“If it feels good do it”

Pete is a guitarist who has been playing since the early sixties in groups like Les Dane and the Dangermen, The Bisons, The Bluespots, The Litter, Medicine Hat and Pancho. He is still playing in the 2020’s as Booba Dust. He also operated the “Yew Tree Farm” studio in the 1980’s and 90’s.

I’ve spoken to Pete on many occasions to shed some light on his career in music.

Pete was born in Nottingham in 1947. Pete’s dad was from Nottingham also. He would sell cars, lifts. He was originally from Sneinton. Then he moved to Beeston Rylands, then back to Sneinton and eventually to Carlton, so Pete grew up in Carlton.

“My dad was a heavy smoker, Players or Senior Service. He tried Kensington’s but said they were no good. It’s what put me off smoking really. I tried it obviously but disliked it. My dad used to save all his nub ends and roll up one from the second hand tobacco. It made me sick. When I was little I can remember he was siting near the fire and said “I can blow smoke out my eyes”. I said neh go on, and he would take a big drag and I would be looking into his eyes and he would put his fag on my arm and burn me. Cruel ha ha”. Pete’s dad died of a stroke at the age of 68.

Pete grew up in Carlton. He was friends with Tony Crosby. “Tony grew up just up the road at Westdale Lane”. “We used to practice Shadows numbers together”. Tony went to a private school, he was well educated, I just went to a secondary Modern”. Tony Crosby played in “Raw Meat Blues Band”, the Red House Blues Band with Tim Disney in ’68 and joined Woody Kern in 1970 after Rick Kenton left.

Although a few years younger Mick Kitchener was also at Pete’s school. Mick would form the heavy rock group “Orphan” in 1969 and Pete would occasionally step in for a jam.

“I saw The Jaybirds. We used to watch them often. In the break he (Alvin Lee) would let me have a flutter on his Gibbo. We got a lift in Alvin’s Berkley car to his house at Toston Drive. His dad Sam was a clarinet player”.

One of Pete’s earliest groups was The Dangermen and as Pete remembers it was Les Dane and the Dangermen:

Les Dane and the Dangermen – 1964

The Dangermen would often be the group for various front men. Two others are Ricky Trent and Johnny Tremayne. “It is the same Les Dane & the Dangermen with occasionally Ricky Trent who was a lot older. He went to the same school as me Cavendish & I knew him as Alfie ! “.

More newspaper cuttings of The Dangermen here.

The Bisons – 1965

Another group who Pete played for were the Bisons.
“Whilst playing with the Bisons I also played a few gigs & rehearsed with Nottingham’s Junco Partners although they were older & much more proficient & played all the old blues which I just wanted to play so a learning curve when they lent me some Jimmy Reed, Sonny Terry Brownie McGee , Sonny Boy Williamson LP’s”. When Pete asked The Bisons if they would cover a Sonny Boy Williamson song they looked at him bemused so Pete decided to leave and form his own group.

Line up:
Dave: Guitar
Tony: Bass
Chris ?: Drums
?????: Vocals
Pete Tattersall: Guitar

The photo’s below were taken at the Trades Hall on Thurland Street in Nottingham.

The Bluespots – 1965/67

There were 4 line ups of The Bluespots.

Line up *1:
Winston Jones (Vocals)
Pete Tattersall (Guitar vocals)
Mervin Gosling (Bass)
Mick Gordon (Drums)

Line up *2:
Winston Jones (Vocals)
Pete Tattersall (Guitar vocals)
Mervin Gosling (Bass)
Pete Donovan (Drums)

“I think this was the line up that recorded at Codolar Studio. We recorded two songs, both Don Covay covers. Seesaw & Mercy Mercy”. Clive Gamble’s Codolar studio was on Middle Pavement, Nottingham. You can read about it here.

Line up *3:
Winston Jones (Vocals)
Pete Tattersall (Guitar vocals)
Mick Parker (Bass)
Pete Donovan (Drums)

Line up *4:
Winston Jones (Vocals)
Pete Tattersall (Guitar vocals)
Andy “Will” Williams (Bass)
Graham Gamble (Drums)

NEWSPAPER CUTTINGS

1965

1966

“We would get paid £8, £10 or £12, and if you got £15 you were like…. Some pubs would only offer £4 or £5 but if they offered us a gig for less then £8 we would turn it down”.

“Well, I can remember, we had a support gig with Our Young. It was somewhere on the east coast maybe. We didn’t know we had to be there really early and when we got there they were already playing at 7pm. They had the hump with us all night”.

“We played a couple of times at the Gallery Club, still waiting for the money from Bill Kinnell !”

Hendrix and Cream

Hendrix and Cream were inspirational bands in the mid sixties.
“I saw Cream at the Beachcomber. I saw Hendrix too. It was only a small place with a low ceiling. Me and Pam were at the front. At the Cream gig they had 4 4by12’s each. I was at the front with Pam. It was so loud that they stopped playing after two songs. The roadies came in and halved everything. They took two lots of 4 by12’s away but they still had 8 12’s. At the end Eric Clapton hung the guitar around Pam’s neck and shoulders. I was reaching around Pam trying to play the guitar until the roadies came to take it away and I was still trying to play a few licks on Clapton’s SG.”

1967

In the autumn of 1967 The Bluespots changed their name to The Litter.

The Litter – 1967/69

Winston Jones (Vocals)
Pete Tattersall (Guitar vocals)
Andy “Will” Williams (Bass)
Graham Gamble (Drums)

NEWSPAPER CUTTINGS

1967

In December 1967 The Litter were booked to support Amen Corner at the Festival Hall, Kirkby-in-Ashfield. Amen Corner had to pull out and asked Pink Floyd to take their place. They had both recently been on the same bill with Jimi Hendrix on the November 67 package tour. “Pink Floyd didn’t turn up. We turned up and the promoter made us play all night long for the same money. It was slinging down with snow. We did support the Small Faces one time at the Festival Hall, Kirkby-in-Ashfield”.

1968

1969

By the autumn of 1969 The Litter parted ways.

= = = = = = = = = = = =

At the moment most of the the Medicine Hat story is at this page. Meanwhile I’ll build the story on here soon.

Medicine Hat – 1969/71

Mick Allenby: Drums
Harry Beighton: Keyboards
Dave Crowden: Bass
Pete Tattersall: Guitar

They would also perform as the backing band to Tiny Davis hence the five piece above. “The photo was taken by Richard Clive Studio’s in Fulham Road, London. After the photo shoot we went down to Hastings to play the Cobweb Club”.

Medicine Hat became Pancho in sept 1971 with the same line up.

More coming soon …..

A picture of Pancho with the band “Home” taken outside Selecta-Disc on Arkwright Street in 1971. The photo was taken by George Toone who was a local Nottingham promoter at the time and booked Home and Pancho to play the Imperial on St James’s Street.