'Simon Dupree' - The Early Days - 1966.

Peter O'Flaherty Interviewed by Parkinson.

PQ. = Question .. Parkinson asks deep and probing questions.

PA. = Answer .... Peter O'Flaherty ducks and dives, never letting
the truth get in the way of a good story about "Simon Dupree & The Big Sound"

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PQ. How did you join 'Simon Dupree And The Big Sound' ?

PA. I received a phone call from Phil Shulman in early 1966.
He'd heard the band Tony Ransley and myself had previously played for,
'The Classics' had disbanded.
He said their band, 'Simon Dupree' were looking for a drummer and bass player,
so would Tony and myself like a try out with them ?
I'd never heard of them. They had been called 'The Roadrunners' previously.
I asked Tony, and he said, 'Why not, lets give it a go'.
So we arranged to have a practice with them.

PQ. So how did you get on?

PA. Before we disbanded 'The Classics' had been a popular local band for
nearly five years, so we were a pretty tight bass and drum combination.
As you know, bass and drums are the backbone of any band.
We had bit of a jam with them. were asked to join, so we did.
Ray had been playing bass guitar, so he moved to lead guitar so I could
play bass.

PQ. What did you think of them?

PA. Most impressed, we thought they were very talented, especially Ray Shulman
who had just turned 16 and could play just about anything.
Derek Shulman had a good powerful voice. Phil played trumpet and sax.
Best of all Phil could do a fair impression of Groucho Marx.

PQ. What were your day jobs ?

PA. Tony Ransley was a partner in a hairdressing business. He had a shop in Gosport,
which had a cozy back room called 'Shenanigans'.
Ray Shulman had just left school. I think he had a place with ' The National Youth Orchestra'
playing the violin, if he wanted to take it.
Phil Shulman was a schoolteacher. He taught english and art at Eastney Modern, Portsmouth.
Eric was a trainee surveyor.
I worked for the 'Ministry Of Defence' on guided weapons systems.
Derek Shulman was digging up rag worms from the Portsmouth mud flats.
The local fishermen used rag worms for fish bait, they paid him about five
shillings a bucket full !

PQ. So it was a case of 'Rag worms to Riches' for Derek.

PA. Duh .....
Don't take that wrong, Derek had a few 'A' and 'O' levels, and a place at University
if he wanted to take it. He was just digging rag worms for some pocket money.

PQ. Tony Ransley and yourself were from Gosport, the rest of the band
came from Portsmouth, is that right ?

PA. Yup. Good Ole' Gosport or Turktown.

PQ. Turktown ?

PA. Said to come from the Turkish graves that are in the town,
so Gosport got the nickname Turktown.
Incidentally in 1642 Portsmouth and Gosport or "Gods Port" as it was known then,
had a Civil war with each other and Gosport won !
The Gosporteers fired a few bloody great cannonballs across the harbour and blew
up a tower, case closed, big white flag .....

PQ. Do you want to talk about Gosport or Simon Dupree?
So what came next ?

PA. We had a few evening rehearsals in a classroom at 'Portsmouth's Eastney Modern'
school where Phil Shulman was a teacher, he'd acquired permission from the headmaster.
We got a repertoire together, which included a few Motown covers,
like 'Hold On I'm Coming' and 'In The Midnight Hour'.
Mainly Otis Redding and Don Covey covers.
Derek Shulman had the voice for those sort of numbers and could belt them out.
Then we hit the local clubs. Phil Shulman by default became the band leader.
Phil was the eldest, very extroverted and could do joined up writing.
Anyway he owned the van !
And what a van that was. A Bedford Dormabile two tone, the first colour being rust.
It had sliding front doors which were open most of the time. When the brakes were
applied somebody had to make a grab for the drivers door, because left to it's own
devices it would slide forward, carry on going and end up on the road in front of us.
Many a time we had to stop and pick it up.
Phil would insist on using those bloody brakes!
Then the band started playing around Gosport and Portsmouth doing a few local gigs.

'Simon Dupree And The Big Sound' The 'Birdcage', Portsmouth 1966.

Courtesy of 'The News' Portsmouth.

PQ. What were you like personally on stage ?

PA. Well I just stood and played bass really, bit of a Bill Wyman,
I never had the ability like Phil or Derek Shulman to jump around and get the crowd going,
I would have looked a right burke, Phil and Derek didn't.

PQ. What sort of gigs were you doing ?

PA. We started a world tour of Hampshire and Dorset.
We played a lot of gigs in and around Portsmouth, 'The Birdcage', 'South Parade Pier'
'Indigo Vat' ( The Bottle In The Wall ) and the 'Thorngate Hall' Gosport.
We also played on the old 'Isle of Wight' ferry a few times.
The Ferry would leave Portsmouth harbour on a Saturday about 6pm,
cruise around the Solent all evening and return around 11pm.
It was good fun. We had a captive audience unless they wanted to swim!
We were restricted about how far we traveled because most of us had day jobs,
and the van would throw a wobbly about losing it's door all the time and refuse to start.
At the end of each gig Phil would collect our fee, take out expenses,and share the rest around.
I was earning more with the band than I was from my day job.
Sometimes I would earn £40 or £50 a week with the band, and only
£20 a week from my day job.
The band was gathering a huge following, playing to packed audiences.
Some nights it was so packed some of the guys in the audience would put
girlfriends onto their shoulders so they could see the band.
I could see 'Stocking Tops' and everything !....
I missed more notes than usual those nights I can tell you.
|-------------- 'But Things Were About To Change' --------|

PQ. How did they change ?

PA. I will call this part :
John King - - Enter The King.

It will give you a better idea if I give you a rough profile
of John King.
John King was the Shulman's brother-in-law, he'd married there eldest sister Evelyn Champagne.
John also went to 'RADA' and had tried to be an actor. John did get a part as an extra in the film
'The Wooden Horse', but no success after that.
He then became a television producer for BBC Bristol, where he produced a TV show
about antiques, called 'Going For A Song'.
He was also a author. He had a book published called 'Talking About Antiques'.

John was a tall distinguished looking guy, who always dressed smartly.
He was well spoken, with the gift of the gab.
John and Evelyn King lived in South Bristol.

Evelyn had once been a cabaret singer, with the stage name of Lynn Mann.
John King came to see us play one night and was impressed.
I don't remember if he offered to be our manager or was asked, but from then on he was.

PQ. What next ?

PA. The band acquired a nice new Ford Transit van because the Dormabile threw a big wobbly
about a missing door, so Phil beat it to death with a big stick.
Then it was off to the 'Bristol & West Recording Services
LTD' to do a demo disk of
'I See The Light' and 'Get Off My Bach'. I still have a copy of that demo.
Played it for the third time in it's life this morning because you were coming around,
hasn't got a mark on it, must be the only one in existence.

PQ. What did you think of it ?

PA. Not bad for a first attempt, will play it for you later.
The keyboard on 'I See The Light' is too piercing, Eric didn't have his Hammond then.
Ray's guitar solo is actually better.
'Get off My Bach' is on the 'B' side, written by Evelyn King and the Shulman's.
Ray Shulman does a good violin intro.

PQ. Do you prefer 'The Five Americans' version or 'Simon
Dupree And The Big Sounds' ?

PA. Both have good qualities, I like the way 'The Five Americans'
added an almost mystical - surreal sound to it.
We made it into a belting number, anyway the two versions are so different you can't
really compare them.
I still think 'I See The Light' is one of the best records that 'Simon Dupree And The Big Sound'
did, though it only just made the top forty.

PQ. So this demo was sent to the record companies ?

PA. Yes. John King got us a audition with EMI, so off we went to London for a
live audition in front of the 'Suites'.
We actually went to London the night before and stayed overnight with an Aunt of mine.
We were that keen, we didn't want to be late.
The next day we did a few numbers for the EMI suites including 'I See The Light'.
We must have done something right because a few days later John said they'd
offered us a five year record contract !

Photograph taken the night before the EMI audition.

© P. O'Flaherty 2003.

'Me, Myself and MG' - MG J2 1932 - AMY in the 'The Summer Of 69'. Photograph taken in the New Forest. Hampshire.

© P. O'Flaherty 2003.

'Roadies' Fred & Brian West. © P. O'Flaherty 2003.