And the rest, as they say...
On June 17, 1960, 18 year-olds Hank (Brian) Marvin and Bruce Welch, Terence "Jet" Harris (21 in July) and Tony Meehan (17), plus their 19 year-old "boss" Cliff Richard, Columbia Records producer Norrie Paramor and EMI recording engineer Malcolm Addey, assembled in the soon-to-become legendary Studio 2, Abbey Rd, London to lay down two tracks for a 45rpm single to be released under the name of "The Shadows".
The intended A side was a Johnny & The Hurricanes-type arrangement of a trad. soldiers' song - with title corrupted to "Quatermasster's Store" as a play on the "Quatermass" sci-fi TV serial. For the flip, the boys had their own haunting arrangement of a new tune composed - on ukulele - by young entertainer/songwriter Jerry Lordan.
On "Apache", Hank played the newly imported Fiesta Red Fender Stratocaster (S/N 34346). Bruce borrowed Cliff's Gibson J200 jumbo acoustic guitar. Cliff did the intro-middle-outro "tom-tom" bits on a studio-owned Chinese drum.
The story goes that - as with Cliff's 1958 breakthrough hit "Move It" - Norrie Paramor's daughter convinced her dad that the intended B side should be promoted to A. Released in July 1960, "Apache" rocketed to No. 1 by Aug. 25, displacing Cliff & The Shadows' "Please Don't Tease" (penned by Bruce Welch & Pete Chester). It stayed on top for 5 weeks and a sound - and a cult - were born. Here endeth the history lesson...
...and here (below) is the only known photo of that historic session. Probably rehearsing "Quatermasster's Store" here because Bruce is playing his sunburst Fender Jazzmaster electric. Hank and Bruce using 2-tone Vox AC15 amps (or maybe early AC30-4s). Norrie's in charge. Jet has his ashtray - he's cool.
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| Listen to the flipside, 'Quatermasster's Store http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qm2RO4Y-ds0 |
...and here (below) is the only known photo of that historic session. Probably rehearsing "Quatermasster's Store" here because Bruce is playing his sunburst Fender Jazzmaster electric. Hank and Bruce using 2-tone Vox AC15 amps (or maybe early AC30-4s). Norrie's in charge. Jet has his ashtray - he's cool.
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| June 17. 1960. EMI Studio 2, Abbey Road. London L-R: Jet Harris. Tony Meehan, Norrie Paramor, Hank Marvin, Bruce Welch, Cliff Richard |
