The Chaesers were a beat group from Clay Cross, a few miles south of Chesterfield in North East Derbyshire. 1963 – 1968. There are two sound clips further down the page or in the music menu.
Also featuring The Buccaneers, Constant Flux, Shades of Blue, The Jaytones and The Shaynes.
Laurence Slater and Harry Smith had started life in The Buccaneers in 1961.
Laurence explains “Our very first gig at a birthday party in 1961. We were called ( THE BUCCANEERS ). Malc Straw on drums, me Lawrence Slater on my own made bass guitar, Jim on Hofner guitar and Harry on Broadway guitar. We had all the guitars sprayed white. Great times. You can just see a Watkins Dominator amp.”
In 1963 The Chaesers had formed with a line up of:
John Wyld
Michael Robinson
Harry Smith: Guitar
Eric Black
Laurence Slater: Bass
The rest of the instrumentation was Drums, Rhythm Guitar and Organ
They were all pupils at Clay Cross Secondary School and members of the Clay Cross Central youth club. Playing locally they soon founds gigs further afield. They played a dance at the Derbyshire County Council offices at Matlock and then they found themselves in a Clay Cross guitar contest with seven other groups.
Three of the groups played The Dave Clarke song “Glad All Over”, which was a national smash hit, during their ten minute set. The judges complained that all the groups were to loud, rendering it impossible to hear the singer in some cases. The first prize was the Dave berry trophy for groups under seventeen and was won by “The Shaynes” from Birley in Sheffield. Dave Berry was from Sheffield and with his group the Cruisers was just breaking through onto the national scene. The second prize, the Wilson Peck trophy, was won by The Chaesers. Wilson Peck was the name of Sheffield’s oldest record shop dating back to 1896. A third trophy was won by another Clay Cross group “The Trireams”.
The Chaesers continued playing through 1964 and 1965. The following photo’s are from the Danesmoor Youth club in Clay Cross.
1966
By 1966 the musical landscape was changing and The Chaesers had found a new freedom and with that a new sound.
Playing the East Midlands, Derby and Leicester were popular haunts.
1965-66 Recording
Before the lads called time on the band they found time to record an acetate at the Nottingham Sound Studio. This recording studio was built by Colin Horton and Geoffrey Hall Ford who both came from Cinderhill in Nottingham. This is where they set up this studio with the aim of recording mainly club acts and trying to capture the sound of how they were live. So, there was no studio trickery or particular innovation. Acetates were cut for the prospective groups with a label that was titled either “Nottingham Sound Services” or “Nottingham Sound Studio”. Colin Horton was a professional drummer with his own trio. He had formerly been part of the Reg Guest Trio. Geoffrey Hall Ford was a professional organist and was responsible for the musical arrangements. Read more about Nottingham Sound Studio here.
The Chaesers recorded two songs “High Speed World” and “Let Me Go Lover”.
I have footnote this with the fact that I can’t be 100% sure that this is the same “Chaesers” that I have spoke of above but I haven’t come across another group with that name and the dates and locations seem to add up although Laurence didn’t mention the recording or the acetate in his brief outline of the group.
Hear the acetate here
Constant Flux
By 1969 The Chaesers were no more and Laurence Slater and Harry Smith were part of a new group called “Constant Flux”. Other members were Barry, John and Greg.
1970’s
In the 1970’s Laurence Slater settled into the club circuit with a succession of bands including “Shades of Blue” and “The Jaytones”.
The photo’s and original newspaper clips from 1963 came from the Old Clubland Acts Facebook group Laurence had posted on in 2019. It has now been deleted or moved. I located the other gig ads and the acetate images came via Rob Duffy at Playedinaband.