From Aces to Angels

Band Parade

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Now I hope you don't mind (before they're forgotten forever) if I indulge myself and include a list of the Derry bands and groups of that unforgettable era, the sixties. Again it might not be one hundred per cent complete, but it's close enough. Some of the bands mentioned actually started in the fifties but were still going in the sixties. The leaders of a couple of bands I've named actually came from Donegal or other places, but I include them because most, if not all of their members hailed from Derry. They are listed in alphabetical order but not chronologically. An asterisk denotes bands that I myself played or gigged with.

Bands and groups of the Sixties

 The Bankers:  A showband loaded with money and talent in the form of Chuck Mc Guigan, Mick Cassidy and female songbird, Teresa Dee.

  The Barristers:  A law unto themselves. Very popular outfit whose gimmick was wearing judges' wigs on stage. Fronted by attractive female warbler, Tillie Doherty.

  The Beaumont Seven:  One of those 'ever popular' bands of the fifties and sixties who once boasted the well known radio and television personality, Gerry Anderson in their line-up.

  The Big Time:  Formed by drummer Willie Hamilton and were very popular at the time. As well as being quite a good drummer, Willie was also a bit of a 'showman.'

  The Bluenotes:  Formed in the late fifties by Peter Mc Laughlin and Jimmy Liddy. Extremely well received dance band.

* Blues Etcetera:  (Covered in the text) Formed in 1966 by myself and my two brothers, Jackie and Danny. As our name implied, we played mainly a programme of blues but we also covered a lot of Bob Dylan and soul material. We did quite well around the Derry area and further afield. As the sixties blues boom fizzled out around the end of the decade, we played our final gig in 1971 and then disbanded to go our separate ways.

  The Capri:  Early sixties outfit formed by Willie Campbell sen. (who didn't actually play in the band) and featuring a plethora of fine musicians, including Billy Campbell jun.,(trumpet) Jim Bradley (piano) and another well known Radio Foyle presenter and producer, Colm Arbuckle on lead guitar.

  The Stan Cauley Orchestra:  Derry's answer to Glen Miller. Great swing band of the era.

  The Willie Campbell Bandshow:  One of the first true showbands to emerge from the city. Resided in the 'Crit' for a couple of years.

  The Checkers: Very entertaining showband featuring young Pat Mc Crossan on his double necked guitar.

  The Cheries:  Derry's only all female band formed in the late sixties. Consisted of Maureen, Vera and Lorraine Mallett on lead, rhythm and bass guitars respectively, with Mary Gallaher on organ and Gabrielle Gallaher (drums). All the girls sang and were a very talented outfit.

  The Coronets:  Versatile and talented outfit featuring Ray Gallaher on drums.

* The Crescent Showband:  This band hailed from St. Johnston. Run by George Lowry and were very popular in the late fifties and early sixties.

  Crede:  Exciting rock and blues outfit featuring Dessie Cossum on guitar and Noel Doherty on lead vocals.

  Death Rogue:  Great band who competently covered all the rock classics of the time.

  The Derry City Showband:  Very popular showband led by Frank Mc Laughlin and featuring lead songstress, Dolores 'Doly' Power. These days a band with a name like that would certainly cause a bit of controversy.

  The Drumbeats:  Formed by lifford man Charlie Friel. Very popular pop band, especially in Scotland. Later changed their name to 'The Playboys.'

  Dust:  Excellent rock and blues band fronted by exciting guitarist, Benny Brown.

  The Dynachords:  Another great outfit, who in the sixties competed with the best of them. Johnny Murray, who was the manager of the old Rialto, played a mean tenor sax with them.

  The Embassy Orchestra:  Another excellent band of musicians led by trumpeter Josie Mc Intyre. Played resident in the Embassy ballroom.

  The Emperors:  Great pop outfit fronted by the many talented alto saxophonist and vocalist Jackie Boyd.

   E.S.P.  I'm afraid that I don't know much about these lads except that they were a beat group formed in the late sixties.

  The Esquires:  Caused a storm when they first appeared. Colourful and energetic band fronted by Derry's only black singer, Billy Tyson, who performed an exciting stage show, the highlight of which was a luminous dancing skeleton routine. As well as travelling the country, had a residency in the Corinthian Ballroom for a while.

  The Flingels:  Great showband formed by Trevor Keys. Took their name from the old Shadows hit, 'The Rise and Fall of Flingel Bunt' and featured in their line-up Roy Arbuckle who now is the creator of the 'Different Drums' project.

  The Friends:  This band was put together in the sixties by local football talent scout, Eddie Davis, and featured the Mallet sisters vocalising. Did very well too.
 
  The Ray Gallaher Band:  Very talented pop band of the sixties featuring Ray himself on drums.

  Gemini:  Talented and versatile duo. formed by the Mc Cauley brothers, Johnny and Eugene.

* The Golden Seven:  (Covered in the text) Formed in the late fifties by Burt  man Neil Crawford and over the years included many talented musicians in its line up, like John Trotter, George Hetherington and again that fine female vocalist from Creggan called Doly Power.

  The Hawgs:  At the time considered one of the groups who could make it big.       Wasn't quite sure if they were a beat group or a showband as I’d seen them advertised as both.

  The Hawthorns: One of the more popular groups to emerge from the sixties folk boom.

* The Humans: ( Covered in t theext) Consisted of myself, Colm Mc Menamin and Noel Porter, all three of us playing in The Jokers at the same time. We chose the name because there already was a band called 'The Animals.' We played a residency in the Clarendon Hall on a Monday night and got together especially to play some mean rhythm 'n' blues.

  Ice:  'Cool' band who specialised in rock and R'n'B. Featured the talented Bell Brothers.

  The Imperial All Stars:  Good Rock and Roll outfit featuring that reluctant superstar, Don Carlin on vocals and acrobatics.

* Johnny and The Jokers:  (Covered in the Text) Formed in the early sixties by ex-Johnny Quigley members, the late Tommy Mc Menamin and Jackie Flavelle (now a presenter with Downtown Radio). For a while they featured a wonderful singer called Johnny Peel and during their career toured many countries and backed up artists like Julie Rogers.

  The Lakewood Swingtette:  Excellent musical combo resident in the Corinthian in the late fifties and early sixties.

  Lemon Soul:  Very tight outfit and as their name suggests, specialised in soul music.

  Limb 16:  Very popular rock and soul band featuring Nigel Doherty (bass), Raymond Bell (lead guitar), Peter Clarke (drums) and John Keanie (rhythm guitar/vocals) who has now just retired as town clerk.

  The Magnificent Seven:  Group of versatile musicians who took their name from the popular western film of the same title. Featuring once again young Pat Mc Crossan on guitar and Seamus Liddy on vocals.

  The Marksmen:  Highly musical outfit who featured one of the city's finest jazz/swing drummers, Peter Mc Laughlin, and jazz guitarist, Johnny Mc Collum, who once played with Chris Barber's jazz band.

  The Masters:  Great showband featuring two great musicians, Richard Duffy and Ray Doherty. Managed by fiddle player, Gerry O'Neill.

* Pat Mc Crossan & The Mainliners:  (Covered in the text) Great country and western combo with Pat himself on fiddle and mandolin and Pat junior on guitar. They featured other talented artists like Seamus Liddy and Greta Elkin on vocals. Were one of the first Derry groups to appear on T.V. when they did a spot on the B.B.C.s 'Half Door Club' in 1960.

  Gay Mc Intyre Band:  Very big in the fifties and sixties especially in the field of traditional jazz. Had many excellent musicians in its line-up including George Hasson on trumpet. Gay is still going strong teaching and playing.

 * The Merry Macs:  (Covered in the Text) Run by a man called Frankie Mc Bride from Castlefin (not to be confused by the singer of the same name from Omagh) and were resident in the 'Mem' during the late fifties and early sixties. They included in their ranks brother and sister of Dana, Robbie and Eileen Brown and also Johnny 'Jumpin' Johnny Lee' Stewart on lead vocals.

  Monarch Folk Group:  Talented folk group featuring vocalists Seamus Mc Devitt and Kevin Mitchell.

* The City Quartet: Terrific jazz orientated group comprising Tommy Mc Menamin (drums), Ian Bell (piano), Sean Canning (double bass) with Mick Mc Williams doing the crooning.

* The Olympic All Stars:  Popular band formed by the Devlin brothers from Bridgend. Commonly known as the O.A.S.

  Poison Ivy:  Popular Derry beat group who took their name from the old fifties hit of the same title.

  The Johnny Quigley All Stars:  Probably the most famous to come from Derry. A band choc-a-bloc with great musicians, and had a great stage act.

 
  The Rising Sons:  Another young exciting band again formed by drummer Willie Hamilton who did very well on the circuit.

  Sabat: Unsure of personnel in this ouitfit, but they had a very good reputation on the rock scene.

  The Saints:  Popular early sixties outfit again featuring lead guitarist, Colm Arbuckle.

  The Scene Showband:  Formed in the late sixties, this outfit featured guitar virtuoso Joe Quigley and drummer Eugene Roddy. Did great business in Ireland and further afield including tour of South Africa.

  The Signetts:  Formed in 1964 and fronted by fine musicians like Frankie Robinson (lead guitar), Roy Arbuckle (rhythm guitar) and Trevor Keys (bass). The other two members included in its line-up were Mike Ramsey (sax) and Jackie Molloy on drums.

  Smol-Tok:  Great rock group from the late sixties. Featured the Campbell brothers from the Creggan area.

  The Statesiders:  Excellent band who unfortunately broke up whenever six of their members were killed in an horrific road accident.

 * The Swing Aces: (Covered in the text) Formed by drummer and secretary of the musicians' union, Paddy Canney. Played a lot of Dixieland and all the standard tunes of the day. Were extremely popular around the ballrooms of Ireland.

  The Swingtones:  Another great sixties outfit once again featuring Roy Arbuckle of 'Different Drums' fame.

  The System:   Great beat group formed in the late sixties. I'm afraid the names of the personnel escape me.

  The Tahiti:  Another great band formed by trumpeter Frank Mc Laughlin. It is rumoured that they broke up because Frank wanted the band members to wear hula hula skirts and the boys refused. In later years became The Tahiti Trio.

  The Trade Winds:  The town's No.1 folk band at the time.

  The Trend:  Great musical act with Peter 'Boy' Roddy taking the lead role. Also managed by football talent scout, Eddie Davis.

  The Woodchoppers:  Always attracted large crowds wherever they played and had a huge following in Derry.
Took their name from the old jazz classic, 'The Woodchoppers' Ball.'

Besides the main bands mentioned above, there was also a host of smaller bands of all descriptions doing the rounds in the sixties. Unfortunately it would be impossible to cover them all within the space of this book, but they played an important part in the Derry music scene all the same.

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