Rocking back the clock in Weymouth (From Dorset Echo)

Rocking back the clock in Weymouth

9:35am Tuesday 9th June 2009

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ONE, two, three o’clock, four o’clock, rock – it’s just over 50 years since Rock Around The Clock hit the silver screen.

For many, the movie starring Bill Haley and the Comets marked the birth of rock’n’roll.

Former rock’n’rollers Terry Coutts and Mick Jarman have turned back a clock of their own to remember when the film was shown in Weymouth.

The duo, accompanied by Billy Spencer on drums, played to an audience at the Weymouth Gaumont Theatre – now the Barracuda bar – before the film was shown.

Terry, 77, who lives in Chickerell with wife Bett, said: “Someone saw us and asked if we would go on the stage prior to the film and play a few numbers.

“It was most likely that we would have played tracks from the film. We were told that we were the first band to play at the Gaumont since the war.”

Terry said that there was a ‘hell of a crowd’ for the film and that girls were dancing in the aisles.

He added: “Mick was the lead singer and an Elvis lookalike. He had the hair, the collar up and the sideburns. He was Elvis to a tee.”

Guitarist Terry and Mick, now 70 and living in Weymouth, often played as a duo around Weymouth.

Terry has dug out a picture of them with Billy Spencer and a fisherman from Jersey who was playing with them.

But the duo also had another claim to fame when they attended a rehearsal of a popular TV show in London and ended up jamming with some of the guests.

Terry, said they attended the rehearsals of the BBC TV Saturday night programme, the 6-5 Special at the 2 i’s coffee bar in Old Compton Street, Soho, London.

The show featured Terry Nelhams – later known as Adam Faith – and the Worried Men.

Later that night Terry and Mick were invited to jam with musicians from the show at the Stu-Tasi Club, on Tottenham Court Road.

They included famous pianist of the day, Wee Willie Harris, and the London All Stars. Terry said that the band wanted to play Eddie Cochran’s Twenty Flight Rock but Terry Nelhams (Adam Faith) didn’t know it so Mick filled in on vocals and Terry took the guitar for that track and a few more.

Former engineer Terry, who numbers former Weymouth footballer James Coutts among his 10 grandchildren, worked at the Vickers Armstrong factory at Ferrybridge.

He also played with Lenny Nash and Maurice Nutman before teaming up with Mick.

Mick carried out his national service after playing with Terry and continued with his music career on his return from the army.

He performed under the name John Fortune as singer with the Nite Flyters in the late 50s before forming the Soundsmen in the 60s. The Soundsmen recorded for Joe Meek, of Telstar records in the 60s.

Mick later formed perhaps his best known band, the Mick Jarman Sound, and they carried on playing until the early 90s.

The Weymouth Gaumont was also the venue for a Rolling Stones concert in August 1964. Do you have photographs or memories? Call Looking Back on 01305 830999.

Rock Around The Clock (1956) was hailed as one of the earliest markers of rock’n’roll.

The film followed the rags to riches rise of a band in New York.

As well as Bill Haley and the Comets, it starred the Platters, Freddie Bell and the Bellboys and Alan Freed.

The Comets performed eight tunes as well as the title track, including R-O-C-K, See You Later Alligator, Razzle Dazzle, and Mambo Rock.

The track Rock Around The Clock also featured in the 1955 film Blackboard Jungle, which portrayed the violence and romanticism of social upheavals created by rock’n’roll.

Producers from Colombia Pictures were inspired by the track to create a new film and name it after the song.

The film became famous for the hysterical reaction it sparked in some audiences.

Fans danced in the aisles as they would at a real concert.

In some cases there were riots and some towns and cities banned it – if anything, making sure that rock’n’roll was here to stay.

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