed "Turn On Your Love Light" originally by Bobby Bland. This lead to us to appearing on a TV show called "Herd On The Scene" with Hermans Hermits, The late Derek ‘Lek’ Leckenby (Hermits Guitarist) became our Record Producer but nothing ever came of the sessions and The Silverstones never released any records. We also passed the audition for Opportunity Knocks (at the audition Ted sang and played drums which the producer liked hence that is how we performed on the show). Opportunity Knocks was the most popular TV talent show of its time, hosted by Hughie Green, we made our first appearance on 12th November 1966. The TV viewers must have liked us because we were winners 5 weeks in a row and made our final and sixth appearance on the Christmas all winners’ show, which was won by Freddie Starr. To keep pace with the times we decided to shorten the name of the band to The Silverstones. "Hey Joe" had just been released and we fortuitously found ourselves supporting Jimi Hendrix, at the New Century Hall in Manchester on Saturday 7th January 1967. Ted and myself were totally blown away by the new sound we had heard and decided we needed to change direction musically. Other members of The Silverstones were not so keen so the band sadly but inevitably split up. Silverstone Set were: Andy Scott - Bass Guitar Murray Robinson - Guitar Ted Yeadon - Vocals/Percussion and Drums Ian Davies - Keyboards Tony Hannaby - Tenor Saxophone Roy Hamlington -Baritone Saxophone Clive Williams later replaced by Richie Winn - Drums We found ourselves with a dilemma. We had a band, Silverstones, who were filling venues, mainly in the north and a popularity growing with every show but Ted and I wanted to expand both musically and regionally. The new band had no name just "new" ideas. Our agent, Danny Betesh of Kennedy Street, was a bit taken aback but agreed to judge us on performance. We were booked to play a private function and thankfully all went well. Danny called us to a meeting where our future was discussed and somehow when we left we were now called The Elastic Band! The name was meant to represent the fact that between us we could play a multitude of instruments and musically it had no boundaries. The first line up of the Elastic band was: Andy Scott - Guitar/Bass Guitar and Vocals Ted Yeadon - Lead Vocals/ Hammond Organ/ Flute/Percussion Sean Jenkins - Drums Tony Hannaby - Saxophone/Bass Guitar and Vocals This line up only lasted for 3-4 months Tony left and was replaced by my brother Mike Scott. Just like Tony he also played Bass and saxophone. Andy Scott - Guitar/Bass Guitar and Vocals Ted Yeadon - Vocals/ Hammond Organ/ Flute/Percussion Sean Jenkins - Drums Mike Scott - Bass Guitar/Saxophone and Vocals Having been on the same bill as The Love Affair numerous times in 1969, we became increasingly aware that they would be watching our set with more than just a passing glance. It soon became clear that they were interested in our singer, Ted, and in December 1969 they offered him the job, after Steve Ellis's departure, and he took it though it must have been a difficult decision. This was a bombshell. We had recorded the album "Expansions on Life" and were awaiting its release. With so much to look forward to, we now had nothing. I still believe that had we stuck together The Elastic Band would have broken through but now we will never know. At the same time Sean Jenkins left to join Mayfields Mule. Mike and I found ourselves with commitments and no band but in true Scott form we set about the task the only way we knew - with true grit! I always believe that something will show up and as usual it did - we met a great guy John and he introduced us to a "McCartney"! Elastic Band were: Andy Scott - Guitar & Vocals Mike Scott - Bass Guitar & Saxophone & Vocals Clive Williams - Drums John - Keyboards The band are now backing musicians for Scaffold. My brother and I moved to London and briefly linked up again with Sean Jenkins in Mayfield's Mule. Whilst in London I went for 2 auditions on the same day. The first was the Alan Bown Set, because Robert Palmer had just left, and the other was The Sweet and I was only 19 by that time and was offered the job to replace Mick Stewart. And the rest is history .... | |||||||||
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