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Scottish beat groups of the '60s and early '70s. Visit the
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Ayrshire Bands of the '60s and early
70s
The Soul Pakk

Bill Briceland provides this info and the two pics
below.:
From Saltcoats/Largs/Kilbirnie in the 60's. Bill Briceland - bass; Angus
Reid - vocals (who was replaced by Billy Johnston); Stuart Hornall -
guitar /keyboards; Charlie Meenah - keyboards; Arthur Richmond -
drums.
Roadie - Davie Gooding (old Stow College mate of Rockingscot Tom's as well - its
a small world.
Played the usual Ayrshire venues plus other gigs all over Scotland. We
were regulars at the Maryland Club in Glasgow supporting the Beatstalkers,
Marmalade, Geno Washington, Jimmy James & the Vagabonds, the Herd, Amen
Corner and others. The manager there Willie Cuthbertson was good at bringing the
bands to the club just before they made the big time. Willie wanted to be
our manager and guaranteed that we would earn at least £15 per week each! At a
Barrowland gig Frankie Miller's band the Deljaks supported us and we had a fight
with their roadies as they tried to steal some of our gear. They were not too
happy either due to the fact that we went down better than them. Billy
Johnson still sings with the Jack Daniels Band. Stuart Hornall is still in the
music business and has his own pubishing company called Hornall Brothers Music
Ltd with arists such as Ronan Keating on their books.

Benny Gallagher was in a band at that time called the
Tulsans from Saltcoats. Graham Lyle wasn't in the band but was writing songs
for them. The Tulsans drummer Billy Brennan got arrested for stealing cars. So
Dennis Donald (cafe owner) the leader and keyboard player of the band
asked Graham to play drums.The guys in the band were always working during the
day at the weekends and Stuart Hornall and myself used to help Benny and
Graham at the studio above the cafe (now the Castle Worrock pub) in
Saltcoats to do demos. We did a few of the songs that later featured on the
McGuiness Flint album. They used to have a live music night in the cafe every
Thursday. One night these five black American guys arrived and sang with the
Tulsans doing Motown songs. It turns out they were from the American base at
Prestwick where the Tulsans played regularly. The Soul Pakk played there too
and the same guys often performed with us. The other guys in the Tulsans were
Drew Galt vocals and Eric someone on guitar. They got a record deal and had a
record out under the name "Drew Galt". When the band broke up Benny
& Graham moved to London.
I left the the Soul Pakk and tried to form a professional
band with vocalist Gordon Neville of the Spectre from Kilmarnock. We at
first got in contact with Benny and Graham in London to see if they were
interested. But they said they could not possibly think about going out
on the road as they each had a couple of kids and they had good jobs. They of
course carried on writing and got a contract with Apple writing the B side to
Mary Hopkin's "Those Were the Days" and the royalties allowed them
to give up their jobs. We tried out Eddie Johnson from the Hi Fi
Combo on keyboards but Eddie had a family then and couldn't continue. We also auditioned
Andy Curry (the bandleader's son ) on guitar and Colin
Jamieson on drums from the Corsairs but they came as a pair and we felt
Andy was not up to scratch for what we wanted. We auditioned
numerous other guys from various Glasgow bands. We settled on George
Butler from the Anteeks on drums but just couldn't get a good guitarist in
those days to complete the lineup so I went on to manage bands. I heard
that George Butler went to the States to play drums for the Everly Brothers.
Gordon formed a heavy rock band band with Jim Condron of the Anteeeks and
a brilliant young 16 year old guitarist. Gordon later went to
London and at first sang in a resident band in a ballroom. The rest
of the singers he sang with at the ballroom went on to become the New
Seekers. Gordon started writing commercials and sang with a well known London
band the Alan Bown Set, has done backing vocals for Elton John. He also did
lead vocals for Rick Wakeman's band. Many years ago at Xmas after
consuming a few I switched on the telly and there was Gordon with his own show
with Katy Rabbit (Prince Andrew's ex) singing new versions of Xmas carols.
I also managed Haydie's Bobbin
which featured Alan Hornall on bass ( Stuart's brother who later went on to
tour and recorded with Gallagher & Lyle) and Jim Davidson on vocals. Also
managed Jim's other band Phsycle with Tom someone on drums who is
currently touring with Graham Lyle and Gordon Taylor on guitar.
Willie Cuthbertson at the Maryland Club always put bands to me who were
looking for a manager. I also ran dances at Ardrossan Town Hall on a
Wednesday night and booked most of the top Scottish bands as you could get the
cheap mid week (Poets, Nazareth, Tear Gas, White Trash etc.)
I hadn't played for years until 2 years ago when I was in
Flanagans in Prestwick on a Wednesday night to watch the football and in
walked Jim Davidson who I hadn't seen for years. He asked if I was there for
the jam and I told him I hadn't played for years. I went through and got the
bug again and now play there most Wednesdays.
Cheers.