Nottingham Electric Folk Band – 1975 – 1979 and 2002 to Present
Morris Convertible are an electric Folk/Rock band who play a mixture of traditional folk songs, own compositions and covers. They all met up at Clifton Teacher Training College in the early 70s where there was a thriving rock and folk music scene. They all played in various college bands. Alan Tiplady, Mike Howitt, Vere Foster and Warwick Mann all played in their first folk/rock band, Isengard, which also included Kev Marston, later of Words and Working Party. (Mike reunited with his college mates in Morris Convertible Mk IV 2002). Graham Aitchison and Bill Leivers meanwhile toured the folk clubs with The Village Band and Kimiad. They all stayed in Nottingham after they finished college, apart from Mike, and by 1975 they needed to find an escape from working for a living, so they decided to form Morris Convertible.
There were 4 Morris Convertible line ups over the years as follows:
Mk I: (1975 – 1976)
Steve Bailey* – Guitar, Vocals
Bill Leivers – Button Accordion, Anglo Concertina, Whistles, Northumbrian Pipes, Bass, Vocals
Vere Foster – Fiddle, Mandolin, Vocals
Graham Aitchison – Bass, Guitar, Vocals
Warwick Mann – Drums
*Steve Bailey left to pursue a career with his other folk band Six Hands in Tempo. He was replaced by Alan Tiplady, ex-Clifton College, who had been playing with Kev Marston (later Working Party) in a relatively successful Nottingham singer/songwriter folk duo called Words
Mk II: (1976 – 1978)
Alan Tiplady* – Guitar, Vocals
Bill Leivers** – Button Accordion, Anglo Concertina, Whistles, Northumbrian Pipes, Bass, Vocals
Vere Foster – Fiddle, Mandolin, Vocals
Graham Aitchison – Bass, Guitar, Vocals
Warwick Mann – Drums
**Bill Leivers left at the end of 1978 to pursue other music projects
Mk III: (1979)
Alan Tiplady – Guitar, Vocals
Vere Foster – Fiddle, Mandolin, Vocals
Graham Aitchison – Bass, Guitar, Vocals
Warwick Mann – Drums
Mk IV: (2002 to present)
Alan Tiplady – Guitar, Mandolin, Vocals
Bill Leivers – Melodeon, Whistles, Bass, Vocals
Vere Foster – Fiddle, Mandolin, Vocals
Mike Howitt*** – Lead Guitar, Vocals
Graham Aitchison – Bass, Guitar, Vocals
Warwick Mann – Drums
***Mike Howitt had returned to Nottingham and played in local bands including Night Class as well as Willy Nilly (see below) before reuniting with his old college mates in this line-up.
(In later years, the band were also joined on stage by their good friend from college days, Jeff Mackintosh)
Mk I: The band were gigging regularly during their late 70s heyday. This line up played a total of 24 gigs from mid-1975 to early 1976, both locally and further afield, in folk concerts, colleges and universities and folk clubs. They supported Bridget St John and Gordon Giltrap at Nottingham Uni.
Mk II: This line up went on to be even more successful and played a total of 150 gigs between April 1976 and December 1978. They were now getting gigs all over the country from Liverpool to Kent as well as festivals and local gigs. They supported several famous people including Split Enz, John Renbourne and Ricky Cool and the Icebergs. They had a hugely popular Thursday night residency at the Test Match in West Bridgford and also had a big following in the Chesterfield/Bolsover area.
Mk III: When Bill left at the end of 1978, punk music had arrived and folk/rock fell out of fashion, so gigs became harder to come by. The band took a few months’ break to decide whether to carry on without Bill. They decided to give it a go and managed another 17 gigs between May and December, but it was beginning to feel like a slog. Also, band members had got married and children were on the horizon, so the band finally called it a day with a final Farewell concert at the Test Match on 14th December 1979 when both Bill Leivers and Steve Bailey joined them on stage for one last time – or so they thought!!
Mk IV: The band members spent the next 23 years working and bringing up families, whilst doing their own thing musically. But they still stayed the best of friends, and, in 2002, they decided to have a Clifton College musical reunion weekend at an outdoor leisure centre in Yorkshire. As well as all the original Mk II line up, they were also joined by Mike Howitt and Jeff Mackintosh. They had such a great time reviving some of the old Morris Convertible songs and trying out some new ones that they decided to reform and do a few gigs here and there with the addition of Mike Howitt on lead guitar. They have done a total of 23 gigs to date, mainly at the Poppy and Pint and the Boat Club in West Bridgford but also a few other local gigs including the Festival of the Peak in Derbyshire.
Recording History:
The band have made 3 separate studio recordings over the years, 2 with the Mk II line up and a recent one with the Mk IV line up. In addition, there were 2 live recordings done by both Radio Nottingham and Radio Trent in the late 70s.
Rainbow Studios Demos: The Mk II band recorded 12 tracks at Rainbow Studios in Nottingham over 2 sessions. These have never been available until recently (see below).
Cottage Records: The Mk II line up then had a contract to record an album with Cottage Records in Northants in 1977, which was to be called Old Wives’ Tales. The artwork for the album was ready, but the sessions didn’t go well and, whilst the recordings were completed, the band was not happy with the finished product so refused to allow it to be released. The main problem being that the record company refused to give it a rocky enough mix.
Hanky Panky: The Mk IV line up started work on an album after they reformed. By this time, Steve Bailey from the Mk I line up had set up a home recording studio and a record label called Clearjar Records. The recordings were finished but Steve was unable to finish mixing it, so it was finally completed by Alan Tiplady. However, the album was only for personal use and was never officially released for copyright reasons. It has been listed on discogs by someone without permission from the band, so the band has requested its removal.
Morris Convertible Online:
The band now has an official album on all the online music platforms entitled Old Wives’ Tales with the original artwork as the cover. The album is a compilation of some of the above Rainbow Demos and the later Hanky Panky recordings. It also includes 2 of the Cottage Records recordings at the end listed as bonus tracks.
The album can be found here:
Spotify
Amazon Music
YouTube Music
YouTube
Apple Music
Soundcloud
More Morris Convertible newspaper cuttings further below.
Other connections:
Willy Nilly: After Morris Convertible split in 1979, Graham Aitchison, Alan Tiplady and Warwick Mann formed an 80s rock and roll band for a couple of years called Willy Nilly. The band also included Mike Howitt on lead guitar and Ed Marchewicz on sax.
Alan Tiplady:
Alan is also a singer/songwriter and has 12 solo albums online which he has written, recorded and produced himself. His albums can be found on the platforms below:
Spotify
Amazon Music
YouTube Music
YouTube
Apple Music
Soundcloud
Vere Foster:
During the Morris Convertible Mark 1 and 2 era, Vere was helping to run a fortnightly folk club in High Bentham, Yorkshire. The resident band he was in was called Farmstead and, in 1977, they released an album called The Sheep and the Hay which was FE005 on the Fellside record label.
After Morris Convertible and Farmstead had played their last gigs in 1979, Vere joined the folk band Belzebub who enjoyed a career spanning 43 years. They had several tours abroad in France and Belgium and released 3 albums – Up Jumped the Devil (1982), Reformation (2006) and Giving it Some Bounce (2016).
Vere also plays in King Contra, a band specialising in American contra music. The band has played several folk festivals, released an album under the name King Contra in 2014 and played a 14 night tour in the USA.
Vere is currently (2026) playing ceilidhs and festivals with local bands: – King Contra, The Celebration Band and Reel Easy.
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MORRIS CONVERTIBLE NEWSPAPER CUTTINGS
1977
