Singer Terry Bennett came from Carlton, Nottingham. He played in local groups The Breed from the sixties and X-IT in the seventies before being spotted by the four members of Sassafras while he played a gig in Newport with X-IT. They asked him to join making them a five piece and Welsh group Sassafras are now fondly remembered as part of that great swathe of rock bands in the seventies that toured, sweated and entertained in clubs and venues up and down the country.
With TV, American tours, major support slots and a respectable recording legacy they have left their mark. Twin guitars and vocal harmony gave them a distinct sound mixing rock and country and Terry had a tambourine technique which when added to his front man persona gave the band a focus. To the pleasant surprise of his Nottingham mates he made the transition from local act to a national rock band with ease and held his own even on the huge stadium tours in America playing in front of 50,000 to 100,000 crowds.
Sassafras were formed in South Wales in 1970 as a three-piece band with guitarist Ralph Evans, bassist Ricky John Holt and drummer Rob Reynolds. Shortly afterwards guitarist David (Dai) Shell joined and the band signed to George Martin’s AIR Productions in 1972 with a line-up completed by Terry Bennett on vocals and Robert ‘Congo’ Jones on drums.
This is an extract from an interview with Dai Shell remembering early Sassafras gigs just before Terry joined including “three gigs in a day” which had the Boat Club as one of them. Then “finding” Terry at a gig and praise for his antics, front man qualities and character.
The full interview can be found here.
There is plenty more about Sassafras out there but hear are a few links:
Sassafras Live Old Grey Whistle Test 1974 / 1975
“Ohio” by Sassafras (UK, 1975)
- Beans and Things
- Moonshine
- Peanut Man
- The Raffle
- Ohio
- Wheeling and Dealing
- I am the Walrus
- Highway Skies
- The Goose that laid the Golden Egg
- Electric Chair
This gig is from Lewys website. It is poor quality but now a historical recording. He explains:
“At last…hot off the press….err…well actually 30 years after it was originally recorded…. here is the Sassafras Christmas concert from 23rd December 1974! I’ve split them up into individual files which are reasonably sized – most are 1-2mb, but you will probably want broadband to download them. And we used to think broadband was Demis Roussos’s backing singers….
You need to be a diehard fan to listen to these – they’re mono, old and recorded using Tats’ tried and tested Statue of Liberty technique (standing all night with the microphone from his tiny portable cassette player held high in the air!). It was worth waiting 30 years to now have the technology to increase the volume and get rid of some of the hiss and scratches…
For you real fans listen to Terry Bennett drawing the raffle numbers…and ignore everyone shouting for Electric Chair at the end of every song….it was something you had to get used to at a Sassafras gig!!”
Lewys also mentions from here:
19th October 1974 and it was Sassafras who were also very friendly and used to talk to us after their gigs. A bunch of welsh lads except for Terry Bennett who came from Carlton. We used to see them all over the place – my diary entry for March 23rd 1975 says “bumped into Terry Bennett and Ralph Evans at the garage over the road from my house”. We have one of our very bad recordings of a live concert at the Golden Diamond, Sutton in Ashfield. Electric Chair….Electric Chair….Electric Chair!
Some early memories of Terry Bennett by banjo48 on Nottstalgia
Posted October 19 2013.
Knew Terry Bennet very well, think he used to live on Fraser Square Carlton, Worked with his dad for awhile at Gedling Coliery – Reg Bennet, who was my charghand at the time.
Reg used to be on the Gedling Miners welfare committee on Mapperley tops so Terry used to do quite a few gigs there, met my good lady at one of the gigs at the welfare club so remember it well.
My wife used to cut and blow dry Terry’s hair at times as she was an apprentice hairdresser.
Wife’s older brother was good mates with Terry too.
I remember an “eventful” trip up to the twisted wheel, Manchester with him, for an all nighter, must have been around 65 – 66, we all went in my brothers car, an austin A40, must’ve been around 5 of us ! while we were there it snowed heavily overnight and my brother, under the influence of a “few” beers, decided to brave the Snakes Pass home on the Sunday morning !
Terry was a great laugh but was heavily into pills and uppers/downers at the time. Glad to hear he made it this far as no one who knew him well thought he would.
For a short time after Sassafras called it a day Terry joined Krakatoa who are notable for being the group of a then unknown (film soundtrack composer) Hans Zimmer.
From the Burton on Trent 76 Club website (Which I can’t currently locate)
Did you know that the greatest modern composer, Hans Zimmer has played at the 76 Club twice 7th October 77, and 21st July 78, with his band Krakatoa. With over 100 film-scores and soundtracks to his name (50 + nominated for awards) these include Dunkirk, Lion King, Gladiator, Da Vinci Code, Pirates of Caribbean, Rain Man, Pearl Harbour, Blade Runner etc …… Also in the band were Terry Bennett (Sassafras), Nigel Glockler (Saxon), Dave Poxon and Roger Adams. The band played a funky sounding set, and glad I was there to see them.