Mersey Beat - The Midnighters

Gus Travis

Born Graham Bull in West Kirby in 1940, it was in 1959 that 'Gus Travis and The Thundercaps' were formed at St. Bridgets Youth Club in West Kirby as a tribute band to 'Gene Vincent and the Bluecaps'. Later in 1962 they became known as 'Gus Travis and The Midnighters', inspired by the American artists Hank Ballard & the Midnighters, and with an original line-up of Gus Travis on vocals, Dave Carden on lead guitar, Ian McQuair on rhythm guitar, Alan Watts on piano, Clive Watkins on bass guitar and Ian Douglas on drums.
By 1962 Bill Bingham had been replaced by Brian Woods as bass guitarist and new drummer Pete Williams had been replaced by John Cochrane (ex 'Wurp & his Werbles') with the group still known as 'Gus Travis and The Midnighters'.
In November 1962 Freddie Starr joined the band as a second lead vocalist and to provide additional comic relief to Alan Watts who performed the comedy hits of the day, such as Bernard Cribbins' song 'Right Said Fred'. Within weeks Freddie had taken over the group, which then became 'Freddie Starr and The Midnighters'.

 

Brian Woods recalled in the Liverpool Echo of the times they played at New Brighton's Tower Ballroom, "We played a few times at the Tower and our claim to fame was to be on the same bill as 'The Fab Four' (The Beatles), plus a lot of other Merseyside bands on the same bill. The show was called the Big Beat as far as I can recall."
With Freddie now leading the group and demanding all the attention, and a good percentage of the money, Gus Travis left in April 1963 with Watts, Cochrane and McQuair to form 'Gus Travis and the Dymonds' and later in 1963, 'Gus Travis and the Rainchecks'.
Huyton born Freddie Starr had already made a name for himself on the local scene with a great voice and was an established artist before 'The Beatles' appeared on the scene. In fact 'The Beatles' supported 'The Midnighters' on several occasions and they all became good friends with John Lennon particularly liking Freddie's zany antics. When Joe Meek signed the group in 1963 they released 'I Told You' and Meek enthused about them, and Freddie in particular, with the energy he put into the recording session. However Meek's early optimism was ill founded as the initial song and the two follow up releases failed to do anything in the charts. They also recorded an album ' This Is Liverpool Beat' which was only released in Germany.
In October 1963 'Freddie Starr and the Midnighters' went to play at the famous Star Club at 39 Grosse Freiheit off The Reeperbahn in St Pauli, Hamburg, Germany.
His clowning and unusual behaviour meant that some people in the industry were reluctant to have anything to do with Freddie and he seemed to fall out of love with the music business.

 

Brian Woods recalled in the Liverpool Echo of the times they played at New Brighton's Tower Ballroom, "We played a few times at the Tower and our claim to fame was to be on the same bill as 'The Fab Four' (The Beatles), plus a lot of other Merseyside bands on the same bill. The show was called the Big Beat as far as I can recall."
With Freddie now leading the group and demanding all the attention, and a good percentage of the money, Gus Travis left in April 1963 with Watts, Cochrane and McQuair to form 'Gus Travis and the Dymonds' and later in 1963, 'Gus Travis and the Rainchecks'.
Huyton born Freddie Starr had already made a name for himself on the local scene with a great voice and was an established artist before 'The Beatles' appeared on the scene. In fact 'The Beatles' supported 'The Midnighters' on several occasions and they all became good friends with John Lennon particularly liking Freddie's zany antics. When Joe Meek signed the group in 1963 they released 'I Told You' and Meek enthused about them, and Freddie in particular, with the energy he put into the recording session. However Meek's early optimism was ill founded as the initial song and the two follow up releases failed to do anything in the charts. They also recorded an album ' This Is Liverpool Beat' which was only released in Germany.
In October 1963 'Freddie Starr and the Midnighters' went to play at the famous Star Club at 39 Grosse Freiheit off The Reeperbahn in St Pauli, Hamburg, Germany.
His clowning and unusual behaviour meant that some people in the industry were reluctant to have anything to do with Freddie and he seemed to fall out of love with the music business.

In April 1964 he obtained a part in a Lionel Bart musical 'Maggie May,' which was to be staged in London from July 1964, but for some reason it was given to someone else. Freddie left to join 'The Flamingos', who then became 'Freddie Starr and the Flamingos' and later the same year he joined 'The Delmont Four', who became 'Freddie Starr and the Delmonts' until 1969.
With Starr gone 'The Midnighters' added Tony Bell on bass and Pete Shelton on rhythm guitar, vocals, who only lasted a couple of weeks before he joined 'The Clan'. This line-up of the group did not last long and they split in the Summer of 1964, with drummer Hartley and pianist, vocalist James forming 'The Ice Blues R & B Band' with Bob Garner on bass, vocals and Dave McShane on sax. This group lasted until December 1964, when the band split up and Hartley joined London group 'The Artwoods'. He read an advert in The Melody Maker: 'Drummer wanted for a Rhythm and Blues band' and joined the group led by lead vocalist Art Wood, the older brother of Rolling Stones' lead guitarist Ronnie Wood.
After the 'Rainchecks' and when Freddie Starr had moved on from 'The Midnighters', in the 1980s Gus Travis revived the name. 'Gus 'Crazy Legs' Travis And The Midnighters' who went on to be a popular rock 'n' roll act around Merseyside and included two of the original 'Midnighters', Ian McQuair (rhythm guitar) and Brian Woods (bass). Gus Travis still handed out his publicity photographs from the 1960s as he had had 10,000 printed with the thought he was going to make it.

see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2016/10/mersey-beat-undertakers.html