Re Kenny Munro who was my good friend and lead guitarist throughout my time with The Hi-Fi Combo.  I recently was surprised by a lovely email from his wife Lennox who had come across my website. We chatted over three emails and I paraphrase:

 

July 2018:

Hi Eddie: Thank you for your kind words about Kenny. He really was an exceptionally talented man.

 

Tina [the girl seeking her father] had in fact already contacted me through Friends Reunited quite a few years ago to ask if I had any pictures. Alas, I was unable to help, as all our wedding pictures were lost, a sad story that I will tell you if we meet up in the future. Our wedding was on May 31st 1970 and a few photos of Kenny and I were printed in newspapers but unable to trace.

 

I live in Los Angeles...have done for many years...so I will let you know if I am coming over to Scotland, and perhaps we can meet and have a reminiscing session! I’m still in touch with Kenny’s family, and although his mum and his lovely aunties are gone now, I always get together with Kenny’s brother when he visits the States, or if I go to Scotland. 

 

Now that I read your email more carefully, I see that it was not Nicky’s daughter who contacted me but his wife who was looking for pictures to show their children. So sad I was unable to help.

Lennox

​

Kindest regards

Eddie Johnstone

The Hi Fi Combo

Contact me at : edwardbayly@aol.com  

​

Bill Hastings from Falkirk contacted me back in 2004 regarding my proposed Hi Fi Combo website with a very interesting story. I came across the story only recently. As I lost touch with Bill it certainly would be lovely to know he is well. Here is Bill's story.

​

Bill Hastings: Lead Guitar

Bill's bands

The Forthbeats [1961-1963]

The Pack           [1963-1965]

The Leaves        [1965-1966]

Friendship         [1967-1969]

 

When Eddie Johnstone invited me to provide and pen an insight into the Falkirk area music scene of the 1960’s, I was more than delighted to accommodate. However little did I realize exactly what I was letting myself in for as I booted up my trusty laptop. However I must admit I really enjoyed reliving those times again, as I recalled all the excellent musicians I met and worked alongside while we all endeavored to hit the big time back in the fab sixties. In fact I got so carried away that I superseded my remit and included not only my Falkirk area experiences but also my many European ones as well. So, if you find that you are a part of my story, please do get in touch – I really would love to her from you again.

 

O.K. lets get back to the beginning of that decade. During the early to mid sixties within the Falkirk area as with everywhere else the young people were taking over and there was an abundance of groups of extremely high quality playing at various venues. These groups included the likes of, The Saints, The Pack, The Roadrunners, The Hawks and The Delmonts and they would all be seen regularly around the clubs, as would Alex Harvey who was a recurrent visitor along with his band.

 

Anyway in the summer of 1961, a local band provided me with my first experience of strutting my stuff in a band. The group, The Forthbeats, at that time comprised of Barry Hall on drums, Bobby Duncan on bass, Bill Hastings [moi] on lead guitar, and Jim Allan on rhythm guitar. We played mostly local venues but also generally within the Fife area which is on the east coast of Scotland.

 

Bobby Duncan’s dad was the golf club steward at the local Carmuirs Golf Club. One particular Sunday evening early in 1963 I was approached in the club by a local businessman who had organized a competition for local groups, the winning prize being a one week recording session with EMI, Pye, and Decca. I was invited to join one of the winning bands called The Delmonts for this trip. No need to ask Bill twice of course. The very next morning we were off down the 800 miles to London town residing in Knightsbridge where we recorded ‘demos’ for each of the three labels.

 

During some of our free time in the EMI building we toured the studios where we were gutted to be informed that we had just missed The Beatles by just a few minutes. However we did manage to catch sight of Gerry and the Pacemakers cutting their hit of autumn 1963, the  number one hit, You’ll never walk alone, in an adjoining studio. During this same period, I was also lucky enough to meet someone I admired immensely, the multi-talented Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones. This meeting was in a Cecil Gee shop. I refused to let him out till he gave me his autograph – I wish I still had that? That was a truly wonderful experience for me.

 

Further on down the line sometime in 1964 I joined a band called The Pack where I remained until 1966. This group consisted of Drew Templeton on bass, Lachie Innes [rhythm], Stewart (bongo) Buchanan [drums] and me on lead. These guys were all into blues and had managed to get their hands on many American exports by artists like Sugar Pie de-Santo, Hooker, Lead Belly and so on. During this period, the Pack rapidly became a very good band and we played all over Scotland.

 

I do recall travelling south to Liverpool, England to play clubs such as  The Cavern Club, The Peppermint Lounge and the Blue Angel - all in one night - and all by taxi. That particular evening my Vox AC30 amplifier slipped from my grasp as I entered the club, hit the top of the Cavern stairs and bounced all the way to the bottom similar to dropping from the north face of Everest I suppose. When I picked the AC30 up and plugged it in to the mains it worked perfectly – what a great wee amp that was.

 

At the Cavern we were pretty well ordered to use the excellent house PA, complete with Rezlo microphones, prior to being introduced to the Cavern crowd by Bob Wooler. Bob had kindly told us earlier that if the crowd liked you they would paint your band name across the base of the stage – he didn’t actually mention what they did if they did not like you – the mind boggles. However thankfully we seemed to meet with their approval as there seemed to be a never ending supply of brushes on view as we played our two spots and did very well.

 

The band also played regularly at many Edinburgh nightspots such as, The Place and The Gamp Club where many of the top bands in the country at that time played. I remember especially having a great time working with The Foundations among others.

 

Around this time in 1965 the brainchild of three local business men was in the process of blooming into fruition. This was a nightclub which would be called The The La Bamba, and which would become as famous in Scotland as the Cavern did throughout the world. Back in the sixties La Bamba was a pivotal part of the Scottish music scene - as I am delighted to report - still is today. To say that this club was a success would definitely be an understatement. The men in question are still firm friends of mine and I do believe that Messrs Ian Stirling, Ian Rule and David Dillon should be given all of the plaudits they so richly deserve, if only for having the foresight to open a club such as this, and for making an impact on the Scottish music scene which has lasted. Many top bands and artists worked the La Bamba at some point, including Mud, Dave Edmonds, Marmalade and the rest. Eddie of Scottishpopstars.co.uk also reminds me that he with his band The Hi Fi Combo also played the La Bamba in 1966 supporting the English trio The Peddlars.

 

We played the club as did bands such as The Abstracts, Cherokees, Gaylord’s, Poets etc plus many more who went on to much greater things. I recall Alan Gorier of AWB being there as was Junior Campbell who was writing down the words of a wonderful new song. A song that I had just written - cheeky!

I also recall long queues of kids waiting to get in - with never a hint of trouble. The La Bamba club was situated under a typing school which of course meant that there no band rehearsals were possible during the day.

 

In 1966 the band was asked to attend a showcase arranged in Glasgow, the carrot being a German tour contract going to the best band. The audition hall was full of very good bands and musicians, however The Pack blew them all away, won the competition, and were on our way – or were we?  The German promoter later decided that he wanted us to take a female singer with us for the tour, a request which we immediately refused citing, “That is not what The Pack is about at all”. Some things I suppose, in retrospect, were pretty daft, but we were young then.

 

Sadly Lachie was killed in a motor accident and as a result the band wound up as things just were not the same without him which was a shame really, as we felt that we were on the verge of making it big time. Drew had a very deep soulful voice, and bongo was without doubt one of the best drummers around at the time. Drew later had to give up playing after a playing trip with me to Germany and France after developing tennis elbow.

 

Before he had to give up however we did form another good band called The Leaves. That line-up consisted of Gordon Leishman [keys], Ian Anderson [vocals] myself and Bongo plus two other lads called the Fowler twins, Eric and Melvyn. These two guys were the first tribute outfit I saw doing Everly Brothers material. Sadly both of them have also passed away but the legacy is still there as are the memories.

 

I evenyually went to Germany to work, this time with a German band in 1967. This job was secured for me by Rod Harley [ex bass with the Delmonts] and basically I was told get on a plane now, which was probably the best thing I could have done. We were contracted to perform for the Americans Forces at US forces bases clubs all across Germany on a month to month basis. We supported the likes of Brenda Lee and Roger Millar etc. during this time.

 

This band then went to Italy to work where we were based in Rome. We played in clubs all over Italy appearing at large festivals, did some TV work and also some recording. At the same I was writing some material for a singer by the name of Rita Pavone. I have oft wondered what happened to the songs, but mainly to my royalties.

 

Rome was very relaxing and a very nice place to be based and I fondly remember going to work and seeing Keith Richard of the Rolling Stones sitting nearby at a café on the Via Veneto. I said Hello and we chatted for a few minutes. I tried to persuade him to visit the club where we were performing but his manager whipped him off – sharpish – I can’t think why.

 

I also met up later with another acquaintance of mine called Jon Anderson who was in Germany with his band playing when we arrived back. One of us went on to become a superstar with a group called Yes - and I didn’t. Jon was the only man who ever gave up his bed for me as apparently he thought that my need was greater than his at that time. He also played one of the best alto sax’s I have heard. Yes, even back then, the quality was evident.

 

Ditto Alan Gorie of AWB [Average White Band] and Owen Macintyre both of whom I remember rehearsing along with me in a small cottage in Kincardine. I even bought that same cottage many years later when I married my “Migs” in 1970 [That is Margaret my significant other]. I do have a vague memory of playing with these guys as support to Unit 4 + 2 but having said that, much of that particular week was a blur.

 

Shortly after I returned home to Scotland around 1968, I joined a great wee band called Friendship consisting of Dave Waugh [vocals], Hamish Miller [drums] with Charlie Dyer [bass], Frank Ferrari on keys and myself on lead. We enjoyed playing all over Scotland but we also fancied a spell abroad so I placed an add in the music paper, Melody Maker which led me receiving a call from Italy by Albergio Crochetta the owner of the Piper Clubs and Piper Records. Albergio was running a 16 day showcase tour for his artists playing all over Italy and he wanted an opening act for this tour.

 

He asked me to arrange rehearsal rooms in London on a specific date so that he could hear us and this was done. One Saturday night after a gig in Scotland we packed the gear into our large ex-Co-op Gown van complete with home made beds. This was a large Commer diesel vehicle with which the local Co-operative store used to deliver Ball gowns back in the 1960’s until we bought it - and off to London we went. The band set up the band equipment in the Pied Bull lounge then had a run through our set which was followed by forty winks broken only by a rather well dressed gent with a blonde on each arm arriving in the Pied Bull.

 

We played our set which went very well and he asked me to read over and agree the contracts for the tour and this was signed shortly after. He requested we arrive in Via Regio, Italy on a certain date to play two nights in his Piper club. Then off to Rome to park our van and get on a wonderful super bus for our 16 days tour. With Friendship I travelled from the north of Italy to the south and played at some fabulous venues such as the Opera house in Bari – which was quite a place. At the end of the tour we decided to stay for a while and did some work around Rome which of course I knew well having lived there previously. During our stay we took the opportunity to visit various clubs listening to the many good bands while I also undertook some session work for RCA Records.

 

One of the bands there was Argent. Rod Argent had brought his newly formed band over to tighten it up before a UK tour and it was a real pleasure to be able to listen to guys like Rod and Russ Ballard. Also, from memory, they could do some excellent drinking as well as performing.

 

One of the guys from the previous tour was working with a band called the Primitives which was fronted by a Welshman called Mal Ryder. This band was very big in Italy, in fact so big that the bass player, a guy called Jay Roberts, had a flat next to the Italian Presidents. The Primitives’ drummer was Robbie Mackintosh who went on to team up with the AWB. Sadly Robbie who was a great drummer died in America.

 

On my return from traveling the big world I married my Migs, but continued playing with several bands, the best of which was a band called Likorice. Unfortunately as happens, I have lost touch with most of the guys from my past however I do still see a few of them occasionally.

 

I still play and enjoy my music more now than ever, having moved onto bass guitar now which I do find very satisfying. Oh yes! If anyone out there is looking for a musician of experience and ability I am always open to offers! Good luck to everyone.

 

Bill Hastings

​

Thanks to Bill for those fantastic memories. Eddie

​