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The Mad Classix
Famed for their on-stage antics and a fabled tour of Germany The Mad Classix were a sextet who always lived up to their name.
In 1958 Ron Smith had purchased his first guitar, and the skiffle sound of that era was now giving way to, a more sophisticated music that we would know as Rock’n’roll. Ron along with his new guitar had become a founding member of the Coventry band The Tornadoes. By 1962 a name change had become incumbent to them when the great Joe Meek had created Telstar by the band he called The Tornadoes. So Coventry’s Tornadoes became The Classics, and they continued to find work in places like the Wyken Pippen and their sleek presentations and acrobatic stage antics gained them a residency at The Walsgrave. They hooked up with Friary Promotions and took on Sax player Brian Fowdrey who was working at the agency at the time. By now the band had grown to a six piece and with a stroke of genius they changed the spelling of their name to Classix to accommodate this fact. On stage this band were not of ‘The Standing still type’ on the contrary, lead singer Johnny Wells would often leap off the stage above the heads of the first row with mic in hand straight into the audience, not to mention Brian dressing as a monkey! These antics gave rise to the name ‘Mad’ so The Mad Classix they became.
Line-ups for the band forever changed but the core membership would include Ron Smith, lead guitar, Brian Fowdrey Tenor Sax and Johnny Wells on vocals. Other names included Bob Webb, Dave Norris. Jerry O’Brian, John Davies, Bev Jones, Dicky Darrel and John Williams. When 1964 arrived the bands popularity was at an all time high. Local hit band The Sorrows had been playing in Germany and knew that the promoter of The Copenhagen Club in Münster was looking for beat bands to play there, so a deal was struck and the The Mad Classix were booked to do a six month tour of Germany. Dave Norris wasn’t able to commit to such a long tour and decided to leave the band, to keep the band as a sextet Johnny Wells brought his then girlfriend Bev Jones into the line-up. Bev was already well known on the local Coventry circuit and had previously secured a record deal. Her powerful voice and the bands outstanding musical capability were a match made in heaven, and the German tour was to be an exciting time for all involved. “They were wonderful days”, reveals Ron Smith, ”I wouldn’t have missed it for the world, and it was hard for me because I had a wife and family at home. We worked three to four hours a night six days a week and rehearsed on the seventh. Yes it was hard work, but an opportunity someone in my position couldn’t possibly miss”.
The tour began on January 1st and ended on July 12th, it was a tour that would see the band play all over Germany including Münich and Hamburg’s famous Top 10 Club on the even more famous Reeperbahn. The German tour took on a life of it’s own, and became a pivotal point in the history of the Mad Classix. First up Johnny Wells and Bev Jones shocked family and friends and married In Dusseldorf during the tour, when the news got back home the local media had whipped themselves up into a frenzy about these two local pop stars getting hitched. Pretty soon Bev and Johnny had left the band, Bev admits it probably wasn’t the smartest career move going to Germany in the first place. Her single Heatwave had just been released and she wasn’t around to promote it. She was home sick and missed her family, and hated living in a van with little creature comforts. She returned home to find reporters sat on her step eager for that exclusive story!
Meanwhile the rest of the band had regrouped and the new line-up looked like this Ron Smith, lead guitar, John Davies bass, Dicky Darrel drums, Brian Fowdrey Tenor Sax and John Williams on vocals. Out of the blue the band were offered the chance to make a record that would be used in a German TV play. They recorded two tracks My Hunny Bunny and it’s never Too Late, both are great little gems and have ‘a moment in time quality about them’. The track it’s Never Too Late was actually written by the bands guitarist Ron Smith. More recording were promised but enough was enough and England was calling.
The band returned to Britain and took on yet another member, a certain Jeff Lynne. “Jeff was a great guitarist, ”reveals Ron Smith, ”I enjoyed watching him play, though it wasn’t obvious he was destined for greatness, to be honest I even forgot his name until someone pointed out that Jeff had done well to get into the charts with the Move”. Jeff of course had success with the Move then hit mega-stardom as a member of The Electric Light Orchestra and as a Travelling Wilbury. Jeff was with the band for just three weeks, by St Patrick’s Night of 1966 the band had their gear stolen from their van in Whitely and from that point the Mad Classixs had ceased to be. Their name however will continue to live in the folk-law of local Coventry music, and during the recent Call up the Groups Reunion they were one of the bands who were best represented at the event with seven former members in attendance!
Mad Classix Trivia
Look out for The Too Much Too Young event happening all over the city this week, check out the BBC Coventry & Warwickshire, Priory Place for a feast of 2-Tone memories. Contact me at 2-tone@covmusic.net for information.