The story of The Flies

In-Sect LP cover The Flies......flower-power days

THE COMMER FLIES TO INFINITY

A true story written by Ian Baldwin and dedicated to the memory of
Stu Calver and Robin Hunt

Chapter One – Melody Maker

The Place – Kilburn, North West London
The Year – 1963 (late)

It all started one Thursday evening just after tea; I decided to walk up the road to see my school friend Dave Phimister. I lived at 94 Charteris Road and Dave lived in Torbay Road, a short ten-minute stroll away.

Dave and I had been friends for a long time ever since we started doing ‘paper rounds’ together from the age of about nine. We used to work for a news agent on the Kilburn High Road for ten shillings a week (50p) before leaving there and going to W.H.Smith’s news agent at Kilburn Underground station for 12s 6d (62 ½ p). This lasted about a year until we both got ‘Milk Rounds’ with Victoria Dairies, a small family run business in Victoria Mews, Kilburn, helping the milkmen deliver the morning milk. This was more fun and we got a chance to drive the electric milk floats although we weren’t old enough to even hold a licence! We also received more money too, 17s 6d (87 ½ p) a week plus ‘tips’. We both did this most of the week starting at around 6am and finishing about 8 and most of the day on a Saturday. On school days we just had time to get home, have some breakfast, get changed into school uniform and get off to school on our bikes.

I remember one Sunday morning whilst ‘doing’ a round with Don, a rounds supervisor; we were delivering to a block of flats in Brondesbury Road. Don had just put some milk outside a door when the door opened and out came a lady, very drunk and very naked, she was asking if we new the way to somewhere or other. I had never seen a naked woman before and it was quite an experience I can tell you! After a short while, although it seemed longer at the time, an arm came round the door and dragged the lady back inside the flat, we laughed for the rest of the round. The same thing never happened again, still never mind.

At the age of eleven I left Salusbury Road school, that I had attended both in the infants and junior schools, Salusbury Road School was an old type school being of one building on three floors and only had a ‘playground’ at the front of the building and very little else. The teachers used to take us swimming once a week to Granville Road Baths about a 20-minute walk away. On the way to the baths we had to walk past a small street market and I can still remember that on one of the stalls they used to sell ‘live’ eels and I was all ways fascinated by these eels how they wriggled around all slimy and black in colour. I never got into eating eels I think the sight of them put me off.
We arrived at the baths got changed and used to spend about an hour learning to swim and then we had the walk back to school. My Dad used to take me swimming to these baths on a Thursday evening and when I could swim I used to go on my own when I had the time. Granville Road Baths was an old-fashioned ‘in-door’ swimming pool that also had proper ‘baths’ as well. In the ‘50’s many people didn’t have there own bathroom at home so had to rely on places like this.
My Dad also used to take me to watch Arsenal play at Highbury on a Saturday afternoon every other week. Everyone in our family was and still is an Arsenal supporter. My hero at the time then was a Welsh goalkeeper named Jack Kelsey, he was a magnificent ‘keeper but had to retire early because of injury. My Dad and me used to get home from the game around 6pm and my Mum used to have baked potatoes ready for us to eat with lashings of butter and grated cheese on top. Really great food!

My next school was Aylestone Avenue School in Brondesbury, a new secondary modern school. Dave and I were both 15 and the Beatles were all the rage. Everybody wanted to be in a pop group and we were no exception. At Aylestone I had a few good friends apart from Dave Phimister the main ones being John Rosewarne, Michael Creamer, Robert Waldron, Martin Roadknight, Christopher Blackstaff, Geoffrey Holmes (a boy that had together with his family just came over from Germany) and David Davies. I remember that Michael Creamer had a guitar and one day whilst round at his house I tried to play it, with out much success but it did give me food for thought. I began thinking that I could do this… but how?
It was while at Aylestone School that boys being boys a ‘bet’ was made between about six of us who used to share a table for school meals. The bet was to see how long we could last eating ‘left-handed’. It was very difficult at first but slowly we all got the hang of it. Over the coming months one by one they dropped out and returned to eating ‘right-handed’ again except for me and I have continued to eat ‘left-handed’ ever since, (at time of writing nearly 50 years) do you think I won the bet?

Aylestone School also held some fond memories for different reasons, having been there from the age of 11, I was now 14 and started to take an interest in girls! My first real girlfriend was a fellow classmate named Carole Wilson. Looking back now it was all down to my testosterone levels rising, all of a sudden girls became interesting, very interesting.
Carole and I ‘went out’ for about a year or so, she even came to met my Mum & Dad one Sunday for tea! I thought she was lovely and so did my parents. Our ‘going out’ mainly consisted of me walking her home from school and the occasional ‘snogging’ session in the evening. I once went with her parents to see some relatives of theirs who had a farm near Bristol.
I remember actually seeing lambs being born; this was a new experience for both of us. Carole’s Father had an old Austin A40 car, which we had the back seats to ourselves for the entire trip to Bristol and back. Carole’s Father was a ‘coal-man’ and her Mother worked in the local co-op store in Kensal Rise. They lived at 194 Purves Road in Kensal Rise and after walking Carole home from school I used to jump on my bike and ride the couple of miles to Kilburn. Such innocent days!!!

After about 18 months Carole dumped me for another schoolmate called David Stiff, this was the first time I had my ‘Heart’ broken. I said to myself ‘right that’s’ it I’ve had it with girls, I would never let a girl do that to me again!

Music then took over all my time and after leaving school I only saw Carole once more, which was when I was on the ‘tube’ coming back from a recording session. I was about to get off the train at Queens Park tube station when Carole said ‘hello’ to me. I had been ‘miles away’ thinking about the session that I had just finished. I had my guitar, in it’s case, with me and Carole asked me what I was up to. I told her a few fibs about being in a successful band, just been recording our first album and about to go on tour. It was my way of getting back at her for dumping me. It’s funny now how those fibs became true!!!! I did go on to tour all over the UK together with various trips to France, Germany and Denmark and was in a successful group with 3 singles and 2 LP’s to my name.
The train arrived at Queens Park and I got off, Carole was going on to Kensal Green Station, the next stop, I never did see her again. I never looked back. Music took over my life completely.

Growing up in Kilburn in the late ‘50’s and ‘60’s was a great time, it had a real community spirit and everyone in Charteris Road new each other and everybody stopped and spoke. At 94, where I was born, we used to live ‘up-stairs’ and Mr. Green used to live ‘down-stairs’ until he moved out and we took over the whole house. Living just up-stairs was a bit cramped with only two bedrooms, a ‘front’ room, kitchen and bathroom. There were five of us living there, my mum and dad, Esme, my older sister, and myself and Sandra, my younger sister. I used to have to share a double bed with Esme and Sandra slept in my mum’s room. We were only renting the flat and when we took over the whole house we all had bedrooms each. My sister, Esme, soon moved out as she got married to Roy Verrall and they went to live in Kenton Road just off the Harrow road in West London. This meant that we all had more room again.

Down Stairs at 96 Charteris Road lived Mr. Harris, a driving instructor who in time would give me lessons, and ‘up-stairs’ live the Warwicks, a very quite couple. At 98 there lived the Conesbys, at number 100 the Wilson’s and at 102 the Chalkleys, farther down the road were the Sellicks, they came from Swansea in South Wales.
On the other side of the road were the Smiths, the Clancy’s and the Halls. The Halls had a son John who was my best friend for a while. We used to go everywhere together, when I was not ‘working ‘ on the milk we would go off on a Saturday and spend all day ‘bus spotting’ we used to start about 5 a.m., get a ‘rover’ ticket for half a crown (12 ½ p) and travel all over London getting back very late at night. One night we only just managed to get back before the busses stopped running and my Dad was out looking for us, he didn’t half tell me off!

At the corner of Charteris Road was a ‘corner shop’ that everyone used to use. Opposite that was a ‘bombsite’ where four houses had been flattened by a bomb during the Second World War, the Council eventually built four new houses on the site.
There were a number of ‘bombsites’ dotted around Kilburn and as kids we would play on them, we didn’t really understand the significance of them at the time. Slowly over the years they were all built on and today you wouldn’t even know they existed.

I have always had a passion for music from an early age ever since my big sister, Esme, bought me my first record in the late 50’s. That record was ‘Why do fools fall in love’ by Frankie Lyman and the Teenagers; it still brings back memories whenever I hear it played.
Dave had learnt to play the guitar and had just bought himself a new Hofner V3, in bright red! I, on the other hand, had bought a snare drum and a cymbal and was driving my parents mad with the incessant noise. Before buying the snare drum I had been given, by my parents, as a Christmas present, a couple of years before, a plastic trumpet complete with music which I used to drive every body ‘nuts’ with. I don’t know which they found the most irritating!
I had all ways wanted to play the drums in a band and had listened, on the Radio, to people such as Buddy Rich, Gene Crouper and marvelled at their talent, and for one night many years from now my dream would come true!
I used to spend a lot of what spare time I had in the evenings listening to the radio, one of my favourite shows was ‘Journey into space’ and then on Sunday morning it was always ‘The navy lark’ or ‘Round the horn’ or ‘The Clitheroe Kid’ preceded by ‘The Billy Cotton Band show’ whilst the smell of an impending roast dinner used to waft up the stairs to my bedroom, oh the memories!
When I arrived at Dave’s house, Dave’s mother let me in and showed me into his bedroom. Dave was busy knocking out chords on his V3. After talking for a while, and me complaining about my parents not liking all the noise from the drum and cymbal Dave said why didn’t I take up playing bass guitar and he would show me how. I thought for a short while liked the idea and said to Dave ‘right you’re on’



On Saturday, Dave and I used to get dressed up in all our ‘mod’ gear, bell bottom jeans, roll neck sweater etc. and go down the Kilburn High Road and as was normal we went in all the shops trying to chat up the Saturday girls serving behind the counters. We ended up at ‘Blanks Music Store’, just past the ‘State Cinema’ and Willesden Lane. I didn’t have a lot of money but ended up buying an old six string acoustic guitar and a set of bass strings. My logical way of thinking was that by adapting the acoustic guitar to a bass I wouldn’t need an amplifier for a while and if I didn’t like the bass I hadn’t spent a lot of money. The rest of the day was taken up by adapting the guitar to a bass and to Dave and my self’s amazement it sounded quite good. We spent what was left of the day practising and practising until our fingers were sore. A good start to the weekend.

I met, by chance, another school friend of mine, Bob Alcock, he lived in Donaldson Road and was playing bass in a band called ‘4 plus 1’ they had a couple of records released and featured a guitarist named Steve Howe who went on to play in a band called ‘YES’. What ever happed to them?

Bob invited me round to his house and showed me some bass riffs for playing ‘R&B’. Bob had a Hofner violin bass that was so much easier to play than mine. I went home, quietly enthusing at what I had been shown and was eager to get started to practise these new riffs. I even went to a music shop in Harlesden and bought an old electric bass for £16 that was good enough for the time being. I shared Dave’s amplifier, although not perfect we made do.

Dave and I both left school in September 1963 and started jobs, Dave as a trainee manager at a tobacconist and me as a trainee wireman for English Electric LEO, a computer company, but both our hearts and dreams were still to play in a band.

After a few weeks hard practising we thought we were ready for bigger and better things, but we had no idea what would be in store for us especially me!

On his way home from work one day Dave went into the local paper shop a got the current edition of the ‘Melody Maker’, a must for all musicians, and quickly turned to the advertisements section, ‘musicians wanted’ column.
There it was ‘wanted, guitarist and bass player for new group’ with a Wanstead (Essex) telephone number. When I arrived at Dave’s house he told me about the advert and nervously phoned the number. When the phone was answered a voice on the other end called out ‘Robin it’s for you, about the ad in the paper’. Robin Hunt came to the phone. Dave told him about the two of us and arrangements were made to meet on Saturday, with guitars and amplifier, outside the Gants Hill Odeon.


CHAPTER TWO - THE SEA CADET HUT

Saturday arrived and Dave and I hurriedly got things together and off we went to Kilburn underground station, bought two return tickets to Gants Hill and waited patiently for the train. Although Kilburn station is known as an underground station it is in fact over ground and doesn’t go underground until it has gone passed West Hampstead station and on to St.Johns Wood. After changing trains at Oxford Circus, and boarding an east bound central line train we eventually arrived at Gants Hill a little before time. We stood outside the Odeon waiting impatiently.
After ten minutes a ‘mod’ on a scooter, dressed in a parka and with the obligatory 24 mirrors on his bike, (I can’t think why they needed so many) came up to us. We froze rigid, what had we done wrong? Why us? What did he want? The ‘mod’ on the scooter mounted the pavement, pulled up very close to the two of us and said ‘you Dave and Ian, I’m Rob’. We were both relieved. Robin Hunt continued ‘John DaCosta will be along shortly, his Dad is bringing him in their car and with that a red Jaguar Mk2 pulled up. John came over and introduced himself. We then loaded up what equipment we had into the Jag’s boot and off we went. ‘Where we going ‘said Dave, ‘to Snaresbrook Sea-Cadet Hut’ said John.
Down the Eastern Avenue towards London we travelled, Robin leading the way on his Vespa. After fifteen minutes we arrived, unloaded the car and took the gear inside this rather dingy, dark and damp hut, which was to become a well used rehearsal place over the next few months.

Robin Hunt was a couple of years older than the rest of us, nearly nineteen, worked at the B.B.C. and played drums. He had long red hair; brown eyes, 5’8” tall and10st. He looked like Marc Bolan from ‘Tyrannosaurus Rex’.
John DaCosta also worked at the B.B.C. and played rhythm guitar. He had brown hair, green eyes, 5’ 7” tall and 10-½ st. and wore ‘Buddy Holly’ style glasses.
Dave Phimister was working in a tobacconist, as a trainee manager .He was about 6’ tall, very thin with dark hair.
I (Ian Baldwin) had left school at 16 and was working at English Electric Leo, a company that was making computers; training to become a wireman. I was 6’ 2” tall with blue eyes and black hair, about 14 stone and also wore glasses. I didn’t use to wear glasses on stage at first, as I was a bit vain about them. I think I missed out a lot by not seeing the audience that much.

After setting up our equipment the newly found foursome began seeing what songs we each knew. ‘Foot-tapper’, by the Shadows, seemed the favourite so we began to play. The old hut was a stone built building so the sound reverberated around like a whirlpool. The four of us seemed to be getting on very well and it was agreed to meet again and at this second meeting a four-way partnership was formed and cemented over a coffee at a little café next to Snaresbrook Station.
Over the next few weeks Dave and I used to travel across London, to Snaresbrook as often as possible. The practise was very intense and a repertoire was quickly forming and it wouldn’t be too long before we would be ready for our first ‘gig’. A name was decided on and for the time being ‘The Rebs’ were born.

Chapter Three - First Night Nerves.

Woodford Memorial Hall seemed a good enough place to start a musical career as any. The four of us were getting more nervous by the day, although the gig was still two weeks away. I had recently been up the Kilburn High Road back to Blanks Music Store and bought a Hofner ‘Verithin’ bass guitar and a Fenton-Weill amplifier, a very load 30 watts!
The big night was getting ever nearer,’ we’ve only got to do 30 minutes’ yelled Robin, ‘but have we got enough numbers’ added John. ‘Are you sure we’re ready said Dave, I remarked ‘don’t worry it’ll be alright on the night!’ But would it though?
The big day arrived butterflies were in all stomachs. Robin’s Mother, who was a doctor’s receptionist, got, from the doctor, some pills to calm us all down. This did the trick.
The equipment was all set up and tested, the audience were waiting and the time had come. Ladies and Gentlemen would you please welcome ‘The Rebs’. No chance to turn back now. We played our hearts out; a few bum notes here, the odd wrong chord there, the forgotten words, but all in all not a bad opening night!

Performing was now in our blood, we got better and better, so much so that we decided to hold our own dance. Do all the organising ourselves, first find a venue, book it, do all the advertising etc. This was all finalised and the gig was due to take place on Saturday 16th May 1964 at St. Anthony’s Hall, Lancaster Road, Forest Gate, East London. Admission was 3 shillings (15p in today’s money).


In between our first gig and the impending ‘own’ gig we had played at a few pubs in the East End of London and in doing so it showed up that our equipment was letting us down, so we decided to buy some new amplifiers.
We all went up to Tottenham Court Road, in London’s West End and ended up in Selmer’s music shop. We bought three new amplifiers but had no way of getting them home. John’s Father, who had his own company and a 10-ton truck said he would collect them for us. He used to recycle bacon wrappers that were made of muslin, in a railway arch in Bethnal Green. These were washed and made into big rolls and were sold to road building companies to cover freshly laid cement. John and I occasionally used to work there for some pocket money and lunch at a near by Italian café. I still remember the smell of all these bacon wrappers and the funny thing about it was that John’s family were of the Jewish faith!
On Saturday 9th May 1964, outside Selmer’s, a10 ton Bedford TK truck driven by John’s Dad, pulled up and the brand new equipment carefully load on board. Thankfully it was a nice dry day as the truck was a ‘flat bed’. Once the ‘gear’ was loaded we all clambered on the back of the lorry and off we set for the sea cadet hut in Snaresbrook. I had also decided to buy another new guitar, so the day before I had gone into ‘Melbourne Piano’s in the Kilburn High Road and part exchanged my Hofner Verithin for a Gibson EB2 (serial no. 69605). This cost £160, but what a difference the sound made!
The day had arrived for our ‘own ‘gig. We had had a lot of support from family and friends, helping with refreshments etc. Although there weren’t too many people there after all the bills had been paid we still made £20 profit, which, for 1964 wasn’t bad at all.

Chapter Four PARTING OF THE WAYS.

We practised whenever we could and it became more and more apparent that Dave was struggling and falling behind the rest of us. We even briefly changed our name to the Rippling Waves but with out much success.

Robin’s Father, Bill, who also worked at the B.B.C. and had quite a good job, was approached one day by an American agent and asked to find a group for a project of making an album of ‘cover’ versions of current hits for release in the U.S.A. and Canada on the R.C.A. record label. Bill gave it some thought and cheekily suggested to the agent that his son’s little group might fit the bill. A demo session was set up to record two numbers at Lansdowne Road Studio in Kensington, London. This was an amazing chance for us four lads and after much discussion we chose to record the Kinks hit of the moment; Tired of waiting for you and the second number was an original song that had been written John and Robin; there ain’t no woman.
Johnny Douglas, a famous film score arranger and producer was hired for the job. Lansdowne Road Studio’s were primarily a film sound studio and the engineers together with Johnny Douglas had never recorded a ‘pop’ group before so it all became very interesting. The studio was a large room about 10 metres by 20 and about 6 metres high with a control room at one end over looking the studio. The control room was high up as normally the studio was filled with about 60 or 70 musicians and the engineers had to be able to see everyone. Access was gained to the control room via a stair case and during our session we spent many a time running up the stairs to listen to ‘play backs’.
At the session Dave really struggled and although the group was accepted to make the final L.P. it was made perfectly clear that Dave would have to go and a suitable replacement found. By chance Stu Calver was not playing in a band at present and was recommended by some friends as being a good guitarist and could sing a little, which in the future he would put to very good use. Stu was contacted and a rehearsal session set up.
This guy was really good, how had we put up with Dave for so long? Stu was immediately taken on as replacement for Dave and we began to practise for hours on end.
Stu Lived in Auriol Avenue in Dagenham and I had now rent a room in a house in Seven Kings, near Ilford; it made practising and getting to gig’s a lot easier. A meeting was arranged with Johnny Douglas at John’s house, he lived with his parents at 5 Wincanton Gardens, Barkingside, Essex, to finalise the songs for the album and go over the arrangements and keys etc. a couple of the songs had to be transposed from the original key and a lot more practise was needed.
Everything was set, Lansdowne Road Studio was again the venue for the album, booked for two whole days to record another 9 songs from backing track to vocals and mixing, not a great deal of time so everyone had to know their part with very little time for mistakes and retakes. There was a lot of pressure on all of us; the big day was fast approaching and then disaster struck! Robin had been rushed into hospital and diagnosed as having bowel cancer and needed an emergency operation to save his life. He would be in hospital for a few weeks. True to form, Robin said ‘the show must go on’ but he wouldn’t be in any fit state to take part in the recording. What should we do? A hasty meeting was arranged for the next day. John, Stu and I wanted to postpone the recording session but Johnny Douglas said no! The album had to be done on time or else!
More decisions to be made, either the three of us gave up the chance to record an album and let some other band do the session or try to find a tempory replacement for Robin. A replacement was the unanimous decision and the ‘hunt ‘was on.
Phil Chesterton (drums) was seconded from a group called ‘Johnny Tempest and the Nomads as was John Hollis, the lead singer. Practise sessions were hurriedly arranged. Poor old Robin, lying on his sick bed totally oblivious to all the turmoil that was going on around him.


The day of the recording sessions finally arrived. Nine songs to be recorded in two days.


‘Reelin’ and Rockin’’ by Chuck Berry was the first track followed by ‘Ticket to Ride’ (The Beatles), ‘Help Me Ronda’ (The Beach Boys), Robin and John’s ‘There Ain’t No Woman’ and to finish the first side another Beatles song ‘Yes It Is’. The second side was ‘Can’t you hear My Heart Beat’ from Herman’s Hermits followed by ‘Do The Freddie’ by Freddie and the Dreamers, ‘Silhouettes’ again by Herman’s Hermits, ‘The Biggest Lie’ written by Johnny Douglas himself and finally ‘You Were Made For Me’ again by Freddie and the Dreamers.
Equipment was set up, sound levels checked; a couple of practise runs then the now five band members were ready.

The sessions went very well; in fact we got Johnny Douglas to play piano on a couple of tracks to boost the sound. Next obstacle was the photo session for the album sleeve. We didn’t have a suitable photo including Robin for the sleeve, so it was decided that Phil Chesterton (complete with dark glasses) should replace Robin on the photo shoot. The bands name was also changed to The IN-SECT.

The album was released on RCA Camden CAL909 for the mono version and the more rare version, in stereo, was CAS909. It was released under the title of ‘Introducing the In-Sect Direct from England’. It didn’t sell that well but as a group we had opted to take a session fee for the job as apposed to a percentage of the sales, good job we did.

Chapter Five Return of Robin

It was during 1964 that I learnt to drive; I had lessons from Mr Harris, our next-door neighbour, who was a qualified driving instructor with the Notting Hill School of Motoring, 686 Harrow Road, London W.10. I had had a couple of so-called lessons with my Dad but things didn’t go too well so it was mutually decided that I had proper instruction.
I booked a course of lessons, the lessons cost £1 for an hour the first being on the 21st June 1964, and after about 15 lessons I was put in for my test to be taken on the 28th October 1964.
The test cost was £2 3shillings and I passed first time, taking it in a 1963 Ford Anglia. Now I was ready for the big highway.
Driving has always been in my blood, even as a small boy I used to travel on big red London busses, sit downstairs behind the driver watching what he did and thinking I’d like to do that one-day.
My Dad and I came to an arrangement over his car, an old Austin Cambridge, with me paying for the road tax and putting petrol in it and washing and polishing it and he would let me use it the evenings when the group had a gig or needed to rehearse. This used to work fine.


The band now needed some permanent form of transport, instead of relying on family and friends to get their gear to gigs. My Father had a friend who owned a garage in Willesden, so my Father and I went over there and eventually bought a 1947 Fordson Van (we also ended up with a second Fordson (circa 1952) for spares).
Hazelmare was the destination for the band one day but when it came to get under way the van let us down. ‘The other one’ Robin shouted, ‘we’ll take the other one’. The main van was taxed and insured, the second van was only going to be used for spares so was not. Someone had a bright idea; ‘lets put the tax-disc on the second van no one will know’. This we did, little did we know how big a mistake this was going to be!
Off on the road to our gig in Hazelmare, across London and down the A3. Got there okay, had a great gig and started on the way back. Not far from Guildford, on a dark lane, the police stopped the van. ‘Just a routine check’ one of the officers said. By this time his assistant was looking in the back of the van. ‘What in this tin’ he enquired, ‘biscuits came the reply in unison. The policeman began to open the tin and low and behold there were biscuits in the tin, ‘oh very funny’ he quipped’ now lets see what else we can find, shall we’. On examining the tax disc and comparing it to the number plate on the van the two policemen had a quick conflab and eventually came back to the van. ‘Do you know that the tax disc and number plate do not match?’ said the constable. A few excuses and mumblings were offered but to no avail. As I was driving at the time, this little episode led me to going to court for ‘fraudulent use of a tax disc’ and having no valid insurance.


Godalming Assizes, an unimpressive building in Guildford was where I had to attend. Robin came with me for moral support. After saying my piece and getting nowhere, sentence was passed £20 fine and licence endorsed. I asked for time to pay and this was set at £1 a week. ‘Glad that’s all over ‘ I said to Robin as we made our way back to Essex in his dad’s car that he had borrowed. We had learnt our lesson and in future our transport would always be correctly taxed and insured.
The two Fordson vans didn’t last much longer and a more reliable form of transport was sought. My parents, although not very well off, gave me £60 to by the group’s next van. This turned out to be a red Bedford van with sliding doors and a three speed column gear change and by the time Robin had finished with it, it resembled the inside of a cockpit of a plane. All the controls on the dash appertaining to the controls of a plane. Boys will be boys!
This van did us proud, doing an amazing amount of miles and gigs.

After a long lay off Robin Hunt finally got back in the swing of things and we were soon making quite a name for ourselves playing at a lots of pubs in and around London. One pub, The Two Puddings in Stratford, East London became like a second home to the four of us, playing there at least once a week. Another pub, The Bridge House, Canning Town, was also popular with us and one night while playing there a man approached us and after buying the entire band a few drinks, which we greatly accepted, asked us if we would like to play on a cruise liner going a round the Mediterranean Sea over the Christmas period. Robin said’ Oh Yeah and what’ll we do for an encore fly to the moon on New Years Eve!’ ‘No’ said the man abruptly ‘this is a genuine offer, I like your band and you’re just what I need’.
So it came to be. The In-sect were soon off to Southampton to join the ‘linee Siosa’ an Italian cruise ship for yet another amazing adventure. The cruise was to last from Christmas Eve until 5th January. Across the infamous Bay of Biscay to Gibraltar was the first stopping off place. We as a band were not being paid for the trip but were going on an ‘all expenses ‘ package i.e. all meals (although with the crew), a few drinks and all the excursions at the stopping off places and in return all we had to do was play a couple of sets a night in the ship’s night club. Not a bad deal!
‘Here’s to GIB’ we toasted, settling back for our first night at sea.
The Italian liner was packed with a lot of ‘well to do’ British folk and a number of French, whom had been picked up at Cherbourg en-route to Gibraltar. Once into the Bay of Biscay the sea started to get rough and I mean ROUGH. The four of us had set up our equipment in the nightclub and were desperately trying to perform. Microphone stands, cymbal stands were falling over all the time due to constant pitching of the ship. The audience were gradually thinning, with people making hasty retreats looking for somebody called ‘Hughie’. It seemed that ‘Hughie ‘must have fallen overboard as the handrail was packed with people leaning over the side calling ‘Hughie, Hughie!
By this time we had stopped playing for the night and returned to our cabin, a rather luxurious affair, just on the waterline, up the sharp end and full of cockroaches.
It wasn’t too long before one by one we all went down with seasickness. I did manage to stick it out until the early hours then finally succumbed. For the next two days and nights, although it seemed a lot longer at the time, nothing much stirred. Most of the crew had also gone down with seasickness; it was only the toughest that survived.
Gibraltar came into sight and by now things were starting to get back to normal, we were eating and more importantly drinking again!
It was very strange setting foot on dry land again after such an epic crossing; the Captain said it was one of the worst he had known.
We joined the guests for a tour of the island, seeing the Barbary apes, the gun emplacements etc. after a two hour trip round the island it was back to the ship and off to Tangier and a planned trip to Marrakech the next day. This was a real perk for us and the four-hour coach trip, passing the Atlas Mountains, to the ancient city was worth every minute. On arrival at our destination it was like stepping back in time two thousand years. The sights, the sounds and the smells were indescribable. Our time in Marrakech was a truly fascinating experience and one that I will never forget.
Back on board we were getting used to playing on a rolling ship and were well received each night. In the day, whilst at sea. We used to entertain the children with a few ‘kiddie’ type songs and games while their parents enjoyed themselves elsewhere.


Although the cruise was only for ten days or so it seemed more like ten weeks. On New Years Eve the ship entered the port of Madeira and, as is customary, all ships drop anchor out in the bay and are decked out with flags and lights in readiness for midnight. It was a fabulous night, a feast was laid on for all the passengers and this included us four. We gorged ourselves on caviar and lobster and washed it all down with some fine wine.

After an uneventful re-crossing on the Bay of Biscay, Southampton came into sight and our little ‘holiday’ was at an end. We were summoned to the Bridge and thanked by the Captain for our efforts. We were each given a diary as a souvenir of our time on the ship; I used mine to record the events that would take place in 1966.

Since the band was getting more and more ‘gigs’, I had left my job with English Electric Leo and, now that I could drive, I got a job with the Co-op based in Stratford delivering bread in the East End of London. I had also given this up just before Christmas to go on the ‘cruise’. We were determined to make it in the music business.

Chapter 6 Bienvenue dans le France

During the latter part of 1965 we had played at many auditions hoping to get some work abroad. Finally we got a contract to work in France on the American Army Bases for January and February 1966, the only condition was that there had to be a girl singer in the band. Robin, who had an unparalled knack with women, came up with the goods, a girl called Dee who had never sung in her life before. Where he found her I just don’t know. She looked good, long hair; good figure etc. but couldn’t sing a note. Robin said ‘she’ll do’ and for a short time she became the fifth member of the In-Sect.
About a week before we were due to leave for France Stu Calver decided to leave and a replacement hade to be found very quickly. Enter Chris Manders; a local musician from Ilford who had been playing in a number of local groups including ‘The Deer Stalkers’ ‘Tony Rivers and the Castaways’ (who later changed there name to Harmony Grass) and the ‘Summer Set’ and now was between jobs agreed to join the band at very short notice. Much rehearsing was needed to get Chris up to speed with our repertoire. Chris was very talented and it didn’t take him long to fit in and in fact he taught the rest of us a lot about harmonies etc.

I had decided that I wanted to buy another guitar, so on the 24th October 1965 I bought a Rickenbacker Stereo Bass guitar for £193, 12 shillings and 6 pence, once again from ‘Melbourne Pianos’. John by this time was using an ‘Epihone’ and Chris Manders a ‘Fender Stratocaster’.

We set off for France, the Bedford van loaded to the roof, and in front of us a most arduous trip to a place called ‘CHINON’ near Tours for a three week stint at an American army base. The old van gamely ventured south. On encountering some very deep snow drifts on the way, it was January after all; we nearly ended up in the ditch on more than one occasion. I did most of the driving, as was my passion in life, with Robin as second driver. The others preferred to take a back seat and try and sleep on these long and boring journeys. On these long haul trips Robin and I had mastered the art of changing drivers without stopping, with the driver sliding off the seat and squatting by the sliding door of the Bedford van and the co-driver slipping in by his side to take over the wheel. A rather difficult and some what dangerous manoeuvre and one not to be recommended by the faint hearted. The little van and all its contents arrived safety at the army base in the early hours of the morning only to be told we could not enter before 9am. We tried to get some sleep as best we could in the freezing temperatures. The base was well secluded and difficult to find. It contained nuclear missiles and was very well guarded. We had to be issued with passes by the Provost Marshall’s office to enable us to enter the base. These were restricted to the E.M. club, where we were to play, and were told that in no uncertain terms not to try and get any further into the base otherwise we would be SHOT!!!. This was no idle threat.

After settling in to the club, we went off to find accommodation, which we found at the ‘Hotel Du Perron’ at La Ferte-Saint-Aubin, a small village about 10km’s from the base. This was a very old hotel in the heart of the village, on a main road and at the bottom of a very steep hill. In the foyer was an old stuffed black bear, which, in the dead of night, came alive with all sorts of creepy crawly insects, a little off putting at first but we soon got used to it. Directly opposite the hotel was the most amazing patisserie, which was frequented rather a lot to buy chocolate éclairs and other treats.

Back on the base the equipment was set up and we began practising with the new line-up. The first night nerves started to get to us but we needn’t have worried as we went down quite well, the American G.I.’s took to our girl singer like a duck to water. The whole band was being bought drinks by the G.I.’s and friends were soon made with a number of the troops. We managed to get nearly all our food at the base and even managed to get petrol from the troops, so our cost of living was next to nothing for the three weeks we were there. We got friendly with a sergeant Staggs, and after we had finished playing for the night, we used to go to a club in Chinon called the ‘Red Front’ with him and some of his mates. The poor G.I.’s were entered into a lottery each week and the unlucky ones were sent off to Vietnam to fight.

After our three-week stint at Chinon we moved on to play at the E.M. club at Maison Fort, a base just outside Orleans, for a further four weeks. We stayed in a very small hotel at Azay le Rideau, which I remember had its toilets (squat variety) at the bottom of a long garden. Needless to say the boys in the band used to use the basin in the room rather than walking down the garden in the freezing cold. One night when we were returning from the base to the hotel the road at the top of the hill into the village had frozen over and it made it impossible to drive into the village so we left the van at the top of the hill and skated down the hill into the village on our backsides. We used to get one night off a week and on this night off we managed to get a gig at a club called ‘le Caveau’ in the nearby city of Orleans. This brought in some extra cash. Le Caveau, as the name suggests, was actually a very small basement room and only held about fifty people. The electricity in the place wasn’t up to much and we used to get electric shocks if we touched the very low ceiling, all in a night’s work though.

When we had finished our stint on the base the band was very tight musically and we had had a very interesting four weeks. The troops were always very generous and held contests to see who could get band members at their table for drinks in the breaks. Needless to say the whole band always went back to the hotel very merry and slept well.
We had been away for nearly two months and now headed back home.
On our return to England ‘Dee’, the girl singer, left the band never to be heard of again. The remaining four of us had liked the idea of the extra member so decided to recruit another person on our return. We also had to find another van as the old Bedford had just about had it.
Arriving home on the 4th March 1966 we had a couple of days rest and then set about finding a new band member and a van. A guitarist was the main project and after an ‘ad’ in the Melody Maker we found George Haywood. He joined the group immediately and John’s Dad bought us a Commer van that had originally belonged to ‘Capital Carpets’. This was a great improvement over the Bedford, a lot more room and more economical being a diesel. I seem to remember that it kept on jumping out of top gear so we developed a style of driving which meant that once in top gear the driver ‘cocked ‘ his left leg over the gear lever to stop it jumping out. The Commer van was grey in colour and had been over sprayed from the original red, it slowly became covered in lipstick from the bands many fans and girlfriends. This made it stand out as a groups van.

A lot of rehearsing was undertaken in a very short time and eventually we got an audition at The Marquee Club in London’s Wardour Street on the 12th March followed by a gig at ‘Tiles’ in Oxford Street on the same night. Yet another audition at ‘The Marquee Club’ on the 23rd March another appearance at ‘Tiles ‘ on the 26th.


As a result on the ‘Marquee’ auditions we got offered a contract to play in Hamburg, Germany at the famous ‘Top Ten Club’ for the month of May. We signed contracts and changed our name to The Decadent Streak.


The line-up of the band was now;

Robin Hunt... drums and vocals
John DaCosta... guitar and vocals
Ian Baldwin... bass-guitar and vocals
George Haywood... guitar and vocals
Chris Manders... guitar and vocals