Poster boys

Letraset poster from 1971, by me

Two coincidences collided fortuitously recently. First, regular readers of this blog will know I've had the painters, decorators and carpet layers in. Well, I also insulated my loft (I didn't do it myself, obviously, but handyman Danny did) which  involved bringing out some boxes that I've had since I moved down from Guildford 25 years ago - and a big roll of old posters. These were mainly from the late 60s and early 70s, gig posters from Surrey Uni and Guildford Civic Hall. I unrolled and photographed some and put them on Facebook.

Hand-drawn poster by me, 1970. I had a version printed on silver paper!

I decided to put a couple of them on Ebay: a psychedelic Edgar Broughton Band one in gold and brown (below) and a Sun poster of David Bowie (neither by me!) and was surprised at the prices I got for them. Then, out of the blue I got an email from Alexander at Briggs Vintage Concert Posters with a scan of a hand-drawn poster I did for Surrey Uni Rag Ball, featuring the band Yes (above). I assumed he'd seen it on Facebook, but my copy was yellow on silver. So I searched for myself on Google Images (as you do) and found the above poster, which was on sale at Beat Books (scroll down to item 285). It had already been sold, so I have no idea what it made. In any case I was rather flattered to be in such good company!

Edgar Broughton Band poster by Mal Dean (?) printed by Screen Dream

So, Alex popped round to the Pipes Museum and bought some of my posters, plus the odd flyer from the vaults, including one for the Bob Dylan Isle of Wight festival. Most of them were in fact Letraset posters like the one for Kevin Ayers at the top of this blog, printed silkscreen in two colours. I learnt the technique from my good friend and mentor Rick Welton, and in fact some of the posters I sold were his designs from the first Guildford Festival in 1969. Alex was really interested in the hand-drawn psychedelic stuff, however.

Hand drawn screen-printed poster by me, 1968

While he was round, we got talking about Poppa Ben Hook, the Guildford Arts Lab house band. And I mentioned I had six unreleased demo acetates of their tunes. He thought Record Collector might be interested in releasing a limited-edition vinyl record of them, and some time later I was contacted by Rob of Pop Classics and they now have the tracks. I was concerned about permissions, that I was only in contact with one band member, Al the drummer, but he said go for it. Watch this space!

Poppa Ben Hook

Poppa Ben Hook
Originally uploaded by fred pipes

When Helix split up in 1969, I got more involved with Guildford Arts Lab (reading poems at Boxer's coffee bar for example) and thought I'd try to get some gigs for the Arts Lab 'house band' Poppa Ben Hook using my contacts. It was on a visit to Pete Jenner at Blackhill and impressario promoter Stuart Lyon to drum up trade that someone suggested I manage them! Management seemed to involve storing all their gear in the bedroom of my first-floor flat on Epsom Road. I also sent out demo records to record companies and management agencies, with no success. Loving nothing more than doing a bit of Letraset, I produced a leaflet that was an exact rip-off of one Rick Welton had done for his Hull band Nothingeverhappens.

We did do lots of gigs however and I went along to all of them in the van. We very nearly played at the very first Glastonbury Fayre in 1971. I'd written to Arabella Churchill offering our services and she said to come along. We'd been booked to play a free festival at a place called Holcombe Rogus in Somerset, where Nick Black, a school friend of David Ambrose, had set up a commune, making pottery and generally spending his money.

The letter!

On the way back we called in at Glastonbury, I waved the letter and we went to the farmhouse. It was a bit chaotic as you can imagine and we were told to wait. Everyone was knackered - Bob in particular had spent all the previous night fighting off a randy hippie mother - and the concensus was to head for home. The rest is history. We also played the various University of Surrey Free Festivals (see the photos from 1971).

The line up was Bob Thomas on organ, electric piano and vocals, Roy MacGregor on guitar and vocals, Max Thomas on flute and alto sax, Phil Plant on bass, and Alan Butcher on drums. Bob did amazing things with the keyboards, slowing a Watkins Copicat tape to psychedelic effect. Tragically, Bob died young. Phil Plant went on to play with Stomu Yamashta and in 1976 played bass guitar on the soundtrack to 'The Man Who Fell To Earth' starring David Bowie. He's currently with Roxi and the Blue Cats. Al Butcher is also still playing - with Flying Visit. I'd like to think that Max is playing jazz somewhere.

Drum skin, as painted by Bob Thomas, Courtesy of Al Butcher

They were a great band and should have done better things. Here are some demos on acetate:

Buzz

Buggy run

I live in a shed

Pure beef hamburger

Before the dawn

You won't miss me (vocals by Roy MacGregor)

Well, it took 45 years, but I finally got a record deal for  Poppa Ben Hook. It's a shared vinyl release from Record Collector with a band called Museum, who sounds rather like PBH, so is a good match. I'm still trying to track down Max Thomas and Roy MacGregor. It was released 2 January 2015 and costs £24.98 in the UK.

Poppa Ben Hook

Googling Poppa Ben Hook, the Guildford Arts Lab's house band, came up with this link to bassist Phil Plant, who is still working - with Roxi and the Blue Cats.

Glad Day... and Guildford Arts Lab

[This recollection was first published on my Geocities website in 2006 - but as the future of Geocities is uncertain, I thought I'd re-publish it here with a few tiny amendments.]

Cover of Glad Day 1 hand drawn by Yours Truly

Glad Day was a spin-off from Guildford Arts Lab (1965-1971). It was an A5-size poetry and image mag that ran to just two issues. First issue was published in 1973 and was described as being 'holographic', ie all drawn and lettered by hand (or from the authors' typewriters). The 'Valuable first issue' cost 25p and was printed offset by Bob at Guildford Print. It was 44 pages long and included contributions from Fred Pipes, Gus Garside, Graham Clarke, Clive Young, Keith Bradley, Martin Jones and Philip Crick. Cover illo by Fred Pipes depicted 'Janina (Candy Darling) Lech looking out over the old Guildford on Glad Day eve'. The name Glad Day is taken from the title of a William Blake poem.

Contents page of Glad Day 1 hand drawn by me

Glad Day 2, with cover drawn by Wal

Glad Day 2 was 40 pages long and came out in 1975, funded by South East Arts Association. This time, much of it was typeset. The cover was by Fletcher (Wal) Wallis and it included contributions from Michael Horovitz (with his poem Glad Day), Graham Clarke, Fred Pipes ('French nudes'), photos by Wal, Guido Casale, Saul Martin, Neil Richardson, Martin Jones and Janina Lech, who illustrated 'Back to the Front' a series of poems by Gus Garside. It was printed Up North at Salford University Union by Neil Richardson (my old school friend who sadly died recently). There is much more about Guildford Arts Lab on my Shyneford website, including a list of gigs and events, many photos and much ephemera. Its main publication was Whole News, a Roneoscan production usually running for just 2 or 4 pages printed by Robin Bradbeer at the University of Surrey Union. Very few of these survive! On the fifth anniversary of the Arts Lab in 1970, we produced a book called Five Whole Years.

Contents page from Glad Day 2, top and bottom drawn by me with my best Rapidograph

Other reminiscences:
Prologue
British Blues: part 1 Bury
British Blues: part 2 Manchester
British Blues: part 3 London
Helix