The Original Undertakers

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FROM 1962



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GEOFF & BRIAN WITH JAMES BURTON AFTER THE SHOW



THE MERSEY RATS PRESENTATION TO THE IMAGINE APPEAL AT THE CAVERN.



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AT THE FARNWORTH SOCIAL CLUB

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THE MATHEW STREET FESTIVAL 2008

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ECHO ARENA BEATLES DAY JULY 08

with kind permission of Alan Kenny photogapher.

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THE UNDERTAKERS AUGUST 2008 LIVERPOOL ROCK 'N ROLL SOCIETY THANKS TO ARTY DAVIES FOR THE VIDEOS

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THE BEAT GOES ON

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UNDERTAKERS VAN BEING UNLOADED AT THE CAVERN

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GEOFF WITH XTREMEMACHINE IN THE CAVERN 13-JUL-08



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JON, MICHAEL & HERB THE MICHAEL GUTHRIE BAND 26-MAY-08



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TODD BORSH 'THE RINGLES' WITH GEOFF AT THE CAVERN 26-MAY-08



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ANN FROM NEW YORK WAS VISITING MERSEYCATS



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The Undertakers had a lot going for them, they were one of the stronger groups on the Liverpool scene(Wallasey being directly across the Mersey) they counted the Beatles among their fans, they were signed to a major label in England and even got to release a single in U.S.A and to perform in America, albeit not under the best of circumstances.and they counted Jackie Lomax, one of the England’ best white soul singers, as a member. But as a group they played out their exsistence in adversity, charting in England only once and was consigned to oblivion in 1966.

The Undertakers or the Takers as they were sometimes referred to, had their start in 1961 when two of the top groups on the Wallasey disbanded and formed two new bands The Undertakers and the other Dee and the Dynamites. The Undertakers Original line up consisted of Bob Evans drums, Geoff Nugent, rhythm gtr, Chris Huston, lead gtr, Brian Jones (not the Rolling Stone) Tenor saxophone, Dave “Mushy”Cooper, bass gtr and Jimmy McManus,vocalist. Evans left the band late 1961 to be replaced by Bugs Pemberton of Dee and the Dynamites, Cooper left January 1962 to join Farons Flamingo’s his replacement was Jackie Lomax who had never played bass before and had one thrust into his hand on joining. Within months McManus who was known to pick fights with members of the audience was eased out and Lomax took over lead vocals.

The Undertakers developed a serious following both sides of the Mersey due to Lomax’s unusual vocals and due to the fact the standard mix of obscure American Rock n Roll and genre standards, they also attempted more big band style R&B helped by Brian Jones’s sax.

Few Merseyside management deal offers from Brian Epstein were turned down in favour of Ralph Webster who had connections with local venues guaranteeing the band constant work. The bands 1962 summer residency at Hamburg’s Star Club allowed the band to learn from Americans Ray Charles and Little Richard, which greatly improved their act. By the spring of 1963, they had a contract with Pye Records, and were recording the most commercial parts of their stage act. Their first single “(Do The) Mashed Potatoes” b/w “Everybody Loves a Lover” didn’t sell, nor did “What About Us c/w Money- although the latter was one of the more convincing covers of Britisth beat boom, rivalling the Beatles’version for raw power- but their third single “Just A Little Bit” b/w “Stupidity” became a Top 20 hit in England during the summer of 1964. With saxophone, and the thumping beat favored during this period, they sounded slightly like The Dave Clark Five, but Jones was a more articulate player than that, and the lead guitar always made the groups sound pretty complex and Lomax was an incredible charismatic soul singer, The Merseyside rival to Eric Burden and maybe better than that.

Despite the success of their third release relations between the band and label were never good. Pye had offered the Undertakers a good contract in monetary terms, but the group were given Tony Hatch-who otherwise produced Petula Clark and The Searchers- as producer. They never got along with him or agreed his ideas, and the only thing that prevented a disaster was that their contract gave the band the right to select its repertory for recording, which meant that they worked around Hatch.

By Late 1964, however the situation had deteriorated and they left Pye. The Undertakers were without a contract until the following year, when they began the strangest chapter in their history, while playing the continent, the group saw an advertisementpromising work in America for a British band. The Undertakers reduced to a quartet with the absence of Geoff Nugent, took off for New York. They signed with a New York entrepreneur Bob Harvey who also put ex-Beatle drummer Pete Best under contract at the very same time. It turned out Harvey was more willing to push Best who was easy to market as an ex-Beatle into the best gigs. Meanwhile The Undertakers, skirting the limits of their visas and playing shows for short end money in America and Canada, were so hard up that they ended up sleeping in the midtown Manhattan studio where they were working with producer-arranger Bob Gallo. The Undertakers got one single ”I Fell in Love” written by Bob Bateman into release. When they weren’t scrouging around for money, the group played gigs and also contributed to the session on a Gallo produced effort, credited to the “You-Know-Who-Group” that became a piece of British Invasion History.

While hanging around with the studio with members of the Pete Best Combo (who were treated no better than they were- only Best saw any real respect. The Undertakers did manage to record a entire album of their own. Which went unreleased for 30 years, until 1995. They gave up on their American manager when the money ran out, Brian Jones headed back to England, Chris Huston reportedly hooked up with the Young Rascals and Bugs Pemberton became the resident Englishman in a New York based outfit called The Mersey Lads and hooked up with Lomax in a group called The lost Souls based in New York, They were spotted by Brian Epstein who helped them get an album cut for Columbia Records, which was never released. Epstein’s death in the summer of 1967 called a halt to that group, but a year later long time admirer George Harrison brought Jackie Lomax on board as an Apple recording artist.

The band never got an album out in its own time,and only charted a couple of records, but The Undertakers remain fondly remembered, especially in amd around Liverpool. In 1995 Big Beat records issued a CD of the Undertakers recordings, including their never-issued American Album- Bruce Eder, All Music Guide.



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45 YEAS AGO!



DAVE MUSHY COOPER ORIGINAL UNDERTAKER



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