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Feb 2012

The Searchers News

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Ask Frank Allen a question by clicking HERE

(Sent from Australia)

Hi there,

After the usual marathon flight we finally touched down in Sydney via a short stop at Bangkok to find New South Wales cooling off in the rain. It actually rains quite a lot in Sydney we have discovered over the years but I have no problems with that, especially here where the weather is still warm and it provides a nice little antidote to the often stifling summer temperatures.

The journey was not entirely without incident. Punctuality is a watchword with us and so we arrived with plenty of time to check in at Heathrow`s Terminal 5. Unfortunately our flight was leaving from Terminal 3. Whose fault? Hands up Mr F Allen.

I have explained in the past with regard to the division of duties between John McNally and myself that John deals with our office and agency matters along with banking and sorting out any logistics such as our new trucking/PA purchase (do check out the equipment pages to find out all about our latest gear) to which I only have to add my agreement. I take on the task of public relations, internet liaison and most of the press and radio interviews etcetera.

I also seem to have acquired the job of organising cabs to airports and flight times and check-ins. How I got it wrong this time I have no idea but a short two-cab ride to Terminal 3 got us checked in with oodles of time. So no harm done and the matter will never be referred to again. Yeah right. Fat chance! Rest assured it will be dredged up at frequent intervals. We don`t take prisoners here in Searcherland. In fact I have already been dubbed T5 by John Ryan, ex Swinging Blue Jeans drummer, an invaluable help to us while we’re in Oz where he decamped to after leaving the band.

I checked out the in-flight entertainment guide for Carnaby Street Undressed, a recent documentary in which I feature heavily and which has apparently been bought by Qantas and British Airways, but alas no luck. Maybe it will feature on the return journey. (It has already been shown twice on the Yesterday freeview channel in the UK, and is apparently due to be given one more outing there sometime in the next few months, so if you haven't seen it yet, keep an eye on the TV listings).

Instead I sat back and watched the George Harrison film Living In The Material World which I had somehow missed. It is enjoyable in the extreme with a lot of fascinating private footage previously unseen, much of it shot at his enormous and magnificent fairytale home Friar Park, the purchase of which coincidentally was arranged by a very good friend of mine Perry Press, a particularly astute guy who seeks out rather marvellous properties for a very discerning clientele.

At close quarters it hits home how much music George created and just how good it was coming from someone who was arguably held back somewhat by the power and talent of his rather more lauded senior partners. His calmness and good humour also came through strongly which was nice as George could be a somewhat tetchy in his later years particularly in public situations. Perhaps excusable in the light of the terrible health issues which were to take his life far too early.

My two or three interesting, if a trifle tense, close-quarter encounters with George have been well documented in my book The Searchers And Me so I won`t repeat them here but despite the riches and fame heaped on all four Beatles he had increasingly begun to show his disillusionment with the other side of the golden coin. It was so nice to see a happy smiling George preserved for prosperity in an excellent documentary.

I`ve had a few people congratulating me on the four page article in the February issue of Guitar And Bass magazine. It`s nice to receive that kind of credit and I`m always happy to accept the odd compliment. Excellent pictures of my guitar collection too, a backdrop which seems to be the location of choice for every videoed interview I do lately.

As far as I know the long-awaited four CD box set assembled by Roger Dopson is still on track for release by Universal Music this year. I`m afraid I haven`t kept up with progress so I`ll leave it to Wendy Burton to pass on the news as soon as it reaches us. It`s been a long time coming but with those PYE recordings along with others taken from throughout our 50 years, plus BBC sessions and interviews, it promises to be the ‘must have’ item in the collection of a Searchers fan.

Have you been listening to Bill Kenwright`s Golden Years on BBC Radio 2? It`s a terrific programme for baby boomers and especially for those whose memories linger in the mid to late fifties. The gems Bill plays are just fabulous (to quote a song title by my Philadelphian rock and roller chum Charlie Gracie) and every now and again he manages to slip in a mention of The Searchers.

Of course like many others he says he longs to see a reunion of John, myself and Mike Pender one day. Gosh, how many times do we hear that? We talked amusingly of Bill’s on-air plea in our dressing room and it prompted me to drop him a note sending John McNally`s love but pointing out sadly that the proposed reunion is as likely as him supporting Liverpool FC. In case you don`t know BK is an Everton director and a lifelong ‘Bluenose’.

As you know Wendy always passes on your compliments which arrive after our shows and of course the current messages refer to the Australian concerts. We thank you all very much for the nice words. I`m not entirely sure if Wendy edits out the nasty stuff (if there is any) in case it upsets us but in the main we seem to be doing things right.

And not only do we get them but she also forwards your words to our Aussie agent to let him know the reaction to the concerts in the same way that she does with Alan Field back in the U.K. Rest assured that your emails certainly do not get dismissed. By the way, our man here in Sydney thinks that Wendy does a magnificent job in keeping everyone up to date on Searchers activities and it makes his job so much easier. She is very much appreciated.

When we get back I have a full programme of radio promotion for our U.K solo evenings which means phone interviews at home and several trips to the BBC in London. All of these will be broadcast on your local stations so do listen out for them. I also have a Vintage Television interview with Mike Read to be recorded on March 19th which will also include a selection of my favourite musical memories. I have no idea when it will be aired but if we get the information in time then it will be passed on to you. But those of you who can get the channel (I can`t as I don`t have Sky) do keep an eye on the listings.

All our dates up to mid June are in the concert list and then we take a couple of weeks’ break. The August dates are all confirmed and on the list too - most of the July ones are awaiting final confirmation, but should be there soon. I imagine that Alan Field is well on the way to completing our schedule for the second half of the year. I`m as keen to see them as you are, believe me. We have just had three days off in Sydney (there are few places which organise entertainment in the early part of the week) and at breakfast we were all saying how we were desperate to get back to work again. As wonderful a city as Sydney is, a stage is where the real fun is for us.

Take care. I`ll write again soon. Regards from John, Spencer, Scott - and Phil too of course.

Frank Allen.

If you would like to ask Frank a question, which will be answered by e-mail, and might even appear at the end of a future issue of this newsletter, please e-mail it to: wendy.burton@the-searchers.co.uk

Question 1:  Do you collect Searchers memorabilia from around the world which depict the group such as 45 picture sleeves, sheet music, LPs, magazines, 8-track and reel-to-reel tapes?

Answer:  I have kept a lot of stuff, air tickets, programmes, pictures, some records and sheet music but not all. I wish I had kept a lot more. It was all very useful when I was writing my book The Searchers and Me but I still needed to do an enormous amount of research.

Question 2: What are the lyrics of the 1967 song "Popcorn Double Feature" about and how/why did the Searchers record such a strange song? Maybe to try and keep up with the Beatles who were going into their weird music phase?

Answer: I don't have the lyrics written down, but if you Google Popcorn Double Feature Lyrics you will find a link for the words as recorded by The Fall, who covered it. I have no idea what it all actually means except that it seems to indicate that life is an illusion akin to watching a fantasy film. We simply thought it was a catchy up-to-date song with a haunting feel and intriguing lyrics. Tony Hatch brought the demo along to the studio. We also thought it might bring us up to date and give us the hit we needed. It did not.

Question 3: Have you ever considered performing the upbeat 1989 'Hungry Hearts' version of Needles & Pins in concert? We love it!

Answer: No I don`t think that will ever happen. We did play a combined version with the Hungry Hearts ending for a while just after the release of the album but we soon realised people really want the sing-able ending on the original. But we still love the newer version and use the opening fanfare as our entry onto the stage every night.