A brief history of the celebrated 60s Birmingham rock band.
Any worried band member earnestly consulting his dog-eared copy of the Birmingham A to Z in the mid 1960s may have noticed a little street called King Edward’s Place. It ran from King Edward’s Road to Broad Street between the George Hotel and the Tow Rope greasy-spoon cafe. None of these exist any more. The George, then a popular jazz club is now The 80s Bar. An old street sign still bears the name, King Edward’s Place but the street itself and the old Tow Rope along with its neighbour, Bingley Hall, have gone, making way for the splendid new International Convention Centre.
If our band member had continued along this little street towards Broad Street he would have seen directly facing him the huge solid gate guarding the entrance to what was possibly Brum’s most famous night club of its era, The Rum Runner. Down at the end of the short sloping drive was the club itself.
There seems to be some confusion as to the opening date of the Rum. This is probably due to the fact that the club actually opened twice in the 60s and re opened again in the Duran Duran era. At the bottom of the drive to the left was the casino. This had been open for some time before the second part of the development happened. The Rum Runner night club part two, the restaurant, the quiet bar, the main bar and the dance floor with live local, national and international bands was opened in April 1966 by a local group, The Vacant Lot. They played a one-night stand and were invited back in a fortnight’s time for a second booking. This was where the gods of rock-band fortune played a hand. There was also appearing on that night of the second gig a young recording starlet called Tammy St John. She was booked for a full week and had brought her dots (sheet music) for the resident band to play. However, the resident band who were old guys playing strict tempo ballroom were on their last gig as their music was not quite swinging sixties material. Tammy was worried that there was no-one to back her. Opportunity knocked. The Vacant Lot offered to learn her material, all of it, overnight. She was worried that the unusual key that she sang in might be difficult to read. She need not have worried. None of the band could read a note. Everything was learned by ear and presented the following night and every night for the rest of that week. In fact it went so well that she was asked to play for a second week.
A fortnight’s gigs on the band’s own patch was in itself a bonus. What followed was a miracle. The punters were congratulating the owners of the club on their great new resident band. They were asked to stay on for the foreseeable future, working six nights a week and filling in the second spot for any visiting band that failed to show.
A new name was discussed. The Cat’s Whiskers was suggested and adopted. Within days it had evolved into Katz Wizkaz, then Rum Runner Katz and eventually just Katz.
It had all kicked off some three years earlier. A bunch of students at the City of Birmingham College of Education and Teacher Training on Westbourne Road in Edgbaston were toying with the idea of forming a band. There was lead guitarist, Ken Gardner, whose claim to fame was that he had jammed in his local Newcastle pub with Eric Burden and the Animals. On rhythm guitar was Bob ‘Noddy’ Davies. He had some band experience from playing in his local Ross on Wye pubs. Robert Dalnoki who later changed his name to Daly was hoping to learn to play drums. Chris ‘Click’ Aston was on bass but intended to leave and go back to his home town at the end of the year.
Taking over the bass from Click was Ted Lancaster. With a wide experience of theatrical work, ship’s disc jockey and playing hobby harmonica, alto sax and dance band drum rhythms during his years in the Royal Navy he was able to teach the rudiments to the drummer to get things off to a swinging start.
The name Dominoes was suggested but never quite agreed upon. It was decided that a ‘name the band’ competition should be held amongst the student population. The prize was to be free admission the next college hop where the band was to play. The student whose suggestion was accepted was Lewis Thomas. He went on to become the Head of Art of one of the most prestigious schools in Birmingham and for three years the group was known as The Vacant Lot Beat Band until the change of name at the Rum Runner.
Ken, the lead guitar, had left and returned to Newcastle. His replacement, Howard or ‘Fred’ stayed a while but he was only a young lad taking his A levels and left to concentrate on study. Then came Brian Webster. He had belonged to a Lower Gornal band called The Blizzards. His special talent was his ability to sing a very high and powerful falsetto rather in the style of Frankie Valli of The Four Seasons. This gave the band a very wide harmony range with Noddy singing lead, the drummer coming in just above and Brian’s falsetto way above that. Ted’s deeper bass baritone range came in underneath to complete the sound. Ted also was part time lead singer to give Noddy some relief from the strain of singing continuously.The two greatest difficulties facing a new band are firstly, having somewhere to rehearse and practice and secondly getting gigs. The Vacant Lot were lucky in both respects. There were the rehearsal rooms in the music department at the college. These were available every night and proved invaluable as did the amplifiers and speakers that were available to ‘borrow’ when the band had none of their own. However, a most valuable piece of good fortune came in the form of a residency in a small pub just off Broad Street. It was then called The Bull’s Head (or Boar’s Head) but is now The City Tavern on the corner of Tennant Street. The band could have the upstairs room for free every Sunday night taking whatever they could on the door. It was here that they learned their craft, using the takings to finance bits and pieces of equipment until eventually college days were over and Ted, being the only married householder was able to take on the responsibility of hire purchase and the first real pro amplifiers, Vox AC30s, became the pride and joy of each guitarist.
As expertise and experience grew stronger the band was taken on by some of the top agencies. There was Paula Bailey in Solihull whose husband was tragically fatally injured while helping to check underneath the van of one of Paula’s bands. Miriam Horne was another interested agency.
The band were fortunate to be booked on gigs supporting some big name acts. There was Dusty Springfield at Ma Regan’s Plaza, Ben E King at the covered over baths at Thimblemill, The Tornados of Telstar fame at The Marine Ballroom in Evesham. At The Rum Runner there were many more including Tom Jones, Lulu, The Everley Brothers, The Barron Knights, Chuck Berry, The Bonzo Dog Doodah Band, The Tremeloes, The Peddlers, The Idle Race and of course, The Vikings with Carl Wayne, Bev Bevan and Roy Wood before they made it big as The Move.
The band had a most unique opportunity at the club. It was agreed by the Berrows, Peter, Don, Ray and Tissie that if the band had a better offer for any particular night then provided that a replacement band was booked then it was OK to have that night off. Occasionally it happened. Several nights at servicemen’s camps, Brize Norton and Gaydon were very welcome. There was a great gig at The Playboy Club in Mayfair with the free restaurant on the top floor for all staff and to which the band was invited. The only thing that spoilt it was the ‘look but don’t touch’ policy concerning the Bunny Girls. In fact a strict warning was issued that the girls should not even be spoken to. The daughter of a Duke was in the audience one night and insisted that the Katz play for her coming out ball the following week for triple the usual booking fee.
What a night that was. It was somewhere on the other side of Towcester at the grand estate of the duke. Unfortunately memory deprives me of remembering just which duke it was.
A great privilege lay in the generosity of the Berrows. They agreed to finance the recording of an extended play vinyl disc at Tetlow’s studio in Birmingham. The disc was called ‘Katz Live At The Rum Runner’, a slight exaggeration but great fun. All my copies of it have been borrowed without trace. I would love to have a copy of my own again. Alas, along with all other recording efforts, Girl on a Swing, Candy, Take It or Leave It, it did not make the big time but it was a wonderful experience.
After the recording session was over an impromptu jamming session spontaneously erupted. It was great to see the Berrows brothers, Peter and I think Don, joining in with the percussion. I don’t know if the sound engineer was still recording but it would be wonderful if that tape still existed somewhere. Neil Diamond’s ‘Cherry Cherry’ never sounded quite the same.
Around the same time the band were invited to London to meet Gerry Bron who managed and produced many famous bands at that time and also Tony Hazzard, the writer of so many famous hits. The tracks, Girl on a Swing and more were released a short time later. A disappointment lay in the fact that Gerry Bron asked the band to record and release in America the Manfred Mann hit, Ha Ha Said the Clown written by Tony. It had not done well for them in the States and Gerry thought that a change of band might be good. A week later the band returned to London to discover that it was too late. The Yardbirds had recorded and released it already.
The band stayed and played at The Rum Runner for four years then disappeared after changing the name to Cinnamon Quill to become resident at a club in South London strangely called The Cat’s Whiskers Club where Don Lang of Six Five Special fame was already playing. Ted had left and stayed in the Midlands forming a new band, Rock and Roll Duo, Mark Arran and Stevie Lee, Fabulous Girl Drummer. They got to the finals in the Talent Extravaganza run by the big local breweries across the whole of the Midlands being closely beaten by a fabulous jazz combo at the Grand Final at the Wolves Molineux Ground Social Club in the early seventies, not bad for a duo placed in the competition’s ‘bands’ category, but that’s another story.
There Are Currently 24 Comments for this Post
I spent many good times at the Rum Runner from 1979 to March 1982 when I left Brum for Los Angeles.
I did see Roy Wood there once in early 1979. I was friends with Mandy Berrow, sister of Paul & Michael who managed the Club & later DD, their parents were the owners. I saw Duran Duran play there several times, we all hung out together in those days, I have quite a few nice stories of DD boys.
Here are some invites from the Rum Runner & Duran Duran https://picasaweb.google.com/jeremycg/RumRunnerDuranDuran02?feat=email#slideshow/5637264959914308930
If the was a band playing in Brum they would almost always end up at the Club after their show, we got to meet loads of people from Kraftwerk, Debbie Harry & the Band to Kim Wilde & a few Page 3 girls to mention just a few.
All the breast,
Jeremy…
Hello it was so nice to see the details i dint know existed until I was looking into to little ole bits and pieces from years gone by, I used the rum runner myself with friends about 3 times a week for a while and got to know the band quite well, we loved to dance to their music the group was the ” Katz as we knew them, I saw the idle race, the Everley brothers I fainted with the heat in the club and a very good friend of mine said ” Ha just leave her ” lovely girl friend eh good job she was joking I hope ? ha, also Jeff Lynne and a few others this was late 60’s very, very enjoyable and always some one in the club that you knew even if you arrived alone which was never in my case us girls did have some fun there love it ! I was born in Birmingham but for the last 10 years have lived in Sunny Spain. All the best ” Very Happy Memories ” Pat
Hi,
Unsure if this info is of any use now, but I possess a number of recordings by Katz and Cinnamon Quill. A demo, a single and at least two tracks by Katz or Katdz.
Please let me know if this is of any use and I will help out if I can.
Kind regards,
Greg.
Hi,
I would be very interested in the rare tracks by Katz because I’m a fan of brumbeat.
Are they avaiable from you?
Would be very happy to get your reply!
Best regards,
Wolfgang
Greg do you have Hello it’s me written by Tony Hazard? I was Fred with Cinnamon Quill at the time, and my records including acetates of the Move and Manfred Mann were stolen in a burglary.
I ran the bar in the rum runner in1964 -1966 and can sya that the venue was by far the most popular club in b’ham for a time but B’ham offered many great venues at that time such as ,cedar club,elbow room,barbarellas,ruth saxons and of course the opposite lock ,etc etc.
What made the rum runner unique was its layout including the large sherry barrels that that offerd intimate seating also the resturant with the services of chef marcel klein the gordon ramsey of his time.
There were were many great artites who appeared and many more just stairtng out who wnet on to great fame and fortune.
happy days and thesixtys really did swing.
I managed the bar at the” runner” 1964-66 and can honestly say it was a great venue and exemplified the swinging sixties.It was a time when b’ham was making waves and competing successfully with the London 7 Manchester scene.
The “runner” provided many great in’tl acts and uk hit makers of the day.Also many acts still successful made their bones grinding it out in the club and on the b’ham scene in general.The schoolboy asistants who helped stock the bar in the summer hols,went on to manage and promote Duran Duran,bet they dont remember me!
Happy days.
Avril and i held our engagement party st the Rum Runner in 1967. Joe O’Reilly? Was that my old pal from Holte Grammar Commercial School in Aston?
I am the Fred in the Article and have a different but full story. When the Quill left for London we formed Fred’s Box with Dave Morgan and Jiimmy ‘o neill . I did session work replacing sick musicians in famous bands i until having heart failure at 21. I built a frequency divider (Fred’s box!) a year before Jimmi Hendrix had his and played bass for Jimmi for 6 weeks as a session musician. Lots more to tell. Where are the other Quill members now? Where is “he dish” Jimmi Neil now?
The picture of the vacant lot – I am the one on the right with the blonde telecaster Fred. The Guitar was smashed when playing at the Sourhern Cross in Selkey Oak and I bought a new one in 1966 which I still have. It took 20 years for the smell of tobacco to diss spear from my guitar case. Incidentally we were all teetotal and never smoked. The 2 bobs and Ted were all pe teachers before becoming professional musicians.
Fred
Fred, you little old blast from the distant galaxies. I have been wondering for decades how to get back in touch and suddenly here you are. Love to meet up again for a reminisce. Looking forward to that. I hoped you would perhaps see the above article when I first wrote it and submitted it to the Brum Archive. Seems like it worked. Ted Lancaster. Bass player: Rum Runner Katz
Ted please email me – life has been interesting. And would make a good book.
Hyah Fred. I emailed the address that Jez sent to me over a week ago. I’m wondering if there is a typo. tedlancasterATtalktalkDOTnet will reach me. Ted
hi ted remember me lead guitar [ katz] a life time a go ,so many memorys and good times .i often look back at how close we got to fame and fortune and what life might be like .get in touth love to talk some more.
How are you Brian its been very very long time ago since I saw you at my Dads house in Blakedown.I remember driving by folks cracker when we banged away on our guitars in their front room in Walton Avenue. Never forget the time when I was given the ultimatum of either going out with the girl or continuing with our fledgling band.Well I chose the girl and wev have been married 53 yrs now mate and live in Talybont N Wales. I also remember fetching your brand new Burns from Brum for you,you worked on Saturdat mornings for Dallows I think Happy cays Brian how are you and your family. Regards John.
Hi I am Teds wife of 50+ years. .I too worked at the Rum Runner in the small bar.
There were several girls who were followers of the band who became family friends and babysitters for our children. We would very much like to meet with them again Pat from the Bristol Road area .Margaret,and Shirley from Solihull and not forgetting the very funny caring Ann from Wytchbold. Who cared for my husband and two children when I was hospitalised .Hey where are you girls ?
Brian, this is SO good. I must have phoned every Webster in the book that I could find over the years trying to locate you. I will ask Jez to send you my email. I have hoped for so long to get back in touch. Looking forward to that. Good on yer, mate.
Ted
Jez, I would be most grateful if you would email my address to Brian, cheers mate.
Nice collection of trax on you tube;
http://www.youtube.com/user/EgwigLaFitte
HI I AM TRYING TO GET IN TUCH WITH BRIAN WEBSTER, I AM THE SON OF AN OLD FRIEND OF HIS ( JOHN POOLE ) WOULD YOU PLEASE PASS ON MY E MAIL, YOURS HOPEFULLY
Hyah Tony. I will pass on your message to Brian and hopefully he can take from there. Cheers, Ted
I too would like to get in touch with Brian.Please pass on my E.Mail address
Ted Lancaster is my dad. I was a very little girl in the mid 60’s but I remember the big (to me) barrels in the Rum Runner that I used to sit in and listen to my dad rehearse. I also went in the 80’s and thinking I preferred my dad’s singing.
I remember so well my weeks at the Rum Runner. It was very early in my live cabaret career. Very cool club and a very cool manager Jonny Kingdom who was drop dead handsome. Fantastic audience. This club is one place that’s still etched in my heart. Lived it
From time to time I log in to the Brum Archive Rum Runner Katz page just to check if there has been any new additions to the comments. It would be great if there was some way of knowing when a new post arrives. I nearly missed this one from one of the heroines of my most treasured memories.
Tammy (or should I now say Judith?) it is with the utmost surprise and pleasure that I have viewed your comment. Thank you so much for getting in touch.
What I remember of your performance at the club was of a pretty little teenager, you must have been all of 16 years old with an absolutely knockout vocal delivery. How your discs didn’t just zoom up the charts I will never understand, especially ‘Dark Shadows’. I think you were possibly ahead of your time. Your subsequent success on the Northern Soul circuits would certainly indicate this.
May I wish you all happiness for the future and to thank you for the break which came to the Katz through your wonderful performance.
I sincerely hope that you get to see this post. It would be great to hear from you again.
Ted Lancaster