The Stormbreakers Greatest hits ......

12 minutes of absolute nostalgia from Durham City Sixties Group the Stormbreakers.

Here are a few recordings they made in 1968, featuring lead singer Wilf Carr who a had a long and distinguished clubland career, both as a member of various local groups and later as a vocal guitarist.

Listening to this you are reminded what a great group they were and what a fantastic voice Wilf had (and still has as far as I know). He is still living in the area and it would be great to see him at a future club night (or ten).

There is one long track featuring four songs on this recording:
Ten Guitars - Over the Sea to Skye - Green Onions (Instrumental)- You Belong to me

Just click to play

150 Thousand and rising .....

VSL performers please take a bow.
Our video clips have now exceeded 150,000 hits on YouTube and the hit rate is increasing all the time.

Our website stats show that we have had almost 60000 visitors from all parts of the globe as can be seen from this map.


(Click to enlarge)

As we approach our second anniversary Alan Leightell and myself would like to give a massive thank you to all those who have taken part and made the venture such a great success.

Don't get Paula to look after your bairns ........

The Straydogs Band - Dave, Kev, Mark and Angie - have always been known at Vintage Sixties Live as the "Bairns" because they are so much younger than the rest of us.

This month our Angie is taking a well deserved break on a tropical beach somewhere and we promised to keep an eye on the Bairns whilst she was away - as you would.

We thought it would be a good idea for some of the old codgers to team up with the rest of the band for a couple of numbers and Paula was one of those chosen.

What would our mature, unassuming, "grandmother several times over" decide to sing?
Would she talk the lads into doing a Skeeter Davis number .... or Marianne Faithfull, Dionne Warwick .... any of those sweet songstresses of the Sixties?

Not bl**dy likely!! - Have a listen to this.



Vintage Sixties Live - you gotta be there to believe it.

By the way, I also noticed that the fact that Angie was away also coincided with the fact that we have approx 100 less still photos than usual taken by our Malcolm . Could there be a connection I wonder?

Trying to contact ...... the Up North Combine

Received an email from Dave Snowdon the other day.

Dave is trying to contact fellow Up North Combine members for a possible reunion.

He writes:

We were based in Thorney Close, Sunderland & played around the Sunderland - Durham - Newcastle area from approx 1965 to 1968. We were originally called The Klik, but changed our name as there were a few other bands with variations on the same name. We played a lot of the WMClubs, but later progressed to Student Union gigs & Night Clubs and added a keyboard player & main vocalist.Ive not managed to trace any of the band members & would be very grateful if you could mention the band in your news & blogs, so that I can hopefully trace some of the former members - and maybe even have a reunion!

From left to right - Dave Snowdon (me) on lead guitar/vocals, Bill Johnson on bass & lead vocals, Mick Harrison on drums & Jimmy Scott on rhythm guitar

I now live in Gloucestershire and have recently made contact with Roger Smith, who has the http://www.readysteadygone.co.uk/ site & played in The Jazzboard, who lives not too far away in Wiltshire. We were in our first 2 bands together - The Conrads & The 6 Leaves - and he came to my 60th birthday party recently. As a gift gave me back the Hofner Colorama II guitar that I had sold to him in 1965! It was originally owned by Bob Marshall of Chris Warren & the Strangers.

Any former members of the group can contact this site and I will supply them with Dave's contact info.

I would also be happy to receive free gifts of surplus Hofner Coloramas (preferably with the leatherette finish)

Great Sixties night out in January .....

At Civic Theatre, Darlington
From 7:30pm
Friday, 25 January 2008

Call Up The Groups: The Barron Knights + The Tremeloes + The Fortunes + Marmalade

Price: £17.00 / £15.00
For tickets or further information, please contact the venue directly. The information given on this page is subject to change - please confirm with the venue before travelling.
More Information

Marmalade -
One of Scotland's most successful and long lasting groups. Their cover of the Beatles' Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da was their big number one and charted for 20 weeks in 1968. They were making hits right up to 1976 when Falling Apart At The Seams reached number 9 in the UK charts. In between that time they spent 120 more weeks in the charts with Reflections and Loving Things.

The Barron Knights -
It is now over 40 years since The Barron Knights started touring the world with their unique style of comedy and rock'n'roll. With over 300 performances at the London Palladium to their credit they have established themselves as a unique musical comedy attraction. You are guaranteed to leave a Barron Knights show with the feeling that you have had a tremendous night out.
For more information, see the website

The Fortunes -
The Fortunes are one of the UK's premier harmony groups. A string of hit records including You've Got Your Troubles, Here It Comes Again and Freedom Come Freedom Go, have stood the test of time and still top the play-lists on any radio station. Ask any '60s group who they most admire for their vocal talents and The Fortunes would come out on top. Their last CD sold over 100,000 copies and 'It's The Real Thing' Coca Cola advert is, of course, sung by The Fortunes.

The Tremeloes -
The Tremeloes must certainly be documented as one of the most successful rock / pop bands in music history. 21 hit records in every territory including America is endorsement enough of their superb talent. Silence Is Golden, Suddenly You Love Me, Even The Bad Times Are Good are just a taster of what's to come from this great band.

If you fancy being immortalised in print .....

.... walk this way (If I could walk that way I wouldn't need the talcum powder - Boom Boom !!)

This is an email I have received from Trevor Davis, ex Bluecaps. Johnny Taylor 5, Selection Soul Band and the Victors.

I have been giving this book idea some thought!!

I would be interested in having a go at pulling something together if
I could get enough interested parties to supply details. I don’t have
any experience in the book world but how difficult could it be!!

First off before I start, I would like to hear from anyone interested in
helping i.e.: collating info, proof reading and assistance with vanity
publishing and marketing. I don’t expect this to be a Booker prize
winner and don’t expect sales in areas other than localised interest.
This would also be sold via the Internet. A web site would be a good
idea and help with this would be needed. I don’t expect this to be a
great money producer, anything made would go into running the web
site and book production so at the out set - no wages either!!!!
Just the pure need to produce something that we could all leave to
show that we were there when it all started!!!

So what I had in mind was ……

I would like first, anyone who has a story to tell and would like to be
included in this, to e mail me at trevor.davis@wanadoo.fr
<mailto:trevor.davis@wanadoo.fr> declaring an interest.
Please mark the e mail subject as “book” it will help when
sorting e mails. Depending on the amount of replies, I would then
e mail you back within a month or so to confirm we had enough
information to put something together.
Any suggestions for a book title would also be appreciated.

In the meantime….

Sit down at the computer and in the Word program write your
account of what you did, where you played and your memories.
Photos of the band may be included, but just for now one single
photo of each band you played with would be sufficient .
Please make sure we are not infringing any copyright laws with
photos and newspaper editorial. If I need more photo info I will
let you know. At the end of your letter, list all the bands you have
played with to the current day plus band members you would like
to contact. Maybe an obituary for those who are no longer with
us. Even if this book fails to get off the ground, you will have your
own full account of this unique time of our lives. It would still be
a legacy for your children to read when you are no longer here,
so the whole project is not a waste of time and let’s be honest you
always meant to do it one day didn’t you!!!

Stan Launden’s site and others such as ‘Vintage Sixties’ have a
wealth of knowledge and there must be others too. I also know
a number of people from a lot of local bands, who went on to be
famous, encouragement from them would also be welcome if they
don’t have any issues about being included in the book .

This could take some time to pull together, so put the guitar down
and get writing; the sooner we make a start the sooner it will be in
print.

So get to it you guys, This is your big chance to go down in the
annals of history.
How about it? Just jot down your experiences, stories, memories,
anecdotes.
You don't even have to do joined up writing - Trevor will knock it
into shape.