Malcolm Fred Isherwood (dr) John Brierley (b)
Peter Illingworth (lead-g, harmonica) Peter Atkinson (g)
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(from left to right) David John Smith (voc) Malcolm Fred Isherwood (dr) John Brierley (b) Peter Illingworth (lead-g, harmonica) Peter Atkinson (g) |
DAVID JOHN and the Mood - Beat as such is on the way out - The story
During 1962 16-year-old David John Smith from Preston/ Lancashire (northern England) met Paul McCartney and saw the Beatles at a Cavern lunchtime session. He was so impressed by them that he wrote to the music press. To his surprise one of his letters was not only published, but also blown up with a page headline and photograph: The first national headline that the Beatles had.
Bo Diddley (Elias McDaniel) was a major influence on the band. David John remembers seeing him live in 1963: "Bo was amazing - he was using feedback, and had a great electric jungle sound" - that was the music he'd want to do. In Preston he approached a band called The Falcons, who shared his preferences and it all began to sound pretty good.
David John and the Mood were formed in the winter of 1963 and by mid-'64 the definite line-up had settled. Paul McCartney got to call Smith 'David John' and one of his managers suggested 'The Mood', to set the band apart of others:
"Beat as such is on the way out", proclaimed manager Derek Greenwood. "But we are hoping that David John's 'moody' sound is what the kids will want next - we have a lot of faith in these lads, which is why we are going all out to promote them in a big way."Their first record was released when they were signed to the Rolling Stones manager who at the time was Eric Easton Associates. It did not sell, but was reference enough to play gigs in the prestigious London music-clubs like the Marquee, the Crawdaddy, the 100 Club and Eel Pie Island. They gained a reputation as live-act very soon and proceeded to the one-nighter circuit: They toured with the Stones, and appeared with Sonny Boy Williamson, John Lee Hooker, the Yardbirds, Manfred Mann and P.J. Proby among others.
DJM also appeared on television, like Granada's 'Scene at 6.30', Harlech TV's 'Discs-a-gogo' from Bristol and the 'Lucky Stars summer spin' and had two fan-clubs: One was run by Beverly Witham of Whalley, Lancashire, the other was Kathy in Camberwell, South London.
The a-side is a "drunken teenage rendition" (DJS) of Bo Diddley's 'Pretty Thing'. The record credits McDaniel, but it was actually written by Willie Dixon, who played bass for Diddley. As far as the band was concerned, the take they used was a sick joke, and when one critic of Disc magazine described the record as "the sound of massed maracas" they thought it was hilarious.
The b-sides of all three singles were co-written by the group. The pseudonym WC Charnley was invented for composer credits: The Moods' managers address was on Charnley Street and the WC was derived from Water Closet.
Their second single was again a Bo Diddley cover, written and sung by his percussionist Jerome Green. It is produced by Joe Meek at his studio in Holloway Road. The outstanding rhythm-backing was created with the help of Joe Meeks inventive recording tricks. He told 'Fabulous 208': "Drums aren't always the best thing to bash when you want a heavy offbeat - I always look round for something to beat, and we use screens, doors and the like ... DJM needed a steely sound on the offbeat" and David John tells how they got it:
"After we'd recorded 'Jerome', we felt we'd needed something different to add to it. I went to the lavatory and dismantled the metal chain ... and when I got back to the studio, Joe's eyes lit up and he immediately left the room, returning with an old biscuit tin. We dropped the chain into the tin on the beat, and Joe layered it with echo and mixed it into the recording. It sounded fantastic."
Gene Vincent once proclaimed: "Listen son, I know what makes a good record and I'm telling you it's a damn fine one." David John states that he will be forever grateful to Joe Meek for his production. Meek himself also held the band in high regards, he said:
"DJM is the weirdest and most unusual group I ever worked with and the most talented in this type of music. - We were bombarded by this group several months back. They were not easily put off by a notice 'No Admittance' on the door. They waited several hours for the arrival of a vocalist who came to put her voice on a backing track - as the door was open they filed into my office. 'We want to cut a record here, they can't get the sound we want at other studios and we know we can make a hit for you', said John. They got their contract and I feel this is a group, which is going to create a tremendous impact with 'Bring It To Jerome'."Sadly the public didn't understand and the single got nowhere near the charts. Some critics found the idea of a Bo Diddley cover "a bit outdated", whilst most of them praised the performance and the sound. It was only on the collectors market that the David John and The Mood records became famous and created a myth around them. The quality of the DJMs records was so high that many rumours spread who could be responsible for them: But David John was not David Bowie (then marketed as David and Davie Jones) and not Dave O'List (who played with The Attack and Nice among others).
Joe Meek also produced their third and last record. It had some success on the pirate radio ships, but didn't get much airplay nationally. The song on the a-side was suggested by Meek but was not one of the bands favourite tracks. Unfortunately he shot himself before they had the opportunity to record more with him and put an end to their recording career - David John and The Mood broke up in early 1966.
Unreleased recordings
They have recorded 'Heartbreaker' (a blues ballad by Bobby Freeman) and 'It's So Exiting' during the 'Diggin' For Gold' sessions. One acetate version of 'Diggin' For Gold' surfaced on 'Revenge Of The Amphetamine Generation' (Purple Heart Surgery Vol. 4).
after DJM
** See links-page for Peter Illingworths own websites **Pete Illingworth went on to form the short-lived The Little Fat Black Pussy Cats. He reports:
"We didn't get many gigs because agents used to die laughing at the unlikely groups name. However, I think we were far sighted. It was a six piece band with two drummers, Fred Kelly (from Rare Bird) and Paul Varley. It wasn't really a good formula because each gig became a drumming competition."After that he (g, voc) formed Purple Haze with Frank Newbold (b, voc, perc) and Paul Varley. They gained a recording contract with Transatlantic (TRA 208, 1969) . As Jimi Hendrix' record (Purple Haze) became very successful they had to change their name to Little Free Rock. PI describes their music:
"Basically we were a 'live' three piece heavy rock band, and we ad-libbed a lot on stage. We had beginning and ends to all the songs, but we had a wild time in the middle improvising. It was all 'fuzz box and wah-wah pedals'"Naturally, this approach is hard to capture on record, and Illingworth believes that the album isn't at all representative of the best possible Little Free Rock. It was engineered by Mike Bobak (later engineer for Rod Stewart). This was disappointing, since the band booked the famous and experienced producer Glyn Johns and got Bobak to whom Little Free Rock was his first solo session. PI: "By the time we got to take ten our improvisation was getting a bit stale ..."
They played with bands like Cream and Fleetwood Mac and gained a hardcore following as live-band in the north-west. Peter Green joined them for a few weeks and invited them to play sessions on his first solo lp, but those weren't released.
David J. Smith co-produced and sang on some tracks of an "ad hoc" group (i. e. they were a studio creation) called Thundermother during 1969. This band shared one lp with Lightyears Away called "Astral Navigations" (Holyground 1971). [cover] Thundermother's contribution was recorded over one weekend.
I am thankful for further information and suggestions -
This official David John and the Mood page was compiled by Cornelius Rehder with the help of Peter Illingworth
All photographs © Peter Illingworth, unless otherwise noted. (top: session for 'Fabulous 208' magazine)
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