Mike Pender On Tony Jackson

anonymous · Post by **anonymous** » Mon Sep 16, 2002 1:31 am

I recently listened the interview of Mike Pender conducted by Mike D'Abo in 1990. Much ground was covered during this interview in which D'Abo asked some real tough questions. The following is an excerpt from the interview as Mike Pender briefly discussed the early days in which Tony Jackson was in the The Searchers.Quote:Tony had aspirations of making it as a movie star. He lived in a little bit of a dream world. He was the oldest of us all at the time. He was my great mate actually. Both of us used to go to support Everton, stand on the terraces and cheer every Saturday afternoon when we could make it. And, of course, we were very close. And I think he took it badly when "Needles and Pins" was chosen as the third single. We didn't sort of say 'We're going to do this next'. I mean, Louis Benjamin, he was the big man at Pye Records then, he had all the say. You know it was success, success, success! I think Tony was a little bit disappointed. It went straight to number one, Needles and Pins, and of course a runaway success.

I think it was Chris who befriended Frank (Allen), not so much John and I. John and I used to keep to ourselves a lot, coming from the same road and living in the same sort of environment in Liverpool. And, of course, at that time Tony became unsettled. And it was decided within the band and with the managers that he should leave and get a band together and the same Tito Burns agency would look after him. And so in came Frank.

sowhat · Post by **sowhat** » Thu Nov 25, 2004 9:41 pm

Peter, is there a full transcript of this interview anywhere on the web?

admin · Post by **admin** » Fri Nov 26, 2004 12:53 am

Not to my knowledge Sheena. I may get around to this at some point.

royclough · Post by **royclough** » Fri Nov 26, 2004 9:45 am

This was a good interview and to some degree there was differing views expressed by MP to those expressed by John McNally and Frank Allen. I have stated before that I believe the real truth behind the spilt will probably never be made public, a versions will be given by either side but differing versions.

admin · Post by **admin** » Fri Nov 26, 2004 10:58 am

Sheena: More from the same interview. Pender recalls

"The writing. We should have been doing a lot more of that. Chris did have a big say in what we recorded. He was the one who was really into the music in a bigger way than anyone else I found. Unless you are superstars you have 2-3 years at the top."

sowhat · Post by **sowhat** » Fri Nov 26, 2004 10:43 pm

Peter: thank you. But it's a bit strange, i mean, there's a whole lot of "the story" as told by Allen/McNally but i've never met Pender's full version on the web (actually, as for me, i'd like to hear this different version). No website dedicated to him/his band (or am i just missing something?). Wonder why...

royclough · Post by **royclough** » Sat Nov 27, 2004 12:29 am

No there is no website, Peter's is best we get on that, Mike has been approached about having a website but appears not that interested. There still is a Quarterly magazine called MP's News though.

sowhat · Post by **sowhat** » Sat Nov 27, 2004 11:46 pm

Roy, i might be missing something, but as far as i know there's a whole lot of websites made by enthusiasts without artists' help or anything. Or they always need a permission to make it?

royclough · Post by **royclough** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 12:00 am

No you are correct Sheena but I suppose it helps if the artist endorses it. I am surprised that no one has taken up the mantle, may well be a website but I've not found it.

sowhat · Post by **sowhat** » Thu Dec 02, 2004 8:19 am

...well, i've tried to find at least something anyway - with no great luck, to be true. In most part it's either online shops selling records or just short introductions in band's history. There's one link explaining how you can contact the fan club. Some details on concert dates. Peter's website. And that's all. Short bios (both in English and in Russian, the latter of which warmed my heart, truly) are a funny reading although sometimes telling quite different stories. I was a bit surprised, for instance, to find out that the band named the Searchers actually doesn't exist since 1986.

Ah, just skip it. MPS' bios state in the very beginning that Mike Pender was the one who has created the whole Searchers sound. Well, okay, no problem although i cannot agree. One also stated that he was the only handsome boy in the band (secret thoughts: 1) (the one of a woman to the bone) oh yeah?! what about Frank Allen then?! 2) what does it have to do with music?!). But what i really can't understand is a kind of "mild personal insults" which went together with some of these small bits of information. Like calling the nowadays Searchers lineup "the impostor Searchers". Impostor? Yes back to the overdiscussed infamous '85 topic no matter how much i hate to do it. By this time, the remaining three which has recruited Spencer (who in the same short review was called "sometimes feminine" or something like that - gee... isn't that ridiculous?) have been playing together for 15 years or so under the Searchers' banner. I've never met a Mike Pender fan in real life. Never talked to any. They might be right. He might have had more right to use the Searchers banner. Just one thing. He wasn't the only one to be hurt. Not the only one to suffer. (anyway, "for he who gets hurt will be he who is strong" ((c) Bob Dylan), isn't it?) And such things as those "mild insults" seem to me a sign of weakness of some sort. I'm no kind of "political correctness" devotee, but i can't understand it. And i'm not sure Mike Pender himself would appreciate this kind of "love manifestation". He must be cute, and smart, and witty even if i'm not much impressed by his singing/songwriting skills but these bits on the web could only work against him...
Kinda embarrassed, Sheena.