Monocled Alchemist

“Needles And Pins” / “Saturday Night Out” (Pye 7N.15594) January 1964

The Searchers | Needles and Pins | (Pye) 1964 | Britain’s second most popular group (guess who’re the most popular) get their teeth into the Jackie De Shannon beater which features a plaintive guitar line running throughout.

There’s a great tune, and the whole thing is very well performed. The boys maintain their standard on this one and it could easily be a number one. Flip: is more of routine Merseybeater. Good tune though giving the fans double-sided value from one of the better groups around. (Record Mirror, 11/01/64)

Now It’s Films For The Searchers

THOSE Searchers are searching. Searching for a third hit in succession with their riot-raising version of Jackie de Shannon‘s “Needles and Pins,” out January 7, and searching for film fame in the months ahead.But on the movie side, they’re playing it distinctly cool.

Says Chris Curtis, drummer and spokesman: “We’re in ‘Saturday Night Out’, the Heather Sears’ movie. That’ll be out late this month and we make a guest appearance, singing a couple of numbers. Then, later on, there’s ‘The System’, where we’re just heard over the credits.

“Slow progress? That’s the way we want it. We’re gradually getting the ‘feel’ of filming. We’re not petrified when we see the cameras move in on us. The technique of film work doesn’t catch us on the hop . . .”

Acting chance

Which is as well because I have news of a near-certain film production for the boys which will really test their acting abilities. It’s a major script and a major production. Agent Tito Burns has seen the story-line and is reported very keen. Roughly, it opens with the Searchers already in the throes of stardom and goes on from there. They become more and more involved in the plot and there’s a stack of dialogue for each of them.

And there are at least three numbers written in for them. This is the sort of thing that could put the finishing touches to the Searchers’ rush to the top. It could establish them more as individuals rather than a group. For Chris Curtis, bassist Tony Jackson, lead guitarist Mike Pender and rhythm guitarist John McNally are not yet easily identifiable as individual characters—though characters they certainly are.

No hurry

Said Chris: “You get a lot of offers when you get hit records But it’s stupid to rush in and take anything and everything. That’s why we’re glad to hang on and got just the right sort of film to suit us.”

On disc, the Searchers have become as consistent as any group . . . bar the Beatles, of course. “Sweets For My Sweet” went to Number One. “Sugar ‘N Spice” missed top spot only because of the pressure from Gerry’s “You’ll Never Walk Alone” and the Beatles’ “She Loves You”.

But the LP’s “Meet The Searchers” and “Sugar ‘N Spice” both did extremely well—as did the EP “Ain’t Gonna Kiss Ya”.

Says Chris: “The important thing now is to build our name outside Britain. There are some near-certain tours to the Continent on the way and that should help. But we’d like to see our name in the Top Twenties of more countries.”

At the end of February, the Searchers are off on a big national tour, along with Big Dee Irwin, Bobby Vee and Dusty Springfield. That’s for four weeks—and the boys are looking forward to seeing the American R&B star in action. “Our sort of music”, they say.

Lush living

And the other development on the Searchers’ swinging scene is their take-over of a plush London flat. The rent is high . . . but, as they say, “We wanted to live in the manner to which we were NOT accustomed.”

There are endless disputes about which household chores should be undertaken by each Searcher — and it usually ends up with sundry girlfriends calling round to straighten out the place. Chores like laundry, cooking, cleaning are shared equally—though not among the Searchers.

“Life’s a ball”, said Chris. “But if we got going as actors, we’ll have to think about acquiring a little extra dignity.” He was kidding But then the Searchers usually ARE ! (Record Mirror, 04/01/64)

The Searchers can relax now that ‘Needles’ has hit the Thirty

THE SEARCHERS can relax. Their New Year resolution to give the disc buying public a shot of rhythm and blues, Searchers style, has paid off. “Needles and Pins,” their first stab at putting R&B on a single, has made the charts with an impact that looks like sending it high and mighty in the top 30.

“Wow,” muttered Chris Curtis, when I told him that it had made 18, “when we cut this disc, which was our first go at putting our real stage sound on record, we were prouder of it than anything else we’d done.

“We thought we might come in for a lot of criticism when it was issued. After all, people argued that the market still was not ready for rhythm and blues —especially way-out stuff. But we stuck to our guns and hoped for the best.

“When you’ve made a few records, you begin to criticise your own work. This year we resolved never to make a bad disc, and after we’d cut ‘Needles And Pins,’ we decided that this was our best yet, and no future discs would drop below this standard.

“Now it’s made the charts, it makes us very happy to think that the chance we took is paying off.”

TV, radio

Despite nationwide TV and radio promotion on “Needles And Pins” which has obviously helped its early success, The Searchers themselves felt that the biggest test came when they played the number in a Liverpool dance hall last week.

“We hadn’t played a ballroom date in Liverpool for over six months,” admitted Chris. “We knew that if ‘Needles And Pins’ went down well there, then we stood a good chance of having another hit on our hands.

“Making out well in Liverpool, if you’re a home grown group, and in the face of so much competition up there, gives an added push to record sales.

“The number had been going down a bomb at other personal appearances, but we still felt Liverpool was a big test.”

In fact, regardless of new record releases, The Searchers find that any dance hall date in Liverpool is a little nerve-racking!

“It’s a funny thing,” said Chris, “but put a foot wrong up there and you’re out of favour for good. For two days before we played the Locarno last Thursday we were living on our nerves!

“As local lads we know just to what extent the Liverpool crowd has been fed on groups, especially those playing rhythm and blues. Dance hall customers are very critical, but if they like your music, you can always be assured of an audience.

“I think our style of playing has changed an awful lot since we last appeared at home. We cooled down a bit when we started making discs and mixing rhythm and blues with a more commercial beat, and to a great extent we’re still playing in this style.

“However, now that ‘Needles And Pins’ has made it, we can start getting back to our original form of playing. This is what we enjoy doing most.”

Not keen

But Chris admits that even though they have cracked the rhythm and blues wall with “Needles And Pins,” there are still several radio and television programmes which are a little hesitant about letting them go out on a limb and play nothing but R&B.

Now firmly settled in their London flat, The Searchers had one remark to make about their new home.

“It’s great so far,” laughed Chris. “But last week I heard that the Brazilian Ambassador, who had the flat under ours, moved out! Don’t know whether it’s because he had to go, or because he couldn’t stand the sound of our rehearsing!” (Disc, 18/01/64)

This hit may open new horizons

THE Searchers are more than pleased with the success of “Needles and Pins,” which this week shook the pop world by jumping to top spot in the MM’s National Chart. They believe it means they can escape the type-casting which afflicts many beat groups.

“We wanted to do something different — something we liked ourselves,” Chris Curtis said when I saw them at the “Ready, Steady, Go!” studio.

“The fact that it has gone down well might mean a bit more freedom for everybody else, too. It was quite different from anything else we have recorded.

Amazing

“We liked the tune and played it to ourselves. We didn’t put the top voice on until the actual recording session. It’s the quick ideas that are often best, but on a record session it doesn’t always happen.

“When we first tried it out we each sang it on our own first. It’s amazing how different the four versions were. We all have different styles of singing and we just have to mould them all together.

“It was a joint arrangement. We always get the chords off first and then get the instrumental bit right before we start on the singing. When you start building it up from the chords you sing it your own way and that’s the way new things come.”

A TV studio seemed a good place to ask for views on miming.

“It’s gear,” Chris assured me. “It’s a safeguard that the viewers will hear the right noise. They spend so much money on cameras and yet the sound on TV programmes is often so bad.

“Not all programmes are bad. The sound was great when we did ‘Crackerjack’. They let us hear the balance ourselves —the first time that has happened.

“On radio they go all out to get the right sound — ‘Saturday Club’, for example, is great that way — but on TV they are concentrating on camera angles and don’t seem to worry if it sounds terrible.

“Anyway, mime shows give the best entertainment.”

A number of overseas trips are being lined up for the Searchers. I asked whether it might not be dangerous to be away from the fans too long.

Hamburg

“The way it’s being planned we won’t be away for long on each trip,” said Mike Fender.

In February, the group goes to Germany for TV in Berlin. It may also revisit the Star Club in Hamburg where it has already had three seasons.

“We played opposite Ray Charles there once,” said Chris. “It was terrifying. Apart from the fact that we had been listening to his records for so long, his in-person image is so distant. He’s guarded all the time.”

One Searcher who views Continental trips with suspicion is John McNally. “I don’t like flying, it hurts my ears,” he explained.

“We shall be doing a film in the early part of February,” Chris told me. “We don’t know too much about it yet but we have straight dramatic parts. That should be a laugh — we can’t do anything straight, or dramatic.

“Our next record? We already have a couple in the can but, now that ‘Needles and Pins’ is a success, we may do different things.

“With records you can only do what you are known for at the time. Now we are known for something a bit different we can vary it a bit.

Concerts

“We may do another LP but we’ve used up all the stuff we ever knew — and I’m not joking.”

All the group agree that they prefer concerts and TV to other forms of work.

“One-nighters drive us nuts,” admitted Chris.

“It’s better now, we travel by train,” said Mike. “Last night we even got three hours sleep.”

As I left, Chris had unpacked a portable gramophone and was playing their current favourite — Dionne Warwick’s version of “Anyone Who Had A Heart.” (Melody Maker, 01/02/64)

SEARCHERS invade NME Office

THE Searchers had been shopping before they dropped into the NME offices last week. But somewhere between Piccadilly and Denmark Street, they had lost Tony Jackson, so it was a threesome that finally arrived.

Drummer Chris Curtis was rather happy about just having completed a German recording of “Needles And Pins” in around three hours, but he told me that in that country, the disc won’t have the same title. He seized a piece of paper and wrote “Ein Tausend Nandel Sticha.”

Then he explained: “I think that means ‘A Thousand Needle Pricks.’ That’s what it’ll be called out there. I hope they don’t expect us to sing that when we arrive!

“The disc is being released in Germany so that it will be well known when the boys get there. But the Searchers need no introductions to the Germans or Hamburg.

“We were there in June last year and played on the same bill as Ray Charles and Bill Haley,” said Mike Pender from his seat on the filing cabinet.” It was at the Star Club where we have often appeared.”

“This time, though, it’ll be a little different, because we’re playing two half-hour spots. Before, we would be on for four or six hours at a stretch. It was murder!”

John McNally smiled as he added: “You know, we never saw much of the place because we were always asleep during the day. And when we were at the club, we were either playing or talking to people. Everyone used to ask us to have a drink with them, and it got a bit expensive at times.”

At this point, the Searchers had been around for ten minutes and it was becoming increasingly difficult for them to stay serious for much longer. When I asked Chris how he rated “Needles And Pins” with other Searchers’ discs, he adopted a very posh voice and said: “Oh, dear, yes. The best, we think. We are, you could say, in general agreement with the public on that matter.”

Then he lapsed back into his Liverpudlian accent and went on: “Really, we do all like it and we are glad it has done so well for us. It is different.”

Raving

John carried on with: “When we played the number at Liverpool’s Iron Door Club, that was the real test. We felt that if it was accepted by the people who had known us since our early raving days, it would be okay.

” If not—well, we’d drop it. But it went down a bomb and we all felt a bit happier about the record being released.”

Mike was looking through some office photographs of the group and he often broke into laughter as he found something he had not seen before. Chris and John joined him and pretty soon, all three were creased up’

“We never knew half these had been taken,” said a surprised Mike. “Do we really look like this? I’m going to see a plastic surgeon!”

While Mike and John continued rummaging through the pile, Chris spoke again about the group’s foreign recordings.

“We have had other records released in Germany,” he said. “We did ‘Sugar And Spice,’ ‘Farmer John’ and ‘Money.’ it was funny, when they released ‘Money’ it was called something else. We’ll probably get out there and find we’ve had hits with some records we’ve never even heard of!

“We sing in English at the Star Club, but when we record for the German market, we do it phonetically. We all speak parrot-German. That’s like pidgin-English the other way round.”

The Searchers played the Star Club for a month in 1962 and for two separate periods of a month and six weeks last year. But this trip will see them there for one night only!

“We were a supporting group last time. Now we’ll be topping the bill! That’ll be a change for a start,” John commented. “We won’t work so long. The fans there really go for the wild stuff so we have to belt it out.”

Colleague Alan Smith came into the room and after being chased round by the Searchers, he fished out an LP to play them. As soon as the first bars of “Twist And Shout” had rung out, Chris yelled: “That’s King Size Taylor! He’s great! We haven’t heard this LP before.”

The apparent cause of all the excitement was the fact that in Hamburg and Liverpool, King Size is all the rage and admired by almost every group.

With a background of “Long Tall Sally,” John said: “everyone raves about him. You ought to see him perform. He’s like a white Merseyside version of Fats Domino, he’s so big and he really lets rip when he gets on stage.”

Mike was selecting different tracks to play while John went on: “We have played with King Size at Hamburg and we hope he’ll be there this time. He’s sure to go down big here someday because he’s so fantastic. It’s just a question of time.”

When the LP had finished, the Searchers all decided to do some more shopping.

Chris moved along the corridor, put on his dark glasses and did a marvellous take-off of Phil Spector, who the group met recently. Peering under a table he asked: “Are those Ronettes here? I know I left them somewhere.”

They raced down the stairs and off into the street. Later that day, they were to appear on the stage of a West End theatre and take part in a competition – drinking yards of milk! (NME, 14/02/64)

Focus on Mike Mike Pender

MIKE PENDER was born on the third of March 1942. Born Michael John Prendergast — “…but I use the name Pender for convenience. I got it from the boxer.”

Mike, who plays lead guitar with the boys is probably the quietest one of the group. Carefully dressed, and well-groomed he looks attractive in a way that contrasts with the flashy show business looks of most of the beat group boys around today. Mike started out with the distinct advantage of having an electric guitar bought for him, although he had been interested in music from an early age. But there were no groups then to play with so Mike just used to strum around the house, and occasionally on street corners.

It was there that he met up with fellow – Searcher John McNally and together they teamed up, frequenting Mike’s house where they would practise.

ACCORDIAN

“I was first inspired by Buddy Holly and the Shadows. Hank B. Marvin is still one of my favourite guitarists, despite what other Liverpool groups and artistes say about the Shadows. I still like Buddy Holly, and Roy Orbison of course.

“Apart from lead guitar I think I’d like to play the accordion. I don’t know why. I know it used to be the most popular instrument before the guitar came in. But with an accordion you can make all the music yourself.

“Later on, if the group breaks up or when we all become too old to sing beat music I’d like to travel. Travel all over the world but especially to Egypt, and the Middle East. That area fascinates me. Despite the stories of the others about the huge insects and the mosquitos.

HAPPY

“Like Tony I support Everton. We go whenever we can. In fact I’m pretty keen on all kinds of sport although we seem to get less and less time for that sort of thing nowadays. We didn’t have a holiday last year, but we’re determined to get away from it all somewhere or other this year.”

Mike Pender is unlike the other Searchers. But then, all four are totally different characters. All very very dissimilar but all interesting. And although they have one big thing in common—Liverpool—there are many things they don’t have in common.

“We don’t pretend that we are one big happy family like certain groups do. We have our arguments and our bad moments very frequently. But that doesn’t mean that we are always on the point of breaking up. On the contrary we don’t let any personal feelings interfere with our career. Musically we all have slightly differing tastes but basically we all know and like what we are playing.”

They still don’t like their “Sugar and Spice” disc although it reached No.2.

RUBBISH!

“But one newspaper said that we were choked it didn’t get to number one! What absolute rubbish! That was a pretty bad bit of flannel, in fact we have been grateful that any of our discs have made the charts at all.”

That is typical of Mike Pender and the group in general. They must be the most unaffected bunch of blokes to crash the number one spot twice — and probably many more times to come. And I’m convinced that they’ll stay that way . . . (Record Mirror, 22/02/64)