Herbal Remedy (UK, Psych / Blues Rock) - nie(zapomniane) zespoły
Poszukując informacji o tym zespole udało mi się nawiązać kontakt z basistą Herbal Remedy - Ian Adamson (póżniej - członek, m.in. Remedy, Muffin, W.G. Grace), który przekazał mi materiały i informacje o swoich
muzycznych zespołach z lat 60-tych i 70-tych. Wielkie dzięki Ian.
Herbal Remedy - grupa z Welwyn Garden City (Hertfordshire, UK), założona w pażdzierniku 1967r. przez
lokalnego muzyka Robert "Jab" Als - pierwotnie w składzie :
- Robert "Jab" Als - guitar
- Ian Adamson - bass
- Robert "Herbie" Sparkes - drums
- Ian Little - lead guitar
- Mick Kidd - lead vocals, szybko zastąpiony przez :
- Dave Young - lead vocals.
Ian - tak wspomina tamten okres :
" ...It's probably better if I start at the beginning. When I left school in the summer of 1967, I dreamed of getting into a band having taught myself to play guitar, but in the October of that year, I was asked by a Jab (Robert Als) if I could play bass because he was forming a band and they were just missing a bass player. I thought why not its just the bottom four strings of a guitar but an octave lower! I borrowed a Burns bass from another friend and quickly learnt a few bass runs by listening to the Beatles, The Kinks, Spencer Davis Group and groups like that.
I turned up to the first rehearsal of Herbal Remedy and I was in the band! We rehearsed and did our first gig at The Breaks Youth Club in Hatfield. We secured repeat gigs at the club and also at The Hop in Welwyn Garden City. One of the original singers, Mick Kidd, left after a few gigs and we carried on as a 5 piece
Very soon after we formed we realised that we couldn't all get to gigs in Jab's Triumph Herald convertible! We bought our first van, a white Ford Thames. Having designed the Herbal Remedy logo for Herbie’s drum front and posters, it fell to me to set out the letters on the van. We tackled the mammoth painting job one Saturday morning in the car park of The Peartree pub in Welwyn Garden City. Our psychedelic van took us everywhere from Suffolk to Coventry. When we went to Coventry University to support Sounds Incorporated. ... "
Na początku 1968r. zagrali w St. Albans City Hall jako support John Mayall's Bluesbreakers
(z Mick Taylor). W swoim repertuarze mieli wiele światowych hitów, m.in. "Morning Dew", "Hey Joe", "Purple Haze".
Wiosną 1968r. nagrali (we własnej aranżacji) "I (Who Have Nothing)" (Shirley Bassey).
To jedyne dostępne nagranie Herbal Remedy ... wielka szkoda, że tylko ten jeden utwór
jest śladem działalności tego zespołu.
Ian Adamson :
"... The first to leave was Mick Kidd, I can't remember when the split was but we
(Góra, od lewej : Herbie Sparkes, Jab Als, Dennis Surridge, dół od lewej : Ian Adamson, Dave Young)
(Herbal Remedy, od lewej : Dave Young, Dennis Surridge, Malcolm Constable, Ian Adamson, Herbie Sparkes)
(Herbal Remedy, od lewej : Malcolm Constable, Dennis Surridge, Ian Adamson, Dave Young, Herbie Sparkes)
(Herbal Remedy, od lewej : Malcolm Constable, Dennis Surridge, Ian Adamson, Dave Young, Herbie Sparkes, zdjęcie wykonane przez Nicky Wright - zrobił zdjęcia do pierwszego albumu grupy Yes)
(Herbal Remedy, od lewej : Malcolm Constable, Herbie Sparkes, Ian Adamson, Dennis Surridge, Dave Young)
W 1972r. powstała grupa Muffin :
had not been going long before it happened.
The position of lead singer then went to Dave Young who used to drive a
black and red Ford Zodiac and always seemed to wear a pin stripe suit with a
purple neck scarf.
Next to go was Ian Little on guitar. I never heard of him again until a few years
back when I found him through Facebook
His place was taken by Dennis Surridge, I seem to remember he lived in
Tottenham, so I don't know how we found him.
After a time Jab left and we continued as a four peice. We found that this
restricted us musically and we added keyboards for the first time. The man on
the ivories was Malcolm Constable from Hatfield.
This was the first of two stints with the band.
He returned later after a few more changes. It was Malcolm who fixed
up my blind date with Hazel, Thanks Malc.
Unfortunately he is no longer with us, he passed away a many years ago,
the demon drink claiming another victim.
The next change was a big shake up. At the end of 1969 we asked Herbie
and Dennis to leave and we brought in Danny Bacon on drums. Danny is
one of the best drummers I have had the pleasure to play alongside and
like me, he is still playing.
With the departure of Herbie, we could no longer call ourselves Herbal
Remedy. After all, we had just lost 'the Herbs', so we changed our name
to Remedy.
The position of lead guitar went Mick Casey who had been playing with
Watt Tyler and The Trekkas.
Not only a great guitarist and musician, but a very talented artist as well.
Sadly, Mick passed away in 1989 after a long illness. I still miss him
and think of him every time I hear the Eagles (Hotel California), Steely
Dan, (Ricky don't lose that number) or the Who's Substitute.
We could harmonise almost anything together, especially when we
teamed up with Mick Simmons. ... "
- Ian Adamson (23 lata) - bass, piano, moog
- Mick Simmons (24 lata) - lead vocals
- Mick Casey (23 lata) - lead guitar, cello
- Danny Bacon (23 lata) - drums
- Tony Evans (23 lata) - guitar, cello
Ian Adamson :
"...In 1972 we met up with Dave Jeavons and Brian Freshwater who ran a management company called Amazing Dog. their dog was called Muffin and that's what we changed our name to when we released our first single, Smokey Blues Away and performed it on British TV on 29th November 1972. We did other recordings with Amazing Dog but none were released.
After that we teamed up with Babe Ruth guitarist Alan Shacklock and he wrote a couple of songs for us which again, we not released. For these he renamed us W.G.Grace following his sport theme! ... "
Singiel :
- " Smokey Blues Away "
- " Acapulco Gold "
(1972, Dart Records, ART - 2018)
- " Mother Nature "
- " Hazy Crazy "
- " Join In "
- " Don't Go Throwing You Life Away "
- " Hod Rod "
- " Dance Dance "
Smutna wiadomość na koniec - 15 lutego 2021r. zmarł "Jab" Als (Robert Anthony Als, ur. 22.10. 1946r.,
zm. 15.02. 2021r.).
