The BO WEEVILS (Boll Weevils)
The BO WEEVILS (Boll Weevils)
Sources Tim James, Broadgate Gnome, Paul Kennelly, Coventry Express, Kevin Dempsey.
circa 1963-6
R&B / Blues group
Line up: Tim James (vocals, harmonica) (also with Acme Patent Electric Band / Ra Ho Tep / Last Fair Deal), Steve Bentham (guitar, vocals), Barry Smale (bass), Joe Craner (drums). Bill Campbell bass, Gordon Stansfield lead guitar,
Kev Dempsey (later guitarist with Dando Shaft / Side Effect) replaced Craner on drums. Fred Liggins on Tenor Sax
Formed around 1963 as The Boll Weevils as an R&B outfit. Changed name to The Bo Weevils in 1964 to avoid confusion with London group and Kevin Dempsey replaced Joe Craner on drums. With Fred Liggins on Tenor Sax, they Eventually gravitated towards the more soul orientated sounds of Otis, Pickett, Brown etc. as public tastes changed. Jazzier influence arrived with addition of Gordon Wood and Greg Taylor on Baritone and Tenor sax respectively added in 1965, this coincided with interest from Pye Records.
Tim James left early 1966 and Steve 'Tiny' Bentham took over. Eventually split July 1966. Kevin Dempsey later played guitar in Dando Shaft.
From Tim James's Website " I made my first public performance with newly formed blues
band, the Boll Weevils at Willenhall Youth Club. A week later we played Trinity Hall, Pool Meadow, Coventry City Centre, the big time at last. We then did the rounds and learned the ropes for a few months but our most successful regular gig was the Coventry Gauge & Tool Social Club - you may laugh but they were a hip audience and about the only crowd who didn't want us to play chart material. But we dreamed of playing the big local gigs such as the Locarno, Matrix and so on. Our opportunity came via school colleagues, Colin Towe and Dave Taylor, who took over our management, and Fred Liggins who joined the band on alto sax. Before long we were playing all of the above places plus the Leofric Jazz Club and The Birmingham Marquee, making us the only local band to get anywhere near these gigs, the rest having never got past Merseybeat. Our sound was unique, featuring alto sax and harp riffs, more jazzy than most but still funky, too good to last ... and it didn't."
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| Tim James on sax with later band Ra Ho Tep |
band, the Boll Weevils at Willenhall Youth Club. A week later we played Trinity Hall, Pool Meadow, Coventry City Centre, the big time at last. We then did the rounds and learned the ropes for a few months but our most successful regular gig was the Coventry Gauge & Tool Social Club - you may laugh but they were a hip audience and about the only crowd who didn't want us to play chart material. But we dreamed of playing the big local gigs such as the Locarno, Matrix and so on. Our opportunity came via school colleagues, Colin Towe and Dave Taylor, who took over our management, and Fred Liggins who joined the band on alto sax. Before long we were playing all of the above places plus the Leofric Jazz Club and The Birmingham Marquee, making us the only local band to get anywhere near these gigs, the rest having never got past Merseybeat. Our sound was unique, featuring alto sax and harp riffs, more jazzy than most but still funky, too good to last ... and it didn't."
We were soon locally famous and touring the Northern & Midlands R&B circuit. Drummer Joe Craner was mercilessly replaced by Kev Dempsey and ,soon after, all of the originals except me had gone. We were now playing soul music, were known as the Bo-Weevils, and everyone in the band now had the ambition of being rich & famous ... except me ... all I wanted to do was play the blues ... naive idiot! So when I left school (in 1966) I left the band. I was offered a recording contract with Columbia which I turned down, because no way was I falling into the usual cesspit of singing Tony Hatch songs. I would rather get a day job to earn money and play music for enjoyment, which is exactly what I did.
.............................................
by Paul Connew City Beat, Coventry Express Friday May 28th 1965
The Club Scene
..Birmingham has a very atmospheric all-nighter. The Crazy E (in Navigation Street) which
attracts quite a few Coventry Mod Set. (The club also had the likes of The Spencer Davis Group and Zoot Money). One of the groups that frequently play there are The Boll Weevils. They came a surprising 5th in the Coventry Express poll. The are also regulars at the Leofric Jazz Club, probably the nearest we have to the London scene. And the Boll Weevils illustrate more aptly than anyone else in the poll, the shift in pop music business. They are Jazz based, short haired, and very Mod.
Sound
An alto-saxophonist 18 year old Fred Liggins is the often frighteningly proficient lead instrumental voice. Vocalist, harmonica player Tim James frequently throws pop music convention to the wind and starts skat singing.
Kevin Dempsey extracted from the palebloomsandbeyond Interview 9.11.22 on youTube
"My dad was a drummer, they had band rehearsals at my house. Drums were my first instrument, my dad was a drummer so I wanted to be a drummer as well. I started lessons about 7, played in a couple of bands when I was 13, we played the pop songs of the day. My dad liked country and Irish music and big bands - he was the drummer / leader of the New City Sounds in the 70's. I switched to guitar later at 16 and then joined Dando Shaft.. Meanwhile I was in a band called the Bo Weevils, a three sax band and a organs, keyboards, bass, drums and a singer and they were already going, I joined them, as their drummer, they were playing a lot of this Alexis Corner stuff of the time, and his rhythm and blues all stars, Dick Heckstall-Smith Cyril Davies on harmonica, however that was an introduction to me. I was with them 18 months to 2 years and it changed to more soul music , we began to be listening to the Impressions who I love, Soloman Burke, Lou Rawls, Joe Tex, Motown, Otis Redding material and stuff."
Franks Dempsey's band
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