Lincoln rock group 1970-73 & 1975-76.

Scapa Flow line up: 1970/73
Tony Newton:Drums (The Road Band)
Dave Bilton: Guitar
Brian Snelling: Bass (The Road Band)
Colin Moss: Guitar (The Counter-Beats)

Manager
Pete Benney

SF2 line up: 1975/76
Colin Moss: Lead Guitar, 6 & 12 string acoustic guitars (Scapa Flow, The Counter-Beats)
Dave Bilton: Lead Guitar, 6 & 12 string acoustic guitars
Andy “Tramp” Dransfield: Drums (Grecco, Virgin Glory, Flight)
Rick Woolgar: Electric Organ, Moog Synthesiser, Flute, Saxophone, Bass Guitar (Grecco, Woody Kern, Magic Bus)
Lee Baker: Guitar, 12 string & slide guitars (Grecco, Virgin Glory, Flight)
Laurence “Loz” McAcree: Vocals (Grannies Band)

Manager
Pete Benney

Roadies
Errol (formerly with Scapa Flow)
Harry (formerly with Grecco)

This is the story of Scapa Flow who later became SF2 and for a time in 1976 had a residency at the Imperial in Nottingham which is where I saw them and hence a group I wanted to shine a light on.

For many years in the seventies the Imperial on St James’s Street in Nottingham was the place to go to see local groups and in that long hot summer of 1976 one of the many bands I saw there was SF2. Apart from having a good night, my memory of those nights at the Imperial has almost blended into one experience, and SF2 was a group I knew very little about. They had long hair (most of us did back then) and I heard that they were from Lincoln and that was about it. Some 46 years later I was at a gig at the Chameleon in town and chatting to Luke Moss, in the band Scene Killers, after the gig, and when he heard I was interested in old Nottingham groups he said “my dad was in a band”. That band was SF2. Another chance meeting a couple of months later in the “Lincolnshire Poacher” and his dad, Colin, was there too. I have subsequently talked to Colin about his and the bands history.

There was also another group called Scapa Flow who were working at the same time and were from, not to far away, Harleston in East Anglia, which made some things a little confusing for me at first but now it is all ironed out. I have put some of their story together and you can read it on another page later.

Chapter one: Lincoln rocks.

Just like the rest of Britain, at the dawn of the sixties, pop and rock groups were being formed daily in Lincolnshire as Skiffle and rock and roll turned to beat and then rhythm and blues with high hopes of following in the footsteps of The Beatles and The Stones in their search for fame, fortune and artistic integrity. Early British rock and roll pioneer Vince Eager emerged from Grantham and local Lincoln groups like The Avengers, Sultans, Johnny Vee and the Vampires entertained the growing youth market, The Vampires from Gainsborough became the Trentbeats in 1964 and The Lincoln Blues and many others kept the pubs, clubs and halls busy with live music.

Lincoln beat group The casuals, like many, headed out on the British Invasion but towards Europe, and in their case, Italy. Settling there in the mid sixties they released many records and achieved a UK number two in 1968 with Jesamine appearing on many shows including Germany’s Beat Club. Read more here.

Formed in 1962 Buddy Vydel and the Niteflyers plied their trade in the Lincolnshire area before also heading for Italy in 1965, staying there and renaming themselves The Scotch, releasing an album and three singles.
Six piece group The Elders Consolidated met American singer Sonny Childe in 1963 and in 1964 did the customary tours of Hamburg and Italy as his backing group before Sonny moved on and fronted another group, TNT, recording now sought after mod soul singles and then heading back to America in the late sixties.

By the late sixties the hair and rock culture had grown into an even more powerful force which the names would reflect. The Blue Kats became The Klan in 1969, a seven piece act and rock bands in 1970 with names like The Magic Bus and Virgin Glory became louder and heavier, shaking off the need for a pop single to announce their presence.

In the early seventies Lincoln had The Beat Machine, a beat and rock disco, which opened in May 1972 and the Aquarius which put on bands ranging from soul to rock. A designated rock night was organised at Aquarius by two members of rock group Pegasus, bass player Adrian Gregory and roadie Nigel Oliver. There were of course, the old established venues like the Lincoln Theatre Royal and the Drill Hall plus pubs like the Lion and Snake in Bailgate and “The Garden”.
Rock promoter Tony Lyne, sometimes working alongside Tony Sherwood and the Nottingham based Midland Management, put on events in Lincoln trying to attract the bigger national groups. Local promoters Jim Kirby-Shaw and Mike O’Toole did the same. It was during these early years a glut of new rock bands appeared in Lincoln and the surrounding towns, Index, Airspace, Tab Street Gas, Flight, The Road Band, Pegasus, Woody Kern (not to be confused with the Nottingham group of the same name), Kelsey, 110 Ton, Slow Tea, Factory, Grecco and probably Lincoln’s biggest early seventies rock group Scapa Flow.

Chapter two: Sixties roots.

Guitarist Colin Moss was Lincoln born in 1952. At 15 he started playing in his first proper group, whilst at school, called The Counter Beats around 1966/67. “We did covers of The Beatles and The Kinks, playing working men’s clubs. When I left school at 16, when I look back, I could have made good money playing working men’s clubs 3 or 4 times a week“. The Counter Beats also played places like the Metheringham Village Hall, the Branston Village Hall, the Silver Maple Club RAF Digby and Digby New Hall. In August 1967 they had advertised for a male and female vocalist.
Colin also used to go to the Boston Gliderdrome to watch rock groups play. Opening at the dawn of the sixties it was a venue that attracted the cream of the sixties groups. “I saw Ten Years After, Ike and Tina Turner, The Nice, The Equals, Amen Corner and Ginger Bakers Airforce. It was 30 miles away and there was no media then so I missed some like Stevie Wonder and Otis Redding“.

Drummer Tony Newton and bass player Brian Snelling had both been in The Road Band from 1968 to 1970. Playing the usual night spots like Lulu’s on the High Street they also played at Lincoln’s first free pop festival at Whitton’s Park in September 1970 alongside Liverpool acts National Head Band and Adrian Henri described in the Lincolnshire Echo as “the bearded anti-establishment poet” and also Chesterfield group “Shape of the Rain” and Forward Line.

As the sixties gave way to the seventies and with the addition of guitarist Dave Bilton, Colin, Tony and Brian formed Scapa Flow in 1970, named after the deep water natural harbour in the Orkney Islands used through the centuries as a naval base.

Chapter three: Scapa Flow are up and rocking.

Tony Newton:Drums (from The Road Band)
Dave Bilton: Guitar
Brian Snelling: Bass (from The Road Band)
Colin Moss: Guitar (from The Counter-Beats)

Scapa Flow played a mixture of covers by Rory Gallagher, Beatles, Ten Years After, etc. and a couple of original songs. They travelled around the country in an old van playing clubs and universities, supporting artists such as Gary Moore, Pink Fairies “maybe at a college in Retford. They were dressed like us, long hair and platform boots and they were really pissed. They were really good though”, Family at The Cavendish, St Ann’s Well Road, Nottingham, Edgar Broughton, Brewers Droop (a young Mark Knopfler on guitar) at Newark, Flash (original guitarist from Yes), Stud (Jim Creagen) Cochise (BJ Cole) and a festival in Lincoln with Funkadelic, Groundhogs, Duster Bennet, Hawkwind etc. They played Major venues such as The Cavern, The Marquee, The Flamingo (supporting Graham Bond and Pete Brown) and another regular gig was The Walsgrave near Coventry.

Pete Benney. Scapa Flow manager.

From Wragby, a few miles east of Lincoln, Pete was the bass player in the sixties group “The Reaction” playing in the Lincolnshire area. He then joined “The Reformation” in 1968. In August 1968 they played an all star beat dance in Horncastle and described as being from Lincoln. Another group billed to play who remained unannounced were from Retford and probably didn’t play due to other commitments. It could have been someone like The Debonaires. The other groups on the bill were “Martians Express” (from Lincolnshire), “Hells Angels” (from Mansfield), “The Hubbs” (from the Midlands), “The Human Dutch” (from Mansfield or Leicester) and DJ Mr. H.Ys Hi-Fi.
In 1969 bass player Stuart Challis joined “The Reformation” but playing organ. Stuart had been a member of The Breed who had as their front man a young Terry Bennett from Nottingham . Terry had just joined “The Diary” appearing on Opportunity Knocks but not finding any success. He would then sing with Nottingham group X-It for a couple of years before finding success with 70’s rock band Sassafras.
By April 1970 Pete Benny had left The Reformation and announced that he was to go out on the road again with a new group called “The Tempest” described as “Heavy music”.
However, by the end of 1970 Pete went into band management and started off with the newly formed Scapa Flow.

1970

On Thursday 29th October, 1970 Scapa Flow supported National Head Band at the Lincoln College of Art Dance. National Head Band had gone down very well at the Whitton’s Park free pop festival in September and the gig drew a large crowd. National Head Band had to be on their toes as the press stated “it had to be good to follow a fine set by Lincoln group Scapa Flow”.

1971

At a progressive pop concert in January 1971 at the Lincoln Theatre Royal they supported Cochise managed by Clearwater Productions who also looked after Hawkwind and High Tide. Cochise, a country rock band with BJ Cole on pedal steel guitar and Mick Grabham on guitar released three albums on UA between 1969 and 1972. “Scapa Flow opened the evening with a new arrangement of the Beatles “We Can Work It Out”. This set the pace for a fine hour’s session”.

In early ’71 Scapa Flow soon found regular work under Friars Promotions out at Coventry playing places like The Walsgrave, The New Inn (Longford), Mercers Arms, County Arms (Leicester), The Golden Eagle (Risley) and The Swan (Yardley). Back in Lincoln another mini festival was organised by Jim Kirby-Shaw in May ’71 at the Lincoln Arts Festival of Music. An excellent line up of Funkadelic, Groundhogs, Arthur Brown’s Kingdom Come, Tea and Symphony, Duster Bennett, Brewers Droop (who had a young Mark Knoffler in their ranks) and Indian Summer was opened by Scapa Flow. The weather was fine for those who had hitch-hiked from London, the Hells Angels provided the customary security, the police lay low and the event was a commercial success and more importantly a musical success with over 2000 fans being entertained for 12 hours.
“Lincoln band Scapa Flow had the erroneous task of opening the show, but really rose to the occasion and received what must be the loudest applause of their lives. After playing for nearly 90 minutes they broke into “Hear Me Calling”. With Brian Snelling laying down complex bass riffs, it included a neat guitar conversation between Colin Moss and Dave Bilton and finished with a driving drum solo from Tony Newton”.

In the Autumn local promoter Mike O’Toole arranged a series of rock concerts at the Drill Hall, Lincoln. The first of these was headlined by space rock kings Hawkwind. Local acoustic singer Seth played but again the show was opened by Scapa Flow. “First to take the stage were Lincoln group Scapa Flow, who once again played some excellent music, including one of their own compositions, “No.18” written by bassist Brian. What really shook the stage was their finale, “Hear Me Callin'” which had the Drll Hall crowd clapping with enthusiasm”.
Another gig at the Drill Hall saw them on the bill with Cheltenham prog rock group Tapestry.

1972

Regular gigs around the country continued taking in Lincoln, Nottingham (supporting Family) and Retford with Barracuda and Retford group Solstice close to home and Llandudno, Crewe and Runcorn further afield. Regular nights at he “Walsgrave” in the Midlands also continued. In the spring Scapa Flow entered the Melody Maker Folk and Rock contest. They were area winners and finalists eventually coming 4th out of over 5,000 entrants. In November a six hour mini festival was held at the Aquarius Club in Lincoln in aid of Lincoln Cathedral. Acts included Whispering Dwarfs, Mo Robinson, Liam Hickey, The Klan, Pegasus, Flight, Kelsey and Scapa Flow. The end of 1972 saw them headline a Christmas Eve concert at Northwich Memorial Hall.

1973

Scapa Flow played the Cavern Club in Liverpool, Heywood, Runcorn, Crewe, the New Penny Club in Lincoln, with their mates Grecco also in Lincoln. They entered the Melody Maker Folk and Rock contest again. In March they were winners of the first Northern area heat of the electric section after stiff opposition from Shiva, Hob-Goblin and Zhain. Winning the East Midlands section they joined two other groups from the Northern sections for the final at the Roundhouse in London. The winner would get a recording contract with E.M.I. and £500 worth of musical equipment but Scapa Flow, heaped with praise, missed out by a whisker finishing as runners up.

In November 1973 Tony Newton and Brian Snelling decided to quit the group leaving Colin Moss and Dave Bilton and manager Pete Benny to plan for the future. With a new direction in mind manager Pete Benny started looking for new drums and bass players interested in “soft rock”.

SF2 – 1975/77

SF2 line up: 1975/77
Colin Moss: Lead Guitar, 6 & 12 string acoustic guitars (Scapa Flow, The Counter-Beats)
Dave Bilton: Lead Guitar, 6 & 12 string acoustic guitars
Andy “Tramp” Dransfield: Drums (Grecco, Virgin Glory, Flight)
Rick Woolgar: Electric Organ, Moog Synthesiser, Flute, Saxophone, Bass Guitar (Grecco, Woody Kern, Magic Bus)
Lee Baker: Guitar, 12 string & slide guitars (Grecco, Virgin Glory, Flight)
Laurence “Loz” McAcree: Vocals (Grannies Band)

Manager
Pete Benney

Roadies
Errol (formerly with Scapa Flow)
Harry (formerly with Grecco)

SF2 were named thus meaning “Scapa Flow Two”. It is likely they would have chosen a new name but Scapa Flow had put their names down for future Melody Maker Rock Contests and not wanting to lose that chance they used the abbreviated version to keep their entry name valid. Colin Moss and Dave Bilton had spent a while as a duo after Scapa Flow had broke up and the chance of a new group came when old friends Grecco split up in 1974. This enabled a new group to be created from the ashes of both groups. Pete Benney was still the manager and the expanded six piece group made their start in 1975.

They made their debut on Friday 23rd May 1975 at Blenkin Hall in front of 300 fans. They played 4 one night weekly performances at the Marquee in London in September. Later in the year they played on the same bill as new Nottingham group Wheels and also played the Boat Club by the river Trent.

1975

1976

During 1976 SF2 got themselves a residency at the Imperial on St James’s Street, Nottingham. The Imperial had bands on six nights a week and was a regular venue for Nottingham rock fans.

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More Coming Later ….

After a bit of a break they reformed with a new name, The Pictures. “In 1979 we supported Simple Minds playing the likes of the Leadmill in Sheffield and Erics in Liverpool. We got a deal with Arista and we recorded an album produced by Dave Batchelor who had worked with Alex Harvey and The Skids, but then they dropped us. Then we got a deal and signed with Stateside records who inherited the tapes. As we disbanded and moved on they kept hold of the album. Nothing came of it but twenty years later they released the album online without us knowing“.

In 1980 Colin produced the Lincolnshire band “Sinking Ships“. Later he was in Red Alert (not to be confused with the Sunderland punk band, a later incarnation of The Cigarettes and the Mick Pini Band.

More recently, Colin has been in a soul covers band for ten years and a Beatles tribute band but still finds time to write his own material.

More coming later ………………