Wednesday 13 June 2012

Pink Floyd's Cambridge Roots

Pink Floyd
The name Pink Floyd is known all over the world as one of the most recognised bands of the Sixties and Seventies. The group produced hits like 'See Emily Play' 'Wish You Were Here' and 'Money' and albums like ' The Dark Side of the Moon' and 'The Wall'.

But it wasn't always like this because, before they hit the big time, members of the group played gigs all over Cambridgeshire including school and village halls.

This is a little bit about how the Pink Floyd began from Cambridge roots.

At the age of 16 Syd Barrett joined his first band, Geoff Mott and the Mottoes, where he played guitar, He was joined in the band by Geoff Mott on Vocals, Tony Santi on Bass and Clive Welham on drums.

Clive Welham went to play drums with Jokers Wild along with Tony Santi on bass, and another future Pink Floyd member David Gilmour, but more on that in a moment.

Geoff Mott and the Mottoes like most bands at that time only performed for fun and had no plans to turn professional. The band mainly performed Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran hits.

After getting a good reception throughout Cambridge their luck wasn't to last and they soon split.

David Gilmour on the other hand, at about the same time Syd Barrett was with Geoff Mott and the Mottoes, was playing with the Group The Newcomers.

This group consisted of Ken Waterson on bass, Johnny Barnes on guitar, Willie Wilson on Drums and David Gilmour on Guitar.

Within a Year Glimour left The Newcomers and Joined Jokers Wild. He was joined by former Geoff Mott and the Mottoes members Tony Sandi and Clive Welham. Other members included Dave Altham and Johnny Gordon on guitar.

Jokers Wild was a blues style rock band.

The group did produce privately- pressed single sided LP's and Singles, of which maybe only 50 copies were made at one time.

They also recorded what as meant to be the UK version of Sam and Dave's ' Hold on I'm coming' but it was never released, so the Joker's Wild version went unheard.

David Glimour left Jokers Wild and joined Bullet with Ricky Wills on bass. Ricky had played with groups like the Small Faces and went on to play with the groups Roxy Music and Foreigner. They were joined by Willie Wilson on drums who come from the band The Newcomers.

After his time with Bullet David Gilmour then joined a new group already up and running. The members included former Geoff Mott and the Mottoes member Syd Barrett on guitar, Nick Mason on drums, Richard Wright on keyboard and Roger Walters on bass. The group was Pink Floyd and as they say the rest is history.









Pink Floyd - Arnold Layne
Released 11th March 1967 in the UK and 24th April 1967 in the US
This was Pink Floyd's First Single Release


These articles may also be of interest: Jokers Wild in Cambridge
                                                              The Beatles in Cambridge