Together Again – For Once
South Wales Echo July 24 1976
An LP from Cardiff rock ‘n’ roll outfit Memphis Bend, who disbanded two years ago, will be released in the autumn.
Bend – Mike Gee (guitar), Lincoln Carr (bass) and Tommy Riley (drums) – got together again for the “one-off” album at Rockfield Studios which will be put out by United Artists.
The company have just put out a 45 from the band called Ubangi Stomp, taken from tapes the band made two years ago.
Tom told me, “This all came about because United Artists dug up the old tapes. But we have absolutely no plans to get back together – we are all into different things now.
If the record sells all we will do is pocket the royalties. The LP is rock ‘n’ roll ‘Fifties style, with a country feel.”
Cardiff pop star Dave Edmunds, B.J. Cole and Mick Weaver played on the session at Rockfield. Bend’s single of two years ago Louisiana Hoedown has become a collector’s item – selling for £5 a time in London.
By the time United Artists released this album Memphis Bend had disbanded. If the the album had been released earlier it would have been necessary to have re-written the history of Welsh Rockabilly. These guys had drawn the blueprint that the Stray Cats were to copy!
The original tapes are still in a vault somewhere! Why?