Bluedays

• Dave Hancock (Andy) - Drums
• Dave Livesey (Pins) - Bass
• Dave Gee (Ted) - Lead
• Dave Parry - Rhythm
• Ian Stanton - Vocals

I started playing the armchair and pan lids in about 1962 until I progressed to a set of drums, while I was still at Chadderton Grammar school. A couple of mates had bought guitars and it was decided that we would form a group at our local Youth Club, Bourne street, at Hollinwood.

During this first venture into the world of show business we named ourselves ‘The Blue Days' and did covers of early Shadows and Beatles numbers etc. We never made any money but it did a lot for our street cred with the opposite sex. Heaven knows what it would have been like if we could have played the instruments.

I remember spending a lot of money on equipment that we knew nothing about, but if if it looked good, then it must have been good. We bought a Fal 100 watt phase two amp with a 100 watt slave amp along with 2 collumns with 4x12 speakers in each. It was like carrying two coffins around with us. My first set of decent drums were bought from A1, a second hand set of Premier along with a copycat. 

The drums were all discoloured and I cut up an old fur coat of my grandmothers and covered them. Must admit that I must have done a good job as I was made offers for them, every where I went. At that time I had to double up on Guitar for certain numbers and bought a brand new Antoria (Les Paul Copy) whilst my mate Dave Parry treated himself to a left handed Fender from Barretts. The Mikes were Sure and were the first ones we'd seen with big Yellow foam balls on the end, very trendy. Everything , of course, went throught he same amp except the base. Did everyone make the same mistakes as we did or were we complete idiots.

After about nine months or so the lads, for some unknown reason, drifted apart and two of us decided we would have to carry on and try to make some money if only to pay off the instalments on the new instruments we had bought from Mameloks and A1.

We advertised for other members and auditioned quite a number of people until we settled on a female vocalist, Pamela Ellidge, to become a trio. She had a wonderful sweet voice , very much like Karen Carpenter. I swapped my drums for a guitar and we became ‘Peppermint Ice'

Dave Hancock

I also was at Chadderton Grammar Scool 1960 to1965 and remember a guitarist Peter Copeland and groups of that era: Blackcat Bones, The Blackjaks, TNT & the Dynamites and many more.

Steve Childs