Early in 1967 my brother Nigel and I began to talk about giving up our jobs and turning fully professional. I was a Tax Officer and Nigel worked at The Social Security office, we both hated our jobs and lived for playing music. We put the idea to Rick and Dave, and at first they were both keen on the idea, but after a couple of months Dave Cooper had second thoughts. He had a very good job with prospects and didn"t feel able to take the gamble of an uncertain life in a pop group, so we were back to searching for a drummer.

We advertised, then auditioned and ended up with a guy from Liverpool called Gary Whinyates. Gary was already professional with a band and lived in St.Johns wood in London. His band was on the verge of splitting and he wanted to stay professional. Gary played a Ludwig drum kit (The same as Ringos) and in thoses days there was a real snobby attitude to having the best equipment. When people phoned for auditions you would ask what guitar, amp or drum kit they had, it was often far more important than how good they played.We started rehearsing with Gary and aimed to turn fully professional in August.

On 27th April while driving past EMI Abbey Road Studios in St.Johns Wood on the way to pick up Gary, we saw John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison getting out of their limo and going into the studios. I always wondered what they were recording on that particular night and years later I read in a book that listed all of "THE BEATLES" recording sessions that on 27/4/67 they recorded the lead and backing vocals on "Magical Mystery Tour".(I'm such an anorak)

Nigel and I both handed in our notice, so the Civil Service had to carry on without the Griggs brothers, (I don't know how they managed). On 18th August 1967 we turned fully professional, it was Nigel's 18th birthday. Our first professional gig was one of our regular bookings at The Community Centre (The Hop) Welwyn Garden City, but we soon started travelling much further afield.

On 11th October 1967 we had an audition for Mecca Ballrooms at The Lyceum Ballroom in London which we passed, and while we were packing away we were approached by a guy called Grahame Dee from Polydor Records who asked if we would go for a recording test. On tuesday 17th October 1967 we turned up at Polydor Records in Sratford Place, London and recorded four of the songs from our act for our recording test in Polydor's own 4 track studio which had a great sound. We passed the test and a few weeks later signed our first recording contract.

We started rehearsing some of Grahame Dee and Brian Potter's songs for our first single. One of them was called "I Can Guarantee You Love". One day Grahame said that he had given the song to a new act Polydor had just signed called TONY RIVERS AND THE CASTAWAYS. I have never let Tony forget he stole our song. On 10th May 1968 our first record "Phoebe's Flower Shop" was released (or escaped) receiving a few plays on the new Radio 1 but unfortunately did not set the charts alight. That was our first and last release on Polydor.

               PHOEBE'S FLOWER SHOP                                           TOO MUCH IN LOVE

(click on photo to enlarge)