The guitar collection of Guy Mackenzie
www.theguitarcollection.org.uk
So how did a drummer get to be a collector of electrics? Guess it went
something like this . . . .
It all began when my school friend Martin "Thumbs" Bellamy and I,
inspired by listening to Joe Meek recording artistes (like John Leyton, Mike
Berry, Heinz and The Tornados), one bright summer's day in 1964 went to look
round the Soho music shops (near the 2 I's coffee bar) to kit ourselves out
so we could hit the road as musicians. After much searching we finally
decided on a Czech-built Futurama with a 10 watt Bird combo amp for him (at
£25) and a Broadway drum kit for me (at £18) - mainly because they
were the cheapest we could find!
Our first attempts at music were split between his home in Quenington,
Gloucestershire and mine at Calgary House (now known as Calgary Castle) on
the Isle of Mull, my idyllic childhood home with my parents - Eric, a very
distinguished veteran of both World Wars, and Elizabeth Mackenzie who
created the woodland garden that Calgary Castle has since become famous
for. Calgary Castle is now a prestigious holiday home but thankfully,
despite this, much loved by its current owners. Unfortunately,
Gloucestershire and the Isle of Mull weren't quite ready for our renditions
of classics such as 'Johnny B Goode' and 'Whole Lotta Shakin' etc. Actually
nobody recognised them, which was a problem and fatal for a time!
After two years of musical wilderness I found myself in Southampton
ensconced in the digs of the building firm that I worked for in Cranbury
Avenue (yes, it is the street just off Derby Road). I learnt a lot there,
but not about building, as it was then in the middle of Southampton's red
light district. An eye opener, and more, for a shy lad from a sheltered
background! But I digress. I still had a hankering for being a pop idol so I
placed an ad in a newspaper for other musicians to form a band. I then met
Bill and Bob, two guitarists who were looking for a drummer and I joined
their band The Blue Stars - yep, yep, they really did name themselves after
that well-known chain of garages and manufacturers of car batteries! Bob
played a home made solid and Bill played his Watkins Rapier 33 and dreamt of
emulating Hank Marvin. He was also a naturally gifted musician and
certainly, the best drummer in the "Blue Stars"! Incidentally,
Bill Geddes was still playing regularly, and had released several CDs, until
his untimely death two years ago. We achieved a modest success and also
appeared at Southampton's Guild Hall for the princely sum of £5 - on a
package show featuring: The Footprints, The Nite People and headlined by
Les Fleur de Lys, occasionally you can hear each of them on Sounds of the
Sixties.
I then moved to London and it was back to the wilderness again until I moved
to High Wycombe. I still couldn't get music out of my system so in 1973, and
yes - you've guessed it - I advertised again! This time I met Francis Rossi
and Alan Lancaster look-alikes, Jack and Dennis and their Fender copy
Antorias and was transported into the wonderful world of Status Quo - a
world I've never entirely left - we called ourselves Fat Man's Toy. Yes we
did 'Paper Plane' and 'Caroline' fuelled by home-made beer in Jack's house
until the volume caused his kitchen shelf to collapse and, yes, it was the
one that housed his crystal glass collection! But we also played numbers
like 'Please Don't Touch' and 'Shakin' All Over', both written and first
performed by the late, great Johnny Kidd - I recently saw The Pirates live
at the Tivoli Theatre in Wimborne - absolutely fantastic! Anyway, to cut a
long story short, we lined ourselves up for our first gig in a pub in Reading.
Sadly, despite the fact that we were a trio, we, for the whole night,
outnumbered the punters! Was that the end? No, not us, we hired a hall,
argued a lot and practised non-stop for three months (doubling the intake of
home-brew in the process!) and hit the road again but this time we were a
success and for two years we were out gigging 1-3 nights every week, and
over the Christmas and New Year period, it was often six nights out of
seven. By this time Jack had graduated to a Hayman guitar and Dennis bought
a huge bass amp. For me it was first a Pearl kit and then to Jack's fury
(as I'd got it at "trade" whereas his guitar had cost him full
"retail") I bought a Hayman drum kit. One of our most popular
numbers was 'Baby Jump' by Mungo Jerry, but my lasting souvenir of this
time is a tape of me lead singing 'Twenty Flight Rock' by Eddie Cochran,
live at The Bell in Maidenhead - a well known venue.
Twenty Flight Rock
But, as with many bands, personalities clashed and Dennis and I left Jack to
his own musical wilderness and joined Eric, and Earthborn was formed. We even had Roger Newell, but sadly without his triple necked custom Wal bass, (Yes, Rick Wakeman, Marty Wilde's Wildcats etc) join us for a few gigs and changed our style, ending up as a
four-piece doing clubs and pubs within an area which included London,
Hampshire, the South Midlands and Hertfordshire. In this band I was the one
who drew the short straw and had to lead sing favourites like 'Viva Espana'
and 'Una Paloma Blanca' - well, no-one else would! Thankfully, we always
managed to avoid 'The Birdie Song'!! By now I had graduated to a Premier Kit
(in black and orange hoops!), Slingerland chrome snare (I sometimes used an
unusual 10-inch 1930s Premier Ace chrome snare drum with double snares - the
second under the batter head), coupled with Super Zyn and Zildjan cymbals
(which I still have today). Eric was using a Fender Stratocaster and a
Fender Twin Reverb, Dennis had a Fender Musicmaster Bass and H & H amp
and, Mike the new lead guitarist, a Fender Telecaster and another Twin
Reverb.
All went well till about 1978 when another split occurred. Briefly I joined
Wayne as a duo, backed a weekly talent contest at the King's Head in High
Wycombe, then Trooper (at that time a young and upcoming band from
Oxford) until I met the person who I enjoyed playing music with the most,
Tony Price, who used an Epiphone E-270 and I have a similar model in my
collection today. We sometimes gigged as Tony and Guy or as Earthborn 2
(or 3 or 4) or whatever our agent, Bob Kember from Watford, wanted us to be
for the booking he'd made for us. Tony Price is an amazing entertainer and
with the right luck and promotion would have been the star he always
deserved to be. However for some reason, which I have never had difficulty
understanding, Tony was never, in all our time together, appreciative of my
singing ability! How do I know this - well, why else did he keep turning my
mike down and his Watkins Copicat up, just as I was about to harmonise with
him?
But we finally went our separate musical ways - he and his wife to
Lincolnshire and me to Cornwall. Tony has since had a long and successful
career in music and released several CDs, only retiring himself and his
Fender Stratocasters this year. (Stop Press: June 2006 - Despite health
problems but inspired by my guitar site, and as a result of popular demand,
Tony Price is gigging again - maybe at a venue near you !!). Since this time
I've only come out of retirement on a few occasions to gig in Penzance and
Hayle, or to annoy the neighbours!
Through all this time I found a love of guitars and a love that I could
never quite understand - because I can barely even play one! But for me
that's a bonus because I can appreciate them without being hampered by
liking them only because of their sound or action or whatever all you
budding Jimmy Page's look for. So with that, how could I resist becoming a
collector - and that's why my collection has yer Fenders (of course), yer
Gibson (a Victory) but also a Fenton Weill and a Tremo Twenty (a what?) -
the quirkiest guitar of all, excepting of course, my Burns Weill bass and my weird, wonderful Teisco SS-4L.
Which do I love best - fair reader, I'll let you be the judge, as you
check out my collection. It may not be the best and it hopefully isn't the
worst - but it is all mine!
Finally, my own guitar heroes? Naturally - Mick Green (The Pirates, Paul
McCartney, Van Morrison, Bryan Ferry) and, of course, the legendary Welsh
rocker himself, Dave Edmunds - who can ever forget 'Deborah', or 'I Knew
the Bride' and 'Girls Talk'.
Venues I have played include: 750 Club · High Wycombe Bell · Maidenhead Brimpton Grange · Milton Common, Oxfordshire British Legion Club · Flackwell Heath British Legion Club · Marlow British Legion Club · Princes Risborough Buck Inn · Burley, New Forest, Hampshire Burnham Working Mens Club Carriers · Watlington Castle · High Wycombe Civil Engineer · Greenford, Middlesex Corn Dolly · Oxford Cressex Community Centre · High Wycombe Crown · Aylesbury Crown Tavern · High Wycombe Dairymead · Aylesbury Downley Donkey · Downley, High Wycombe Downley Heights PTA · West Wycombe Duck · Aylesbury Duke of Clarence · London W11 Falcon · Woodley Golden Goblet · Southend Guild Hall · Southampton Hazells Club · Aylesbury Hedsor Club · Buckinghamshire John F Kennedy · Aylesbury Kings Head · High Wycombe Kings Head · Penzance Kings Langley Services Club London Village · London W4 Moreton in the Marsh Football Club Nettlebed Working Mens Club · Oxfordshire New Holland Social Club · Aylesbury Overton Football Club · Hampshire Railway Inn · Eastleigh SKF Sports and Social Club · Luton Stable Bar of the White Hart · Hayle Tamarac Lodge · Volumntown, Ct., USA Target · Northolt Thames Valley Caravan Club · Windsor Turnpike · High Wycombe White Hart · Didcot William IV · Langley, Slough Windmill · Slough Woking Working Mens Club Wooburn Green Working Mens Club
The Guitar Collection
as featured in Guitar & Bass, Vol 18 No 1, Feb 2007
Text and photographs by Lars Mullen
The Guitar Collection has been featured as follows: West Briton Newspaper · Thursday November 23rd 2006 Helston Packet Newspaper · Wednesday December 13th 2006 Western Morning News · Wednesday December 13th 2006 Guitar & Bass Magazine · February 2007 Helston Packet Newspaper · Wednesday October 17th 2007 West Briton Newspaper · Thursday October 18th 2007 BBC TV's Antiques Roadshow · Sunday 25th November 2007 Helston Packet Newspaper · Wednesday 28th November 2007 West Briton Newspaper · Thursday 29th November 2007 Cornwall Today Magazine · February 2008 BBC Radio Cornwall The David White Show · Tuesday 15th April 2008 Royal Cornwall Show, Wadebridge · 5th June 2008 Docu-Film: "Finding Jonestown in Cornwall" by Tatblue Productions, San Diego, USA · UK Premiere 6th June 2008 Collect it! Magazine · August 2008 Helston Packet Newspaper · 3rd September 2008 West Briton Newspaper · 11th September 2008
