If you could imagine a seaside coffee bar in the town of Cleethorpes
(N.E.Lincs) in 1964. That is where two of the founder's
of the Riot Rockers (Ray Firth, Johnny Fox) were
sat and enjoying the entertainment of the juke box with it's flashing
light's and loud music and also the smell of hot espresso. They were
two disc jockeys in there early twenty's and they both
had a love for fifties music. Who would have guessed that in a few years
time along with two other music lovers they themselves would be playing
around Britain and Europe and making records for other people to listen
to.
Later on in the sixties the third member John Scargall met up with Ray
and Johnny. John had a good feel for rhythm
guitar and also had an understanding Mother and Father who allowed them
to practice in there front room. They would
practise every Saturday afternoon's and would play every Rock 'n' Roll
number they knew. The music seamed to sound
better when they were jumping on and off the furniture, even though
some of the cords were the wrong one's but that
d idn’t matter. For a while the group remained with just the three
of them. Ray and John played rhythm guitar and Johnny sang the vocals
and at the same time he did the drumming with a two piece drum kit,
a snare drum and hi-hat. One Saturday afternoon John
decided they should have a P.A. system and that he had sorted one out.
They all entered the room and there, sat on the table
was an old 1950's radio set and from it was a spaghetti of assorted
wires leading up to the picture rail. Fastened to the rail
there was over a dozen assorted loudspeakers in a cabinet which he had
taken from old radios and record players and were held up by drawing
pins in a long chain of twisted joints that encircled the room. It looked
like a scene from some mad professor's laboratory. The group struck
up and after three or four electric shocks the loudspeakers progressively
started to rattle and fall to pieces whilst one of the larger ones quietly
emitted smoke which blackened a section of the ceiling above it.Before
the group thought they were ready to do there first live performance
it was 1971.Another player was added to the group Alf Ludlam, he played
the piano. Alf was eager to do a live gig. So in February 1971 the group
played at the Queens Hotel in Cleethorpes.
The story continues
For some time the group called themselves Johnny
and the Blue Cats and they went on to perform over two hundred
gigs. The Blue Cats finally disbandened in 1972 after a lot of changes
to the line up. A fresh line up was made in 1973
consisting of Ray Firth on lead guitar, Johnny Fox on vocals, Alf Ludlum
on piano, John Scargall now on bass and a new face
Roger Parrot on drums. This was the beginning for the Riot Rockers.
Soon after Alf and Roger moved on. The other three
now needed a drummer. They found one (Paul Whittingham) a bright young
lad eager to have a go. At the time he was
playing in a group doing pop music the kind of music the other three
hated. He could also be manipulated by the three origanals.
Now with a full line up the group were having great success, they did
a three week stint at the Hard Rock Cafe in
Copenhagen, record deals came next, tours of Europe and London was a
bi-weekly excursion. The group met Little Tina
of Flight 56 and the two groups toured together in Holland in 1979.Then
came another knock back Paul was trying to keep
down a regular job and he found the touring schedule were demanding.
So he left later in the year. They were now a drummer short so Johnny
played drums and sang.
Between the years of 1975-1988 the Riot Rockers were well documented.
In 1988 the group went through dramatic changes
up until a dormant period which lasted from 1989-1993.In January 1989
the band had bad news John Scargall had suddenly
lost his life to cancer. He was replaced with Jack Cheeseman) on slap
bass. Ray and Johnny did there own thing with various other groups in
1994.They joined forces to revive the Riot Rockers, they
still had no drummer but was able to get a stand- in for the early gigs.
A telephone call in May 1994 secured them with a
drummer, his name was (John Coulson) he had also played with the band
in 1986.In September 1994 Jack Cheeseman
announced he wanted to do other things so he was replaced with(Paul"gregs"Gregory)a
student who had learned the
rudiments of the slap bass. The group are still trying strong. In 1995
an album was recorded which had been long overdue
for all the knock backs they had and resolved.
The Riot Rockers still carry on to this day. Maybe the story will continue.................