Interview taken from Record Collector September 1999, no 241.
Alan Clayson listens to the story of the long serving Screaming Lord Sutch sideman - and a maker of a very collectable solo 45. David Sutch's funeral in Pinner on 28 June 1999 drew representatives from all trackways of his life, among them Tony Dangerfield, bass player in his Lordship's savages. On the eve of a stunning debut in a Hendon pub in July 1999 with the Dangerfield band (and a set that comprised a new composition, 'Blues for David'), he proved such a game and articulate interviewee that we're letting him tell his story entirely in his own words:-
'Just after I left school in 1959, I was in a group that advertised for another guitarist. A jazzer, John Millington, wasn't interested, but he wanted me for a gig he was doing that very night, but I had to drive to Birmingham, there and then, to swap my guitar for a bass. Next, I joined a Walsall band, Rowdy and the Drovers, which then became the Mark Dean combo. We landed three bookings backing Mike Sarne. The combo broke up, and I auditioned for Carter-Lewis and the Southerners - and Johnny Bedder, a sixteen-year-old from Hinkley was there too. He had peroxide hair like mine, and played exactly how I wanted a guitarist to be - straight off 'Til the Following Night' by Screaming Lord Sutch and the Savages, maybe the biggest live band in the country. Johnny and I forgot about Carter-Lewis. He brought in a drummer, and I found Brian Meacham, the vocalist from the combo - who married Janice Nicholls, who was a regular on Thank Your Lucky Stars. As Brian Gulliver and the Travels, we were on a package show headlined by Janice, playing strict R&B, and then we parted with Brian to become just Gulliver's Travels with me as singer. We were, I suppose, an early power trio. By then we were being managed by Reg Calvert - though in 1963 we did a gig with the Big Three, and their drummer Johhny Hutch recommended me to Brian Epstein, But I stayed with Reg.
Perhaps it was misplaced loyalty to Gulliver's Travels too, but I'd turned down the chance to replace Ricky Brown in the Savages. Yet a fortnight later, we were on in Rugby with The Fortunes and one of Roger Chapman's bands before Family. In the dressing room afterwards, Johnny Bedder shook my hand and told me I'd got the job. What job? In The Savages! We accepted it for you. Best of luck!
'Just after I left school in 1959, I was in a group that advertised for another guitarist. A jazzer, John Millington, wasn't interested, but he wanted me for a gig he was doing that very night, but I had to drive to Birmingham, there and then, to swap my guitar for a bass. Next, I joined a Walsall band, Rowdy and the Drovers, which then became the Mark Dean combo. We landed three bookings backing Mike Sarne. The combo broke up, and I auditioned for Carter-
Perhaps it was misplaced loyalty to Gulliver's Travels too, but I'd turned down the chance to replace Ricky Brown in the Savages. Yet a fortnight later, we were on in Rugby with The Fortunes and one of Roger Chapman's bands before Family. In the dressing room afterwards, Johnny Bedder shook my hand and told me I'd got the job. What job? In The Savages! We accepted it for you. Best of luck!
