Memories of night with the Stones
HORSHAM rockers this week described the unforgettable night they shared a town stage with living legend Mick Jagger.
We took a trip down musical memory lane with Horsham beat group Peter and the Hustlers, the town teenagers who shared the bill with brand new fresh faced outfit the Rolling Stones at St Leonards Hall, in Cambridge Road, on August 3, 1963.
The first Sussex group to record a chart hit, Peter and the Hustlers, later The Beat Merchants, toured with '60s stars Jean Vincent, Lulu and The Honeycombs and played alongside international supergroup The Beach Boys on BBC2 music show Beat Room in 1964.
The Horsham boys sold over one million records in the US with So Fine, used as a B-side for the Freddie and the Dreamers smash hit You Were Made For Me which took the number one spot state side.
Horsham residents Geoff Farndell, bass, Vic Sendall, drums, Pete Toal, vocals, Gavin Daneski, rhythm guitar and harmonica, and Ralph Worman, lead guitar, opened the Horsham music night days after the unknown Stones released their first single Come On.
We unearthed a contract for the gig last week, revealing Brian Jones, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and friends were handed a one off payment of 50 between them for their one and a half hour set.
Peter and the Hustlers reached number 41 in the UK charts with their first single Pretty Face just a month after appearing with the Stones in Horsham. They were featured on top TV music show Thank Your Lucky Stars in October 1963, and turned pro in June 1964. The band folded in September 1966.
Geoff, 60, was the youngest member of the band on the night, at the tender age of 16. He said: "We were only school kids at the time.
"We were very taken with the Stones. They were only kids themselves.
"Our style changed immediately there and then.
"It was a great night.
"We were excited and it was their first week in the charts.
"We were delighted to be playing with a band in the top 30.
"We knew they were musically very good, but I don't know if we thought 'they are going to be the biggest rock stars on the planet', because we thought we were going to be the biggest rock stars on the planet!
"All the momentum we had eventually disappeared and we ended up going our own ways.
"I remember Mick was quite nervous on the night. He wasn't bounding about the stage like he does now at the age of 110 or whatever he is.
"I am still a big fan of the Stones. You can't help watching them now and thinking maybe that could have been us."
Vic, who has been friends with Geoff for over 45 years, said: "I can remember the curtain opening and Mick came out and flicked that hair of his.
"It wasn't really that long, it just looked like he hadn't been to the barbers for a couple of months.
"I thought 'I like this'. It was so unusual. They were very different and we'd never seen anything like it before."
Pete Toal, who moved to Australia in March 1965, said: "I'll try and remember as much as I can but it was 44 years ago!
"Peter and the Hustlers were more or less the only band of any note in Horsham at the time and as such got to play at the St Leonards Hall fairly regularly.
"We must have been financially successful for the organisers as they were able to afford to bring other bands in to share the bill with us. That meant an hour and half for each band instead of the usual three for us.
"Being the resident band, we played first and put our heart and soul into our performance as we didn't want the guest band out doing us.
"Boy were we in for a shock.
"It's really strange, the locals were very loyal to us and didn't exactly go nuts about the Stones. We, however, were completely blown away.
"You have to understand that at this time we were playing numbers like Do You Wanna Dance and playing instrumentals Shadows style.
"Mick was a knockout with his long hair and his gyrations. We were clean cut.
"The music was so different to what we were doing. It was driving R&B with Mick sometimes on maracas then on the blues harp.
"Since leaving England, I often thought about telling my friends here about the time I played with the Stones but thought 'Who's going to believe that?'
"Now I'm getting some long overdue creddo!"
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Weather for Horsham
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
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Temperature: -1 C to 3 C
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