Early Years 1959-62

Rick Huxley’s brother Dave and I were best friends from early schools days into adulthood. The Huxley family moved from Dartford in the early fifties. I knew the whole family extremely well. So when I bumped into Rick on that fateful Saturday morning in Charing Cross Road we had a lot to talk about. Inevitability the conversation got around to music. Rick said he was now playing guitar for a band called Dave Clark, also that they were looking for a Tenor Sax player, would I be interested. Anyway, he telephoned me later. Dave and the rest of the band would be rehearsing at pub in north London tomorrow (Sunday) would I like to come along.

When I arrived I was introduced to everybody. Dave on drums, Rick rhythm guitar, Mick Ryan rhythm and lead guitar, Chris Walls Double Bass, Stan Saxon vocals. Enthusiasm abounded, we played as if there was no tomorrow, team spirit no contest. It must have sounded horrible but we didn’t care. I was a jazz man and hated Rock & Roll, but found it was unpretentious and honest and I knew I loved it. Dave said ‘we’ve got a gig tonight do you want to come along’.

I cannot remember where or what the gig was about. The musical repertoire was very limited, I didn’t know any of it, all I knew was that everything was based on a twelve bar chord sequence, and played accordingly. Stan’s stage presence was excellent and helped things along. We all danced about a bit, and the audience seemed to love it. We were on our way.

A short time after in 1959 Chris Walls left the Band. Rick Huxley switched from rhythm guitar to bass guitar. The rest of the band remained the same.

In those early days Dave was always looking for a different sound from other bands. He was always asking me if I could develop a growling sound on the saxophone. This was easier said than done. It was a saxophone technique that required the use of the throat. It wasn’t new. I bought a new saxophone, new mouthpiece and practised hard. I never forget how delighted Dave was when I turned up at our rehearsal with a full blown growling saxophone sound.

In those days live bands were always in demand, disco’s hadn’t been invented, so there was plenty work around. We cut our teeth on these dance halls and clubs and American Air force camps.( The luxurious clubs in these American camps is something we had only seen in Hollywood films). We played for hours and drained ourselves physically and mentally at every performance. We literally did our time, we were a band by any standard. Cohesive and musically adept. Performance hardened.

The above photograph of the band backstage at the Tottenham Royal is significant. We had just returned from the film set ( Rag Doll and Pit of Darkness), where we had been filming all day. It was a revolving stage. While we were having this photograph taken the resident big band was playing the other side. As the stage started to turn we started to play. We were greeted by a wall applause and cheering, something that we had never experienced before. It was apparent that all our hard work had payed off. The band was on the foothills of success.

Jim Spencer.