Welcome to The Mackandas . . . . . . .this page still under construction

I joined the Mackandas in {1964?}, at that time, the line up was as shown on the CD cover above, and this remained the line up for most of the time after that, until the group disbanded in 1966:-  

                                               CLICK ON PICTURE TO GO LARGE 

John Ladare	Dave Plumber	Dave Broughton	Pete Fulbrook	Barry West	Me
Vocals	Lead Guitar	Bass	Drums	Rhythm Guitar	Keyboard

and at the same time, my old school friend, Ray, joined as manager:-

	Ray Llewellyn - technical stuff

The group had been playing around Reading since forming in {1961??} and previous members to have joined and left before my time included {????????????????????????????????????????}

During those two or three years, we played consistently 2 or 3 times a week, sometimes more, mostly in youth clubs, but occasionally a larger event.  We played support for Crispian St Peter (remember him? he predicted that he would be bigger than Elvis - and last longer - well I suppose he lived longer!).  One time we were booked for a  large dance hall in Slough, we were dead chuffed - when we got there, we found that we were the break in the middle, while the DJ had a rest.  Shortly before disbanding, we decided to make a recording.  Studio, what studio, we nailed blankets all around Pete's garage, set up a borrowed domestic 2 track tape recorder, with the little plastic microphone that came with it - just the one mic in the middle, and we huddled round and played.  A couple of years ago (2003) I rediscovered the old acetate record we'd had cut.  Magically it had not got broken, though the quality had degraded, and a couple of tracks were by now unplayable.  However, I took it into a studio where we remastered it as best we could, and I produced the CD shown above.  It may not be good, but it's memories.   We did audition for EMI on one occasion, the session was produced by Tim Rice who at one point was heard to remark "That's got to be the worst group I've ever heard"  - what does he know?

Then and Now