THE COUNTDOWNS
From Leamington Spa - formed February 1963 -
Bob Wilson -bass / Gary Mayo - Drums ( who had played in a skiffle band in the army together) Ken Smith - Rth Guitar ?John Harris -Lead Guitar.
John Harris once tuned John Lennon's Rickenbacker for him at the Matrix Ballroom in Coventry , November 1962 where they played every Friday night in a 35 week residency. There were only 4 people on the first night but by the end of the residency the place was heaving.
From Pete Chambers Backbeat article
" Our first gig was at the Bulldog pub in Whitnash Leamington. They had bigger places to play too, such as The Locarno, Coventry, where they supported The Vernon Girls. From that they began venturing out of the immediate area. They continued to spread their "beat" music all over the area, at every working men's club and dance hall you could think of and other places such as Birmingham and Chesford Grange, where they literally played opposite Leamington band Woody Allen and The Challengers.
"There were two stages there, us on one and the Challengers on the other. We played with all the local bands at some point, The Sorrows, The Avengers and Tony Martin and the Echo 4. Our act consisted of a lot of Shadows and Beatles material, and all the current pop hits of the time' we even supported the Barron Knights at Coventry Police Hall, it was Peter Nutt's 21st birthday, a brilliant night," recalls John.
The band worked as The Countdowns until November 1965, when Bob Wilson got married and left the group, so continuing on a permanent basis became difficult. Although John would act as stand-in for other local bands just to keep his hand in.
Good job he did, as in 1974 Gary Mayo decided it was time to have a Countdowns reunion.
"It was a great night," enthuses John. "We had to beg, steal and borrow amplifiers, we had obviously forgotten a lot of the material, although when we hired the Holbrooks Community Centre to rehearse we came outside for a break and there were 60 or 70 people listening to us."
The band had five reunions from 1974 to 1993. Drummer Gary suffered from osteoporosis and gave up the drums: "He was a great drummer," says John. "And a great guy with a tremendous sense of humour."
In 2003 John, Bob and Ken got the music bug again and played together in the band The Time Machine.
Nowadays John repairs guitars and refurbishes amplifiers.
He said: "The 60s music was quite revolutionary and it was great to be a part of it. We all had a great time, and I believe it was the best time to be into music. I don't think bands today have that kind of atmosphere. If I could do it all again I would, especially with the new technology there is now."
They had a regular booking at the Chesford Grange in the Cellar Bar. They also played the Heath and The General Wolfe at some stage.
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