Introduction Note - THIS IS STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS.
This is a new location for the Hobo A to Z of Coventry Bands Site, as Google are closing their classic sites where it is hosted, in September 2021.It will take a while to reupload and arrange all the material from the former site, so please be patient. The old site is still up Here https://sites.google.com/site/bandsfromcoventry/ until September. The A to Z index is in the links above and I'm slowly loading all the posts. Trev Teasdel
To find any Coventry band click the A to Z Index above or here https://coventrybands.blogspot.com/p/coventry-bands-index.html
Below is very rare footage of the Swinging Cats performing live at the Pebble Mill BBC Studios in Birmingham performing 'Away' and a cover of 'Never On Sunday' by Connie Francis.
The single version of Away with Jane Bayley below
ABOVE - Never on a Sunday - Steve Wynne and Jane Bom-Bane 1990's version of Never on a Sunday on Bandcamp. Jane was the original singer with the Swinging Cats and while the featured singer on the singles never recorded her version of this.
Steve Wynne and Jane Bom-Bane
New - Message from Valerie Haudiquet (formerly Valerie Webb in the Swinging Cats days) -
"I looked up Swinging cats. There is a common misconception that the girl in the photos, and on the youtube clips from Pebble Mill are of Jane. They are in fact of me. I was also the one with the band when we won the Lanch Battle of the bands competition. Jane left before the last heat of the competition, and I stepped in for them. I also stayed with them for the tour of Britain and Ireland supporting Selecter, because Holly and the Italians dropped out at the last minute. I had less than a week to learn the songs and rehearse ready for that final heat! Jane did rejoin them again at a later date...but the person in the glittery blue dress, and the pink crocheted coat is most definitely me! We all had absurd stage names...mine was Pussy Purrfect. John Shipley was Wayne Truevoice if I remember right.
My name then was Val Webb. I was engaged to Jerry Dammers, and was with him from 1973 to 1980. So I was lucky enough to be there at the very birth of Two Tone. I too left Coventry in the late 80's. I still regret leaving. Lived at Albany Road during it's hectic heyday! Any how...any more info required, do get back to me. I have a lot of memories of the Two Tone era that I can share if you are interested. Val."
From The Rex Brough site
Years before Mike Flowers and the "loungecore" movement, this was a sort of "easy listening" ska band that recorded for two-tone. I remember them winning a competition at the Lanch, and being so much better than anyone else. John Shipley joined theSpecials aka, Toby Lyons joined Colourfield, and Jane Bayley became Jane Bom-Bane, ”Queen of the Funky Harmonium” performing at the Brighton and Edinburgh Fringe festivals.
The line-up seemed to change every week, so the above is a list of some of those who were at one time in the band, there was also Val Webb, a singer who was going out with Jerry Dammers at one point.
The Swinging Cats were another Coventry outfit, formed at the end of 1979 and after they replaced Holly & The Italians on The Selecter's March 1980 tour, 2 Tone offered them a single. The release 'Mantovani / Away' CHS TT14, sank without trace despite the first 20,000 copies being sold at the giveaway price of 50p.
Paul Heskett later toured with The Specials and played Sax on 'Sock It To 'Em J.B' & 'Braggin' And Tryin' Not To Lie' on the More Specials album and Flute on Ghost Town / Why? / Friday Night, Saturday Morning' EP
" The Swinging Cats were formed by John Shipley, who along with Toby Lyons recruited like-minded individuals, and so created one of 2-Tone’s most flamboyant acts, even topping Madness and Bad Manners for on-stage quirkiness. The band won a Battle of the Band's contest in Coventry that gave them two days at Leamington’s Woodbine Studios and a spot on TV show Look Hear. They signed to 2 Tone records and released the irresistibly catchy Mantovani, with Away as its flipside.
According to an interview John Shipley did, “I already knew Jerry Dammers”, “He really liked us, and he offered us a two single deal, sadly the second release Greek Tragedy, never saw the light of day. We practiced in our drummer Billy Gough’s garage, full of canoes and mooses’ heads; there wasn’t enough room to swing a cat, and a name was born. We did have a terrific time touring with bands like Bad Manners and The Selecter. ...On July 21, 1980, The Selecter announced they were leaving 2-Tone to sign directly with Chrysalis Records. In a statement they released explaining the move they said, "Every 2-Tone single has reached the charts. This is a situation which The Selecter feels is ultimately stifling new talent, leading bands to feel that they need to stereotype themselves into what they believe to be the 2-Tone sound..." In turn 2-Tone Records released a statement saying that the label would continue "with the main objective of helping new bands". And true to their word a week after The Selecter left, the label signed The Swinging Cats, who ironically would pick up a few support slots with the post-2 Tone Selecter on their 1980 tour (replacing Holly & The Italians).” The final tour was with The Specials - Christopher Long says this... Christopher Long "I started of as go go dancer then added some bongo bashing & other percussion...I played on the single & live. Then we were offered to be the support band on the specials uk tour (which turned out to be their last) & there was a consensus in the band that we needed a different singer for that tour. like an idiot i volunteered as i knew all the songs. I say like an idiot only because it was quite a daunting task- playing to such huge & crazy audiences. the 1st date of the tour was at the corńish riviera (Newquay) to an audience of 5,000:-) I think we did 36 gigs across the uk in 40 nights!"
