Nottingham group 1969-71
Medicine Hat were formed in late 1969. Pete Tattersall had been in “The Blue Spots” and “The Litter” in the late sixties. In September 1971 they changed their name to “Pancho” to avoid confusion with “Medicine Head” who were becoming better known throughout the country. Medicine Hat were a band who transitioned from a soul band to a rock band. They cut an acetate record at Nottingham Sound Studio in the summer of 1971 which you can hear near the bottom of the page. Their line up was:
Mick Allenby: Drums
Harry Beighton: Keyboards
David Crowden: Bass Guitar
Pete Tattersall: Guitar
Harry Beighton played organ and had been in a band with Tim Disney in 1968.
They played as support to Mosaic Sunset, another Nottingham band who had in their ranks Graham Wyvill and Gordon Beresford.
1970
The band would also serve as backing band to Tiny Davis who was a club soul singer from Nottingham and they hit the gig circuit often finding themselves on the bill with fellow Notts bands Whichwhat, Jaffa Band, Tony Sherwood DJ, Emery Chase and Barracuda.
In October 1970 Medicine Hat got themselves on the bill of the Festival of Contemporary Music at the Newark Show Ground. The headline act was Black Sabbath who had just recently reached the top ten with their single Paranoid. Also on the bill were underground heroes Hawkwind. Mansfield group Emery Chase were also there along with Cochise, Johnny Johnson and the Bandwagon and Cherokee Smith.
In the “Boat Club” book there is a gig on Friday 20th November, 1970 listed as Medicine Head with Tiny Davis. On a different website “Will” corrected that information to “Tiny Davis sang with Medicine Hat and not Medicine Head“. Tiny Davis was a Nottingham based club soul singer. The Boat Club advert below confirms that.
1971
By the summer of 1971 Medicine Hat are being described as a progressive band and they recorded an acetate at Nottingham Sound Studio. It has a rock pop feel with guitar solo’s and a keyboard presence giving it a slight prog psych edge. My copy is not very good. One track jumps a fair bit and both tracks suffer from background noise. However, it gives a window into their sound.
At the beginning of September 1971 Medicine Hat advertised themselves under a new name “Pancho“.
Now established as Pancho they continued……….