13
www.hastingspier.org.uk 1 From Jive to Punk Rock - Bands that Performed on Hastings Pier Punks on Hastings Pier in the late 1970s (HPC071.022)
www.hastingspier.org.uk
1
From Jive to Punk Rock - Bands that Performed on Hastings Pier
Punks on Hastings Pier in the late 1970s (HPC071.022)
www.hastingspier.org.uk
2
www.hastingspier.org.uk
3
From Jive to Punk Rock on Hastings Pier 18 January 1964, the first of three visits by the Rolling Stones that year. Here supported by The Four Aces. Second visit was 11 April, and the third Saturday 1 August – the bank holiday weekend of mods and rockers clashes. Christmas Eve 1965. The Who’s first hit I can’t explain was in January that year followed by the album My Generation. They played the pier again in 1966, 1967 and 20 July 1969 – by which time their rock opera Tommy had been released and shortly before they performed at the Woodstock festival. (HPC014.009)
August 1967, Pink Floyd were emerging. Their first album Piper at the Gates of Dawn was released that month and rose to No.6. August 1967, Pink Floyd were emerging. Their first album Piper at the Gates of Dawn was released that month and rose to No.6 January 1968. By now Dave Gilmour had joined Pink Floyd and the issues surrounding Syd Barrett were nearing a climax. (HPC014.010)
www.hastingspier.org.uk
4
22 October 1967. Their first LP Are You Experienced? was released in May that year and spent 33 weeks in the charts and only kept off No.1 by the Beatles’ Sergeant Pepper. January 1968. The Move’s third single Flowers in the Rain was the first song played on Radio 1 when it launched in September 1967.
26 June 1970, an All Niter, Edgar Broughton started as a blues band in 1968 but then went psychedelic. Not infrequently their shows were accompanied by controversy and violence.
www.hastingspier.org.uk
5
By contrast, August 1971, Bob Miller and the Millermen was a big band with its roots back in the radio era of the 1950s.
1972. An example of a promoter block booking acts that were touring in parallel. Late changes were not uncommon. So, in this case Hawkwind actually played on August 3rd and Genesis were re-arranged for 12 September.
www.hastingspier.org.uk
6
Examples of the various shades of rock band that played Hastings Pier in the early 1970s.
As well as bands on the up, bands that were on the way down also played Hastings Pier – Procul Harum,1975. (HPC039.039)
1974. The locally based agency run by André Palfry-Martin and Paul Casson was involved in organising entertainment on the Pier from 1971-74. Martin had previously been employed on the Pier since 1968 as a DJ/compere by Strand Entertainment (see posters above for The Move and Pink Floyd). (HPC039.008)
www.hastingspier.org.uk
7
The Sex Pistols were just beginning to emerge when they came to Hastings in early July 1976. Later that month they recorded Anarchy in the UK. Budgie were a Welsh heavy metal band!
The Clash played on the same bill as The Sex Pistols more than once in the summer of 1976. Here in December 1978 they came to Hastings on their Sort It Out tour – more than 30 gigs from Edinburgh to Portsmouth promoting the successful album Give ‘em Enough Rope.
A ‘Christmas Show’ on 4 March 1978. Hollywood Killers were a band that originated from Hastings and developed a strong London following.
www.hastingspier.org.uk
8
Mod Day on Hastings Pier 9 June 1979. These were mod revival bands with a few minor hits to their credit.
The Searchers were big in 1963 when they last played Hastings but now, in 1987, were featuring in the 60s revival nights that were becoming popular on the Pier.
By the 1990s, DJ rave sessions were popular on the Pier, especially amongst the population of language and other students in the town. Juice and Unity are both from 1994.
www.hastingspier.org.uk
9
Hysteria was 1997.
www.hastingspier.org.uk
10
A History of Bands that Performed on Hastings Pier Music was an important feature of the entertainment on Hastings Pier from its earliest days. A summer orchestra played there in the 1890s and a municipal orchestra was formed in 1919 offering up to twelve concerts a week in a variety of musical styles. The original elegant pavilion at the end of the pier was burned down in 1917. Its replacement, completed in 1922, was a large barn-like structure with little of the character or finesse of its predecessor. Here, the programme of dancing and concerts continued but by the 1950s tastes were changing and the old forms of musical entertainment were beginning to lose their popularity. From the early 1960s, the Pier ballroom enjoyed a resurgence as a musical venue for young people. Whatever it might lack in atmosphere, the building offered a large covered space of 1,500 capacity – though it is widely alleged that 2,000 or more people attended some of the larger events – at the far end of the pier where noise and boisterous activity of
www.hastingspier.org.uk
11
teenagers would bother nobody. The downside was that bands had to transport their equipment to the far end of a pier on which vehicles were not allowed. This rule was not always obeyed – André Palfry-Martin tells a story of Pink Floyd taking their van on the pier and it partially going through the decking. For the managers and promoters of bands playing the new music of the time, the challenge was one of reaching a wide audience when national exposure on radio and tv was extremely limited by modern standards. The answer was a relentless programme of concerts, night after night, in towns and cities up and down the country. They played in clubs, town halls, theatres, cinemas, dance halls – anywhere that fitted the basic requirements – hammering out the latest single in the hope that it would climb up the charts. With a wide local hinterland of youthful support, Hastings Pier was on this circuit and welcomed a large number of bands in the early 1960s that were at various stages in the process of making it to the big time. The Rolling Stones are the classic example. Their first single in June 1963 was a minor hit, enabling the band to tour outside of London. Their second single reached No.12 and preceded another nationwide tour from 6 to 27 January 1964. They were in Hastings on 18 January followed over successive days by Coventry, Woolwich, Aylesbury and Shrewsbury. By the time of their third visit on 1 August, they already had a recent No. 1 It’s all over now, were on the brink of international stardom, and did not come to Hastings again. The 60s A partial list of bands that played Hastings Pier from 1962 to1980 has been compiled and can be viewed online. In the first few months, it is dominated by the popular jazz bands of the day – Kenny Ball, Terry Lightfoot, The Temperance Seven, and Acker Bilk. But other things were going on as well. The Tornados played twice in 1962, either side of their single Telstar reaching No.1 and subsequently becoming the first US No.1 by a British group. Joe Brown and the Bruvvers and Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, early pioneers of British rock and roll, both played in September 1962 – the latter returning on a number of occasions. Sounds Incorporated were there in June 1962. Not very long after this they were touring the world as The Beatles opening act.
www.hastingspier.org.uk
12
Through the early to mid-1960s, the list becomes a roll call of British pop bands making their way up the ladder: The Hollies, Freddie and The Dreamers, Gerry and The Pacemakers, Swinging Blue Jeans etc. The Kinks played in May 1964, a few months before their third single You Really Got Me reached No.1. The later 60s have a good range of stand-out dates – The Who, Small Faces, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, The Troggs etc. But the situation was changing, more media outlets for popular music were emerging and venues like Hastings Pier were beginning to lose that key position on the ladder to stardom. In between all the music, other uses were found for the ballroom. There was dancing – ‘Twisting Time’ it was called in the early 60s – lessons in ballroom dancing, and regular wrestling events. The 70s Bands that were now also to be found on the student campus circuit were coming to Hastings – Genesis, Hawkwind, Electric Light Orchestra, Ten Years After, Argent, Curved Air, Lindisfarne etc – and most of the principal genres of electric music popular at the time were covered. And of course, there was the coming of heavy metal and punk rock – The Sex Pistols in 1976, Motorhead in 1977, The Clash in 1978 and Saxon in 1980. The 80s and beyond Here the list peters out and things become hazy. Rising stars, with the help of national media, could jump from club-sized to major venues direct without the need for those in the middle like Hastings. The Pier Company was also entering a period of crisis and decline in its general fortunes. Some of the bands that were big in the 60s were now enjoying some renewed popularity by participating in nostalgia and revival nights which were popular in resort towns including Hastings. In the mid 90s DJ-led rave nights with multi video and laser embellishments were popular with teenage and student populations along the south coast. Hastings Pier was included but closure was fast approaching.
www.hastingspier.org.uk
13
Newspaper headlines See The Hastings Observer 8 August 1964 for a front page report of the Rolling Stones gig a week earlier. It’s not about the music – they only played for about 30 minutes – but more about how they evaded the crowds by getting to the Pier ballroom from the police station in a decoy ambulance. Web Searching ‘Hastings Pier’ on Youtube brings up several clips of raves in the 1990s. http://dizzytigerstu.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=history&action=display&thread=883 for a list and dates of bands on the Pier. http://ninebattles.com/tag/hastings-pier/page/4/ for images of bands on the Pier. Contacts André Palfry-Martin ([email protected]) lives in Hastings and was involved in different capacities on the Pier, especially the music, from 1963-73. He has lots of memories and material and there is film footage of him talking about it – see College tutor. Social Media https://www.facebook.com/HPCharity http://hastingspeerlesspier.blogspot.co.uk/ Please note that this information is provided free of charge and whilst Hastings Pier Charity makes every effort to keep the information on the website accurate, the majority of the information comes from the general public and volunteers. We therefore disclaim any warranty or representation, express or implied about its accuracy, completeness or appropriateness for a particular purpose. If there are any errors, please contact Hastings Pier by email [email protected]
