Seagull
Line Up
Andrew Davoile - Rhythm Guitar, Lead Vocals.
Sam Davoile - Drums, Lead Vocals.
Steve Sparkes - Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals. -
Kevin Tanner- Bass Guitar, Lead Vocals.
Rex Brough tells us - they
Played the carnival in the Memorial park in 1976, along with Midnight Circus . Sort of 70's pop, I remember. they did a cover of the Doobie Brothers "Listen to the music". Modie Albrighton tells me that the drummer once played in the Peppermint Kreem and the band contained three brothers named Davoile.
Memories from Steve Sparkes (From Rex Brough)
"The Band recorded at Snitterfield Studio's with Monty Bird. also MSR. They also Played at the Coventry Carnival. I will have to look up the date but I think it was 1976, after they came back from their German Tour in 1975....You are right on with the Listen to the music, Andrew played the cream color telecaster. Great Guitar that one. I was playing the Black custom Les Paul. Which I still have in my collection. I am still playing regularly. Although for the last few years I have been the keyboard player mainly, lead guitar second"
Playing the Coventry Locarno.
From Pete Chambers Backbeat /Coventry Live 12 June 2009
The highs of being a Seagull
“When we put this new band together, I switched to keyboards and gave up the drum stool to my younger brother Simon,” said Pete.
“We played places like Mr George’s, Tamangoes and the Locarno.”
A year down the line, and the band had built up such a reputation that they got booked to tour Germany for six months, playing American Air Force bases and German night clubs.
Whilst in Germany, Simon wrote to George Harrison’s dad Harry, reveals Peter.
“He asked if he could help in any way with our own songs. Amazingly he booked us to play a pub in Liverpool. He bought us all a pint and watched us play. We gave him a tape to give to his son George, who later (through his dad) advised us to listen to more contemporary music as our songs were missing a modern cutting element.”
Seagull continued to develop their style and writing their own material. All was looking good for the boys, until a recording session when the band were asked to release another song written by an established songwriter! The band truly believed in their own songs, and were incensed by this suggestion, and after much discussion the band refused to record another songwriters material; it would be a decision that they’d come to regret.
By 1978, the band reinvented themselves, now building their music around a ‘honky-tonk’ piano style, the next few years embarked on tours of North East clubs, perfecting their new sound.
“By 1981,” Peter said, “our brother Timothy had joined the band, and we were spotted by a local record producer, and signed to M.J. Records and released our first single SOS.
“Even EMI began to show an interest in us, and asked us to make a demo tape for them, even filming a video of the song for a potential Top of the Pops showing. Sadly the deal fell through.”
As 1990 dawned, Simon and Timothy were concentrating on recording projects, while Andrew and Peter auditioned for Opportunity Knocks, appearing in March of 1990. The band continued playing gigs carrying their piano up and down stairs, until the glamour of ‘showbiz’ finally faded, along with their creaking backs!
“What we most miss is the challenge to play in front of people who have come to hear our songs,” said Peter. “I don’t have any regrets, though it would have been nice to have cracked it.”
Band Trivia
* They were the only band to appear at the Theatre One cinema playing to the kids on Saturday morning.
* Andrew & Peter made history when they became the last act to appear on Opportunity Knocks using the Clapometer.
* After Seagull opened the night at the Winter Gardens in Malvern, Bobby Crush used Pete’s Honky Tonk piano to back comic legend Arthur Askey.
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