Subject: "The Wreckers and The Confederates"
Comment: Does anyone have information regarding the Wreckers and the Confederates, early groups of Mike Pender?
Peter McCormack (June 6, 2000)
Comment: "This is a good question that has no answer!! I noticed that the sleeve notes on the Latest Sequel CD of reissues mentions these names again. You will probably be surprised to hear athat these two names are purely figments of my imagination. On our very first album, I introduced these names purely to 'Spice up' the Credits!!"
Mike Pender (August 3, 2000)
Subject: Frank Allen/Cliff Bennett
Comment: Did Cliff Bennett have a hit with the Beatle compostion, "Got To Get
You Into My Life" or am I confusing his with another British Artist?
Peter McCormack (March 13, 2000)
Comment: He sure did, it went to #6 in the UK in September of 1966. His only
other hit was called "One Way Love" and that went Top 10 in '64...this
would have been right around the time Frank left (I'm not sure if he
plays on this track).
Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers had a ton of
singles, most sold okay but never took off in a big way apart from
their two hits (neither of which made it in the US, sadly). The piano
player for the group was Roy Young, whom was a veteran of the UK scene.
He had solo records out in the '50's and appeared on the 6.5 Special,
which was one of Jack Good's pop TV shows.
The Rebel Rousers split with Cliff Bennett in late '68. Cliff wanted to
go progressive, the rest of the group didn't and ended up changing
their name to the Roy Young Band.
Hopefully, Frank will pop on here and tell us a bit more of the Cliff
Bennett story.
Jeff Zang (March 14, 2000)
Subject: Chris Curtis/John Blunt
Comment: I'm a big Searchers fan and having a newsgroup for them is a great
idea...Does anybody know what Chris Curtis or John Blunt are up to
these
days? I know Chris had a solo single and did some production work
after
he left the Searchers, but he just seemed to disappear after that.
John
Blunt, from listening to the singles he played on, sounds like a
terrific drummer...Anyone know if he played with another band later
on?
Jeff Zang (February 28, 2000)
Response: Chris tried to found a group called Roundabout, which became Deep Purple. After that he left music business completely, had a civil job and retired a few years ago. From time to time he and a friend play in clubs in Liverpool.
John Blunt still played drums a while back in a local group (I don't remember the name), doing mostly oldies, including Searchers stuff.
Michael Denger (February 28, 2000)
Subject: Pender Leaves The Searchers (1985)
Comment: I understand that Frank Allen writes about some of the circumstances
of Mike Pender leaving the group in 1985. I am ordering his book
but in the meantime can anyone shed some light on this difficult topic.
I don't want to open old wounds but I would be interested in understanding
the circumstances under which the disagreement took place. Today I
have listened to Mike Pender's Searchers on the internet and find that
the melodies are close but the harmonies and the "feel" is nothing like
The Searchers.
Peter McCormack (February 27, 2000)
Response: Peter, Frank's book deals with it as fully as anything, but there are no
real revelations about this particular issue. The reason given for
Mike going out on his own was simply that he wanted to try being "his
own man". Discussions I have had with someone reasonably close to
Mike have added nothing to this, although I have been told that
journalist Spencer Leigh is best placed to write a Searchers
biography, but I haven't had the chance to meet him to ask!
So it's down to trying to put two and two together. Two things which
may or may not be significant -
On the two Sire albums, John McNally played all the lead guitar parts
I believe for the first time. Prior to that it had been Mike.
I have been told that Mike was particularly disappointed by the lack
of sales of the Sire albums, although critically they were well
received and musically they're brilliant!
These might be totally unrelated to his leaving however.
Gary Jackson (February 28, 2000)
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