Why are there no really big and famous bands from Nottingham? This is a question which has often been posed and still is to some extent. It is true to say that “big bands” are not the only criteria we use when discussing the rock and pop music of the last 60 years but it is a fair question to try and answer, giving the size of our city and the fact that many other towns and cities smaller than ours will reel off a succession of legendary groups and artists that have impacted on the country and the wider world. While my endeavours in further essays will show that actually we have a lot to be proud of locally in the history of modern popular music, we just can’t escape this fact.

Without doubt we can proudly hold “Ten Years After” aloft as one of the big groups of the late sixties and early seventies. For a brief time they were one of the highest grossing bands in the world rivalling Led Zeppelin in the blues rock genre, did more US tours than any other band, played to the huge stadium crowds of the early seventies which is estimated to be 4 million people a year between 1969 and 1975, had good album sales, had one of the world’s legendary guitarists in Alvin Lee, were one of the sensations of “Woodstock” and generally were held in high esteem and that, with no “single” success in a time when albums were king. If that doesn’t qualify as big then I don’t know what does but It was a long time ago and Blues rock is not a genre considered very sexy now, if it ever was, but lets not take anything away from those hardworking lads from humble beginnings who “made it” and stuck to their guns when making the music they wanted to make.

Many people will name “Paper Lace”, with some reluctance, as our only “number one” singles group in 1974. They had two other big single hits. I say reluctance, because they came from the cabaret club circuit and are not considered by many as worthy but they were hard working lads too. Nevertheless they didn’t have a long career “chart” wise. Nottingham born Ian Paice, drummer with Deep Purple, is regarded as one of the world’s greatest rock drummers after Keith Moon and John Bonham, and still playing today. Andy Fletcher of Depeche Mode was born here. There are a few others I will offer up as candidates but I think the point is already sinking in. We didn’t really produce any big punk bands either. That is in no way to denigrate the fine bands we had but it is just that they didn’t reach the national circuit or leave us with an iconic song. I except, that isn’t always the objective but I’m just illustrating the point again.

We did have some gravitas in the house music club scene with “The Garage” and Scotsman moved to Nottingham DJ Graeme Park as early pioneers of this emerging dance music culture. There is a “House” record from the late eighties (I think) which has the names on the sleeve of the major cities who were at the forefront of this new movement and Nottingham sits in with London, Chicago and Bristol (I can’t remember what that record was). There in lies the first clue to one of the reasons we might not have produced really big bands. Nottingham has always been a club town. A great club town but without suitable venues to keep up with the changing face of rock culture and promote growing local talent.

Let’s have a look at that in a little more detail.

In the fifties and sixties Nottingham had the venues everyone else had. There were no “Rock venues” yet, but every village, town and city in the land had it’s church halls, town halls, pubs, clubs, theatres and even cinemas. In the fifties church halls and pubs provided the fertile ground for skiffle and rock and roll groups to find their feet. The Folk scene was bubbling. Spike Woods, Anne Briggs and others kept the ancient songs alive and brought them into the new world playing any pub, club or room that would have them. By the time Beat music was upon us in the early sixties Nottingham was booming with groups everywhere you looked. Every pub had live music. There was no such thing as a disco. Everything was live. Local boys The Beatmen got a record contract with Pye Records. We had the Theatre Royal for the package tours of rock and roll stars of the fifties and early sixties. Chuck Berry, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks and many more could be seen if only for a short set amongst the other half dozen acts. The Beatles played here four times, three at the Odeon cinema. A breakthrough moment must be the opening of The Dungeon club on Stanford Street in 1964. This was at the height of the Mod and Soul movements. Nottingham was one of the major centres for these new trends. It was
definitely a “Soul” town. The Dungeon, like the Cavern in Liverpool, was alcohol free, a concept that must seem alien to us today but many people didn’t like it when alcohol was introduced to these places as the sixties progressed. At The Dungeon you could see Stevie Wonder, The Who, The Small Faces and a roll call of acts that would make you slaver with excitement today. The Sherwood Rooms, The Beachcomber club, The Palais, The Boat club, The Dancing Slipper and many many more clubs meant you could see anybody who was anybody on the circuit. Local acts blossomed like The Jaybirds (soon to become Ten Years After), The Children, The Clockwork Toys, Robert Hirst and the Big Taste. More like Sons and Lovers, Whichwhat and Woody Kern all released records. The Trent Polytechnic and Nottingham University provided for another growing scene of more advanced groups. Cream, Pink Floyd and now legendary rock “names” could be seen somewhere. Jimi Hendrix played at three different Nottingham venues in 1967. Then, there was the whole Cabaret and working men’s club scene as well which was still a viable circuit for groups to make a living. Up until now Nottingham was doing fine with the live scene but as rock began to grow at the end of the 60’s and leading into the seventies we slowly got left behind. These club venues just weren’t big enough to cater for the new growing rock business.

We still had the Boat club which could boast two performances by Led Zeppelin in 1970 but this was as far as it could go. The Boat, the Union and the Brit could still cater for club circuit bands from either the rock or soul scenes but acts like Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, Stevie Wonder and Deep Purple became to big to visit Nottingham. Nottingham University provided a good venue for the “University” circuit. Paul McCartney’s Wings played their first ever gig there in 1972. The Strawbs, Can, Chic Corea, Isotope, Soft Machine and many other so called “progressive” or “fusion” bands could be seen and the Royal Albert hall could accommodate some bigger acts too but that closed in 1971 after violence by rock and roll teddy boys at a Sha Na Na gig.
By the mid seventies neither the reopened Royal Albert Hall, The Boat club and Nottingham University could cope with the huge bands that now existed. Even regular touring bands would miss Nottingham and it was common for me and my mates to travel to Leicester de Montfort hall, Derby Assembly Rooms, Birmingham or sometimes London to see a regular band on tour like Hawkwind, Santana, Steve Hillage, Bob Marley, Kraftwerk, Man, Deep Purple, Humble Pie, Black Sabbath, Motorhead and so on.

Nottinghamshire and south Yorkshire was also a very good area for the clubland circuit in the seventies and many groups opted for this work which at the time paid well. Let’s not forget, people have to live and making a living is sometimes just as important as “hitting the big time”. Groups could be playing three or four times a week and having a laugh.

By the mid seventies, the local scene in Nottingham with bands like Gaffa, Cisco, Tatum, Plummet Airlines, Wheels, Desperate Dann, Matarka and Mensch was really healthy but with a restricted amount of venues to use. The Imperial hotel, the Unity club in Beeston, The Test Match, The Town Arms and similar places restricted what could be done. As these groups were joined by the emerging punk and new wave bands like Some Chicken, The Drains, The Press and Art Failure and new club venues like The Ad-Lib, The Sandpiper and Katies (previously the Unity Club), The Hearty Goodfellow meant things were fine locally on the club level but still we struggled to produce the big name acts others could brag about. Dave Brett who would launch the local and national magazine “Way Ahead” in February 1976 described it as the “Nottingham Venue Syndrome”.

The opening of “Rock City” in December 1980 was a much needed shot in the arm for Nottingham. It fast grew into a favourite venue for many touring bands and helped us catch up with our fellow towns and cities. It wasn’t the answer to the question though as this story of “no famous” groups can be retold through the nineties and into this century. Undoubtedly we have talent and we are as much music lovers as anyone else but maybe that “club culture” is ingrained in our provincial mentality and we are destined to remain as the grass roots, blood and guts renegades who just keep plugging away at what we know best, a good night out!

January 2021