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The Trojans
From the ashes of the Leamington/Warwick band the Jokers, up sprang a new combo, and he presto, The Trojans were born. They began as a rock n roll band, before reverting to pop and beat, with a big slice of soul and blues thrown in for good measure. I spoke to brothers Frank and John Steed, about the history of the band.
“I used to sing like Mario Lanza”, said Frank Steed, “I sounded just like him, that was until Rock n roll came along, then it was trying to sound like Gene Vincent. I was the vocalist in the Jokers with my brother John. John and I, left them in 1966, and we got together with Johnny Thurstons, Jock white and Roy Cheshire and formed the Trojans. What attracted me to this band was the more sophisticated sound of soul music based upon artists such as Otis Reading, Ray Charles, James Brown, Wilson Picket etc. This music was in addition to the Rock that we began with in the late 1950’s and early ’60’s. I suppose we must have been one of the first in the area to include one, and sometimes two, tenor saxophones. We practised everyday, and we played just about every pub in Leamington and Warwick. We began as a straight rock n roll outfit, then became a covers band, playing pop and beat and a little soul music. We often improvised the blues, when we ran out of numbers”.
The band soon began making a name for itself, and progressed musically, proving popular with the crowds. “We took on a girl singer” explains John, “ her name was Maggie Aston, an attractive blond lady, and her addition went down well with the crowd. We developed a kind of Otis Redding vibe to our music, and we became very proud of that. We got as far as recording a demo in Birmingham, we actually wrote the song on the way into the studio!”
“Like all the other bands we started to play in the local Midlands area” reveals frank, “but then went on to tour the North and sometime in the South towards London. There were many outstanding gigs as far as the band members were concerned and we had a similar experience in Lancashire as the Jokers had earlier. We were at a gig when a number of girls rushed the stage and had to be restrained by a couple of lads who had come with us to help with the gear. It was the norm at the time that some girls would do this. It went unnoticed really but a press release, which I no longer have; spoke about “a frenzied outburst from the audience” with “the singers’ clothes being torn from him”. The article also mentioned the singer “being rescued by “two burly bouncer that the band had brought with them”. Apart from the general exaggeration, of two ‘burly bouncers’, one was tall and quite slim and the other, although quite stocky, was only about 5’ 2” tall!! Still, as some say, any publicity is good publicity and we got a few more gigs on the back of it”.
The Trojans had worked the local scene and built up a great fan base, but after many years as the Trojans, it was agreed that a change of image and name was in order. So the band developed in to the wonderfully named Concrete Parachute! They played great Windsor Park, and went down well. “We had a chance to go to Spain”, Said Frank,” but a couple of the guys in the band wanted to settle down, so it never happened, I was hugely disappointed with it all and sold all my equipment. Though I still keep singing at the age of 72, I’m in a contemporary folk band called Octarine, even though it’s folk, I still bring in the rock n roll element into it. Music keep you young, I wouldn’t be without it!
Trojans Trivia
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Thanks to all the people who have pledged items to loan to the Herbert for next years Coventry Music exhibition. There has been some confusion since my Backbeat article went out. We only want to borrow your prized items; we don’t wish to keep any of them. So if you have anything you would like to lend to the exhibition, and remember we are looking for items from anyone, fans, and musicians, anyone who has an interesting item that has a musical connection. Let me know what you have by either e-mailing me on tencton@hotmail.com, or write to the Coventry Telegraph care of Pete Chambers.
Check out Pete’s new Popstalgia column in the Coventry City Matchday Skyblues magazine, and you can hear Pete “Backtracking” on The Bob Brolly Show every Friday from 3.00 pm on BBC Coventry & Warwickshire.