Mersey Beat - The Georgians

It was in 1963 that three students from John Lennon's old school, Quarry Bank High School, decided to form a band. They comprised Laurence (Lol) Ashley on lead guitar and vocals, Geoff Jones on bass guitar and vocals and Tim Dugdill on rhythm guitar, harmonica and vocals. The three guitarists originally wanted to be 'The Shadows' but, in the early 1960s, changed their minds and wanted to be 'The Beatles'. They went to as many lunchtime Beatle sessions as they could afford, 'sagging' school in the process. They needed a drummer and recruited Mike Sloan, brother of Frank Sloan, the original drummer with 'The Mersey Beats'.
Initially they played at youth clubs and schools, particularly Quarry Bank, and their favourite venue was St. Barnabus Hall in Allerton, which was nicknamed 'Barnies'. Their equipment in those days was entirely 30 watt, the same as 'The Beatles'.
The group's early influences were Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Buddy Guy, Sonny Boy Williamson and Chuck Berry, but they weren't even billed on their first Cavern gig and recalled that if Bob Wooler liked you, you could play for expenses, about ten shillings in 'old money'. Geoff arrived with all the equipment in a Triumph Herald driven by his mother while the rest of the group travelled by bus carrying Mike's drum kit.

At The Cavern

Tim recalls, "In the Cavern I remember hovering in the band room, especially when 'The Beatles' were on, and feeling privileged if John chose
to stub his ciggy out on my head. Of the four, I always thought that Paul was the most nervous and worried before a gig. He regularly had to go to the loo just before their act and invariably forgot to button his fly before going on stage. I remember being there the night after Pete Best had been sacked from 'The Beatles' and Pete's mates, possibly without his knowledge, came to seek retribution from the rest of 'The Beatles'. George got a hiding, but John gave some of it back and then Paddy and the rest of the bouncers sorted it out."

Due to the fact that the band played mainly R&B, they began to perform alongside 'The Roadrunners' at the Hope Hall, situated in the basement of the Everyman Theatre in Hope Street. Regulars at the gig were Adrian Henri, Mike McCartney, Roger McGough, Brian Patten and John Gorman while Adrian used to stage his 'Happenings' there.

Geoff Jones left the band to join 'The Clayton Squares', which led to them recruiting Lewis Collins. Lewis had recently returned from Hamburg having played with 'The Eyes' (Gibson Kemp, Paddy Chambers etc) and was looking for local work. In the same period he had been writing songs with Mike at the McCartney home.

Mike Sloan also left and Roger Bioletti, a former friend from Quarry Bank, took over as drummer (his grandfather's barber shop, 'Bioletti's', was the one featured in 'The Beatles' song 'Penny Lane’)
The line-up was completed by a tenor and alto sax. The alto player didn't last too long, but the tenor sax, Roger Lewis, stayed with the Georgians until they disbanded.

Lewis Collins received an offer to join 'The Mojos', a move promoted by his dad, Bill Collins, his biggest fan and manager. This was an offer he couldn’t refuse as 'The Mojos' were already a big name with a recording contract.
'The Georgians' decided not to look for a new bass player, they simply got Lol to change from lead to bass and began to turn from R&B to 'Soul' and appeared more regularly at the Mardi Gras, in addition to gigs at Universities. At the Mardi Gras, with Chris Wharton and Billy Butler as DJ's, they appeared with the 'Alan Price Set', Alan consuming a bottle of scotch during the course of the evening, and with Ike and Tina Turner. With Tina changing in the bandroom the young lads looking on were feigning disinterest naturally but being in a severe state of distress.
They also recruited Brian (Fagsy) Farrell, who had plagued them as an unpaid road manager since the start.
Brian actually had a fantastic gravely 'soul' voice and was later well-known in 'Colonel Bagshots Incredible Bucket Band'. His sister, Bernadette, was a long time girlfriend of George Harrison, so George would be at Brian's house in the early days when they were there practicing, athough George's views of their talents remain unrecorded. Brian was not in the band at that time, an indication of his ambition to join them, oblivious to the ears of his long-suffering parents.

Through the influence of Brian Farrell, their music moved very much towards Soul and, whilst again they continued odd gigs at the Cavern and Hope Hall, they would play much more at the Mardi Gras, which tended to be very much the place for soul music. They also played University gigs, which were always better 'earners.'

 

 

 

The Georgians disbanded in December 1964.

see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2016/05/mersey-beat-liverbirds.html