Ronnie Storm and the Stormbeats
ronnie
storm and the stormbeats a pop group from wakefield were ronnie storm, johnny
welsby, bob goldthorpe, bob shaw, dave wilkins
no sound tracks but we have spoken to Bob Goldthorpe who sent the really nice
pictures (see below)
this was a really good outfit
Futurama 2s were involved, a Watkins Copycat echo unit, an 18 inch Wharfedale
that punched out bass like you've never heard before
click on a picture to enlarge it
Please read Ron Kelly's memories of Ronnie Storm
Nice also to see a photo with my old mate Phil Goodwin on organ. The band was then called Ronnie Storm and the Typhoons.
I knew Phil when he played in a semi-pro band, sorry, group, as they were called in those days, from the Wakefield area called Ice Kool. I seem to remember he'd recently been in The Trevels for a year or two. The wife and I first saw Ice Kool in 1973 in the Hall Road Working Men's Club in Armley, Leeds one Wednesday evening and thought they were good. They were at the Alexandra Club just up the road the following Saturday which confirmed our thoughts, they were really good. We chatted to them during the bingo breaks and at the end of the evening. They were an amicable bunch of guys, we liked their show, so we asked them where they were playing next. Unwittingly this led to me becoming roadie, man with the van, nursemaid, purveyor of drinking and smoking substances, sound engineer and eventually manager of the group. We had the times of our lives until the split a few years later. The guys went their separate ways and I lost touch with them all except for the guitarist, Martin Helie. Although Martin had been the last one of the group we got to know well, we formed one of those friendships which lasts forever. He played in various other groups settling for a short time with a country and western group called Saddletramp, later Three Spoke Wheel. He eventually left and took the rhythm guitarist, John Kershaw with him, forming Splitz duo, me once again on sound. We had one of the earliest Roland programmable drum machines and developed a huge sound for just a duo. There were other bands to follow both for Martin and myself, one of mine being the Bradford based band Bruno. Note that they are called 'bands' now that we are approaching the eighties.
Going back to Stormie, as Wakefield musicians knew him, a lot is said about lack of recordings made by him. But I remember Phil Goodwin having a well worn 7" copy of 'My Bonnie' recorded in Hamburg on the Polydor label. Unfortunately I can't remember what was on the B side, it may have been 'Unchained Melody' but I'm not sure. Along with Ron Kelly's comments, I also remember Stormie's legendary eating capacity. This was before the days of curry houses on every street, so after a gig we usually ended up at the Red Beck transport cafe in Wakefield at stupid o'clock in the morning, where they never close and do an all day breakfast. This was, and probably still is the haunt for starving musicians after a gig and many a time we would see Stormie there. Like Ron Kelly says, Stormie could out eat the rest of the group put together.
Pete Sewell says, "I worked with Ronnie Storm's band as well, although they were called the Typhoons when I worked with them...Ronnie could always get work...six or seven nights a week...doubling! He also made the best stew in the western hemisphere. He paid a flat wage per gig, but it was worth an extra tenner a night for the food he used to take on tour. He seemed to have relations all over the country who would put us up as well."
Dave
Warmer says I used to play with Ronnie storm and the Typhoons,
(that was his name of the band then in 1967).I was lead guitarist Dave (Pudding
nickname!) with Haggis (premier drumkit) Vince on bass and on the odd occasion
Mick Close from Normanton also Bob ,forgotten his second name (Watkins rapier
guitar red) whom I had replaced as new member of the band. Ii was wondering
if you could have any info from Ronnie or yourself about these boys how they
are doing, (anybody out there got any info - ed.)
its been 30 years since I left the band and am now residing in S- wales UK.
Update
January 2019:I have been looking at this page Roll back
the years and I was in Ronnie Storm and the Typhoons around the very late
60s.
I was in this band when we went to Lancaster gate and recorded 2 tracks. The
A side was called "Because We're Young" a 3 chord song in C.
First verse was:-
"Because we're young we gonna have our thoughts beneath the sun
When work is done it's great to be young"
The B side was called "My Bonnie" of which I devised the opening
riff in E. That song was 4 chords E/ C#m/ A /B.
The band comprised of me lead guitar and Vince on bass, Haggis on drums, and
Mick close on rhythm and of course
Ronnie (guts) on overly vibrato vocals.
I remember the small studio where we recorded the 2 tracks and the engineer
said at one point that Telstar had been
recorded there with a motorbike revving at the start of the track. I remember
leaving the studio and Ronnie had the tape track on the way out. We travelled
there in a multi coloured Ronnie Storm painted Commer diesel van. I left the
band around 1970.
Richard
Sykes says Hello My stage name is Googie Sykes I played with Ronnie
Storm for the whole of 1977, it was Ronnie Storm and the Typhoons back then.
I played guitar in the band and we toured the UK I had a great time but didn't
make much money.
Have you a tel no for Ronnie I haven't seen him since I left the band, we
also used to work together in TV mainly as extras.
I don't think Ronnie ever recorded but I have a recordings of 6 tracks of
songs that I wrote, they were of the 1977 band, I have just rediscoverd the
recordings and transfered them to CD, the quality is not too great but passable.
I am sure Ronnie would love to hear them again.(and
we would love 'em to put up on the site - ed.)
By the way I had my own band in the early 70's we were called Rupert and Chums
played mainly in Yorkshire, Clubs and Pubs.
I retired from the game in 1983 and got myself a proper job as they say.
any
more information - pete@rollbackthyears.co.uk
roll back the years produced by pete bradley