Savory Duck

From the remnants of Burial, the first incarnation of Savory Duck was born. See their great website www.time-to-reflect.co.uk for full info

Savory Duck was based around Arny Sage’s formidable self penned material, and influences ranging from Gentle Giant, Caravan to Greenslade.

With the addition of a second keyboard, this enabled Arny to develop his strong and unique guitar style and also led to a songwriting partnership with Andy Povall, which cemented a firm musical direction.

Delivering progressive tunes mixed with finely orchestrated hard rock guitar and keyboard passages. and it’s fair share of complex time changes.

During its lifetime ‘Duck’ supported the likes of Caravan at (Stoneground), Daryl Way’s Wolf (Bradford University) & Gordon Giltrap (Stockport Town Hall).

Line-up #1 1971 

• Arny Sage - Guitar / Keyboards
• Kev Wood - Vocals
• Pete Willsher - Bass
• Denis Brennan -Drums* 

Line-up #2 1972 

• Arny Sage - Guitar / Keyboards
• Dave Darbyshire - Vocals
• Andy Povall - Organ
• Pete Willsher - Bass
• Simon Andrew - Rhythm Guitar
• Martin Soar - Drums 

Line-up #3 1973 

Arny Sage was replaced by Barry Barnes* pending his return from Andy Macpherson’s* ‘Romany Rye’  

Line-up #4 1974-76 

• Arny Sage - Guitar / Keyboards
• Dave Darbyshire - Vocals*
• Andy Povall - Organ
• Andy Rayner - Bass
• Martin Soar - Drums
• Bob Harrison - Vocals  
• Dave Darbyshire left in 1974 and was replaced firstly by Bob Harrison (ex-Mixtures) & subsequently by Les Reed from Lowestoft.
• Barry Barnes is now the guitarist / vocalist with Sinnerboy (Rory Gallagher tribute band) www.sinnerboy.co.uk
• Andy Macpherson went on to run Revolution Studios, in Bramhall, which moved to Cheadle.
• Andy Povall moved to Leicester in 1979/1980, and co formed Feelabeelia. They were signed firstly to Interdisc, then susequently to Qwest, Quincy Jones's label. Their second single, Feel It, featured Stevie Wonder on harmonica, and Wonderlove, (Stevie's backing singers). It was produced by Glen Ballard (Alaniss Morrisette and a whole host of other massive artists), and Brock Walsh.  Here is a web link to a Leicester Music web site that got hold of a dodgy promo pic !!!!   This finished in 1986, and Andy then had a recording studio until 1990, when he was enticed on the road again doing both FOH for various people, and playing keyboard for a mad unsigned Ska band called Skaboom.
  1998 saw Andy in a largish venue as the house engineer, and in 2000 joined a great traditional Ska band , El Pussycat, playing tunes from the 60s and 70s. Their web site is www.elpussycat.co.uk.  Andy moved to Scotland August 2006, where he is writing his own tunes and doing the odd bit of production work. 

Connections

Pete Willsher joined The Andy Stark Band aka The Outlaws after leaving Savoury Duck in ’74. The band consisted of:

• Andy Stark: Vocals / Guitar / Piano.
• Dave Lowarch: Lead Guitar.*Pete Willsher: Bass.
• John Pevitt: Drums.

Dave Lowarch worked in the following bands (to name a few):

• *Ankh
• *Spider Jive.
• Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders
• The Dakotas
• Dougie James Soul Train 

Ankh’s debut album was produced by Tommy Vance.

Spider Jive consisted of : Paul Burgess – Drums (10cc and Axis), Dave Barrow – Bass (The Measles & Alvin Stardust), Kev Bowden – Keyboards (Alvin Stardust, etc)

Dave Lowarch toured with:

• Johnny & Hurricanes
• Heinz
• Ricky Valance 

Denis Brennan was in a band with Kev Bowden called ‘Sleep’ who toured in Germany.

Pete Willsher now plays Bass with Cambridge based band ‘The Nigel Graham Blues Reaction’ www.bluesreaction.co.uk who supported Wishbone Ash back in April 2005.

The Wishbone Ash track ‘Throw Down The Sword’ was covered by ‘The Grumpy Old Men’ on their cd ‘Time To Reflect’ recorded at Cavalier Studio’s in Stockport.
This track has made it onto the Wishbone Ash 35th anniversary tribute cd ‘Wishbone Ish’ – for more info: www.time-to-reflect.co.uk

Players on ‘Throw Down The Sword’ were:

• Dave Lowarch: Guitars
• Stu Pevitt: Vocals
• Pete Willsher: Bass
• Denis Brennan: Drums
• Engineered by: Arny Sage 

Memories

How well I remember the duck. In my time as lead vocalist, it was possibly the best band I have been a part of. It was very much a band of its time and I feel priviliged to have been a part of it. I hope that all the lads are well and still rockin.

PS I am the one on the left in the main picture,got my maracas in my hand - ha ha.

Bob Harrison - 9/9/09

Big Bramhall connection with this band. I lived next door to drummer Denis Brennan. He was the drummer in Sad Soul, a good drummer, influenced by Keith Moon.

The Pevitt boys were also from Bramhall (at one time anyway) and played in a number of other local bands.

Pete Wilsher was a mate I lost touch with. I used to hang out with him and go drinking in the Jolly Sailor near Bramhall. He was the first person I knew who bought a Hendrix bootleg album, and owned the double live album by Grand Funk Railroad. A trip to Pete's house to listen to the Hendrix bootleg and GFR was a must.

Tony Burke - 19/1/13

Here is a review I did of the CDs in the Morning Star earlier this year...

Savory Duck Down The Line The Duck Studio Demos Downloadable albums 4 stars Two progressive rock albums from this Manchester based outfit who started as a heavy rock band covering Black Sabbath, Atomic Rooster and Grand Funk Railroad tracks.

In the early 1970s they switched to playing original prog rock material, influenced by UK bands Caravan, Gentle Giant and Colosseum, building a solid reputation described as “fluid, competent and professionally flawless” and appearing at Manchester venues such as Stoneground.

They disbanded in 1976 but between 2015 and 2019 they recorded ‘Down The Line’ a highly polished prog rock set at Stockport’s legendary Strawberry Studios, complete with a blues-rock cover of Mose Allison’s ‘Tobacco Road’. Also released is an album’s worth of excellent demo’s of original material recorded between 1975 and 1976.

Prog rock fans will want to investigate these which are available at the band’s website and usual online outlets.

Tony Burke - 1/7/2020