MUSIC

THE MOURNERS - 1964

L-R John Gibson (Bass), Barry Greenwood (Lead), Brian Pugh (Vocals), Pete Gray (Drums), Les Gray (Vocals and Rhythm), Me (Mismanagement).

Pollards Hill fete opened by Pete (murray)

Waiting to take part in the procession round Mitcham. Pete Gray had simply sawed the roof off this Ford 8, meaning that the doors had to be roped up in order not to fly open on every slight curve and we had to enter and leave it in the manner of Starsky and Hutch. It was completely open to the elements, merely having an old roller blind as a wholly ineffective tonneau cover.

but we stayed friends

Ray Stiles (Bass) and Rob Davis (Lead) joined replacing John, Barry and Brian and at some point the name was changed to Mud. The group had to turn professional to take on their first tour - of Sweden in the Spring of 1968 - and at that point Dave Mount replaced Pete Gray.

the mourners and associates

L-R Sue Jackman, Brian Pugh, Me, Barry Greenwood, John Gibson.

why I was manager (and why i was fired)

My Wolseley 6/90, which could accommodate six plus some guitars. I was the arguably the worst manager in the history of pop, but Les liked my driving him around. This picture was taken after a lengthy restoration. In Mud times it was less pristine, in fact one door almost fell off, prompting both the rebuild and - reasonably enough - my sacking as manager. I then bought the roofless Ford 8 from Pete, and with all its drawbacks ran it while the rebuild took place, through quite a cold winter, I recall.

Executive roadie

As this coincided with my finishing a long run on The Avengers, I joined them on the tour to help their Tour Manager, Dave Taylor, and thoroughly enjoyed an epic trip. In the same way, 18 months later, I accompanied them on a month's residency in Copenhagen, for which pictures should soon be available.