11 - Toward a much needed R’n’R (Rest and Relaxation)… or not!

In the following months, the Stargazers musical activity had to be found more in related projects. Thus Vinyl Japan released Airmail Special by Marshall & the Shooting Stars featuring Ricky and John. Ricky, more active than ever, formed two super groups: the Space Cadets and the Big Six. In addition to Ricky, the Big Six also featured Anders Janes on bass (thus reforming one of the best rockin’ rhythm sections ever), Mike Sanchez (piano), Pat Reyford (guitar) Nick Lunt (sax) and Al Nicholls (sax). They performed their first live show at Ealing Town Hall, west London, on January 7th 1995. The band took the scene by storm and gained a strong following. They released three albums to date and also toured the USA with Tim Purkess playing bass when Anders was too busy with Ray Gelato. Their third album also included a re-working of Rocketship to the Moon with a ska beat. As Ricky later admitted "(the Big Six) is what I would have liked the Stargazers to have become."

Ricky Lee Brawn, Big Six Swingtime magazine article, USA 2000

The Space Cadets, was a modern rockabilly combo consisting of Mouse (Red Hot’n’Blue), Mark Harman (Restless) and once again Anders on double bass The rumour spread very fast about this "super rockabilly group" and to say that the audience waited for their debut release was an understatement. Released in 1995 their debut 10” followed by their first LP fulfilled the highest expectations. Like with the Big Six, when Anders wasn’t available he was replaced by Paul Harman (Restless) who kept the high pedigree of the band and sometimes, Helen Ingham (who later became Ricky’s wife) also joined the band on guitar/vocals.

In January 1995, Peter recorded his first (and only to date) solo album and released it on his own Great Central Label. It contains twelve songs, all originals, including a new version of Groove Baby Groove and songs originally written for Give Me That Jive. The rest of the material ranges from instrumental with a Les Paul feel (Brylcreem Bounce) to blues (Recording Blues) with a lot of Haley influenced Rock’n’roll in between. This was the first time since the Rhythm Cats’ Move Over Baby that Peter sang lead and even if he isn’t the greatest singer on earth, this album is very pleasant and has an irresistible charm. The musicians playing on this platter are John Dillon on drums, Christopher Kane on piano, Tim Purkess on double bass, Stewart Panaman on steel guitar, Peter Cook on saxophone and Jon Panaman on backing vocals.
The Stargazers kept on gigging in England and in Europe but cancelled a show in France in 1995 as a sign of protest against the French nuclear trials in the Pacific (The Keytones replaced them). They then went back to the studio to record Froffee Coffee produced and engineered by… Ricky Lee Brawn.
Froffee Coffee really differs from the band’s previous releases and even Watch This Space doesn’t show such a wide variety of style, featuring doo-wop, rock’n’roll, big beat, jazz, latin. Danny, the only remaining member of the original line-up remembers “This band was a lot of fun too (…) I don’t think this album was what you would call a typical Gazers one, but I loved doing County Line and Fools Fall In Love and Tim’s instrumental Froffee Coffee is a masterpiece too if you ask me”. Ricky shares the same feeling “Froffee Coffee was different because the band only featured a few of the original members plus some dep players. I enjoyed the experience though especially as we recorded the session at the old Greenham Common Airbase in a Rave Club – amazing vibes!”
During the late 90’s Danny, Tim, Peter and John developed a side project called the Four Chaps, mixing jazz with humorous stuff.
The band attacked the new century with a revolving line-up, seeing Peter and John come and go and come again (“I think I left the band four times, the last time in 2006 when the guys were saying that they wanted to play classic RnR track like, Good Golly Miss Molly, Tuttie Fruttie, Blueberry Hill etc.” admits Wallace)
In August 2004 they toured America for the first time. This tour, including shows in New York and New Jersey was a great success. After a show at B.B. King’s club in Times Square, they even were proposed a regular Friday night residency! It proved that even with no new recordings under their belt, the Stargazers were still a huge name on the rockin’ scene.
In 2006, with a line-up consisting of almost all original members (John Wallace, Peter Davenport, Danny Brittain and Tim Purkess) with the legendary Bobby Trimble on drums they played the prestigious Viva Las Vegas festival. Shortly after that, the band decided to take a well deserved R’n’R (rest and relaxation instead of rock’nroll). Tim explained this decision in Crackerjack magazine “The reasons were many and varied, though perhaps the most significant was a small but steady stream of complaints that we were «too Jazzy». Rock’n’Roll is a broad church, even within the confines of our scene - and it isn’t unusual to hear records by Charlie Feathers and Louis Prima played at the same event. So, whilst we probably had more in common with the Big-Beat end of the spectrum, we all felt the «Jazzy» tag was both negative and unwarranted. Eventually, we decided that the only way to silence our critics would be to take a break and work up a new set that would leave no room whatsoever for any doubt as to the colour of our music. Danny, Pete and I put together a list of full-bloodied Rock’n’Roll anthems, but by this time John decided he’d had enough of it all and off he went to work on his other bands. Can’t really blame him!”
So, John concentrated on the Hepchaps, a band he formed with David Howarth in 1996. With this combo his jazzy side can plainly express itself. It also counts in its ranks Roger Beaujolais from the Chevalier Brothers and they even recorded one song with Peter on guitar (Just Dug Spuds). Wallace also joined the Jive Romeros a band that mixes Rock’n’roll and jazz in the style of the British combos of the 50’s. “I joined the Jive Romero’s in 2003 and with the help of Zac Zdravkovic started to transform the direction of the sound to a British mid fifties Rock ‘n’ Roll focusing on the Jazz/Swing small group sound of that time.”
Danny, Peter, Tim and Jim Russell formed the Rock’n’Roll Society with Henry Herbert on piano and Aaron Liddard on saxophone. Tim explains the goal of this band “(the rock’n’roll society) is aimed primarily at the corporate market. The set is filled with nothing but the biggest of ‘50s party anthems. Stuff that everybody on the planet knows! It may not have universal appeal (jaded scenesters might find it too obvious) but it’s proved a big hit with dancers, and with the more mainstream audiences.”

The Rock’n’Roll Society

Peter also joined Bill Haley’s new Comets, a tribute band that recently toured with none other than Bill’s daughter, Gina Haley.
Then in 2008, Peter, Danny and Tim formed the Piccadilly Bullfrogs, a rockabilly trio in an old fashioned way (authentic as some would call it) and released an album on Rhythm Bomb records. But soon rumours of a possible Stargazers show started to float in the air. It took place in Holland, then at the Music Palace on May 27, 2011. For these shows the Stargazers were in fact the Rock’n’roll society playing the Stargazers’ repertoire. For Danny: “the Walking Beat has never sounded so good!”.
Some more gigs are scheduled, so, after 30 years of existence, with ups and downs, the future looks bright for the band, and hopefully we’ll have a new album soon. Danny confirms “Well yes, we are still planning a bit more Stargazers action on the recording front. We’ve got some re-recordings of the singles that we did about four years ago that we are going to marry up with some old previously unreleased mixes of tracks and some radio sessions - plus we are hoping to record a single or maybe even an EP of new songs, maybe in November or January. Our day jobs and the Piccadilly Bullfrogs are taking up a lot of our time at the moment!"
That same year, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the band, Anders made a licensing deal with Sony to reissue the material recorded for Epic. The result is a superbly designed cd called “Epic Rock’n’Roll” on his own Rhythm Rock-It label, featuring all the tracks that were recorded and released on singles, B-sides, and LP tracks, plus three tracks that were recorded and finished, but that actually remained unreleased at the time.
Thirty years later, the Stargazers now have gained a cult status on the Rock’n’roll circuit, and you can even find a tribute Japanese band called the Tokyo Stargazers. Not bad for a band that started in a teenage bedroom.

This concludes our story of one of the best-loved band on the modern rockin’ scene.

I’ll put on line in the near future a discography of the band and their related projects.

I’d like to warmly thank Anders, Ricky, Danny, John, Tim and Chris for their answers and patience when I was bothering them with e-mails to clear a detail or two.
An extra "thank you" to Dominique L. who took some of her time to read and correct this article.