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I joined the Red Aligatorz in November 1985, I knew there was a band already, I did not join from the beginning; but I never knew much about them. Ellie has sent me some photos and text to shed light on the Red Aligatorz that were around in Penrith (20 miles south of Carlisle) in early 1985.
Penrith had (and has) its own music scene, and a lot of band came out of Penrith that are still remembered today. The Aligatorz were not the hard core Rockabilly band that it later became but a more light hearted, chaotic band that was sprinkled with Cumbrian humour.
I will let Ellie tell the story:
“Here are a couple of photos the first is of Mark Simpson, he was the rhythm guitarist whom you ousted !! The photo was taken in Stars and Stripes (1985) just before a gig. The other photo is of us on stage the same night.
Mark is from Penrith, the last time I saw him he was playing lead guitar in a blues/rock band.
(Trotsky: in the fore ground I recognize Kate Hooper, Julie Pagan, and possibly Duncan Todhunter R.I.P.)
This is the only picture I have from the very first band, to have the Red Aligatorz name, I can’t say it was the same band as there are different people in it and we did different material entirely. We played mostly original material, very few covers.
The photo is of me and Gordon Sission, we had arranged to do some publicity photos one sunday morning but only the 2 of us turned up! People in that band were:
Ellie – double bass
Gordon Sission – lead guitar
Johnny Routledge (R.I.P.) – rhythm guitar/vocals
Howard Mills – drums (Trevor Halliday played the drums at first but he retired early…)
I suppose perhaps the old The Aligatorz was established in the Penrith area anyway. It was more punk/psychobilly than our version.. We did do
several gigs over the short time we were playing. They were the fellows that showed me the basic idea of bass playing. I’d never played in a band before that. Just on me own trying to learn by listening to the records. Sadly Johnny the singer passed away a few years ago. He was a very nice chap. Never saw so many people at a funeral.. damn shame”.
We played a few gigs around Penrith and a couple at Stars and Stripes as support for other bands. There is a recording somewhere, but maybe the Gods of rock and roll and found it and burned it !!”
(Trotsky: A name that later came part of the musical history of Penrith and Carlisle is “Gordon” he was in the Sconeheads and in the song “Gordon is always trying to be hip” (See Penrith’s page in this blog).
I am not sure if this ticket is part of the Penrith’s Red Aligatorz line up or when I was in the band? (I can not remember the gig !!) but if it is the Penrith line up then it was an early gig, well before I joined.
Swanny joined the band next and he brought his friend Paul Watson on drums. so the line up was:
Ellie – double bass
Mark Simpson – rhythm guitar
Swanny – lead guitar
Wotto – drums
Ellie sent me a cassette recording of a rehearsal the Aligatorz did, under this line up. It is a recording that could be mimicked all over the country. The first few songs are OK, then the amps are turned up and the sound gets less clear. Never the less that is what it was like ! It is the sound of the 80s.
What was noticeable for me was the rhythm guitar being electric, and this gave the whole sound a very different feel. Also you can hear the playful style to the music, “Tequila” being one of their favourites!
The verbal banter is reflected between Swanny and Wotto and it gives a good idea of what the rehearsals were like, they had a history of living together in Blackpool and their skits are very dominant…in fact I can not hear the Penrith boys at all. There is an element of Psychobilly in there too, a sing of the times perhaps?
