When ex Help Yourself members Sean Tyla and Ken

Alright are you ready .. ready for some rock n roll?
Yes Smoky Robinson, Yes Chuck Berry and Yes Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, if
we must, but for me one of the ultimate lines of pure rock n roll poetry has to be
We got past Macon
Found we had the brake on
So we took it on off
It says nothing yet it says so much, pure rock n roll like I say and the work of Sean
Tyla and Ducks Deluxe from the gear crunching pure noise
that is Fireball, a track taken from their first album Ducks
Deluxe released on RCA Records. An album that, as the
Man Band web site rightly points out, offered the world
“something of the fire and excitement that the Ducks live act
generated, the ultimate pub-rock band in all its glory, a
record great for dancing and drinking, and not intended for
critical analysis.” I couldn’t have put it better myself and
having danced and drunk to the band on many occasions
prior to that it flew from the shop to my turntable and into
my heart.
Yes, dancing and drinking, welcome to the world of pub rock and if you weren’t there
most of what you’ve heard about it is only half true... unless you’ve read Will Birch’s
excellent No Sleep Till Canvey Island published by Virgin.
Remember, this was the early 70s, Monterey and Woodstock were but films at the
cinema, Osmond mania was partially counterbalanced by the buffoonery of Glitter
which in itself of course had the mighty T Rex. Then though there were The Rubettes,
Terry Jacks and Kung Fu Fighting, grim, dark times. For the ‘serious’ music fan of
course there was Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and, shudder, Dark Side of the Moon.
Grim dark times as I say.
So, while pop was pop was all spangles, sequins and David Cassidy and rock was as
heavy as possible or maybe even fey and, dare we say, self indulgent, Implosion at
The Roundhouse on a Sunday afternoon was a lifeline. The train rides down to The
Lyceum in The Strand if you hadn’t got in at Chalk Farm were often laden with
foreboding though as the bands waiting for you there often somehow seemed more
intense and intent or maybe it was just the décor? Each of these gigs though often held
the threat of strange men in white flowing robes wafting in the wind like sinewy trees
while everyone seemed to be seeing God or looking for Wally; and, meanwhile, while
we were spending Sundays riding the Undergound and the weekdays riding white
swans, in a corner of North London what later became known as Pub rock had been
born.
Legendarily, an American band called Eggs Over Easy were lying low in London
while they tried to extricate themselves from a deal gone bad and in May 1971 they
secured themselves a Monday night residency at The Tally Ho, a jazzers pub just
round the corner from where they’d found a roof to shelter under in Kentish Town,
North London. 4 months later and a group of Irish musicians had taken their lead and
also secured a residency at the same pub under the collective name of Bees Make
Honey. When Eggs Over Easy returned to the US their place was, in turn, taken by a
neat little combo called Brinsley Schwarz who took up a Wednesday night residency
in January 1972.
By September 1972 another band had joined The Brinsleys and The Bees in this
fledgling ‘movement’ and they too had got themselves a £15 a night residency at the
Tally Ho only a quarter of a mile from where they were squatting. This band, formed
by an ex-art student and roadie from Bromley, Kent, Martin Belmont and another exroadie Sean Tyla, were to face the world as Ducks Deluxe.
Since graduating from college in Bournemouth with a diploma in cinematography,
apart from a brief stint with a local band, Sunday in St Petersburg, Martin Belmont
had been a roadie for Brinsley Schwarz. Sean Tyla, on the other hand, had served his
time both playing with and working for UA recording artists Help Yourself; he had
also even enjoyed a brief recording career with CBS Records when in 1970 he
released the self-penned single, Miracles under the name of Third World which
included such seasoned session musicians as Madeline Bell and Lesley Duncan.
Legendarily Sean had also played in bands alongside Freddie Fingers Lee and Geno
Washington and recorded an album project with jazz trumpeter Maynard Ferguson
that was subsequently shelved. Otherwise known as Space Truck Tyla and Duane
Roach, Sean Tyla had also worked as a record plugger at the BBC, been a £12 a week
Tin Pan Alley style songwriter for Lionel Bart and a house producer for United Artists
“Middle of the road stuff mostly, As long as somebody rang me up and said there was
money in it I’d do it.”
Although Help Yourself had given him some stability and he’d worked his way from
‘part time roadie’ to ‘guitar and vocals’ Duane Roach wanted more rock with his roll.
Or as Space Truck Tyla once famously put it “Two fried eggs and dirty underpants –
that’s what rock n roll is all about.”
Belmont was with ex Help Yourself guitarist Ken Whaley, ironically at a Helps gig,
when Sean Tyla turned up to see his old sparring partners, the three got chatting and
rock n roll history was made. Whaley had quit Help Yourself in April 1971 when the
band felt a small management instigated kick in the arse and Whaley felt the sharp
end of an elbow causing him to return to his original trade of journalist with the
Islington Gazette in North London.
Managed by Dai Davies, Ducks Deluxe debuted at The Tally Ho with a harder edged
style of rock than their more country tinged predecessors and contemporaries and
London audiences started to come to grips with the sometimes ‘confrontational’ stage
manner of Sean Tyla.
Dai Davies, who had been known to Martin Belmont from his Brinsley Schwarz days,
had also been a journalist working in the music press for Music Now but had moved
on to working as publicist for Mainman representing the likes of Bowie and Mott the
Hoople but he’d always harboured a yearning to manage a full on rock band and so
the position was filled.
The original Ducks Deluxe line up was completed with the addition of a 19 year old
apprentice gilder, Tim Roper, from Tunbridge Wells in Kent, who had previously
played with various local ‘head’ bands and had the beat up drum kit to prove it. He,
seemingly, had other attributes too as Sean Tyla would testify: “The first thing he did
was roll a joint on a snare drum”. The bands name came from a brainstorming session
at Dai's flat, Sean suggested 'The Ducks', Dai added the 'Deluxe'.
And it wasn’t long before a fifth member was added, another former roadie who also
happened to be accomplished on piano, oboe and trumpet, Nick Garvey having
previously done time on the road with the Flamin Groovies, although the Ducks were
then soon down to a 4 piece when Whaley left in December 1972 to re join Help
Yourself.
It was with this line up, Tyla, Belmont, Roper, Garvey, that Ducks Deluxe made their
vinyl debut with a Sean Tyla track, Boogaloo Babe, appearing on the double 10”
album Christmas at the Patti recorded in Swansea at Mans Christmas Party December
19th 1972, although they had originally hoped to include a second track, The Duck .
The Ducks had been 2nd on the bill after the gloriously named Wally Hot Stuff and a
Legion of Charlies and the album liner notes described them as “a newly formed band
who should be releasing records of their own before long”. Even the national music
press had sat up and taken notice by this time with their first and complimentary
review appearing in Sounds.
The Man / Help Yourself axis helped introduce the Ducks to United Artists as both
bands recorded for the lable, as did Dai and Martins old muckers Brinsley Schwarz of
course, and the band signed to the labels affiliated booking agency Iron Horse.
Allegedly, The Ducks turned down 4 offers of a recording contract in the early days
because they wanted “to wait until the time is right”. According to Sean Tyla one of
these offers was even from “Keith Richards and Mick Jagger, who offered the Ducks
a deal at Rolling Stone Records”. The logic, though, did, at least, seem sound as Tyla
explained to Let it Rock magazine at the time “We didn’t want to start off in the usual
way .. you know – make an album, go out on an immediate college tour and wonder
why everyone’s going boo. That’s a shark’s trip and we didn’t want to do that. And
basically we weren’t good enough to do that”.
1973 was spent building on their twice a week residency at the Tally Ho and “paying
dues” building a growing reputation the hard way with a mainstay 2 ½ hour repertoire
that Martin Belmont appears to have been most instrumental in fashioning. A
repertoire that included a growing number of originals alongside covers of songs by JJ
Cale, Dylan and Ray Charles as well as standards like Lawdy Miss Clawdy, Walking
the Dog and (of course) Route 66. Well if it wasn’t going to be Six Days on the Road
it had to be Route 66 didn’t it, this is Pub Rock after all.
The band was also starting to work the growing London pub circuit that Brinsleys
manager Dave Robinson was instrumental in establishing mainly as a source of work
for his protégés while The Bees, the Ducks and others yet to come would keep the
circuit alive and the landlords happy growing their own audience in the process. The
tie in with Iron Horse also started to take the band outside of London and in his liner
notes for the CD 'Last Night Of A Pub Rock Band', Peter Meulenbroeks recalls: "I
remember them making a 200 mile drive up North in a rented van on a Saturday in
May to do a £200 gig, staying overnight and ending up back in London practically
broke with no more than a fiver each in their pockets."
1973 though did see Ducks Deluxe make their TV debut in a BBC Play for Today
called Blooming Youth, apparently about three young men and a woman sharing a flat
in Kentish Town, London, living away from home for the first time. A question of
right band, right place, right time I presume. Filmed in January the play was aired on
June 18th 1973 and repeated the following May with Channel 4 even picking it up
again in 1991.
June 1973 also saw The Ducks record their first of three John Peel sessions, recording
4 band originals, Fireball. Coast To Coast, Pensacola Blues and Bring Back My
Packard Car.
Suitably, for a 4 piece that included 3 ex-roadies in the line up, The Ducks didn’t
flinch when their own roadie, Gary, jumped ship and took his van with him. Once Dai
Davies had purchased the Brinsleys old blue transit the band, typically, rolled up their
sleeves and did all the equipment humping themselves.
Record companies, though, were still, it seems, banging on the bands door and,
legendarily, they even came close to signing with Tamla Motown, from Let it Rock
again: “We got within a hair breadth of signing with Tamla Motown but we didn’t do
it which is probably one of the best things we’ve ever not done.”
Ironically, when they did sign it was with a label that had actually turned them down
previously, RCA Records and Tapes, and so they finally released their first single,
'Coast To Coast' which was credited at the time to Nick Garvey but as Sean explains
“Nick wrote the tune - I wrote the lyric. I had a problem with the fact that I was still
signed to a dodgy publisher and we didn't want to give them half a potential hit single.
We ironed it all out in the end and I signed to Island Music and reclaimed half the
credits on CTC.” The story also goes that the single was banned by the BBC on
release but it didn’t stop RCA, early in 1974, releasing the debut album 'Ducks
Deluxe'.
Album cover artwork
Being with RCA seems to have had some benefits and, presumably, Dai Davies’
connections to Mainman didn’t stand in the way either, of Ducks Deluxe getting the
support slot on a European tour with Lou Reed, the singer with whom Sean Tyla had
most often been compared. Among other gigs the tour took them to Paris Olympia
where they first met Marc Zermati of Skydog Records who would later go on to
manage the band; more of Skydog later.
The self titled debut album included 2 cover versions, Its All Over Now and Nervous
Breakdown as well as 10 originals split fairly evenly between Belmont, Tyla and
Garvey; even vocal duties were split between the band with a mixture of lead vocals
and backing from all four members. Recorded mainly at Saturn Sound in Worthing,
Sussex guest musicians included Bob Andrews, on loan from Brinsley Schwarz,
playing keyboards on 4 tracks while Dave Bloxham, whose previous credits included
Toots and the Maytals and pop reggae band Greyhound, produced.
The band recorded their 2nd John Reel session in April, another 4 tracks, Dancing
Beat, Fireball (again), It’s All Over Now and The Cannons of the Boogie Night with
the session broadcast on June 4th.
By August 1974 Ducks Deluxe were already back in the studio, this time at Rockfield
in South Wales, with Dave Edmunds in the producers chair, and 1975 saw the release
of the bands 2nd album Taxi to the Terminal Zone, the title, of course, taken from the
lyric to Chuck Berry’s famed Promised Land, ironically, although, possibly, in a
typical Ducks Deluxe manner, notable for its omission from the albums track listing.
The cover they did include this time, though, reflected the bands, and more especially
Sean Tylas rock credentials being the Flaming Groovies very own Teenage Head
which sits right after the most out and out damned catchy pop thing the band ever
recorded, Loves Melody.
“Look over your shoulder / It could be tonight”
Loves Melody was also the only recorded track written by new boy, keyboard player
Andy McMasters who had met Ducks Deluxe through Frankie Miller with whom
McMasters had been with in Glasgow band The Sabres and he brought a “lighter,
poppier touch” to the band.
Before finding chart success himself Miller used to work the pub circuit, mostly with
Brinsley Schwarz with whom he recorded his 1973 debut album Once in a Blue Moon
and they also toured together in support of the album, but he was also known to sit in
occasionally with Bees Make Honey and Ducks Deluxe,
By March of 1975, however, Ducks Deluxe were fracturing with McMaster’s having
gone and not, it seems, without a degree of acrimony. Speaking in Nuggets magazine
Sean later reflected “The Ducks were great until Andy joined. Triffic. He was a
madman – he used to just spill his drink over the organ every night. That was his total
musical contribution. I can understand him saying that [the band were shit] because
there was no outlet for him in the band. We wanted a keyboard player who would
keep it simple – there was enough going on anyway. Andy couldn’t handle that which
was fair enough cos he was a very talented guy.”
On leaving Ducks Deluxe Andy McMaster went to work for a music publisher but
would soon meet up again with Nick Garvey who would also leave the Ducks soon
after, being replaced by Mick Groome for the bands 3rd Peel session which featured
only 1 track, Paris Nine, from Taxi to the Terminal Zone alongside 3 others, Jumping
In The Fire, Something's Going On and Amsterdam Dog.
Judging from Duane Roach’s liner notes on the later released Peel Sessions CD
McMasters pop leanings weren’t particularly missed: "The pop stuff was crap -- it
wasn't what we were about at all"
From Ducks Deluxe Nick Garvey formed The Snakes, whose line up also included
Bob Gotobed, who later played in Wire, and who recorded one single lasting, as they
did, only until 1976 when Garvey formed The Motors with fellow Snake Richard
Wernham, (who subsequently changed his name to Ricky Slaughter), Bram
Tchaikovsky (guitar, vocals) and, of course, former Ducks keyboard player Andy
McMaster.
The Motors debuted at the Marquee on March 7th 1977 and signed with Virgin who
put out one storming rock n roll record Dancing the Night Away before the band
found fame and Top of the Pops in 1978 with the overtly poppy ‘Airport’.
Their last gig with this line-up was at the Reading festival in 1978 although Nick and
Andy continued with the name The Motors and made one more LP (Tenement Steps
in 1980) and played live with ex-Man members Martin Ace and Terry Williams.
The Ducks weren’t dead yet though and Tyla, Belmont and Roper were to carry on
with bass player Mick Groome who had been playing around his home town of Hemel
Hempstead where one of his early bands was The Sugar Band which also featured
guitarist Andy Powell, later founder and currently lone survivor of notorious prog
rockers Wishbone Ash. Andy, even now credits Mick in being instrumental in
devising the ‘famous’ riff for the Wishbone hit "Blowin' Free". Such prog majesty
though didn’t stop Mick subsequently going on to Wild Wally's Rock'n'Roll Show
(appearing on their "I Go Ape" album) and then to Eve, whose guitarist Eamon
Percival lays claim to being the last journalist to interview Who drummer Keith
Moon.
Despite working through all that upheaval in personnel even worse was about to
happen and Ducks Deluxe were dropped by RCA.
The band, though, had always enjoyed a decent following in mainland Europe,
especially France, and it was French label Skydog, sometime home to the Flaming
Groovies, that picked them up for an EP ‘Jumpin’ and an album ‘All Too Much’ both
featuring the line up of Sean Tyla (vocals, guitar), Martin Belmont (guitar), Mick
Groom (bass), and Tim Roper (drums). Opening with a ‘high-energy’ version of "I
Fought the Law" there’s a ‘killer version’ of "Here Comes the Night," the ‘romantic
rocker’ "Amsterdam Dog" (highlighted by some great electric slide), the ‘funky’
"Cannons of the Boogie Night," and the ‘anthem-like’ "Rock and Roll for Every Boy
and Girl"
But the optimism was short lived and, having taken the decision to split, matters
worsened still further when Tim Roper upped and left on the eve of the band's
farewell tour. The rock n roll wheels though turned full circle and the mighty Billy
Rankin, formerly of Brinsley Schwarz, who had themselves split up only months
earlier, took the vacant drum stool with Brinsley himself also joining the band to
ensure Ducks Deluxe went out in style before finally calling it a day at the 100 Club
in London on July 1st 1975 leaving behind, as a memento, the farewell live album
Last Night of a Pub Rock band released on Skydog’s Dutch sister-label Dynamite;
recorded on a basic two-track tape recorder and featuring a set largely comprised of
covers including "Proud Mary," "Knocking on Heaven's Door," and "Teenage Head,"
With the final burst of songs a steady stream of guests appeared to say their own
goodbyes to the band including Lee Brilleaux (Dr Feelgood of course), Martin Stone
(from the never to be forgotten Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers), and Bob
Andrews, and Nick Lowe both ex-Brinsley Schwarz.
There’s a fanciful notion, that is hard to deny, that pub rock and especially the likes of
Ducks Deluxe and later Dr Feelgood and Eddie and the Hotrods paved the way and
more than influenced the soon to explode punk scene.
It’s maybe even more fanciful, though just about possible, that Joe Strummer, then of
the 101-ers, first got to know the Bobby Fuller Four classic track ‘I Fought the Law’
as a Ducks’ cover version such a mainstay of their live set was it, as well as a single
on which Mickey Groom took lead vocal. Whatever, it would, ironically, only be
another 12 months before the Sex Pistols and 2 years before noisy 3 chord rock n roll
would be truly fashionable. Sadly all a little too late for Ducks Deluxe.
As somebody else puts it: .. ‘Moreover if you play their classic Fireball, next to the
Sex Pistols Satellite, you get the feeling that Malcolm Maclarens malcontents spent as
much time listening in pubs as they did drinking’. Sean Tyla “If the Ducks had
continued and, say, we’d got all the breaks we’d had all the lot on a plate – we should
have been enormous but it was blown by atrocious management and other kindred
things.”
Of the 3 British bands that started it all back in Kentish Town The Ducks were the last
to disband and not too long after they did there came Graham Parker, The Sex Pistols,
Stiff Records and Dr Feelgoods Stupidity live album; maybe these were the true
beneficiaries of those £15 a night residencies?
Sean Tyla formed The Tyla Gang, who also included Ken Whaley, and signed to Stiff
Records with their single "Texas Chainsaw Massacre Boogie / Styrofoam" being the
label's fourth release as a ‘double B side’ BUY 4. He also produced BUY8, a single,
Silver Shirt, by Plummet Airlines, and apparently he somewhat uncharacteristically
persuaded not to record the song as a powerful electric rockout, although production
credits are given as “by Sean Tyla for The Dansette Wrecking Co.”
Deke Leonard, no less, is credited with producing the Tyla Gang track, The Young
Lords, recorded at Rockfield and released on the first Stiff sampler album A Bunch of
Stiffs with the cover notes recording “ballroom bully Sean Tyla [credited with guitar,
ego and vocals] lives out another American dream with this riff wrenching rendition
of New York macho mondo.” Meanwhile Sean also plays guitar on the seemingly
rogue track on the compilation Food that is credited to The Takeaways. Larry Wallis
Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds are also credited as being in the band while the name
of he vocalist is “withheld due to contractual commitment with major American
record company” The Tyla Gang also around this time released another single
‘Suicide Jockey’ back on Skydog
After that little hiatus The Tyla gang moved on to the legendary Beserkely Records,
home to The Modern Lovers and the even more fabulous Rubinoos, and who signed
the Tyla Gang in 1977 , reportedly for a long term career and contract that sadly only
produced two albums, ‘Yachtless’ (1977) ‘the raunchy one’ and ‘Moonproof’ (1978)
‘more American’ before the label folded in 1979.
A one track career as The Speedballs gave rise to one track ‘Speedball Boogie’
appearing on a Skydog compilation ‘Punks from the Underground’ which came about
when Eddie & The Hot Rods manager, the late Ed Hollis, blagged some studio time at
the Island Records, and recorded several sessions based around the Rods rhythm
section of Steve Nicol and Andy Gray. Nick Kent and Giovanni Dadomo also both
laid down tracks at the same sessions, as well as The Heartbreakers, The Lightning
Raiders, and even a Rods roadie.
Using his own name Sean Tyla then released three albums ‘Just Popped Out’ (Zilch,
1980), which uses the Tyla Gang line-up of Bruce Irvine, Mike Desmaris and Ken
Whaley, alongside Mick Groom, Nick Garvey & Tim Roper (from Ducks Deluxe), as
well as other 'pub rock' names including ‘Irish’ John Earle (sax, from Graham Parker
band), Malcolm Morley (keyboards, from Bees Make Honey, Man, Help Yourself),
Pete Thomas (drums, from The Attractions), Alan 'Bam' King (from Ace [formerly
Ace Flash & The Dynamos]), and as if that wasn’t enough there’s even Joan Jett
(vocals), Steve Jones (vocals, from Sex Pistols), and the much travelled Mike Kellie
(drums).
After ‘Redneck In Babylon’ (Zilch, 1981) Sean then moved on again, persuading
Deke Leonard back from the USA to create The Force together with Mickey Groome
who would then continue with Deke in the, perhaps, better known, Iceberg. Sean
finally released ‘Rhythm of the Swing’ (Instant 1983) until he gave up the hard slog
of a musician’s life and became a web-designer.
After The Ducks folded Martin Belmont and Brinsley Schwarz joined forces with Bob
Andrews and, after a story well told by Will Birch in his book, later emerged from
The Hope & Anchor as The Rumour who enjoyed no small amount of infamy sharing
a stage with Graham Parker as well as recording several albums in their own right for
both Phonogram and Stiff. The Rumour also released a superb version of Do Nothing
until You Hear from Me that was more Elvin Bishop than Elvin Bishop but like so
many other singles mentioned in this piece, sadly, never even troubled the charts.
The Rumour gigged, I believe the word is, tirelessly and hired them selves out as a hot
studio band to the likes of Carlene Carter, Dave Edmunds [Get It] , Nick Lowe [Jesus
of Cool] Rachel Sweet [B A B Y ] Elvis Costello [Watching the Detectives] and
Desmond Dekker.
Immediately after The Rumour eventually threw in the towel Belmont worked with
Garland Jeffrey’s before becoming a stalwart member of Nick Lowe’s Cowboy Outfit
and Noise to Go line ups between 1982 and 1987 as well as touring with Elvis
Costello and the Attractions on more than one occasion. Martin also became one of
Carlene Carters CC Riders, playing on her Blue Nun, album as well as tours of
Europe and the USA
As if all that wasn’t credible enough Belmont’s sessions credits are almost ridiculous
in their scope and depth ranging from Johnny Cash, to Carl Perkins through Billy
Bragg to Jona Lewie, and The Archers.
Since 1987 Martin has been a fully paid up member of Hank Wangfords Lost
Cowboys and was also the Musical Director for Hanks T.V series “Big Big Country
“as well as taking the roles of arranger, producer and composer for the “Comic Strip
presents ... Jealousy " episode shown on BBC 2.
In 1995 Martin Belmont released his first solo record "BIG GUITAR" on Demon
Records, the album having been recorded for the most part at former Attractions
drummer Pete Thomas’, basement studio in West London. Apart from Martin’s guitar
the set also features such crack rockin' cohorts as Pete Thomas himself, Geraint
Watkins, Reg Meuross and Bobby Irwin. As the web site says: “It’s a knockabout fun
collection of eminently whistleable tunes, it’s effortlessly goodtime ambience
guaranteed to put a smile on the sternest poker face! Martin calls the instrumentals on
the disc, themes for imaginary westerns, big twangs in wide open spaces and picked
acoustics on lazy railroads.”
An ‘accomplished singer of harmonies’ before he even arrived at Ducks Deluxe,
Micky Groome later joined Adrian Baker's Gidea Park close harmony Beach Boys
alike outfit who on occasion can even claim to have provided backing for old Candy
Stripe Shirt himself Mike Love.
His other credits include stints with both the Nashville Teens and Mud, as well as
recording credits including Robert Plant ("Manic Nirvana"), Joan Jett ("Bad
Reputation"), Psychic TV ("Godstar") and IQ. Groome released a solo album "Yo!"
(Leg Room Records) in 2001, and further albums "Soul Rider" and "Light Of Day"
appeared in 2002 and 2003 respectively. He is reportedly recently involved in the
"SpyderBaby" project headed by songwriter Rob Stride, with the support of "Teenage
Opera" composer Mark Wirtz, and is a stalwart of the, still working, still touring,
Barron Knights and the Bootleg Beach Boys.
Mick Groome 2007, a Barron Knight and a Bootleg Beach Boy among other things.
If any overseas readers aren’t familiar with the work of the Barron Knights don’t be
afraid to ask but I may just be afraid to answer.. let’s see.
After The Motors Nick Garvey, with help from various members of his previous
bands, released a not particularly well received solo album and got himself some
production credits including Scots band Fingerprintz but most noticeably with Stiff
Records including Dirty Looks second album, 'Turn It Up' and Wreckless Eric who,
writing on his web site, is less than complimentary about Garveys production work
for his potential hit single ‘Hit and Miss Judy’:
“I wrote it specifically as a single. It turned out differently to how I'd envisaged it due
to Nick Garvey's production. I wanted it to have a bit of a Euro-pop feel but Nick
Garvey was more extreme in that direction - I would have been a bit more subtle
about it. Which wouldn't necessarily have been a good thing.
Nick Garvey was possibly the most patronising human being I'd ever met. I don't
think he meant to be - it was probably a mixture of a public school background and
the way Stiff Records perceived me brushing off on him.
We made a demo at Nick's house with a tape loop of a drum beat. In fact Nick made
the demo all by himself, I just sang on it.
We did the backing track at Phonogram Studios. Nick brought Andy McMasters with
him. He drank a bottle of wine, fell asleep and woke up when we'd finished. Nick sent
my band home one by one except for Dave Otway on the drums and Malcolm Morley
who played acoustic rhythm guitar using a capo made from a pencil and a rubber
band.
Nick played the bass himself and the three of them did the backing track by playing
along with the original tape looped drums in the headphones. After that it was just me
and Nick in the Roundhouse Studio. Nick set about overdubbing a cheap Crumar
Insta-Piano over and over to get the instrumental at the front. He tracked it with a
Rickenbacker through a fuzz box too. He wanted Billy Bremner from Rockpile to
play a kind of rockabilly guitar part on the last verse but he asked Jake Riviera on a
bad day and Jake said no. He was probably stuck in patronising mode due to too much
contact with me.
'It'd be really good if there was a harmony vocal on the third verse', he said, 'but you
probably can't sing harmonies so we'll just have to do without.'
I insisted that I could even though I'd never sung a harmony in my life. He looked
doubtful but I went and did it and got it right first time. And that's how I figured out
harmonies - it was just singing along with a different tune that still fitted. Quite easy
really. Nick looked surprised.
'Actually that was quite good,' he said
As well as writing and producing soundtracks for several films including ‘Ursula and
Gladys’ , ‘Intimate Strangers’, ‘Acceptable Levels’ ‘American Anthem’ and ‘PI Private Investigations’ Garvey found a spotlight even bigger than the one he’d
enjoyed with Ducks Deluxe when he appeared alongside Paul McCartney on his
CHOBA B CCCP live album recorded in Moscow. Maybe not so high profile in the
bigger world but Nick even got to appear on the CD And They All Sang, a tribute to
Leon Rosselson that also included Big Untidy favourite Robb Johnson. Nick is
credited with ‘programming’ on the David Campbell take on Stand Up For Judas.
As for live work Nick Garvey was last seen working in a 4 piece gigging band The
Dynamos whose repertoire consists of “the great & timeless songs” of the 60s
“making them an ideal choice for dances, parties or any occasion where good music,
played totally live [ NO computers or pre-programming ] and a great atmosphere are
required.”
In 1978 RCA, in ‘acknowledgement of’ the various band members later success
issued a Ducks Deluxe career compilation album “Don’t Mind Rockin’ Tonite” that
didn’t trouble their art department too much in the sleeve design stakes but did
include 3 never before available originals, Saratoga Suzie, Two-Time Twister, and
Something’s Going On along with 2 ‘new’ cover versions, Here Comes the Night and,
almost inevitably, I Fought the Law although vocalist on that track Mick Groom
doesn’t get his mugshot on the cover while Dave Edmunds is right there top right ..
canny buggers these marketing guys.
Around the same time, and presumably for similar reasons, RCA even managed to
release some Ducks Deluxe material onto the US market.
Since then there’s been an unofficial release album “Bone Steak a la Carte” which
features a mix of studio and live cuts and then Hux Records put out the collected Peel
Sessions CD in February 2007 together with two other tracks Pensacola Blues and
Dancing Beat
That seemed to finally wrap everything up nice and neat and tidy until, almost
incredibly, in April 2007 the following announcement appeared at Sean Tyla’s
myspace page:
Yeah well, Duck's Peel Session CD is out and Tyla Gang's ‘Back In The Saddle’ CD
comes out 28th September 2007, The Ducks are re-forming and will celebrate 35
years since their formation on October 9th at the 100 Club in London. They will
also do more UK dates in late October and early November. Tyla Gang play the
100 too, on October 10th to launch the new CD and will be touring from late
September through to 2008 - hope the voice holds out!
Back in the Saddle, Sean's ninth album and his first for 20 years, was released on his
own Sunbird Records and also features Ian Ellis [Savoy Brown, Clouds] on bass,
Gary Moberley [Sweet, Bee Gees] on keyboards, Chris Staines [Asia, Primal Scream]
on guitar, mandolin and lap-steel, Paul Kennedy on guitar and the “extremely
talented” Emma Fisk on acoustic and electric violin.
The Ducks Deluxe lined up for their 35th anniversary gig as Sean Tyla, Martin
Belmont, Micky Groome and the legend that is Billy Rankin on drums with support
for the evening from Willy Finlayson and The Hurters.
It was a strange scene as I arrived, a long way from those beer soaked Sunday
evenings; old guys sat at tables doing the Evening Standard crossword, then I thought,
hey, we’re all old guys. Then this big bald fella gets on stage and starts fiddling with
the amps and guitars; with no fuss he proceeds to strap one on, then 3 others join him
and the riff to Fireball comes crunching out, grinding back the years, lifting the soul,
shifting gears and taking us all back home, Ducks Deluxe are back and sounding fine.
Sean is in good form and makes only passing reference to his age and his voice holds
out pretty well ‘cept for Coast to Coast when those 35 years take their toll and the
range isn’t quite as it used to be. Martin Belmont is enjoying himself as the guitar
sings, swoops and dives and he acknowledges the irony of singing about his teenage
years, but he cuts a dash as he cuts a rug and makes it all so easy.
There was a poingnant moment for Tim Roper and a few acknowledgements to
people who’ve travelled from Scandinavia and Germany, plus of course France
although curiously the curious passing Japanese tourists don’t get name checked. We
all had a lot of fun with Daddy Put the Bomp with a little call and response and West
Texas Trucking Board glided smooth as smooth can be. Was it nostalgia? Sure, but it
was fun and no one was pretending and it felt damned good.
It goes with saying Billy Rankin was magnificent and why this guy isn’t more to the
fore of the rock establishment, well, I dunno, it can only be through his choice. Job
done and a slow possibly reluctant retreat to the dressing room leaving a lot of very
happy satisfied people to disperse into the autumn Oxford Street air
After London there was a trip to Paris, wonderfully, and hilariously, documented by
Martin Belmont in a MySpace blog, and later a gig in Leicester. There’s even a
suggestion there could be a possibility of more gigs as the band are currently
receiving offers and as they say “we’ll give them all due consideration – after all, we
just love playing.”
Classic Ducks Deluxe, the 1974 line up.
Tim Roper Nick Garvey Martin Belmont and Sean Tyla.
This article © 2007 copyright Big Untidy. Updated 2008.
With sincere thanks to Sean Tyla for correcting some “slight
inaccuracies” in the original text.
Comments reactions and further contributions welcome.
[email protected]