Mersey Beat - The Undertakers

The Undertakers
Left to Right:- Chris Huston, Geoff Nugent, Bugs Pemberton, Jackie Lomax and Brian Jones (sitting)

The Undertakers, or the 'Takers', as they were sometimes referred to, had their start in 1961, when two of the top local groups in Wallasey disbanded and formed two new bands – one was 'The Undertakers', and the other was 'Dee & the Dynamites', whose founder member was Jackie Lomax. Formed from 'Bob Evans & The Five Shillings' (at one time known as 'Bob’s Vegas Five'). Bob Evans, on vocals and drums was responsible for changing the group's name to 'The Undertakers'. The original line-up of 'The Undertakers' was Bob Evans on drums, Chris Huston on lead guitar, Geoff Nugent on rhythm guitar, Brian Jones (not the Rolling Stone) on saxophone, Dave “Mushy” Cooper on bass, and Jimmy McManus vocals. Chris Huston as a teenager began studies at the Liverpool College of Art where he was friends with John Lennon and, like Lennon, began covering R & B from the American records coming into Liverpool at the time. By 1961, they were appearing almost seven nights a week at venues including the OPB (Orrell Park Ballroom), the Jive Hive, Riverpark Ballroom, the Majestic, Bowaters and the Shell Club.
Bob Evans left the band in late 1961, to be replaced by Bugs Pemberton (of 'Dee & The Dynamites'), and in January of 1962 Dave Cooper departed to join 'Faron's Flamingos', and was replaced by Jackie Lomax – who had never played bass before and had one thrust into his hands upon joining. Within a few months, Jimmy McManus, who was renowned for picking fights with audience members, was eased out and Jackie Lomax took over the vocals.
Originally called 'The Vegas Five', the band were due to play Litherland Town Hall and were mistakenly linked to the 'Obituary column' of the local newspaper on publication. Bob Wooler, the DJ at Litherland Town Hall, thought this could work to their advantage and introduced the band to the sounds of the 'Death March' as 'The Undertakers'. The band went down a storm and so 'The Undertakers' were born.
It is believed they were the first group in the country with an all Gibson guitar line-up and also the first to use a 100 watt P.A.
The group developed a serious following in Wallasey and Liverpool, partly due to Jackie Lomax's unusually good singing which rated him as one of England's best white soul singers due to the fact that, in addition to the standard mix of obscure American rock & roll and genre standards, they also attempted more big-band-style R&B. It is thought that Paul McCartney was influenced a lot by Jackie Lomax's singing style and you can hear the similarity now when you listen to their records.
It was also 'The Undertakers' who invited Beryl Marsden on stage to perform for possibly her first time in front of an audience.

In 1962 'The Undertakers' secured a residency at the Star-Club in Hamburg and made their second trip to Germany in January 1963, to spend five weeks at the Star Club, and were known in Hamburg as Die Totengraber (The Gravediggers). After refusing a management offer from Brian Epstein, they were signed to Pye Records but, unfortunately for them, Tony Hatch was their producer and didn't understand the new musical taste of teenagers, he being more suited to the likes of Petula Clark. They didn't get along with him and he didn't understand them.
In view of their popularity and huge following it is somewhat bewildering that their first single, '(Do The) Mashed Potatoes' b/w 'Everybody Loves a Lover,' didn't sell, nor did 'What About Us' b/w 'Money' although the latter rivalled 'The Beatles' version for its raw power. It was their third single, 'Just a Little Bit' b/w 'Stupidity', that became a Top 20 hit in England during the summer of 1964. At one time 'The Undertakers' looked as if they were going to be as big as 'The Beatles' and they should have been because they were extremely professional accomplished musicians and in Brian Jones on Sax they had a secret weapon that set them apart from other bands on the scene.
By late 1964, however, the situation with Tony Hatch had deteriorated so they left Pye and were without a contract until the following year, when they decided to take off for New York. However things didn't quite go to plan and after playing in the USA and Canada they were soon without money.
They eventually gave up on their American manager, who had concentrated on promoting Pete Best, so the band finally broke up in 1965 with Lomax, Huston and Pemberton all remaining in the USA and developing their own careers in the Music industry over there. Before they split up though they released one single in America on the Black Watch label, 'I Fell In Love' / 'Throw Your Love Way Girl'.

 

 

In 1968 The Beatles invited Jackie Lomax to be the first artist to join their new label, Apple. George Harrison wrote and produced his single 'Sour Milk Sea', a mystical song about the age of the world.

George said : "I wrote Sour Milk Sea in Rishikesh, India. I never actually recorded the song - it was done by Jackie Lomax on his album 'Is This What You Want?' Anyway, it's based on Vishvasara Tantra, from Tantric art. 'What is here is elsewhere, what is not here is nowhere'. It's a picture, and the picture is called Sour Milk Sea - Kalladadi Samudra in Sanskrit.
I used Sour Milk Sea as the idea of - if you're in the shit, don't go around moaning about it: do something about it."

see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2016/10/mersey-beat-steve-day-drifters.html