Motown Sect (Stockport)

Line-up included:

• Hadyn Kirkwood - lead vocals, frontman (1962 - 1966) 
• Stewart 'Stu' Steele - lead guitar (Gibson Stereo 345) (1962 - 1966) 
• Leslie 'Les' Standing - bass (1962 - 1964) 
•  Ian 'Lemmy' Wallis (Ian Fraser Kilminster) - lead guitar (Gibson ES-330), lead vocals (1962 - 1965) 
• David 'Dave' Semple - drums (1962) 
• Kevin 'Kev' Smith - drums (1962 - 1966) 
• Martin Peel - rhythm guitar (for demo recording) 
•  Glyn 'Gluck' K. - bass (1964 - 1966) 

The R&B band The Motown Sect formed in 1962 in Stockport, Cheshire and had a line-up of Hadyn Kirkwood on lead vocals (b. d. ), Stewart 'Stu' Steele on lead guitar (Gibson Stereo 345) (b. 1949), Les Standing on bass (b. Leslie Standing, 1940/1941) and Dave Semple on drums (b. David Semple).

The Motown Sect had been called The Rocking Ravens and included Dave Semple and Lee Standing.

Kirkwood was the energetic frontman and was from Colwyn Bay, Clwyd, North Wales. He had been to school with future Motown Sect bassist Glyn K. known as Gluck.

Steele had been to Openshaw Technical College, Ashton Old Road, Openshaw, east Manchester 11 and was working at Francis Shaw Ltd near Gibbon Street, Bradford, east Manchester 11.

The band called themselves The Motown Sect because Motown was very big at the time and it got them gigs. Still, they did not play any Motown songs at all, had long hair, dressed in striped T-shirts and would play harmonica and sing Blues.

Semple was soon replaced by drummer Kev Smith (b. Kevin Smith) in 1962.

Smith lived next door to the famous child killers Ian Brady (1938 - 2017) and Myra Hindley (1942 - 2002) who lived in Wardle Brook Avenue, Hyde near Stockport, Cheshire.

Then the group was joined in 1962 by Ian 'Lemmy' Wallis (b. Ian Fraser Kilminster, Monday, December 24, 1945, Shaftesbury Avenue, Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England d. Monday, December 28, 2015 at his apartment 1010 Hammond Street, 203 West Hollywood, Los Angeles City, Los Angeles County, California, USA of cancer). He joined the band playing lead guitar and doing most of the lead vocals, having met Steele and Standing from hanging around Manchester. Wallis was with them for about three years.

Lemmy Wallis had lived in North Wales as a child, when his mother had remarried, she had moved there in 1956 with her son. He lived in Benllech and went to school at Ysgol Syr Thomas Jones School in Amlwch. In the early 60's he lived on a farm behind Conway and then in Greenfield Road, Colwyn Bay with his mother and stepfather George Wallis (1926 - 2011) and Wallis was the name he was known as when he lived locally.

Wallis started playing rhythm guitar (an Eko) in local bands starting in The Sundowners of Llandudno, Clwyd, North Wales who played mainly instrumentals apart from 'Travellin' Man' by Ricky Nelson (1940 - 1985) that Wallis sang. They then changed their name to The DeeJays and played the barn dance and wedding circuit. This group kept shedding members until the line-up settled into a two-piece with Wallis and another guitarist called Dave. Then he joined Colwyn Bay band The Sapphires. He did not stay long as he could not stand the group's lead guitarist George Kennedy. He would later occasionally jam on stage with bands like The Questions. He then joined a band with Martin Peel on lead guitar, Wallis on rhythm guitar, Dave Templeton on bass and Barry Jones on drums.

At 16 Wallis moved to Manchester with his friend Ming. They went there with two girls who were holidaying in North Wales and when the girls went back to their home town of Stockport Wallis and Ming followed them there and the two guys got a flat in Heaton Moor Road, Heaton Moor, Stockport. Wallis took his Eko guitar with him. Eventually Ming went back to Wales. He and the other people in the flat were poor and so used to beg in Mersey Square, Stockport. Willis soon swapped his Eko for a Harmony Meteor, then traded it in for a Gibson 330, which was a cheap version of a Gibson 335.

Then Wallis joined Stockport group The Rainmakers in 1962. This band was well past their prime when he joined them and so he was not with them for long. He was then in a band for a about three weeks and then joined The Motown Sect as lead guitarist, who was a very good R&B band and played exactly the kind of music that Wallis wanted to play.

The band played in many clubs in Middleton and Oldham, Lancashire and later in around 1965 they played clubs in Rochdale, Lancashire and where they were one of the first groups of its type to play there. They played at Dialstone Lane Youth Club, Dialstone Lane, Great Moor, Stockport, the famous Beat City, 64 Fountain Street off Market Street, Manchester 2, The Big Daddy Club, Halifax, West Yorkshire and Heaven and Hell, Manchester, all-nighters.

The band did not have much equipment and when they supported The Pretty Things at the Halifax Town Hall, Halifax, West Yorkshire, they only had a 30-watt amp. They also always used the house PA.

After about two years in 1964 Les Sanding left The Motown Sect and was replaced by bassist Glyn K. who was known as Gluck. Glyn had been to school with Kirkwood.

At some point The Motown Sect recorded a demo in Llandudno, Clwyd, North Wales for the famous Robert Stigwood (b. Robert Colin Stigwood, Monday, April 16, 1934, Port Pirie City, South Australia, Australia d. Monday, January 4, 2016, London, England). Martin Peel played rhythm guitar and Lemmy Kilminster played drums as the drummer Smith could not be bothered to travel down to Llandudno where the recording was taking place. The Motown Sect was offered a deal in 1965 because of this demo but could not take it up as the parents of the lead guitarist Stuart Steele made him a ward-of-court as he was only 16 and they wanted him to finish his apprenticeship.

Stewart was a talented guitarist well ahead of his time who sacrificed himself to his nagging mother and his marriage.

Wallis also left as he wanted to leave Manchester and then he saw The Rocking Vickers play at the famous Oasis Club, 45-47 Lloyd Street off Albert Square, Manchester 2 and he realized where his future lay. The night he auditioned for the group, he smashed his guitar but fooled them by turning it up and moving his hands very fast over the guitar. At the end he jumped onto the piano. The Rocking Vickers hired him immediately. At the time he had a Telecaster guitar, having recently traded in his Gibson 330. With the job came a Fender Jazzmaster. Then Wallis put the Telecaster neck onto the body of the Jazzmaster. This became a wonderful guitar that he played all the time he was in The Rocking Vickers.

Some known gigs

• Wednesday, January 6, 1965: The Catacombs Cellar Club, Oldham, Lancashire, England Advertised in The Oldham Evening Chronicle as Dancing The Catacombs Cellar Club MAI 1677 Members' Notice Wednesday : Motown Sect Admission 1/6 Parents of members are invited to inspect the club. 
• Saturday, June 12, 1965: The Limit Club, 16 Wood Street, Middleton Village, Lancashire, England Advertised in The Evening News and Chronicle as The Limit 16 Wood Street, Middleton. Friday. Junior Teenbeat. 2/6. The Barristers Sat : Motown Sect Plus Competition And Bingo. 
• Saturday, August 21, 1965: Big Daddy's, 15-17 Crown Street, Halifax, West Yorkshire, England 
• Saturday, August 28, 1965: The Dark Room, St. Mark's Youth Club, Glodwich, Oldham, Lancashire, England, 7.30pm - 11.15pm Also on the bill: The Vincents. Advertised as St. Mark's Youth Club, Glodwich, Oldham This Saturday, August 28 we present In The Dark Room with The Motown Sect Dancing 7-30 - 11-15 pm Admission 4/-. Free Cloakroom. 
• Sunday, November 7, 1965: The Oasis Club, 45-47 Lloyd Street off Albert Square, Manchester 2, Lancashire, England Also on the bill: The Pretty Things. Advertised in The Evening News and Chronicle as Oasis Lloyd Street, Albert Square. Sunday : Only 5/- Pretty Things Pretty Things Plus Motown Sect. 
• Saturday, January 22, 1966: The Esquire Club, 9 Leadmill Road, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England Also on the bill: The Pretty Things, Micky Finn's.