THE Measles went through several altered states such was the drawing power of their name and their versatility and wit. The first change was Ray Ward the drummer. Ray died unexpectedly after he left the band.

His replacement was ex-Wheels drummer, Drachen Theaker. Drachen was with the Measles for about 12 months, Stan Dulson said that Drachen never really fit in with the Measles, explaining, “The band were crazy but Drachen was even crazier”.

At a university gig they shared the bill with Arthur Brown. “The guy was very wired and very theatrical”, Stan Duson remembered. “I thought the band was perfect for Drachen and told him so”. 

Drachen Theaker: “I placed an ad in Melody Maker and two people phoned up - Arthur Brown and Jimi Hendrix. I actually went to audition with Jimi when he first got to London, I got my kit down to this club, set up and waited for him to arrive.

“He called me on the phone saying he was stuck in the traffic and could I come back tomorrow. My first thought was, who is this Jimi Hendrix anyway? I don't think I'll bother going back. Three months later, we were both with the same record company and having hit records.”

The hit Drachen refers to was Fire by the Crazy World of Arthur Brown. The line up for the band was Arthur Brown (vocals), Sean Nicholas (bass), Vincent Crane (keyboards) and Drachen (drums). The record reached number one in Britain and number two in the States.

The Who’s Pete Townsend persuaded Track Records', Chris Stamp and Kit Lambert, to sign them to the label. Townsend also helped produce their 1968 debut album The Crazy World of Arthur Brown.

In the same year  Drachen played on the April and July albums with Arthur Brown, who by this time had changed the name of the band to Puddletown Express.

Later in the year Drachen changed bands and continents when he moved to America to joined the Los Angeles-based, Love.

He recorded the album, Four Sail with them in the winter of '68 and Out Here the following spring. Drachen also laid down the beat on Waren Zevon’s, début album Wanted Dead Or Alive.

Sadly Drachen died of a brain tumour in 1992.

The Measles changed drastically in '67 when Stan Dulson left to form the Budjjies with Pete Cowap. Stan was soon followed by guitar vocalist, Wyn Davis who joined them in the Bahamas.

Stan Dulson, Drachen Theaker and Wyn Davis were replaced by Toggery’s Paul Young,  the Country Gents' Leo Laherty and Barry ‘Taz’ Reynolds, respectively.

It was between '63 and '64 that the beat groups began to wane. The raw rock and roll of the fifties became diluted to a mere mudslide of schmaltz.

Teenagers reverted to the old blues men who had inspired their idols, men like Muddy Waters, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Sonny Boy Williamson, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee and the stompin’ John Lee Hooker.

This was great music to listen to but it didn’t go down too well on a night out. A ‘crossover’ version of black music suitable for white audiences called Rhythm and Blues evolved through artists such as Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry that fired the imagination of the next generation of musicians.

In 1963 Ready Steady Go and Cathy McGowan became a runaway success.

Within a few months though the viewers could see a clear division between the kids in the audience and the acts on stage.

The enthusiasm for  groups like Freddy and the Dreamers and Billy J Kramer paled compared to the audiences reaction when R&B bands like the Animals, Manfred Mann or Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames appeared on stage.

It was in this heady atmosphere that Barry Gordy took on the rising popularity of Britain’s young groups. America’s Black musicians were making excellent records Bessie Banks' Go Now, and the Shirelles' Sha La La are good examples, but the records only gained mass popularity because of the Moody Blues and Manfred Mann cover versions.

Gordy opened a small studio in Detroit where he manufactured hits in the same way he had seen cars being produced on General Motors assembly line. He had all the components: house band, writers, session singers, even dance teachers and a line of extremely talented young vocalists outside his door. What Gordy put together from this mishmash of talent was ‘Hitsville USA’ and one of the most successful record labels ever, Motown. 

Motown held its own under the weight of the British invasion with the help of talent like Marvin Gaye, Little Stevie Wonder and the irrepressible Martha and the Vandellas. Martha’s songs caught the audience like a hit from a drug; they were vibrant and intense and the kids that watched RSG loved them.

The Ready Steady Go audience was made up mainly of ‘mods’ from London’s ‘in club’ The Scene, off Great Windmill Street. Vicky Wickham, the programme's producer and the club's resident dancers went down there looking for the best dressed and the best dancers, who received free tickets for the show.

The rest of the country’s movers watched avidly every Friday night to pick up moves and fashion tips from the kids on the show also every kid in the land that could hold a musical instrument watched with a mixture of awe and envy and a longing to appear on the program.

Powerhouse

It was in this new atmosphere of trend-setting excitement that the R&B sound picked up new followers.

A lot of the older bands changed their names and style hoping to extend their careers, but none more successfully than The Backbeats - now going out under the name of Powerhouse (not to be confused with Eric Clapton’s one-off session band used on the 1966 ‘What’s Shakin’’ album).

Also making waves around this time were the new Middleton bands who hit the stage strumming and were eager to please. Bands like Tom's Rigg, regulars at Manchester’s Cavern Club, and Ivan’s Meads, a  favourite at the Twisted Wheel.

Powerhouse took Alan Arnison’s advice and sought out a front man. Their first meeting with T D Backus (better known as Tiddy Gibbs) was at the home of one of their saxophone players, Alan Greenhalgh. The idea was to have an informal chat and perhaps a bit of a jam.

The band were sceptical about the singer fitting in, especially as he was older and married with a young child.

Their conversation eventually got round to the kind of music Tiddy liked, and his choice of Otis Redding, Bobby Bland, Sam & Dave and Wilson Pickett convinced them they were all singing from the same hymn book; but did he have soul?

Tiddy, curious himself, suggested trying something together. According to John Firth, “We'd hardly got through the first 12 bars of his vocal before we were all looking at each other with a mixture of disbelief and awe.” They were soul-mates in every sense of the word.

Their booker, Ian Hamilton was true to his word and got them plenty of work over the next few months which convinced them going professional was a viable option. It was what they had worked for over the last few years, a dream come true.

The dreams quickly turned to sleepless nights when they took a month's residency in Germany.  They worked for seven nights a week doing six-hour nights - eight at the weekend.

Each hour was divided into 45 minutes on stage and 15 minutes off. It was a hard apprenticeship but it paid dividends in musical ability and gave the band a tighter sound.

The overall sound was further enriched when T D Backus and Powerhouse added Darryl Ogden to the line-up on Hammond organ, shortly after turning professional.

The now seven-piece band soon became one of  the premier soul bands in  the country, on a par with Geno Washington and the Ram Jam Band and Jimmy James and the Vagabonds.