Mansfield group circa 1960.

This Mansfield group featured both Leo Lyons and Alvin Lee together for the first time, if only very briefly. They both would go on to play in The Jaybirds and eventually Ten Years After achieving world wide success.

The Atomites were formed in 1958 or 1959 in Huthwaite Village, Nottinghamshire starting out as a skiffle group with a washboard and tea-chest bass but progressing into a large group with a line-up of:

Alan Williamson: Lead guitar (b. c. 1943, Skegby, near Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, England d. Late Summer 1960)
Roy Cooper: Rhythm guitar, lead vocals (b. Thursday, November 18, 1943, 35 New Street, Huthwaite Village, Nottinghamshire, England)
Bas Kemp: Double bass
Geoff Kemp: Drums (b. Geoffrey Kemp).

Later in 1959? Geoff Kemp left The Atomites and was quickly replaced by drummer and occasional lead vocalist Peter Redman (b. Peter Evans, April 1939, 26 Garnon Street, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England).

Then in 1959? Bas Kemp left The Atomites and was replaced by bassist Oscar X (b. 1943, Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, England).

The line up was then:

Alan Williamson: Lead guitar
Roy Cooper: Rhythm guitar, lead vocals
Oscar ?: Bass
Peter Redman (Peter Evans): Drums

The band played local gigs to start with but when Phil Smith (b. Phillip Smith, Tuesday, May 28, 1940, 35 Sheepbridge Lane, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England) became their manager they gradually played further afield. Phil Smith would go on to have a big impact on the Notts pop and rock scene as an agent, manager and promoter.

They played regularly at the Gliderdrome in Boston during 1960. One of the other local names of significance that you see on the following press cuttings is Johnny Theakstone / Shane Fenton.

In Late Summer 1960 Oscar X left The Atomites and was replaced by 16-year-old Leo Lyons on bass (Hofner Senator) (b. David William Lyons, Tuesday, November 30, 1943, Mansfield General Hospital, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England).

Alan Williamson: Lead guitar
Roy Cooper: Rhythm guitar, lead vocals
Leo Lyons: Bass
Peter Redman (Peter Evans): Drums

Leo Lyons joined The Atomites on bass guitar after he had been in Phil Dennis and the Phantoms. The Atomites had already been playing and their manager, Phil Smith, spotted Leo at a gig and asked him to join. Future “Jaybirds” Pete Evans and Ray Cooper were already in the Atomites. Tragedy hit The Atomites when Ian Williamson died in the summer of 1960.

Only a couple of weeks after Leo Lyons had joined, Alvin Lee replied to an advertisement for a guitarist. As Alvin Lee was about to leave school, he answered an advert in The Nottingham Evening Post from The Atomites, who were looking for a new lead guitarist to replace Williamson. Lee auditioned for the band at The Crooked Spire in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, playing a Duane Eddy tune, ‘Raunchy’ and passed the audition.

The Atomites were Alvin Lee’s fourth group after Alan Upton, Vince Marshall and the first incarnation of Ivan Jaye and the Jaye Men. When the original line up of Ivan Jaye and the Jaye Men split around the end of August 1960 Alvin joined The Atomites. He soon introduced Ivan Jaye to the group and he joined as their lead vocalist. The Atomites played their last gig under that name in September 1960. Alvin didn’t like the name “Atomites” and they became the second version of Ivan Jaye and the Jaycats with a line up of:

Alvin Lee: Lead Guitar
Leo Lyons: Bass Guitar
Pete Redman (Pete Evans): Drums
Ray Cooper: Rhythm Guitar
Ivan Jaye: Lead Vocalist

With thanks to John Warburg who through conversations with Roy Cooper was able to clarify a lot of fact and detail.