Garry Smout entertained us to a a fascinating talk about three Evesham bands from the 1970s and 1980s - a subject matter which was quite different to our normal offering. Garry had given us a taster of what his talk was all about:
Relax, this is not a story of raucous rock ‘n’ roll excesses but one set in very different times that covers hard work, commitment, dreams, disappointment, achievement, cider, blackmail, skulduggery and tragedy. Fortunately, murder is not on the list, well, apart from a rendition of a song or two...
Unless an article warranted a feature on a specific town it would be a rare event for a national music magazine to contain bands from just one place, even London. However, in January 1982 Zig Zag magazine contained three separate articles about three very different bands bound by one common link: they all came from Evesham.
Not only that, one of these bands, The Dancing Did, used Evesham and the area as a muse, even name checking the town in one song and the county in many. Of the three bands this one is still written about now, with a two-page article appearing as recently as 2023, and will be the main focus of the talk as we look at the local references, inspirations and sheer poetry in some of the songs.
The other bands to be discussed are, of course, The Photos, who achieved a number 4 album – a feat not matched by any other local band since. Their story alone is worthy of a much longer, more detailed account than can be given here and I hope someone, some day, will tell it.
And, talking of stories, the final of the three is Finish the Story, a band born from tragedy that initially formed just for a one-off gig but by the fifth were playing support at the massive Hammersmith Odeon. Another feat unmatched by future Evesham bands.
Each band had very different styles, motivations and modus operandi so, just how did they end up in one magazine? To explore this slice of local cultural history, we need to go back to when Evesham had a blossom route, no ring road and busy canneries everywhere. A world where phones that were not inside a building usually didn’t work. A world where computers were bigger than most houses, CD’s had not been invented and domestic video was new with video cameras a rarity. Compared to today, it was another planet.
Note: Time restraints means not all music tracks will be played in full, which might be a relief to some!
