Liquorice Fix

info courtesy Steve Peberdy

This band was originally formed in the mid sixties as the IMPALAS, then the BLACK VELVETS, a four piece Rock & Roll / Country style outfit who were one of the warm up acts for Top of the Pops when the programme was filmed at the old BBC studios on Dickenson Road in Manchester.

The line up at the time was:

• Colin Thomas (Lead Vocals & rhythm guitar) 
• Harry Donnelly (Lead Guitar) 
• Gary Heywood (Drums) 
• Ian Thompson (Bass guitar)

In the late sixties, they were joined by Harry’s brother, Jack Donnelly on lead vocals, Colin moved to keyboards, Ronnie Williams (the Impalas original drummer) replaced Gary, and the name was changed to LIQUORICE FIX.

A year or so later, Steve Peberdy replaced Ian Thompson on bass.

Amongst other things, Liquorice Fix were well known for their phsychedelic Commer Van, which was later painted a more inconspicuous battleship grey after several brushes with the local constabulary.

With a bigger sound and with possibly one of the best vocal combinations around, they left their Rock & Roll roots and moved to other styles, notably Tamla Motown / Soul and subsequently the material of American West Coast bands such as Buffalo Springfield, Steppenwolf, etc as well as covering the better commercial material of the time.

After three years, the band split up, three of the members carrying on as the Money Box Trio until 1972 when the band was reformed as AUGUST NIGHT, line up as below

• Jack Donnelly - Lead Vocals 
• Harry Donnelly - Lead Guitar 
• Ronnie Williams - Drums /Vocals 
• Steve Peberdy - Bass / Vocals 
• Adrian Lockhart - Keyboards / Vocals 

With the inclusion of electric piano and string synthesizer (still a novelty at the time!), August Night were probably more cabaret orientated at the time, concentrating on good commercial material but specialising in big production arrangements by artists such as Neil Diamond, Simon & Garfunkel and the Righteous Brothers, to name but a few.

The band carried on for two years with the same line-up but eventually split up due to the usual differences (both musical and personal).

As far as is known, apart from the tragic death of Harry Donnelly in 1995, none of the members are currently involved with the music industry.