Me and The Others
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Me and The Others |
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Me and the Others |
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Having evolved from a combination of Christchurch groups that included drummer (and later top record producer) Peter Dawkins and legendary bass player Gary Thain, who went on to play with the cream of musicians in the UK, joining progressive rockers the Keef Hartley Band and finally Uriah Heep for their classic years from 1972 to 1974. In 1963, Thain, a lean teenager described by schoolmates as quiet, broody and passionate about music, joined his brother's band, The Strangers, playing rock and roll hits and Beatles covers at Christchurch clubs until attaining residency at the Zodiac Lounge. Rival unit The Secrets poached Thain in 1965, with keyboardist, rhythm guitar player and vocalist Paul Muggleston reckoning with someone of Thain's talent on board, they'd be the best in town! Promoter Ken Cooper got them work in Wellington and Phil Warren booked the rest of the North Island, including Auckland nightclub The Beatle Inn, where they were a popular drawcard. They scored a support gig for Gene Pitney and The Searchers, recorded several singles for Allied International and on returning to Christchurch, secured a dual residency at the Pride of Place, alongside The Others. The Others was founded by former Strangers drummer Peter Dawkins and featured lead guitarist David Chapman. They had backed Tommy Adderley and Lou and Simon on the Miss South Canterbury show and supported Tom Jones and Herman's Hermits in Christchurch during their 1965 national tour, with assistance from Paul Muggleston on guest vocals. When The Secrets disbanded, Muggleston and Thain joined forces with Dawkins and Chapman, renaming themselves Me and the Others, with the role of "Me" continually shifting as part of an in-joke. The plan was to head off to the UK and play alongside their musical heroes. With that in mind, Muggleston and Thain departed for England on the Australis a month ahead of their drummer and lead guitarist, and were soon soaking themselves in the sounds of '66 and doing odd jobs to pay the rent while they waited for their bandmates. |
Dave Chapman recalled .... "In 1961 I was in a Christchurch music store, buying my first electric guitar - a Commodore, and at this stage I was practicing with my first group The Mustangs. By early 1965 I was playing as lead guitarist for a new group The Others, which had been started by former Strangers drummer Peter Dawkins, and we soon became resident (along with Les Street and The Alleys) at Christchurch's now number one night spot The Pride of Place. Our rhythm guitarist was Rob Carpenter, with Paul Muggleston as our front-man/vocalist. We were engaged as support group for Tom Jones and Herman's Hermits when they toured New Zealand in 1965. We also opened for Normie Rowe and the Playboys when they toured later that same year." |
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 The Others |
 The Others |
 The Others with Paul Muggleston |
"Soon after, The Secrets (just arriving back on the scene in Christchurch) joined us at The Pride of Place each playing 30 minute spots. During our time playing at The Pride of Place Gary and Paul from The Secrets decided that they wanted to go to England. Peter and I from The Others also decided we wanted to go and we had the perfect line up, Bass, Drums, Rhythm and Lead, so a new group Me and The Others was born . This was a key group to Gary's future success. Previously during the Tom Jones show, Peter and I were talking with Mike Gee, lead guitarist from The Squires who were Tom Jones' show band. We told him we were heading for the UK and he gave us a note of introduction to Tom Jones' agency in London. We hoped this would give us some sort of start in the UK. About February 1966 Gary and Paul left New Zealand, two to three months ahead of Peter and I on a cruise liner The Australis — bound for the UK." |
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"Gary and Paul arrived in Southampton one month later, and whilst waiting for Peter and I to arrive, they saw an advertisement in a paper for horse riders at a place called Cowboy City in the North of England in a small town called Kirby Misperton. Off they went to become members of the notorious Dalton Brothers. Cowboy City was a local attraction, there was a Shanty Town like a western movie set, where there was a daily show which drew a crowd of paying spectators. The Dalton Brothers were USA villains from the 1800's, during the show the gang would ride into town and rob the bank and there would be a shoot out. It was then decided for only Paul to become a part of this, as this wasn't for Gary. So a short while later Gary left Paul and went to a nearby town, Scarborough and found his way into a local band Just Gigging Around." |
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In May 1966 Peter and I, arrived in Southampton, and Paul came down from Kirby Misperton to pick us up in his recently purchased car, so with our suitcases inside and Peter's drums packed in a big cardboard box tied on the roof rack, we set off for the North of England to Cowboy City so Paul could finish off his cowboy stint there. Peter and I were there for one show which I must say was very authentic. That night we stayed in the bunk house and soon headed off for London where we found a house to stay. Gary arrived two weeks later to join us, now we were ready to work on a repertoire of current soul music which was then the in stuff to play. Some songs included You Don't Know Like I Know by Sam and Dave, My Girl, Hold On I'm Coming etc. We then spent the next few weeks solid practice and the group began to get tighter." |
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"We contacted Tom Jones' agency as planned but didn't get any real reception as hoped. One night Peter and I were walking around Soho and Peter, who was a real Viv Prince fan, spied a newspaper cutting stuck to the window of a Greek restaurant, the headline was "What's Viv up to?". Peter stopped to read this, the paper said that "Since Viv Prince the former drummer of the famous 60's group The Pretty Things has disbanded, Viv is now hosting a Soho night club called Knuckles". The club just happened to be in the basement of the Greek restaurant. The ironic thing about this is that prior to coming to the UK our group The Others had been on a tour of New Zealand's South Island as a showband. The top of the bill was a top New Zealand artist Tommy Adderley and Tommy had been on the same show as The Pretty Things when they toured NZ in 1965. Tommy knowing that we were going to the UK, said "If ever you bump into any of The Pretty Things give them Tommy's regards". So this is all we needed. Peter and I went down the stairs and Viv just happened to be at the door talking to the doorman. Peter asked are you Viv Prince? and Viv replied "Yes" — Peter introduced us both and told him were a group from New Zealand and Tommy Adderley sends his regards. Viv looked quite blank until Tommy's name was mentioned, he shook both our hands like we were long lost friends and invited us in." |
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"We told him we had come as a group and were looking for work, Viv immediately asked if we wanted a job playing here for two weeks. Peter and I took up the offer. That night we stayed at the club until late and spent a few hours with the Easybeats from Australia who had also just arrived in the UK we had drinks and a good time together. At closing time Peter and I took Viv and Johnny Banks the drummer from the Mersybeats home in our van. We arrived at Viv's place in Chelsea, just off Kings Road and Viv took us in to meet some friends of his that lived next door to him. One was Jet Harris ex bassist for the The Shadows plus Jet's lady friend Billie Davis who was also a well known 60's pop artist. Jet lived next to Viv and his room was soon to be vacant. The four of us relocated and Gary and Peter moved into Jet's room. Paul and I found a room directly across the road, with Viv's help." |
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 Me and The Others photo-shoot |
 Me and The Others — photo-shoot for the Epstein Agency |
 Me and The Others photo-shoot |
"Viv had us playing at his club Knuckles for the next two weeks and now Paul was doubling on Vox continental organ this gave us an even bigger sound. During this time at Knuckles, Viv's patrons were anyone from Pete Townsend from The Who to Mick Wiltshire from The New Vaudeville Band (Mick sat in and played with us a few times), and ex Shadows drummer Tony Meehan, who we spent some time with, plus many more well known pop artists were patrons there. We were received very well and got invited back for another two weeks playing and a short while later. whilst at Knuckles, we were asked if we would be interested in being a backing group for a new guy going on tour Englebert Humperdink, who at that time was unheard of, and Peter said, no thanks, not anyone with a name like that. That's one guy that made it big — true story!" |
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 Blue Lagoon Club, Newquay |
 Me and The Others |
 Paul at the Blue Lagoon |
"One night soon after Pete and I were in a pub called The Ship, a famous muso's pub in Soho, and we met Dave Backhouse from The Cana Variety Agency and about the next nite or so we all went with Dave to the Marquee Club. We were introduced to Gary Farr and the T-Bones whose organ player was Keith Emmerson, (soon to be of Emerson Lake and Palmer) they were gigging there and we were introduced to Jack Falon, Dave's boss and owner of Cana agency, who had also had many dealings with the Beatles and many other big names. Jack was a muso and played on one of the Beatles tracks. Jack, soon after, checked us out as a band during an audition at London's famous Whisky à GoGo and he was, "knocked out" with the sound of the band and immediately hired us. From then on we were on the road most of the time around the UK, and over the following months we covered many different Clubs. We were contracted for 2 weeks at the Blue Lagoon Club in Newquay, Cornwall where our support band for the fortnight was a band REACTION - whose drummer was none other than Roger Taylor, soon to be with Queen. I remember we had a great 2 weeks there with them. Only a few recent years ago, before he passed away, Peter Dawkins hosted Roger Taylor in Sydney and Roger told Pete that he remembered very well that time with us. We also played places like Mr Smith's club in Manchester, and the huge Beach Ballroom in Aberdeen where we played to a crowd of hundreds." |
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 The chase is on for Gary's pants .... |
 London - Outside the Jennings shop in Charring Cross |
 Me and The Others - in London |
"As we progressed the group got better and we were getting more gigs and met many artists. We did a gig in Southampton, along with The Graham Bond Organisation. That was a very memorable night as Graham's bassist and drummer were Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker who eventually teamed up with Eric Clapton and formed Cream. We toured Scotland and were constantly up and down the country playing more clubs than I can even remember. We then decided that we would look for work in Germany. We auditioned in the famous Marquee club where we played to Ian Smithers, who ran an agency, also present were Micky Most and Spencer Davis, and whilst there we did a couple of numbers backing Jimmy Cliff who sang, My Girl and Midnight Hour. We also played in the Whisky à Gogo Club in London. We were auditioned there, and we won a contract with the PN HIT HOUSE in Munich, which turned out to be the top club in Germany, for one month. The Kinks played there shortly before us. Prior to setting off for Germany, we did a recording at the famous Regent Sound Studio in London, this is where everyone from the Stones to Hendrix recorded. The song we did was called Love Is Not A Game. The demo disc was done for us by the Ivy League. The producer Barry Kingston wanted a special sound - a sound like nothing that we had ever heard before, very psychedelic with lots of compression, in fact when I hear it now, to me it is very John Lennon-ish. The B-side was to be recorded on our return from Germany. We then did a photo-shoot session at Hamstead Heath for The Brian Epstein Agency, before heading off to Germany, driving via Dover and Belgium, until we finally arrived in Munich." |
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 Gary Thain (Bass Guitar) |
 David Chapman (Lead) |
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 Paul Muggleston (Rhythm) |
 Peter Dawkins (Drums) |
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 Paul Muggleston |
 Gary Thain |
 David Chapman |
 Gary Thain |
 Paul Muggleston |
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 Outside PN Hit House, |
 Inside PN Hit House, |
 Peter Neumann |
 Inside PN Hit House, |
 Outside PN Hit House, |
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 Me and The Others - with the group van |
 At the PN Hit House,Schwabing, München |
 At the PN Hit House,Schwabing, München |
 Me and The Others - with the group van |
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 At the PN Hit House,Schwabing, München |
 At the PN Hit House,Schwabing, München |
 At the PN Hit House,Schwabing, München |
 At the PN Hit House,Schwabing, München |
"In Munich we lived in a luxury apartment that was owned by the PN Hit House Club, right across the road from the Club, for the month's duration of our gig. Gary's bass playing just got better and better and with 15-inch Vox speakers either side of the stage he became a driving force behind the band. We had a very successful month, and had a strong following, and that crowd apparently disappeared when we left." |
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 Paul Drake - AFN Radio Stuggart |
 Paul Drake - AFN Radio Stuggart |
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The following month we secured another contract through Jack Falon for 4 weeks in Stuttgart, playing in two night clubs on American military bases. During our gig there I met an American guy Paul Wetterhahn who was a DJ on The American Armed Forces Network radio station Radio Stuttgart. As he loved the band, one night he came to the club with a small portable Grundig tape recorder and recorded one of our sets. From then on, even though a world apart, Paul Wetterhahn, who moved back to Chicago became a life long friend. After that month I decided that I wanted to return to New Zealand and Paul Muggleston wanted to go back to London. Prior to my departure back to NZ, I contacted Regent Sound and asked Barry for a copy of Love Is Not A Game, which I was given on an Acetate 45 record. This was about February - March 1967, so Gary and Peter went back to Munich and Paul and I went back to London. Eventually I arrived back in New Zealand. Paul Wetterhahn sent me a copy of the tape that he recorded on his Grundig, soon after which I unfortunately recorded over the top of — and wiped. How Dumb! |
 New Nadir poster |
 Ed Carter, Pater Dawkins and Gary Thain |
 Gary Thain, Peter Dawkins and Ed Carter |
 New Nadir - Peter Dawkins |
"Peter and Gary started another group in Munich with Ed Carter, now a session guitarist with the Beach Boys, they called themselves THE NEW NADIR and gigged around Germany France and Switzerland, where they recorded some numbers. Later Gary joined The Keef Hartley Band in London and then on to Uriah Heep. About 1973 Gary travelled to New Zealand to see his family, then returned to the UK. At the peak of his profession at the age of 27, Gary sadly passed away. Everyone was shocked at this unforgettable tragedy. What happened to the rest of the band? Well Peter eventually went back to London and sat in with Jimmy Hendrix on two gigs at London's Speakeasy before returning to New Zealand about 1970 to became an award-winning record producer, then later to Australia, where he produced Air Supply's early recordings, he also produced Dragon plus many other artists. Pete won many awards for his work in the recording industry, and hosted many artists over the years from Cliff to Diana Ross. Unfortunately Peter's health was not been good, but I hosted Peter in Christchurch in 2007 for him to receive a well deserved award from ROCKONZ. Paul came back to New Zealand in 1972 to become a well known DJ on Radio Avon, and he also played for a top Christchurch band Just Us. In later years Paul went to live in Los Angeles where he lived for a good while, running a very successful advertising agency, doing all Air NZ's stateside advertising and also working with Alice Cooper, on various projects. Paul made an underwater movie that was released on video, plus he was also running his own financial investment company from his yacht in Marina Del Rey, where he also became Commodore of The Marina Del Rey Yacht Club." |
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 Me and The Others - UNCOVERED |
 Me and The Others - Recordings |
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 The New Nadir - Recordings |
 The New Nadir - UNCOVERED |
"More recently our Me and The Others' music plus New Nadir recordings were uncovered by Feathered Apple Records in Switzerland, whose producer Rolf Reiben was so enthusiastic about it all that it has now been released in many overseas countries, on vinyl (which is now apparently making a world-wide comeback), along with limited box set copies with a poster, and with a CD to follow in 2010, this album is targeted at 60's enthusiasts that buy and collect previous unreleased 60's UK produced recordings. The titles are Me and The others Uncovered and New Nadir Uncovered all on one LP — and it all happened forty-three years later." |
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Additional information is available on the following individual pages, as well as the AudioCulture website ..... |
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