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This is the history of the band as I
remember it. I was working in Buile hill park as a gardener aged 17. I
had just got a KORG MS-10 synth on the never never from A1 music down
Cromwell road Pendleton and a SYNDRUM on a stand with 4 oscillators on
it.
I had to justify to my Dad why I had gone £300 in debt. A chance
encounter with some lads, they told me they had just formed a band, I
told them of my Korg ms-10 and drum synth, that was enough for them I
was in. What I didn't tell them was I had never played an instrument in
my life I had no idea what the 30 dials or the patching system was
for, then the bomb shell, they said they had a gig in a few weeks time
and I was the bass synth player and on synth drum
THE BAND
There was Colin Powell who had been in "Zion" a prog-rock band. He
played all instruments and was our kind of leader, he worked at
Hope Hospital. Then there was Dave Mcginley on bass guitar, he also
worked at Hope. Then there was Andy Burke on guitar and the main
singer, he was still at school and Paul Whittle Synth- drums-and
vocals. I was the last to join.
THE FIRST GIG
Colin and Paul had written some good songs. We did covers of O.M.D.-
Soft cell and Kraftwerk,
but our first gig, (at the dinning hall at hope hospital), went down
like a lead balloon. We were supporting a jazz band called "Sidewinder"
they were brilliant musicians. We all looked like Gary Numan (our
hero). I was shaking so much I couldn't hit a right note, 200 people
were watching this shambles, including my dad (who was shaking his head
disappointingly). I wanted the ground to swallow me up.
I think the next gig was in St Luke's hall, Liverpool st. Salford,
where we had band practice most weeks. We were all members of
Saint Luke's Amateur Dramatic Society. It was a good learning ground. We
did
musicals and had a free practice hall where we could pump up the volume.
The gig was a success, we were on cloud 9, We even had a small
following. The Salford Advertiser did a page on us. The next O.M.D.
they said. When my dad saw our picture in the paper I felt vindicated
of the £300 h.p. I was still paying.
Next was THE BATTLE OF THE BANDS competition at the Carlton Cinema,
Cross lane.
That went well. I sang "The Model" by Kraftwerk, we got through to the
next round.
But before we could do the next stage of the competition, we quarrelled
on which song we were going to sing, we ended up not going.
Our next gig was THE GALLERY Manchester.
We went to check the place out a week before the gig, it was our first
club gig, we were having a pint and watching this 3 piece band doing
nursery-rhyme type songs. I was fascinated by their unusual style, they
were called "JAMES"(oh sit-down, oh-sit down, sit down next to me) yes
them. The other band that was on was a GLAM-PUNK band called BELGUIM
BITCH (later BELGUIQE ) they were watching our gig the week after and
approached us to go on a compilation album. We had to fork out hundreds
of pounds to them. They got us in a recording studio THE TWIGHLIGHT
SOUND RECORDING STUDIO. I think it was in Stockport. The song we did on
a master tape was ALPHA BETA ROMEO written by Paul and Colin, it was our
best song and when the master tape was played back by the
producer-engineer we was on cloud 10 then we learnt our fist lesson of
the music industry the distribution company of the compilation album
went bust we were pissed-off to say the least. we dusted our self down
hunted down the master tape and produced a c30 cassette I was an artist
so I designed the covers all by hand and sent a copy to mike Sweeney on
his radio show he gave us a plug for a forthcoming gig (nice one mike)
then tragedy struck Andy Burke our main singer (who was in the Ian
Curtis mould of personality) committed suicide Andy's death at the age
of 17 was devastating to us all. We nearly folded the group that week
but reluctantly reorganized our self and me and Paul took over most of
the singing we were always versatile and all swapped instruments and
singing on a regular basis. We did I think another gig at THE GALLERY
the group on before us was SYNCOPATION DANCE I think there the
SYNCOPATION on this band list they were very good. we got better even
doing a gig in the BRITANIA HOTEL with a east German group it was very
grand but the German party had never heard of synthesizers and the folk
group that was playing before us went of to the bar for a drink while
we bashed out a electronic cover of GIVE PEACE A CHANCE ha ha it was a
strange and wonderful world we lived in then. I remember going to band
practice one night I lived near the weaste hotel my friend peter had a
sister who was going out with Bernard from NEW ORDER I think they had
just got a flat together near Barton airport if memory serves me well.
The band(new order) was having a few pints in the weaste hotel peter my
friend was going in to see his sister so I went in to have a pint
before band practice, I had my Korg ms-10 synth under one hand my
syndrum on its stand in the other and a mic wrapped round my neck, I
walked over to Bernard and hooky and announced I`M IN A BAND they
looked at me in silence for a few seconds you could have cut the air
with a knife then Bernard said dryly id never have guessed
I walked away cursing my stupidity clattering my instruments
whilst grabbing my pint trying to regain my dignity. the band FORGOTTEN
HEROES lasted 3yrs all in all Paul Whittle went on to be in a few
other bands with Colin Powell and Dave McGinley and went on to write
award winning Musicals JESUI TUTANCAMOO(at the Lowry)and is still doing
music at st lukes am-dram where we all started out I left the band to go
travailing I now live in swinton where I still have a midi keyboard to
my computer electric guitars and I am better known today for my
paintings of which in Jan this year 2007 ROLF HARRIS came to my house
to see my paintings whilst filming a program on Lowry. As he was leaving
with his film crew I saw him looking at my guitar's and keyboards, I
thought afterwards when he'd gone would have loved to have jammed
STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN with him.
Steve Fennell
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