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For those who may be interested, Vince Eager's Facebook page reports: The Vagabonds Skiffle Group 60th Anniversary gig at Grantham Guildhall on Tuesday Oct 20th with special guests.

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Licorice Locking is the bass player in The Vagabonds, which is why I am mentioning this here on a Shadows site. For further information, I assume you'd have to contact Vince Eager, presumably through Facebook. Here is the photo he posted:




October 20th is a few days after the possible Cliff/75th anniversary Tour, so I am hoping that the "with special guests" reference might have something to do with that event, in some way or another.

Regards,
Donna

Licorice Locking has a top of the range Gamleys Precision Brush here.
No doubt fitted with premium quality GPO parcel string and a neat knot for
That Slap Bass Sound!!!
Tea Chests yes the Pickfords removal mans essential tool back then, look
out for a skiffle man eying one up!!

Mike

Just in case anyone thought I was taking the mickey on the above post, there is a more serious
issue to note.
These guys and many like them were brought up in the austerity of post 2nd World War Britain.
Resources were scarce in a make do and mend society, so what they achieved with limited funds
and musical instruments is indeed most commendable.
Fast forward a few years to the embryonic American Surf Era, and you notice that most amateur/
semi pro bands started off in general with top of the range Fender Equipment, most likely financed
by better off parents.
Either way, fun and enthusiasm prevailed in musical terms!!!
I am sure the Vagabonds story strikes the right chord for early British Rock &Roll!!

Mike

If it is their 60th anniveresary then they must have been on the go in 1955.The first time I heard about Skiffle was in 1956 with Lonnie Donegan when he was with Chris Barbers Jazz band so what was before that?

Derek Mowbray wrote:If it is their 60th anniveresary then they must have been on the go in 1955.The first time I heard about Skiffle was in 1956 with Lonnie Donegan when he was with Chris Barbers Jazz band so what was before that?

I had thought the same thing.

Derek Mowbray wrote:If it is their 60th anniveresary then they must have been on the go in 1955.The first time I heard about Skiffle was in 1956 with Lonnie Donegan when he was with Chris Barbers Jazz band so what was before that?

The Vagabonds started as The Harmonica Vagabonds with Roy Clark, Roy Taylor (aka Vince Eager) and Brian Locking, all playing harmonica.

Hope this helps,

Ulrich

That's right. The Vagabonds came first. They adopted skiffle later.

Brian Locking of course still features harmonica as part of his set. The Vagabonds will have used chromatic harmonicas (the ones with a slide that play all 12 notes of the scale) and Brian continues this tradition.

At the Surrey Shadows Club last November he guested with the Local Heroes (Barry Gibson, Daniel Martin, Alan Jones, Cliff Hall and Clem Cattini) and played harmonica on Dakota, Don't Cry For me Argentina, Misty and Theme From Missing. Then at the end, when they'd run out of rehearsed numbers, Daniel Martin led the band on vocal in a busk through a couple of rock'n'roll numbers, 20 Flight Rock and That's All Right Mama. Brian played some great bluesy solos, including intricate duets with Daniel on guitar. At 76, he's playing better than he did with the Vagabonds!

Seem to remember that there was an outfit called the Morton Fraser Harmonica Gang
that were regulars on TV in the mid 1950s.
Probably the original inspiration for the Vagabonds starting off?

Mike

If you look at there jackets they have HV on them for 'Harmonica Vagabonds'.

Best regards,
Baz.