The Spangle Band

In the years following the hit thinks got a bit hazy. We were living the dream, and the dream was living us. No matter how crazy things got though we still had the band, the solid unit. It was a classic 5 piece - Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Sax, Drums – except that we had a reserve drummer in case Lenny ‘Lucky’ Stix was unable to play (or, to be more accurate, unable to stand).

If my memory serves me correctly Lenny 'Lucky' Stix died in a bizarre accident at the country house in 1977 and we buried .... no wait a minute - that's right, he went missing and try as we might we couldn't track him down. Wow, imagine if he was still around somewhere. Derrick ‘Spare’ Stevens took over full time until he had to retire through what would now be known as repetitive strain injury. We were convinced it had nothing to do with the drumming! He threatened to take us to an industrial tribunal but luckily he woke up one morning soon after and his mind had be erased, presumably by aliens.

We just about kept it all together right through to the legendary ‘Spangle Nation’ tour of 1981, when it all finally fell apart. One day we were playing a gig in Croydon, next thing I knew I was meditating in a cave in India with a Guru on one side and Spangle sax legend Dunston ‘Dunny’ McGiddy on the other. How and why I don’t know to this day, but this was to be life for the next few years.

Last I heard Dunny was doing the Butlins circuit with The Rollers - still one of the finest sax players of all time if you ask me. Last I saw him he was dressed in orange handing out flowers at Delhi airport - I was being deported. I tried to wave, but couldn't because of the handcuffs.

Of the original band, Steve ‘The Rage’ Paige still plays guitar in the band, and still has a hair-trigger temper on him. He was famously arrested in Glasgow on the ‘Spangle Banner’ tour of 1978 when he tied a policeman’s shoelaces together and threw him in the river because he “looked at him funny, like”. One of the roadies stepped in to play guitar, and it was a great show (despite only lasting for 3 songs).

Dave ‘No Nick-Name’ Roberts still plays bass, but keeps himself very much to himself these days.