All The Fun Of Mel's Circus...

In the post this morning...

Circus was the band Mel Collins was in prior to him joining King Crimson in 1970. I interviewed Mel last month about his time in the band. As ever with these things we covered far more ground than would ever get into the sleeve notes.

During the interview Mel talked about the role of fashion and trends of the mid-to-late 60s and the amount of band-wagon jumping all the working bands indulged in to be able to keep working and be "with it".

I wanted to get this weaved into the sleevenotes but in the end there just wasn't enough space So, just for a bit of fun, here's a bit of the "lost" version of the story...

It’s quite possible that Mel Collins owes the kick start to his professional career thanks in part to his choice of trousers when he auditioned for Guildford band, The Stormsville Shakers in 1966. “I saw an advert in the Melody Maker for “TV & Radio - Second tenor needed” which is a bit of joke really. It doesn’t mean anything really other than you’re not the first tenor!” laughs Mel. “I went along and got the job largely because I had checked hipster pants on. I looked better than most of the other guys who’d applied for the job. They even told me!”

The Stormsville Shakers were formed in 1960 and led by songwriter Philip Goodhand-Tait. By the time Collins joined they’d made the transition from being a rock‘n’roll band into playing a mixture of Goodhand-Tait’s original numbers and soul covers, reflecting the rapid changes in musical fashions.

“In 1966 the Mod thing came in. Peter Stringfellow (now best known as the owner of London nightclub, Stringfellow’s) had a club in Sheffield then, and we were up there as the Stormsville Shakers. The scene had all suddenly gone Mod with the short hair, etc. I remember Stringfellow coming into the dressing room and because I had long hair he had a go at me, telling me I couldn’t be going on stage with my long hair and I should be putting it under a hat or something. He actually destroyed me completely that night. Peter Green (from Fleetwood Mac) was in the band room and he consoled me, telling me not to take any notice. Of course, about a year later in 1967, we returned and there Stringfellow was - all flower power and long hair!”

This return visit coincided with the name change from The Stormsville Shakers to Circus. “Well it was the time of flower power and a name like Philip Goodhand-Tait and the Stormsville Shakers was just too old fashioned. It was the flower power days and it was all charge again. Zoot Money’s Band became Dantalion’s Chariot with them wearing flowing robes on stage. A lot of band’s did that back then, changing their image to keep up with the trends.”

The band - consisting of Goodhand-Tait, Kirk Riddle on bass, Alan Bunn on drums, David Sherrington on tenor sax, Ian Jelfs on guitar and Collins - maintained a gruelling schedule of dates around the entire UK live circuit as well as jaunts to continental Europe. In September the group released their first single "Gone are the songs of yesterday" (which would later be covered as the B-side of Love Affair’s Everlasting Love) and Sink or Swim, produced by Manfred Mann vocalist, Mike D’Abo.

Despite having no impact on the charts, D’Abo reconvened Circus in October 1967 to record another Goodhand-Tait tune, Do You Dream and its B-side House of Wood.
Released in March 1968, it sank without trace just ahead of an appearance on BBC Radio 1’s Night Ride programme. The group failed to impress the audition panel who described Circus as “Outdated, square, rubbish, badly played, out of tune.”

Goodhand-Tait’s success as writer for Love Affair probably spared the group from making any further attempts to get past the BBC’s radio audition panel as he began contemplating a solo career. Collins suggests that musical differences might also have had a hand in a parting of the ways.

“I think the band was changing and to some extent it was leaving Philip behind. Guitarist Ian Jelfs and I were stretching out as players and he saw that happening. Of course, Philip suddenly had a lot of success with the Love Affair covering his songs and he didn’t need a band anymore.” When Goodhand-Tait launched his solo career in January 1969 did Circus have any doubts about their ability to carry on without their front man and main song writer?

“No, not at all. We were pretty confident then and we knew what we wanted to do, and it was as far away from the pop singles and stuff as we could get. I’d started writing, Ian was taking over the vocals, we were into jazz and experimenting. It was an exciting, liberating time.”