Richard Jones
Keyboards / Guitar / Accordion / Bouzouki/ Vocal
Early Days
I was born in Stoke On Trent in 1949 and was brought up in Brocton near Stafford. My father taught me the piano from when I was about 4. I went to the same primary school as Derek in Stafford and remember him playing guitar and singing a Lonnie Donegan song. I took classical piano lessons from a very early age and used to play Russ Conway tunes for school assembly. I learned guitar when The Shadows became popular. I formed my first band when I was 14, called The Velvet Chords. I played guitar to begin with, but then changed to bass guitar. The band was Geoff Nicholls (drums - now a well respected rock journalist), Tony Nicholls (Rhythm Guitar), Dave Burley (Guitar / vocals), Roger Titley (Organ) and RJ on bass guitar and occasional vocals.
Climax Chicago Blues Band
Occasionally, Pete Haycock would dep on guitar for Dave. Geoff Nicholls, Pete Haycock, Derek Holt and I also had a band called The General Erection. In 1967, I joined a soul band called The Stargazers. In late 1967, I was asked by Pete Haycock to join the Climax Blues Band on bass guitar. The others in the band were Colin Cooper (vocals / sax / harmonica), Pete Haycock (lead guitar), Derek Holt (rhythm guitar, Arther Wood (keyboards), George Newsome (drums). Climax found it very difficult to get gigs. The only way we got regular gigs was to run our own blues clubs. We started with one in Burslem which after a rocky start was packed every week. Within about six months we also had one in Birmingham and one in the Yeoman in Stafford.
First Album
We were approached by Liberty records who wanted us to make an album. Parlophone showed an interest and asked us to have a recording audition at Abbey Road studios. The producer was Chris Thomas, a protege of George Martin. Parlophone gave us a contract and we recorded the first album Climax Chicago Blues Band over three days in September and October 1968. The Beatles were recording The White Album at the time, and Paul McCartney came into the studio while we were playing.
Cambridge
In October 1968 I left to go to Cambridge University where I studied English Literature. At Cambridge, I was in a popular jazz/rock band called Wild Oats with Iain Cameron (flute), Steve Pheasant (sax), Paul Bell (drums), Jon Cole (guitar / vocals). Jon Cole later had some success in The Movies.The folk scene was quite strong at the time in Cambridge at the time with Nick Drake, Paul Wheeler (who wrote a song recorded by John Martyn) and George Bacon (later George Breakfast). Wild Oats wrote a musical which appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The script was by Chips Hardy (father of Tom Hardy), and it was directed by Edwin Shirley who went on to form the Edwin Shirley Trucking Company, a concert, tour and event trucking company based in East London. I also played with Fred Frith, who had a band called Henry Cow and is now a professor of music in New York.
Principal Edwards
On leaving Cambridge, I moved to London and formed a short-lived band called Smokie with Geoff Nicholls (drums), George Bacon (guitar / vocals) and Pete Proud (guitar/vocals). I then auditioned to join Principal Edwards Magic Theatre, who were well known as the first band to sign to John Peel's Dandelion records and for their multi media approach which included light shows and dancers. The band was smaller than before and so the name was shortened to Principal Edwards. It consisted of Root Cartwright (guitar), Nick Pallett (lead vocals), Belinda Bourquin (keyboards / fiddle / vocals), Geoff Nicholls (drums) and me (bass guitar / vocals). We were very popular touring the colleges and universities, and made the two singles Captain Lifeboy and Weekdaze (which was banned from the BBC!) and an album Round One which was produced by Nick Mason from Pink Floyd. In late 1974, the band rehearsed in a farmhouse in Devon. The rehearsal tapes we made were later released as The Devon Tapes
Climax Blues Band
Principal Edwards and Climax Blues Band had the same manager at the time, Miles Copeland. He went on to manage many big acts such as Blondie and The Police. His brother Stewart was the drummer in The Police. In late 1974, I was approached by Climax Blues Band to rejoin them on keyboards. After a brief period of writing and rehearsing, I went with Climax Blues Band to record "Stamp Album" in New York in January 1975.
Stamp Album
I moved back to Stafford and spent the next two and a half years touring. During this time we did 5 tours of the USA. A typical tour would last for 3 months, and consist of around 70 gigs. We would mainly be second on the bill to very big rock acts such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, Edgar Winter Band and Bachman-Turner Overdrive, playing to around 15,000 people each time. The largest gig I did was a Bill Graham Day On The Green at Oakland Coliseum Stadium with over 40,000 people (Edgar Winter Group, Johnny Winter, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Earth Quake, Climax Blues Band on September 20, 1975). We also toured Canada, Switzerland, Spain and Germany (often with Manfred Mann).
Gold Plated
In 1976 we recorded the "Gold Plated" CD. It was felt that we needed a single so we went into the Air London studios for a week and recorded "Couldn't Get It Right". This became a massive world wide hit. However, having a popular hit also highlighted tensions within the band and I left in mid 1977.
PickPocket
In 1978 I produced a single "TV Adverts" by a local punk band called The Nerves. Moving back to London, I joined a band called Pickpocket with Pete Proud (who was with me in Smokie). We were managed by the founder of Club 18-30! We made a single 1-2-3, Let's Dance which was produced by Terry Melcher, son of Doris Day, who had produced The Byrds, and was associated with the Beach Boys and Charles Manson. I also made an album with Curved Air's former guitarist, Kirby Gregory, produced recordings for various singers, and wrote music for plays and film.
Folk
Since the late 1990s I have been very involved in folk music, mainly playing the piano accordion. My bands include Angles, Meridian, Climax Ceilidh Band and Moltenamba, which have all played the major folk festivals in the UK. Some of my tunes have become session 'standards' and have even been used as incidental music on the BBC! In 2012 I started a folk orchestra under the name of SELFolk (South East London Folk). The orchestra is made up of keen, local, amateur (mainly) musicians and singers. We do a lot of community gigs in the area. I also play old school R'n'B in a band called Southern Aces.
