The Atlantics

The Atlantics were formed from the Hepjacks at a time when rock n roll was still young, the legendary Buddy Holly was still alive (just) and rag-tag hoard of British skiffle bands were all looking to America again for inspiration and were discovering that their ‘do-it-yourself’ music was slowly evolving into full-on rock n roll.

It was November 5^th 1958 and a young guitarist named Don Kerr had just auditioned for the skiffle band The Hepjacks, he got the gig, and by the time vocalist Johnny Martin joined they had transformed into a real rock n roll outfit. “We were the first rock n roll band in the area as far as I can remember” Said Johnny, ”I’m talking about a real working band that played shows, not just rehearsed in their bedrooms or whatever. As I recall there was us (The Atlantics) from Coventry, The Grasshoppers from Birmingham and The Dolphins from Nuneaton, I couldn’t tell you who was in them, but they were the only rock n roll bands we had heard of in 1959”. The bands personnel at that time looked like this, Don Kerr-lead guitar, Johnny Martin-vocals, Mick Calcott-bass, Eddie Milton-rhythm guitar and Tony Chambers-drums. The band soon began making a big noise in the area, not just for their stylish rock n roll, but also for their manic stage antics that saw front-man Johnny throwing himself down on the stage floor still clutching the microphone, singing like there was no tomorrow. They secured a residency at the Roots Ryton club every Wednesday night, this only helped to increase their popularity and bigger gigs beckoned like the Centre Ballroom (now the Aston Court) and the Majestic Ballroom (later the Orchid) in Coventry.

By November 1959 though Johnny and Don had left the group, Johnny explains their departure, “We wanted to go pro and go to London to gig, but the others didn’t for whatever reasons, so Don and I went. The band Atlantics continued though, a guy called Ricky Lee replaced me, Don’s space was filled by Pip Witcher, who would eventually become a member of the Sorrows. Ron Cooke had joined and Mick also left and his replacement was Tony ‘Corky’ Clarke who went on to become a legendary producer for the likes of the Moody Blues. Al King joined as the sax player. So by then all the originals had gone and had been replaced by new members, though the band went on for another two years at least”.

Don and Johnny went to London and after a Vince Taylor concert at Battersea Town Hall they met the influential manager Reg Calvert, after an impromptu audition backstage, the enigmatic Calvert told the lads he would be in touch, despite their scepticism he was true to his word and Don and Johnny soon became part of the Reg Calvert empire. They would form the backbone of his new venture called Johnny Martin with Freddie Were and the Werewolfves. Because of his dyed blond hair Johnny was immediately christened “The big beat blond bombshell” by Reg. They moved to Southampton were Reg was based at that time before he chose Rugby’s Clifton Hall as his control centre. The name Reg Calvert often pops up in this column, his influence on the local scene was legendary, and so was his madcap humour. Everyone who has ever met Mr. Calvert has more that a few stories to tell of his unforgettable antics. “He had the habit of doing crazy things”, confides Johnny, ”There was this railway bridge that we always passed, Reg would open the vans window and throw a glass pop bottle at the bridges brick-work and watch it shatter, one day our bass player had a pop bottle in his hand and as we approached the bridge he threw it, unfortunately it didn’t break it just bounced back and shattered our windscreen. Reg was not happy and retorted, “You will pay for that my friend, that will come out of your wages”. “We did loads of mad stuff, like whenever we got stopped by the police we all put cardboard boxes on our heads, but the funniest thing I can remember” reveals Johnny, ”was when I was dying to have a number one, we were late for an engagement so Reg refused to stop the van, his only concession was to slow down while I stood on the fold-away step on the side of the van with the door slid back and answer the call of nature with one hand and holding onto the van with the other. There I was doing what I had to do when we sped around a corner and there was a whole family, Mum, Dad, a two kids all looking at me in amazement as I said hello, and continued the matter at hand, no doubt they talk about that to this day”.

“We had a lot of fun with Reg and the Werewolfes, but we moved on”, Said Don, “we did a lot of things music-wise, Johnny got to back Gene Vincent at The Orchid Ballroom and he eventually formed a country band The Big City Boys, as for me well I joined the Brook Brothers and played on the hit singles War paint and Ain’t Gonna Wash for A Week. I joined Stavely Makepeace in the late sixties”. So has it all been worth it I asked Johnny? “Well I’m too old to go through it again, but it was great when at the time, all our dreams came true really”. As for Don, “Well we had great audiences and lovely girls, what else could we have asked for”?

Atlantics Trivia

• Don came up with the name the Atlantics, giving a British slant to the American trend of naming bands after classic cars; the car in question is the Austin Atlantic A90.

• Don Kerr became a member of the Johnny B Great backing band the Goodmen, he appeared on the single School Is In and on the Orchid single Gonna’ Make Him Mine.

• The Camberley News and Bagshot Observer had this to say about Johnny in the 60’s, “Johnny Martin a tall blond-haired attractive lad, seemed to get some sort of message over to the teenagers. They stood at his juggling feet, gazing in awe at his frenzied acrobatics. Amazingly enough he still kept in tune”.

DID YOU SEE THE BEATLES IN COVENTRY OR NUNEATON, HAVE YOU ANY MEMORIES, PHOTOS OR MEMORABILIA FROM THOSE CONCERTS. Contact Pete Chambers at the usual Coventry Evening Telegraph address or e-mail him at cov@covmusic.net to be part of Pete’s next book, “The Beatles Sent To Coventry”.