When we started here, the “Bingo Crowd” simply followed us. That was something of a culture shock to the regulars there. Especially when you consider that a dozen people in the lounge

listening to background tapes was regarded as a good night out.

I reckon it took us about 3 – 4 weeks before things really took off. By that time, the lounge was full every night.

By the third month people were being turned away!

 

Of course we had a “formula”………….

We had a great sound!

 When I played “up the Toon” in the Venue with a previous band, everything was mixed thru a 5kW Turbosound PA.

Great system, but that was really all about playing loud.

This was totally different. We had a quality of sound & balance that was the envy of umpteen bands with better

(& more expensive) gear.

 

We played what people wanted to hear!

Our set pleased everyone. We played everything & anything. If we didn’t know a song we would throw it back at whoever requested it & get them to come up & sing the song.

(You have no idea how many good singers, characters & musicians we unearthed during our years in the Bull. We even had musicians turning up on their nights off, and they ALL wanted up to sing.)

That set us off in a new direction………

“Sing-a-long-a-Sid”:- and “The Lucky Tumbler”

 

Sing-a-long-a-Sid:

Sid would start the night off with a few  Elvis songs    

(yes,,,, hips ‘n legs going too )

About an hour later he would hand over to Mick and me

( & get us a bevvy while he was off).

We played about half an hour & Sid would come back on until the break.

During the break Sid went round the audience getting names of people who wanted to sing, & Mick and I would have another bevvy.

When we re-started, there were so many singers that Sid only had time for one song.

Mick and I didn’t know who was going to sing or what they were going to sing, but that kept us on our toes.

It was strange too. Mick & I hadn’t played together for that long, but we seemed to “click”.

If you’re a musician you’ll know what I mean. Instinctively we knew how we were going to play the songs and the chord changes before we actually played them.

 

The Lucky Tumbler:   

This was Sid’s idea.

The sing-song was so popular and we were trying to think of something “extra”.

Sid came up with The Lucky Tumbler. Each singer had his/her name written down and put into a tumbler. Before our finale section Sid would wander about the floor “shoogling” the tumbler with all the names inside, then get a member of the audience to pick out the lucky singer.

OK… the prize was only a half-bottle, but the crowd loved it. Sid really excelled at this.

Let’s face it….. who else could have a crowd of adults shouting and cheering over a half-bottle?  

 

The Finale:

After the Lucky Tumbler, we had a five-minute break (another swally). This was the Rock ‘n Roll bit….A Rock medley, usually Jailhouse Rock, Long Tall Sally etc .

By this time the place was jumping.

Just to cool things down, we finished off with a “moonie”.

After that we went downstairs to the bar.      

 

Unless it was a Sunday,,,,,,,,,,,

 

The Executives were playing up at The Dillichip on Sunday nights. We finished playing at midnight on Sundays and they played on till 1am. We had taxis ordered for midnight so we could catch the last hour in the Dillichip.

We nearly gave Herbie a heart attack one night. We were belting out a rock song….I was up on a ledge playing Herbie’s Jazz Bass. Next thing I knew…… Sid had climbed up onto the seats and I ended up sitting on his shoulders…..still playing the Bass…..Herbie’s face was a picture.

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