Welcome to the Quarrymen’s Official Website
2002
Randers, Denmark Fri 8 March
On Friday 8 March the Quarrymen flew to Denmark and played concert in the little town of Randers in Jutland which was celebrating the 700th anniversary of its town charter (shades of Rosebery Street). The concert told the story of the Beatles in music, starting with an introduction in Danish by David Ashton, a schoolboy friend of John Lennon from Woolton who now lives in Denmark. Then came the Quarrymen with their skiffle and rock ‘n’ roll set followed by Tony Sheridan himself playing the music of the Hamburg years. The evening was rounded off by the Bootles from Merseyside who played the Beatles hits - altogether a unique treat for Beatles fans. See the Quarrymen Photo gallery for some pics.
Italian Beatlesiani - Brescia, Italy - Sat 8 June
The Quarrymen, Len, Eric, Colin and Rod (without Pete who has now retired from active washboard playing), appeared at the Italian Beatlesiani Day in Brescia, Italy on Sat 8 June. Organised by the Italian Beatles Fan Club, under its President Rolando Giambelli, the event was a celebration of the Beatles and their music, with some fifty bands playing from 11am to nearly midnight in the elegant Conservatorio building in the mdidle of the town. Before they played the group was interviewed with an Italian translator who was given a hard time with some of the Scouse slang.
It was a big surprise to find that Hunter Davies’ Biography of the Quarrymen had been translated into Italian and it seemed that just about every other Beatle fans there had bought one, we certainly signed plenty.
The Italian fans seemed to be delighted that the original Quarrymen were appearing for the first time in Italy - Italy has several bands called the Quarrymen but none with members as old as ours, and there was even a Quarrygirls band until recently. After the event the band went to Desenzano where they spent some time trying to make a dent in the Italian Guinness supply.
Thanks for a terrific weekend go to Rolando, Alice, Rosario, Franco, Alessandro, and everyone else!
With Chas McDevitt in Liverpool 14/15 June:
On Friday 14 June the Quarrymen appeared at the Beatles Story in their replica Cavern in a Skiffle Evening with the legendary Chas McDevitt, whose hit “Freight Train”, which sold 2.5 million records, introduced thousands of novice guitar pickers to the joys of playing the E7 chord! A packed audience enjoyed the Quarrymen’s 45 minute set which was followed by Chas playing all his hits and backed by the Quarrymen. Len Garry switched to washboard and Owen Clayton joined in on bass and a great time was had by all. Probably the greatest moment for the Quarrymen was to be up there on stage with Chas doing the whistling bit on “Freight Train”. There were even a couple of volunteers from the audience on washboard (Rick again!) and T-chest bass. The evening finished with the Atlantics Skiffle Group and Mr Beatles Story himself, Mike Byrne’s own band, rocking the roof off.
Next morning,Saturday 15 June in the company of hordes of old skifflers, Chas and the Quarrymen played on the floating stage in the Albert Dock in an attempt to create the world’s largest skiffle group and get into the Guinness Book of Records. The grand total of musicians was 136, which included harmonica players, Tony Davis of the Spinners on kazoo, ukeleles, banjos, guitars, washboards, drums, you name it, it was there. However the fun had to end so that all the football fans could get behind a pint and a TV set in time to watch England and Brazil
Quarrymen Display at Beatles Story, Albert Dock, Liverpool
The Beatles Story at the Albert Dock in Liverpool have added a special Quarrymen section to the exhibition. Opened in mid May, the Quarrymen section includes Colin Hanton’s original drumkit, as played on ”In spite of all the danger” and “That’ll be the day” which feature on the Anthology, Rod Davis’s original banjo, played many times by John himself (every time he broke a string he would give it to Rod to replace and play the banjo meantime) and also by his mother Julia, plus lookalike guitars, washboard and teachest bass and load of other items and photos including John’s own copy of “Rock Island Line”.
There are loads of other items related to the skiffle craze which swept the UK in the mid-fifties, all in all a fascinating revisit to the birth of the Beatles. The exhibit will remain on display until November.
At the official opening which took place on Wed 15 May the Quarrymen played a couple on numbers, in which they were joined by their first ever bass player, Bill Smith, who has been living in South Africa. Bill was one of the very first to join John Lennon’s original band, but he didn’t turn up for rehearsals so he was soon replaced by Len Garry, Bill says his Dad didn’t want him to waste his time in his final year at school. Bill however, had lost none of his touch on the tea-chest bass, but he did manage to snap the string in mid number!
For more information phone the Beatles Story on 0151 709 1963 or visit their website at www.beatlesstory.com
Estrel Beatles Festival - Berlin - July
The Beatles old Hamburg pal, Ulf Krueger, organised a three-day Beatle Festival in Berlin over the weekend of 19- 21 July at the Estrel Convention Center, the first of its kind on the mainland of Europe. It was a great success with some 9,500 visitors over the three days.
The Quarrymen played three concerts, in which they were joined by Ulf Krueger himself on washboard. Ulf is a real virtuoso washboard player who has toured with Lonnie Donegan himself. On the Friday and Saturday the Quarrymen beat was given extra oomph by guest bass player Ulli from Hamburg and on Sunday by Dave Rowinski, an American living in England - thanks guys, it was great having you with us. The Quarrymen received a terrific welcome from Beatle fans, most of course from Germany but also from Austria, Poland and many other parts of Europe.
Also appearing at the Estrel Beatles Festival were (in alphabetical order) Hans-Walter Braun - “Icke” a friend of the Beatles from their Hamburg days; Blair Cunningham, Paul’s drummer; “Mr Star Club “ Horst Fascher; Beatles author Hans-Olof Gottfridson; Tommy Kent who tipped off Bert Kaempfert about Tony Sheridan and the Beatles; Astrid Kirchherr; Tony Sheridan and Kingsize Taylor.
Our thanks to Ulf and to Ines at Estrel for a super weekend.
More info from the Estrel Beatles Festival website:
www.estrel-beatles-festival-de
Gothenburg - Sweden -Sat 5 October
The Quarrymen were invited to Gothenburg’s Beatles Festival by Sweden’s Tribute band, Lenny Pane, whom they met in Mons a few years ago.The Quarrymen received a very warm welcome when they were interviewed on stage and when they later went on to play their set with the help of bass player Lars Mellquist. The band invited members of the audience on stage to play washboard during their skiffle numbers, which caused a lot of amusement. Also on the bill was Pete Best, whose stage interview was rapturously applauded by fans, promoting his new book about the Casbah; of particular interest to British fans was Kevin Howlett of the BBC, who for many years has been collecting archive material of the Beatles’ appearances on the BBC - the clip with Rolf Harris was especially enjoyable. Kevin subsequently produced an excellent radio series on about the Beatles on Radio 2. There were loads of excellent Swedish musicians doing Beatles stuff, of particular note were the young band “Hard Day’s Night” from Stockholm,
Thanks to all our friends in Gothenburg for their kindness and hospitality, for a brilliantly organised and most enjoyable weekend.