Music

Guitarist John McNally was one of the original members when the group started out playing skiffle in 1959. Bass guitarist Frank Allen left Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers to join the band 50 years ago this August.

“It was August 3, 1964 – a Monday night at the Coventry Theatre,” he said straight away and without pause. “I met The Searchers before they made it in Hamburg when I was with Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers. We were a much bigger deal than they were at the time.

“I was offered the job and took it. But it was leaked to the press and so was brought forward very quickly. I was told to meet up with them at the theatre at 1pm.

“We were going to rehearse the songs in the afternoon. I got there at 1pm, but they didn’t turn up until 5pm. We went through the songs in the dressing room – in those days you only did half-a-dozen – and went on to do two shows. It was fantastic.”

So was the money: £100 a week and income tax paid too. Fifty years ago that was a small fortune, most First Division footballers weren’t paid that much in spite of playing much bigger audiences than pop groups.

Frank said he didn’t even discuss his wages before setting foot on stage with the other three Searchers.

“It was unprofessional in those days. People signed contracts without reading them. I assumed I would be on reasonable wages. I didn’t suppose it would be a full split because I hadn’t contributed to their hits.

“I got a full partnership in 1967. We dug in and rode out the hard times, when we earned a lot less, until the nostalgia boom when we started to earn more money than ever,” he added.

But for The Beatles, who learned their stage craft in Hamburg, the boom might not have happened.

Frank instantly went into memory overdrive. “December 30, 1962: that was the last time The Beatles played Hamburg. We saw their last-ever show. They were very confident and determined to make it. I thought they would.”

If you fancy dipping your fingers into the sugar and spice of Sixties nostalgia, you can expect a lot of more of this sort of reminiscence when Frank and The Searchers play at Ilkley’s King’s Hall next week.

Singing songs and telling stories in a friendly atmosphere is what they like to do. Sixties pop music at its best is ageless. Performing it evidently prevents them from feeling past it.

The Searchers will be taking audiences down memory lane with such hits as Sweets For My Sweet; Needles And Pins, Don’t Throw Your Love Away and When You Walk In The Room. With total record sales in excess of 40 million, their recent compilation album, The Very Best Of The Searchers, includes all their hits and has seen a recent return to the UK charts.

• The Searchers are on at Ilkley’s King’s Hall tomorrow, Friday. The box office number is (01274) 432000.