About – Notts Music Archive

Nottingham Music Archive

The short version:
Everything I can find out about the bands and musicians from the Notts area from the 1950’s onwards. A Notts Band Register.
Help me: Send me audio / visual / stories / corrections etc.
The reason: Our heritage. Just seems worthwhile.

The long version:

A website dedicated to the first wave of popular groups and artists in and around Nottingham from the 1950’s to the mid 1970’s. While giving an overview of other things in and around the scene the priority will always be the music and the musicians who made it.

What about punk, new wave, the 80’s, dj’s, house and hip hop music I hear you cry. Well, I originally wanted to keep this document to the first wave of modern popular music (The late 1950’s to the mid1970’s) but will extend it through the eighties and into the nineties (although those groups and articles will have to wait a while as preference will be given to the oldest first). By the nineties I hope to find a place to stop that has most of the elements in place that resonate with the musical landscape today.

I’m an avid music fan, making my own sounds for most of my adult life, with an eclectic taste that spans the genre’s and although music is an unbroken chain of inspiration and delight going back to the dawn of humanity the second half of the twentieth century in particular provided a unique time in the development of popular music and I, as a 1950’s born Nottingham boy, have been more than happy to have had this wonderful soundtrack as part of my life. When I first started gigging I was lucky enough to see some of the “great” bands when it mattered but at the same time I was a devotee of the “local” scene and the big three in my day were Cisco, Gaffa, Desperate Dann and Plummet Airlines. I want to celebrate the trials and tribulations of our own local musicians from those heady days as the post war youth generation set sail to the uncharted waters of pop and rock stardom armed only with their instruments, idea’s and youthful optimism.

The geographical range is also flexible. From the city of Nottingham to the county and stretching to nearby counties particularly when giving a voice to now almost forgotten groups. Also, some people were born in the region and stayed, others were born here and travelled elsewhere and some people came from afar and made their home here. If there is a worthwhile connection to our region then I will give it mention.

This is an ongoing document so some pages will be sparse and incomplete but that’s the nature of the beast. Some of the images I use are not of the quality I would like but that is all that is available. Many images are “orphan” images i.e. the original source is unknown. The same goes with audio.

RESOURCES AND YOUR HELP

The growth of the internet and web based information has made it easier for me to find out information that otherwise would have been lost in the mists of time but old newspapers and magazines, the music itself and the memories we all carry are a rich source of information that it is still worth pursuing.
As a fan of sixties groups I would look at websites like Brum Beat and Manchester Beat to refresh my memory of some of the lost pioneers of pop and was excited to see the first main resource I needed which was playedinaband.com , a Nottingham based website listing as many Nottingham groups from the sixties as were remembered or contactable. Then, there was the Dungeon Club website celebrating this great 60’s Nottingham club. Another useful site is the Nottstalgia forum where I have read many a conversation about life in 60’s and 70’s Nottingham.

These were the three main sources I started with. There are many other web pages mentioning the exploits of Nottingham musicians and these have helped in trying to give an overall picture of this era.

Without doubt, the “Nottingham Post” is an invaluable source of information and in relation to music is a great backbone to my working a chronology of events.

Any help you can give in adding to the story, correcting information or providing images or audio would be greatly appreciated. I would like to chat with/interview anyone who would like to tell their story. There are many demo tapes, acetates and live recordings I would like to add to the “Notts Music Archive” which is my way of trying to preserve a snapshot of our regions music.

I make every effort to acknowledge the source of my text and images but sometimes that is difficult. I am bound to put my foot in it but I am always willing to remove anything or amend any credit where due. This is a history project as well as a music project so there is a certain urgency in getting this down before it is lost.