Ian Dean the the Brystals (Bury)

info courtesy Dave Weeds

Line-up included 

• Neville Shaw - lead
• Dave "Weedsy" Weeds - lead (repaced Neville)
• Bob Maudsley - rhythm/vocals/ harp
• Eric Maudsley - drums
• Ian Dean (Stanworth) - vocals
• Alan "Joe" Wroe - bass 
• Kevin Jackson? - drums, replaced Eric
• Barry Street - guitar 

In the gallery is a newspaper article about the Palais at Bury, where we used to have a fan club every Sunday night (reduced entry charge, and I think we put a few bums on seats playing for peanuts :- )

We played all round Lancs - Nelson Imperial was a good gig, as I remember, also The Cat's Whiskers at Burnley (ex Burnley Mecca), a few ice skating rinks (Silver Blades was the contract, I think). Played the Beachcomber at Bolton regularly.

Never made any money, wrote the van off in a fairly big accident (took out two cars as well), and went our separate ways - university for me, fell into the trap of wanting to be an exec with a proper job, no music for nearly thirty years, apart from the occasional stand-in gig with local dance bands. Now rockin' again with a band in France - "The Rockin' Papy's" (The Rocking Grandads) playing lots of the old (good) stuff.

Still got the Tele - they repo'd the rest! Mamelok's, I think, (if they're not still looking for me )

I just remembered Eric's "trademark", which was a large foam rubber Yogi Bear, which sat on the hi-hat, and therefore waved his arms up & down in time to the beat. I always thought there was some perverse pleasure in Eric's eyes as he spread Yogi's legs and impaled him on the spike

David Weeds - 29/3/10

The original lead guitarist was myself (Neville Shaw.) The contract for the Silver Blades Ice Rinks was won at the BBC studio's in Cross St Manchester when approx 50 groups applied.

All the bands queued on the stairs with all their equipment and went into the studio in alphabetical order. We were first on. We were given 5 mins to set everything up... it was a nightmare. Eric (Mawdsley) our drummer was tearing his hair out getting his gear ready. The band literally plugged in, guessed the levels, and then went to help Eric set up.

The guy wanted one vocal and one instrumental. We said we only do vocal numbers and he said OK then two vocals it is.

We started with Twist & Shout and the 2nd number was ... before I tell you, there is a story to tell about this.

We had a manager who had a stall on Bury Market. Every Saturday Ian would go down to Bury Market to see him and find out what gigs he had lined up for us.

Ian would then wander around the record stalls looking for American imports. These were easy to find as they were all ex juke box and had no middles in the 45s.

We used to practice on a Tuesday night and this one particular night he brought this 45 with him that he'd picked up on the market. It was by an American group called The Contours. We practiced it solid until it was absolutely tight and played it for the first time for this guy in the BBC studio.

By a pure fluke (having only 5 mins to set up)we got the balance and levels absolutely spot on. Straight away we knew that the sound was unbelieveable. The guy told us that he would let us know and we packed up our gear and started walking back down the stairs were all these bands were queueing. They all kept saying "what was that 2nd number you did". The song was "Do you love me". It had never been heard in the UK until that night. Four weeks later it was at No 1 with Brian Poole and the Tremeloes?

The reason why Dave Weeds was brought in was due to the possible contract to play the American Air Forces Bases in Germany. I was engaged to be married and couldn't commit myself to this deal.

I believe Eric emigrated to Australia. Joe we already know about and I'm pretty sure that Ian joined the police force. Bob I'm not too sure about. I bumped into him a couple of years after I'd left the band and he'd not been well. I hope everything turned out OK for him.

On a completely seperate note I was at school with Mick Rothwell for 4 years. We were the best mates.

Mick was probably the best lead guitarist during the 60's and played with Kev Curtis and the 4 Escorts. Its funny really because me and Kev used to work together in Manchester for the CWS. What a character Kev was.

Keep up the good work on the site... memories eh.

Neville Shaw - 28/11/10

Hi, I played at the Savoy club in Hanover in October and November 1964 also another club in the Kohlmarkt, Braunschweig which was owned by the same people(I can't remember the name though). Of course none of us had a camera. Has anyone got any pix of the above clubs please?

Thanks, Terry...ps...strangely, later I also played on the Top Ten club in Hamburg for Peter Eckhorn.

Terry McCusker - 28/8/11

Hello my friends, hello - Big accident by fluke came across this site - WOW just went back into the time machine - it's been long time now.

Remember the Cavern in Accrington? Remember me? I remember you all from the first time you played at Accy Conservative - that's when we met and became friends - yeah ok I had the biggest crush on Ian but we did 'do out' together - hey ho memories - Bob I last saw about 6 months before I moved to London in 1971.

Me still here in the south - Kent been here for years. If you see this any of you would love to hear from you. Hope you are all well.

Lesley - 2/4/12

This recreation of a 60's poster (right) has just reminded me of how old I really am!

It was a bit of a shock to find out they'd pulled down the old Rawtenstall Astoria - then I discovered they'd pulled down the building that replaced it! Never mind, I suppose that makes us more immortal as musicians than the bricks and mortar that we played in . . .

Anyroad up, during the reconstruction, they've re-made some period posters for the hoardings around the site- and there we were, preserved for posterity. Well, I suppose it could have had something to do with the Yardbirds . . .

Bets are on 1964, as it was Mr.Clapton and he left for John Mayall in either late 64 or early 65, I'm not sure; we had reached the dizzy heights of first supporting band, and shared the stage with such bands as Johnny Kidd, The Kinks, etc., and many of the same top bands that played the Bury Palais.
Joe Wroe (Brystals' bass guitarist) found the posters on a recent visit to Lancashire from Germany where he now lives, and even as we speak is feverishly searching his home attic for some originals he still has; watch this space.

In fact, the second supporting band ("The Thunderbeats") was the band he went on to Germany with that led on to his stardom with Kin Ping Meh. 
I, on the other hand, went on to Bolton Tech which led on to a riveting career in industrial textiles . . .

Finally, Joe and I would like to say "hello" to Lesley who wrote about "Accy" - Joe certainly played the Accrington Cavern, I'm not sure I did . . . . but then I wasn't sure about a lot of stuff that went on in those days. But I do remember that any signs of interest from the fair sex for us guitarists, was usually a pretext to meet the singer . . . . you weren't alone in your crush, Lesley. But beware - he went on to become a policeman; at least Joe and I are still decent upstanding (mainly) gigging rock'n'rollers . . . . .

Cheers, and congrats as ever on a superb site,

Weedsy - 26/8/12 

Being snowed in and having a few minutes free I thought I would put two fingers to keyboard and fill in a few details about our unfortunately named band (we knew nothing about London rhyming slang in those days).

Firstly, sorry Nev, the first guitarist was BARRY STREET who while being small of stature had a great voice and a Hofner Colourama with an Amp. As to why he left the band is a subject erased by the passing of time.

One person who should get a mention is ANDY POMFRET our trusty roady.

In these days of Backline Wranglers, P.A. Supervisors, FOH mixers, and so on, he was a true ROADY. He humped the gear, got the chips, drove the van, etc. while finding time to chat up numerous young ladies during the time we were on stage. I am sure he will not mind me mentioning that in our "heyday" when we were paying ourselves ten pounds a week, he got five but had to pay for the petrol.

A small anecdote will show how we really appreciated him - One very wet day in Bury our Morris J2 would not start so he was volunteered to push start it. The others sat inside but I, being true to my trade union roots, helped him. As we struggled to move the thing we found about 15 sodden pound notes on the roadway. I picked them up and having dried and ironed them, cashed them in at a bank whereupon the others guys in the band thought we should share it with them. In spite of this he stayed reliable and solid until the band split.

He is still the same and if this snow allows me to get out of here I will see him over Christmas, something I am looking forward to a lot.
I am sure my old mate Weedsy will agree - a really nice guy.

While clearing out a cupboard in Bury I found the PVC trousers shown on the photo above. I am thinking of auctioning them off - complete with sweat stains - any offers? 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all especially anyone who remembers us.

Alan Joe Wroe - 9/12/12