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Aug 2010

The Searchers News

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Ask Frank Allen a question by clicking HERE

Hello again everyone,

In just a few weeks we will be heading into a frantically busy time and although I appreciated the more relaxed period caused in the main by the World Cup (I picked Spain in our group sweep and won £30 by the way) it feels much more natural to be going at it hammer and tongs with barely time to breathe, as is the norm in Searcherland. Must be that inbuilt insecurity that most performers feel. Actors always feel that once they`ve finished one engagement no-one will ever employ them again and I think it`s pretty much the same with musicians.

The Sixties Gold Tour goes through from September 21st through to November 26th -see the dates list - after which we go back to our usual one-nighter shows in December and then, with only a short break for Christmas we will be off on our usual annual jaunt to Australia in mid January. Can`t wait.

In the last week or two we`ve been undertaking some quick 'in and out' continental trips and it just reminded us all how much we enjoy foreign travel, despite the horrendous and time-consuming security procedures everyone has to suffer at airports these days. I suppose that is going to be with us forever now so we`d better get used to it.

We played at what you might call a barn dance in Finland just a few kilometres outside Helsinki. Apologies to our Finnish friends for us not knowing exactly where we were but it was certainly a most enjoyable experience. Given the choice of arriving on the day of the show or flying a day earlier we chose the latter and were so glad we did. The hotel we stayed at (an old estate called, I think, the Villa Haikko) was magnificent with a beautiful food and extraordinary manicured gardens leading down to an enormous lake (or was it a river?)

With the weather warm and welcoming we were able to sit out on the terrace in the late evening enjoying a glass of wine without the slightest chill. The actual concert was held in an enormous wooden barn in front of around 1500 people. The organisers had looked after us extremely well and made sure we had everything we would need. Our thanks go to them. A number of Finnish bands had reformed for this special evening and really played well to a crowd that remembered and appreciated them. We were headlining and I don`t think anyone would dispute the fact that it was a big success.

But how is it that a visit to Finland is such a rare occurrence these days? We have played there many times in the distant past and would love to make our trips there more frequent. Where are all the other Finnish promoters hiding? We only have to be asked and all the contact details are on this website. No excuse!

And the same goes for Germany. Admittedly when Rainer Haas, our main promoter in that country, rings he finds most of the time that we are already taken (people do tend to book far in advance these days) but there are still plenty of spare days when we could accommodate the demands. We travelled to Reinbach, near Bonn, just a week or two ago and I have to say it is the most beautiful little town and the weather stayed fine for the town festival where we performed on an outdoor stage along with Suzi Quatro. Suzi by the way is married to Rainer Haas and when they wed I gave the marriage about six months. They have now been together for something like fifteen years and she reminds me every time we meet.

Much as we love our native land we appreciate the privilege of travel more and more and relish whatever comes. Sadly our trip to the Philippines in September has been put on hold for now due to the devastation and death caused by a typhoon there. There is no doubt it will be rescheduled at the earliest opportunity but I was so looking forward to it. We all still have wonderful memories of that first visit way back in 1966 when we performed a series of concerts at the vast Araneta Coliseum. That trip was also the swansong for drummer Chris Curtis whose fragile mental health caused him to quit the band at the end of the tour. You can read the whole story in my book The Searchers And Me.

Those of you who have been to our recent shows will bear witness that Scott Ottaway has settled in wonderfully and is becoming a firm favourite with our regulars. Hardly surprising as he is such a personable guy and a really solid and dependable drummer. We are taking the opportunity of introducing some rarely-played numbers into the show. Have You Ever Loved Somebody, Take It Or Leave It and Farmer John are becoming quite regular. And there will be more as soon as we can fit them in.

I was dining out at London`s fashionable Wolseley restaurant recently with two legends, Marky Ramone (drummer with the original punk band) and Bruce Welch (of the Shadows of course) and Marky was reminiscing about the night he sat in on drums with us. It was at the Cutting Room, a hip and happening rock club on West 24th Street in New York just round the corner from the famous Flat Iron Building. The date was July 15th 2006. The Ramones had covered Needles And Pins on an album and Sixties freak Marky had requested the privilege of playing the song on stage with us in his home town. We agreed and enjoyed the reciprocal privilege of having such a heavyweight musician in our ranks for a few minutes.

Marky was wondering if there was any video footage of that occasion and if there is he would dearly love to see it. And so would I. Surely someone must have bootlegged the moment on their phone if not on camcorder. If so please get in touch via Wendy Burton and let us have a copy please. It would be much appreciated by him and us.

I do want to let you know about some exciting things that are about to happen which will help to boost the profile of our kind of music. Vintage Television starts on September 1st and will be a satellite station built entirely around music from the forties to the mid eighties. My old friend Lesley Ann Jones is one of the main presenters and I have just spent a day in Soho doing some interviews at length, talking about the history of the Searchers and choosing my vintage top ten records. I think it went well and I look forward to seeing the results being screened. And I hope all of you are going to tune in and help support a station which will at last deliver the kind of music we hear and see too little of these days.

Apart from that there`s not a lot to tell you. Don`t forget to get your seats for the Searchers/Gerry & The Pacemakers/P.J Proby/Chip Hawkes tour. See you at a show soon.

Frank Allen.

If you would like to ask Frank a question, which will be answered by e-mail, and might even appear at the end of a future issue of this newsletter, please e-mail it to: wendy.burton@the-searchers.co.uk
Question 1: When Chris Curtis left the band in 1966 one of you had to be chosen to act as the new front man for the band. You've said that you all had a go at the job and you were chosen. How would you rate each audition for the role of front man for The Searchers? And what was not suitable about the efforts of John and Mike, or even John Blunt?
Answer: We didn`t `audition` each other. We tried to take it in turns but it was obvious from the start that it was more complicated than that. None of us were brilliant by any means. Mike had too much hesitation and didn`t really know what to say. John has a stronger Liverpool accent and used to speak very quickly, plus he didn't really feel comfortable taking that kind of role. I`m sure I was pretty bad in retrospect but I found it easier to fill the gaps than the others. It was not a problem. Everyone was happy to take the best route and it was much more straightforward if I handled all the announcements.   John Blunt was never actually considered to be a permanent member of the Searchers. He was brought in after Chris left to allow us to fulfil our engagements while we looked for an ideal replacement but in the end he was with us for three years. He was a nice, fun guy and we have fond memories of him but he would never have been given such a significant role in the group.   Of course in the later years John McNally has come out of his shell and his interjections are one of the most appealing parts of our show now. People love his wicked sense of humour. But John will only do it if he is in the right kind of mood. He would not be comfortable having to deliver light banter constantly no matter what. I think we have achieved a pretty good balance,

Question 2: Do you still get royalties from recordings you made in the 1960s? Do you have to pay royalties for the songs you perform today?
  Answer: Yes, John and I do receive royalties on our records.  John of course gets more than I do, because he was on all the early records and I wasn't. As for live performances, the Performing Rights Society obtains royalties from the promoters or venues for the writers of the songs.

Question 3: What sound equipment do the guys use to get the sound they do on stage? The guitars are well documented on your website, but what about the rest? You know, amplifiers, stomp boxes etc.
  Answer: John McNally uses a Carlsboro Stingray amp and a selection of Boss effects pedals. Spencer James uses a Line 6 amp and a Roland guitar synthesiser module. I use a Peavey TNT150 bass amp with a heavy duty Gauss 15" speaker. Scott Ottaway uses a Pearl Masters drum kit. The PA system has Martin speakers, Carver amps and an Allen & Heath mixing desk.