Joye & the Joy Boys also had a permanent dance at the Paddington Police Boys’ around about the same time.
Along with Jimmy Taylor and of course my best friend Ryanny (who didn’t actually play anything), we eventually got to see Dig Richards & the R’Jays “live” at Leichhardt Police Boys’ (April 4 1959) where I first met their bass player Peter Baker. On the way to the dance, one of the girls in our party assured us that the R’Jays was a fantastic band and that the singer, Dig Richards had the cutest rosy cheeks. The line-up of the band at that time was Barry Lewis on drums, Peter Marris on silver Selmer saxophone, Jay Boogie on piano, Peter Baker on electric bass, Jonnie Hayton on guitar and Dig Richards on vocals.
Peter Baker invited Ray to get up and sing with the band and Jimmy also sat in on piano, courtesy of Jay Boogie. I can’t remember if I ever got to talk at length to the guitarist Jon Hayton (my co-author) and neither can he!
Another foray to the “famed” Police Boys (June 27, 1959) revealed a newly formed R&R band on the scene — Johnny Rebb & the Rebels. They were Sonny Neville (ex-Houserocker) on guitar, Keith Williams (ex-Dee Jay) on electric bass, Johnny Charter (one time Houserocker) on piano, Jimmy Slogget on tenor saxophone, Johnny Burns on drums and Johnny Rebb (real name, Donny Delbridge) on vocals. Johnny Rebb had a great record out at the time called Hey Sheriff, with Johnny Charter doing the little piano licks. The gentleman of rock’n’roll, Johnny Rebb gave a fairly conservative performance but all the girls still loved him. He looked like the sexy Peter Baker (or was it the other way around?).
Their band was very professional with a nice “fat” sound. The musicianship of some of the rock players was now becoming really first class. Ray didn’t get up and sing with the band this time because he was too busy punching some guy who called him a poofter. Consequently, Ray was thrown out and banned for a week. To their credit, the police ran a pretty tight dance.
RYANNY GETS A PADDLE
SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 1959: Johnny Devlin & the Devils, from New Zealand, started a permanent Tuesday night dance at Surryville and were advertising a band competition. We had just acquired a permanent guitar player for the band — Darby Wilson. We first saw Darby on 6 O’Clock Rock playing Johnny B. Goode. Although we had entered the band competition for Tuesday, August 18, we still had no permanent electric bass player, so Jim lined up Fred Lawrence, known as Flooby Fred. Fred earned the name “Flooby” because he had one of the biggest dongers known to mankind. Why it should have been called a “Flooby” is a mystery that has been lost to antiquity.
Ryanny and I were waiting for the guys to come to rehearsal when the phone rang. It was Jim. Flooby Fred had let us down. What were we going to do? We only had three days. We couldn’t go on at Surryville without an electric bass! Ryanny and I sat there looking at each other. We were devastated.
“Even if we got somebody on bass they wouldn’t be able to learn the songs in time,” I moaned. Ryanny nodded. “He would have to have been to every rehearsal we’ve ever had.”
“Wait a minute Ryanny! You’ve been to every rehearsal! Not only that, you can play a bit of piano and you told me that you learnt the violin at school.”
“I hated the violin!” Ryanny said, “I used to purposely leave it on the train and in bus sheds but people used to keep returning it all the time. Besides, where would I get an electric bass?”
“I know!” I said, excitedly racing to the phone. “We can buy Laurie Skewes’ ‘paddle’. He wants to sell it.” I rang Laurie.
“Ten quid?” I said in disbelief.
“Where else can you get an electric bass?” Laurie replied. “OK, we’ll be right over.”
Ryanny was protesting all the way there. “What about the notes?”
“Don’t worry, they’re the same as the violin,” I lied. I wasn’t going to be put off at this stage. “We’ll get Laurie to write the notes on the fret board in pencil. You only have to learn five songs for the band competition.”
Except for the silly look on his face, Ryanny looked quite at home with the paddle hanging around his shoulder. We set to work teaching him how to play 12 bar blues. Ryanny was still protesting. “Jimmy will never go for it.” Just then the phone rang.
“Keep on practising,” I said as I answered it. It was Teddy Lees from the Stoneagers. Teddy told me we had a job that night at Matraville and did I know any electric bass players? Did I ever!
“I’ve got just the guy you’re looking for,” I replied as I looked across at Ryanny struggling to master a 12 bar blues pattern.
Despite reassuring words from me, Ryanny stood petrified on the stage at Matraville RSL, looking down the fret board of his paddle. “It’s in C,” Roger Keyes the piano player called out as we were about to start. Ryanny checked the pencil marks for a ‘C’ to start on and we ripped into the first number. After a few bars Teddy and Roger looked back with big smiles on their faces. They had never played with an electric bass before. I had to admit it didn’t sound too bad at all! The only problem was that when they did a number that wasn’t 12 bar blues Ryanny just kept playing on through. Teddy and Roger didn’t seem to notice. They thought he was great. The first hurdle was over.
JIMMY’S PLACE, MONDAY 17: This was going to be the real test for Ryanny and his paddle. I got the reaction that I expected when I tried to convince Jimmy and Ray about my great plan to “Get ’im for the band”. I could tell by the scowl on Jim’s face and the cynical look on Ray’s, as we struggled into Jim’s lounge room carrying our gear, that they weren’t impressed. This was the first and last rehearsal that we could have for the band competition tomorrow night. I counted in one of the numbers we would be playing and as we played the last chord, Jim looked around at Ryanny in disbelief. Ray started shrieking with laughter. “Ryanny can actually play that bloody thing!”
At the end of the rehearsal, even Jim had to admit that it was sounding pretty good. He stayed up all night, cutting out pink cardboard stars to stick on Ryanny’s paddle so that it wouldn’t look too daggy.
SURRYVILLE, TUESDAY NIGHT 18: The Band Competition: Nervously we stood and watched Johnny Devlin’s band the Devils. They were really great, and so tight! The Devil’s line up was Claude Papesch on piano and sax, Peter Bazley on lead guitar, Neville Chamberlain on rhythm guitar, Ron Martin on electric bass, Tony Hopkins on drums and Johnny Devlin on vocals. The Devils had a great little instrumental they used to start with called Devil’s Rock, which they recorded on the Teen Label. Johnny Devlin was played off with Link Wray’s Rumble while the girls tried to rip off his satin shirt.
Now it was our turn. Somebody said, “Here they are, Ray Hoff and the Off Beats!” We launched into Little Richard’s Lucille riff. Ray came on in his white coat, and all the chicks started screaming. The crowd went berserk. The band sounded magic. Better than it ever sounded in Jim’s lounge room. We didn’t look too bad either, except for Darby who wore a Canadian jacket.
Darby wore a Canadian jacket in case somebody thought the band was crook. Then he could tell them that he wasn’t really with the band, he was only just “sitting in”. Darby wanted to give the impression that he could play “the jazz”. Darby was an impostor!
The band competition was a no-contest (we won!) but the best accolade of the night for me was when Claude Papesch, the blind piano player (Claude had been blind since birth and boy, could he play!), put his hand on my shoulder and said, “Great drumming, man — really
