Vin Lloyd and his Mounties

Vin Lloyd and his Mounties

Vin Lloyd and his Mounties were Coventry's first big pop group, according to Pete Chambers. 

"A 9 piece skiffle band who met at the Coventry Technical College and all came from Wyken. They were auditioned on ITA for the Caroll Levis Show, supported The Kirchins on a tour in Scotland. When they played Nottingham they took 3 coach loads over from Coventry. They were Vincent Lloyd, Lorraine Sawbridge, Gordon Catterell, Peter Tanner, Ron Turner, Janet Sawbridge, Derek Swoffield, George Newton and Bob Garrood." From Godiva Rocks - Pete Chambers

Pete Chambers - From Backbeat

Vin Lloyd and his Mounties
The first real pop band in the area didn't play ska, nor did they play beat music, in fact they didn't even play rock n roll.

No, Coventry's first real pop band played skiffle music, A mixture of bluegrass, blues, folk and country music that would inspire so many would-be musicians, including The Beatles.

Nowadays Skiffle might be looked on as the slightly unkempt poor relation to rock n roll, but then it was something of a musical revolution.

Giving the youth of the day access to a new music form, with its roots in American traditions, transformed for the UK market, as British as fish and chips.

It was the punk of its day, it made people pick up an instrument (often crude and homemade), it mattered not if you couldn't really play, it was exciting and powerful, and they all believed they were on 'The Rock Island Line', when the tea chest bass kicked in.

Indeed, at the beginning of 1958 skiffle artists were panicking as Coventry (and Nuneaton) were experiencing a shortage of guitars.

Such was the demand to be in a skiffle band, that music shops were selling the instruments at a dozen a day.

Britain had little foothold in the manufacturing of guitars in the late 50s, so instruments were being imported from Germany, France and The Netherlands.

Prices ranged from £5 to £15 for a basic entry level guitar, going up to £30 for a higher build model.

Vin Lloyd and his Mounties were a nine-piece band and they have the distinction of being the very first pop band to come out of Coventry.

The line up was Vincent Lloyd, Lorraine Sawbridge, Gordon Cattell, Peter Tanner, Ron Turner, Janet Sawbridge, Derek Swoffield, George Newton and Bob Garrood.

They were auditioned on ITA for The Carroll Levis Show and even supported The Kirchins on a tour in Scotland. When they played Nottingham they took three coach loads over from Coventry.

I had the honour of catching up with the band's vocalist Peter Tanner recently, and asked him about those exciting days.

"We all met at The Mount Pleasant Pub on the Hinckley Road in Coventry, our manager was a chap called George Dunn," recalls Peter.

"He went out and got the gigs and we went and played them. A lot of them were in Coventry, we also played Leicester and Birmingham too."

"They were great times, we played all the big skiffle hits of the 50s. Numbers like 'Cumberland Gap' and 'The Rock Island Line' made famous by skiffle legend Lonnie Donegan, of course."

I asked Peter how he felt when skiffle turned into rock n roll?

I was surprised when he replied: "I wasn't very keen, to be honest, rock just wasn't for me. I didn't mind though, my career only lasted 18 months, but, saying that, it was an amazing 18 months."

I loved the idea of skiffle, it was so beautifully obvious where mid 50s' garage music was all heading.

Those young adults that brought guitars, would soon to be playing rock n roll music.

Home-produced skiffle instruments like the tea chest basses and washboards were confined back to the garden shed as the youth began rockin' along with Elvis and Little Richard.

Article from Pete Chambers Backbeat column https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/whats-on/music-nightlife-news/backbeat-coventrys-first-pop-band-11616357

Below - Pete Chambers with Vin Lloyd.

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