After George (rhythm) left the band, it was decided we should look for a organ player to give the band a fuller sound.  At the same time George Gray, our manager, went to see a band called Dixies Dont's and said he had an idea that we should play more to the ladies and he thought two singers playing to the girls was the way to go.

So, to cut a long story short, we ended up nicking Dixies Dont's singer Paul.  At the same time he happened to know an organist (they call them keyboard players today) called Graham, who was from Leeds.

Needless to say we soon had them both in the band and started work on a Righteous Bros type act.

The girls loved it - every night both Paddy (later to be called chris) and Paul were pulled of stage  and their shirts ripped off.  Both of them were full of scratches and cuts.

Many times I had to stop playing and try to help them back on stage - it got ridiculous sometimes.

John Featherstone
21/8/09

Gear

Here is a list of the gear The Chuckles used:

Ajax drum kit with Zildjin  (real turkish cymbals?)

Bass - Ffnder jazz bass, harmony bass, amp vox a/c 30 top with Selmar Goliath cab, later same amp but with Vox T60 cab. Later still, T60 cab with WEM 100w att tranny amp. Yuk.

Keyboards - Hammond l100 or M100 with bass pedals taken off and spindely legs sawn off, 1 x leslie cab (real one? loud).

Guitar - 2x vox a/c 30s, 1 top boost and 1 normal.  Later I had a WEM 100 watt tranny amp (more yuk) and 2 x vox cabs.  Later I used a Marshall pa amp with the Vox cabs,   Harmony H75, 1962 Fender Stratocaster that cost me £45 second hand. Later swapped it for a Vox GV6.

PA was 100 watt Selmar valve amp 6 channel, pa cabs were TVM  2 x 4 by 12" open back cabs and 4 x Shure mics. SM7 I think. Paul used touse Bayer gold mics if he could get them.

John Featherstone
22/9/09

Pictured above: John Featherstone (guitar), Chris Neil (singer), Barrie Spence (bass), Eddie Warwick (rhythmn guitar) and Peter Hughes (drums).

left to right:   Graham Knowles, Paddy  ( later Chris Neil), Pete Hughes, Paul  Goetz ,
John Featherstone and Barrie Spence

Memories'

"Not directly a Chuckles story but related.

We had been a soul band for some time but the scene was changing - so we were slowly changing with it. We had worn white Wrangler jackets with black trousers with a red stripe (hey, it was ok at the time) but wanted to get more poppy.

George Gray, the manager of The Chuckles, suggested we went a bit more poppy and flamboyant and suggested two girls to make our new stage gear.

The girls had made all the stuff for the Chuckles and they looked good, so it seemed like a good idea.

After a measuring session, we went to get our gear and it was the crappiest stuff we had ever seen. The material was very cheap and lost all shape after one wash. The poor old drummer had a pair of trousers with the legs totally different widths - not slightly different, about 6 inches different.  He could only get one leg in.

The next day we went to Pymalia for clothes"

Paul Mlynarz
20/8/09

Chuckles were a fantastic group.  I went out with Graham for a while.  Saw him once after he returned to Leeds.

A lovely bunch, hope life has been good to them since they split, would love to know.

Lynn Bolton
9/2/10

The group in Bramhall Park

John's wedding - left to right: Dave Eager, Pete, Paddy, Graham,
John, John's one and only, Paul, Barrie and George  Grey -
22/4/1969 outside the Boddington Arms, Wilmslow.

John and Paul relaxing on a beach in Torquay

This is the press release when we released our first record  from the cavern? Yes, in Liverpool.

We made 2000 of these and gave them away. We all mucked in  - I think it was at George Gray's house.
This is probably the only one left in existence.