The 'Sound'

[Ezekiel]

Between 1961 and 1968 I was in a band in Sheffield. We started as a 'Shadows only' band and for one year we performed in the clubs and pubs in and around Sheffield and all we played were instrumentals; mostly Shadows with some Ventures and one or two other tunes which we pinched from all sorts of places.
The line-up was 2 white Stratocasters and a white Precision bass.
Amps were 2 Vox ac thirties and a Vox 15.
We used a Watkins tape driven echo unit.
This will, of course, sound familiar to many people.
One particular night stands out in my mind when we took part in a group contest in Sheffield; we didn't win because we didn't have a singer but, without exception, all the other bands asked us how we got such a good Shadows sound; our answer was that we changed the tape after every spot!
Many similar bands would often leave the same tape in the machine until it broke!!
It goes without saying that we, each of us, listened to the Shadows records and slavishly copied, note for note the playing of our opposite number; I was the Bruce sound-a-like.