The Jaybirds were one of Nottingham’s premier groups in the early sixties, featuring future guitar legend Alvin Lee, becoming Ten Years After in 1967, conquering America, becoming Woodstock legends and leaving a legacy still adored today. The full story of the Jaybirds will be told elsewhere but they had a fluctuating line up and for a short time they were fronted by local rocker Farran Kristy. This is the brief story of that early 1962 line up.

Alvin Lee and Leo Lyons had been playing together since the late 1950’s and Pete Evans was a mainstay on drums for a few years until he was replaced by Dave Clancy Quickmire in 1963 who was then replaced by Ric Lee in 1965.

By the end of 1961 the line up included Roy Cooper on rhythm guitar and the feisty Farran Kristy on vocals. Just prior to Farran Kristy joining the group the Jaybirds had been playing in London alongside Linda Lane in November 1961. The Winsford Chronicle, the Crewe Chronicle and the Nantwich Chronicle all report on “Ivan Love and the Jaybirds” as one of London’s top groups.

Vocalist Farran Kristy was in fact Neil Lakin who took his stage name by combining two names, taken from a grocers shop (Farrands on Main Street, Bulwell) and a hairdressers (Kristy’s) in Hucknall.

Farran Kristy had burst onto the scene with his group the Sapphires in early 1961 appearing at local venues in Beeston, Long Eaton, Nottingham and the Skegness Embassy.

He must of crossed paths with the Jaycats/Jaybirds on many occasion. In December of 1961 he joined the group when Ivan Jaye split to form his own outfit and a gig was advertised that month in Boston. It seems that Alvin Lee and the boys would still pick and choose between Jaycats and Jaybirds but this is probably the last time they were advertised as the Jaycats.

In January 1962 an apology was issued by the Skegness Embassy for the non-appearance of Farran Kristy. That could be because Farran could no longer fulfil any obligations he still had having now taken on the Jaybirds commitments.

Now firmly in the group the group’s van was christened accordingly.

The photo of the van belongs to Leo Lyons who has it dated as 1963 but in the haze of a 60 year career he must have that wrong.

There was a smallpox outbreak in Bradford in early 1962. The lads got vaccinated before gigging there.

A big moment in the history of Ten Years After / The Jaybirds happened while Farran Kristy was singing with the band or maybe just before he joined. They were invited to (the now legendary) Joe Meek’s studio at 304 Holloway Road, London to record. These lost recordings, of many groups, have been called the “Tea Chest Tapes” as that is where they were stored after Joe Meeks death in 1967.

Record Collector Magazine has this dated as 1963 which I’m sure is wrong as the following press cuttings suggest 1962.
This is how record collector described it in 2008.
“Alvin Lee / TYA: Future guitar superhero Alvin Lee of Ten Years After recorded at 304 Holloway Road shortly after a stint at Hamburg’s Star Club (ending in early 1963). Alvin & The Jaybirds taped a splendid performance of the driving instrumental Husky Team as well as the untitled Alvin’s Tune”.

The group certainly did play Hamburg when they said they did but this was after the recording session. The following press report from February 1962 suggests the recording session was maybe in January of 1962 or maybe even the end of 1961.

It doesn’t explicitly say what the line up is but clearly refers to the tracks recorded: “Husky Team” & “Alvin’s Tune”. As Husky Team is an instrumental as well as Alvin’s Tune it could be that Farran Kristy wasn’t at the Joe Meek session otherwise he would have surely sang. The article refers to them “cutting their first disc”. It was a fairly common piece of journalism at the time (when many groups were recording a demo disc) to describe a recording this way and at the time the group themselves probably had visions of it ending up on vinyl. It never did but Cherry Red have been given access to the entire “Tea Chest Tapes” and we should eventually be able to hear these historical recordings and maybe the story behind them. In 2020 Cherry Red Records put a 35 minute video on YouTube outlining the significance of these tapes.

The Nottingham Journal reports on “Alvin’s Tune” as well.

The Farran Kristy led line up continued.

In May 1962 it was announced that Farran Kristy and the Jaybirds were going to Hamburg, Germany to play the Top Ten Club.

Farran Kristy and Roy Cooper decided not to go and The Jaybirds became a three piece of Alvin Lee, Leo Lyons and Pete Evans. Here they are in a German hotel.

When they were back in Britain in August 1962 there was gig billed as Farran Kristy and The Jaybirds but I think this was probably an oversight by the promoters at the Peterborough Corn Exchange and they were probably unaware of the current line up and name.

The Jaybirds carried on and Farran Kristy formed his own group “Farran Kristys Big Six“. A small chapter in the history of The Jaybirds was ended but they had plenty to look forward to yet.