RE-UP (Procol Harum)

MP3 320

JOHN DENTON, a rock'n'roll pianist from Southend, recalls his experiences following The Paramounts in the early 1960s:

"I first saw The Paramounts in 1962 in a low-key hop in a Leigh-on-Sea community hall. At this time, most groups in the Southend area were playing the songs from the current hit parade as required in the local dance halls. However, this group was not churning out Bobby Vee or Shadows tunes; I was to hear strange songs about 'Peanut Butter' and about 'Three Cool Cats' intermingled with familiar, but unfashionable rockers gleaned from records by Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard. The group's line-up comprised the regular lead guitar, bass, and drums; but instead of the usual rhythm guitar, the vocalist was utilising the hall's old piano, a mike thrust into the top. Even more unusual was the small gathering of unofficial 'backing vocalists' clustered around the stage. Their chants were lending response to those opening shouts of the US Bonds song 'New Orleans'; their unison of wails constituted the chorus of that incredible song about 'Peanut Butter'. On asking one of the choristers about the band, I was informed that The Paramounts were resident at The Shades Cellar Club on Sunday nights."

GARY BROOKER reminisces: "While still at school, I was in The Coasters with Johnny Short, and Brian Gill. Johnny Short was a master of the guitar, an absolute miracle worker! He could play a whole Carl Perkins record on guitar. He'd get the bass part, the rhythm, the lead, and the essence of the drum part as well. We played mainly instrumentals, and named ourselves after the US group The Coasters. I remember setting my piano on fire one night at Leigh Yacht Club. I left a cigarette on the end, and the celluloid on the keys caught fire and flared. The flames got up to A below middle C before I poured a pint over it!"

"The Paramounts formed after a band contest at the Palace Hotel Dance Hall in Southend. At this contest, The Coasters competed with other local groups Micky Law And The Outlaws, The Raiders, Bob Scott And The Clansmen etc. Micky Law won the contest, and The Coasters came a close second, but this result was controversial because some people thought that Micky Law had fixed the votes, which were counted on slips of paper. Maybe Micky Law had more pencils than anybody else. The man who ran the contest was Peter Martin, a local entrepreneur. That night he conceived the idea of putting together a 'supergroup' from the cream of local musicians. He named the group The Paramounts, and later became their manager."

"It appears that Peter Martin put the group together by dubious means. He'd already got Robin Trower and Chris Copping from The Raiders, Mick Brownlee on drums from The Outlaws, and Bob Scott on lead vocals. They wanted me on piano. Peter Martin got Rob to phone me and ask me if I could come to a rehearsal one Sunday, just to sit in and help out. I told him that The Coasters were playing that night. Rob said 'I've spoken to Johnny Short, it's O.K.' So I went to The Paramounts rehearsal, and the same thing occurred every Sunday for a month. Johnny Short assumed I no longer wanted to be in The Coasters, as I'd been missing rehearsals, I thought Johnny Short no longer wanted me, and suddenly I was a Paramount."

"At The Paramounts rehearsals, it was mainly Carl Perkins numbers, and a few Cliff Richards. We did a lot of shows with Bob Scott singing lead, and our repertoire was dependent on what he wanted to sing, mainly Elvis and Rick Nelson. Bob failed to turn up to a gig one night, and the others said 'you sing'. I knew a lot of songs by Little Richard, Fats Domino, Chuck Berry etc. A guy called Sid was the local Chuck Berry man. He had a new Chuck Berry record the moment it was released. I would go to his house on the Friday night, he would already have the words written down, and we'd learn the song."

"So I became the singer in The Paramounts, and we were all still at school. On leaving school, I went to Southend Municipal College to study zoology and botany. Robin worked with his brother cleaning windows. Mick Brownlee became a bricklayer, and Chris Copping stayed on at school to take his A-levels. It was around this time that Rob's dad bought The Penguin Cafe on Southend seafront, after The Penguin Cancer Scandal. The cafe's previous proprietor had been caught pocketing money from his Cancer Relief charity collection boxes. There were cellars below The Penguin Cafe, full of plastic penguins. It occurred to the Paramounts that this would be a good place to build a club, so we set about burning the penguins, painting the cellar, and building a stage. We bought a piano for 4 pounds, and opened up a month later, late in 1961, with a Sunday night show featuring The Paramounts. We called the club The Shades, after Johnny Harris And The Shades, a Southall group, who had recently made several impressive appearances in Southend. Shades was also a 'new word' for sunglasses."

JOHN DENTON: "Early Sunday evening found me venturing past the arcades and stalls of Southend's famed Golden Mile, along the seafront road, towards Shoebury Garrison. I was soon to arrive at The Shades, which was one of several coffee bars then in vogue in Southend. The cellar club was run by the genial Len Trower. It cost me a shilling to descend into the dimly-lit cavernous room, formed of two dark areas fronted by a small dancing space and low stage. Behind the stage, a zany mural depicted The Paramounts' cartoon replicas. In the two back chambers, one could perceive youths sipping cola, while girls danced effortlessly to the juke box sound of 'Thumbin' A Ride'. The dance area was to fill as The Paramounts plugged in and commenced to rock. Egg boxers bedecked the ceiling, serving as primitive sound-proofing; the cluster of 'backing vocalist' fans was so effective in this environment despite the throbbing sound; the people around the stage were executing what would be termed The Pogo some fifteen years later. This was the most exciting music I'd ever heard."

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