|
Des Murdoch (lead guitar), Ralph Watson (bass), Joe
Thwaites (drums),
Bob Macfarlane (vocals), Steve Woodend (guitar)
|
Outside the Towbar at Nethertown |
Ralph Watson, Steve Woodend and Joe Thwaites all lived in the same
street in Bransty, Whitehaven. As teenagers they formed a group and
used to practise in the YMCA.
Bob Macfarlane and Des Murdoch were school friends who grew up together
in Kells. They had played in a group with two brothers
from Mirehouse, Barry and Michael Smitham.
They played a couple of
gigs at Workington College and the Towbar club at Nethertown
before disbanding.
Michael Smitham went on in later years to join The Fortunes and can be seen on their website which he built and maintains at
www.thefortunes.co.uk.
Bob and Des carried on for a time as a duo playing
and singing in the youth club at St. Mary's church , but eventually
gave up. |
|
Des eventually met up with Ralph, Steve and Joe who were
playing in the Central in Whitehaven. The budding Invaders decided
that they needed a singer, so Des brought along Bob who auditioned
with the group and was invited to join.
The Invaders started off performing in the back room of the Central
every Friday and Saturday night. They then went on to play on Monday
nights in the Teen and Twenty club which had started
up in Whitehaven. They also played the usual round of youth clubs
and pubs including the Fox club in Workington.
They supported
a couple of Liverpool groups in the Towbar club and asked the manager,
Bruce Johnson, if they could practise there and he agreed. This
led to them becoming regulars at the Towbar and topping the bill
in their own right. |
Early Days at The Fox Club in Workington |
|
Renamed and professional as
the Ashley Kay Group
Des Murdoch, John Marcangelo, Bob Macfarlane, Steve Woodend
and Ralph Watson
|
Bruce Johnson got in touch with Les Leighton
at the Cosmo club in Carlisle and it was arranged that they
should play some gigs there.
At the Cosmo they supported big name groups starting with
the Graham Bond Organisation which at the time featured Ginger
Baker on drums. The also supported the Yardbirds (with Jeff
Beck), the Fourmost and the Moody Blues.
Eventually the lads decided to turn professional as the Ashley
Kay Group because there already was a band called the Invaders
(there never was an Ashley Kay in the group, the name being
made up). Joe Thwaites decided not to take the plunge and was
replaced by John Marcangelo.
The Ashley Kay group played the Sound club
in Manchester and the Cavern in Liverpool. They were surprised
to find that in the cities they were expected to play three
or four gigs a night for about threequarters of an hour in
each club. This meant carrying their heavy gear up and down
stairs several times a night. |
|
|
Bob Macfarlane with The Invaders
|
Many thanks to Bob Macfarlane for supplying the information and
pictures for this page.
|
|
In Liverpool, after their gigs, they would go to the Blue
Angel club, where many of the groups would hang out, where
they remember seeing the young Freddie Starr when he was a
singer with the Delmonts, a Liverpool group.
The Ashley Kay group played a lot of gigs in Yorkshire and
Lincolnshire due to the location of their manager Mark Jordan
in Shipley.They found that they were expected to play for £7 to £10
a night between them and to pay for their digs out of that.
The lads made a couple of demo discs but unfortunately never
achieved a recording contract.
After about 18 months the band
folded as among other things a couple of the lads were thinking
of getting engaged.
|
 John
Marcangelo, having played with Cow and PLM, went on to success
with Violinski, playing keyboards on
their albums "No Cause for Alarm" in 1979 and "Stop
Cloning About" in 1980.
John is still an active musician and composer,
touring the world on cruise liners accompanying his vocalist
wife Cath on keyboards. |
|
Bob after winning a talent
contest at Pontins, Blackpool
|
 Des
Murdoch has recently enjoyed local radio success with a
track from his "Tribute to Whitehaven" EP called "Golden
Days" in
which he commemorates the local bands and venues of the 60s . |
|
|