What can I say, we'd go too far back for fear of showing our age. Suffice to say it all began when Dixie and I got together, back in our old school days. The first band we had of any note was, "STREET RODS", which lasted about 14 years. There were a few attempts prior to that, it's painful to think about. We did at that stage manage to work with the likes of Matchbox, Flying Saucers etc. In fact at that time Kev and Pete (our retired bass player) did a bit of roadying for us, they were good sports, always jumped in when the fight started.
Let's get back to the "STREET RODS". This is the time that Inge joined the fold, that was oohh 20 something years ago (jurrasic period). The band in those days went pro and were working 6 and 7 nights a week, which probably contibuted to the final bust up. When everyone packed up Inge and I carried on under the same name for around 3 years. It wasn't on such a grande scale, workies clubs etc. we enjoyed it. The only problems were missing the Rock and Roll scene and finding musicians with commitment. I lost count of how many bass players we got through, although we did manage to find a good drummer (Danny Rowlands) who was a super guy. I had to get his name in because I think he's all that kept us going at that time. But we were thinking of calling it a day.
Whilst all of this was happening to us Kev had got together with Pete, who had taught himself to play bass. They finished up forming thier own band called,"JUKEBOX JIVE" who played the same club circuit as us and became quite successful. Now here's a little snip not many people know. When "STREET RODS" folded we still had a summer season to finish for Warners, Kev and Pete came to the rescue and we made up a scratch band. We went under the name,"THE VALIANTS" although we'd been mates for years we'd never performed together. The shape of things to come.
Back to the plot. Me and the boss were sitting watching telly one night when there was a knock at the door. It was Kev and pete, over for a cuppa and chat. Anyway we sat drinking and chatting, Kev said he'd heard we were thinking of quitting, to which we replied yes. There followed a long silence and some strange glances. What followed was really the birth of "JIVE STREET". Kev said we're having trouble, we can't find a lead section and you can't get a rythm section. What say we throw in our lot together, join forces. So to put it simply, they supplied bass, rythm and drums and we in turn sax, lead guitar with vocals shared. We rehearsed like mad for around 6 weeks, scraped up the dough for extra gear and away we went. After doing about a year of social clubs etc. Mark our drummer at that time decided to leave and go solo playing guitar and singing. What were we going to do now? Simple, talk Dixie out of his retirement. He came back in on the skins, and the rest they say is history.
There was however one more change in store for us. Dixie had some health problems and needed 2 opperations. We were very lucky to find John, who wasn't doing much and fitted in quite well, he did 90% of the dep jobs for us. When Dixie finally got better Pete approached us and asked if Dixie fancied playing bass as he knew Dixie used to mess about at home. The answere was yes. Pete then dropped the bombshell, he said I've reached the end of the line, you've got John for drums, if Dixie goes on bass it's a ready made band and I can leave without letting anyone down. That was Pete, he would never ever have let "JIVE STREET" down, not while he was still breathing. That's what we call committment.
One more little pearl, who knows where the name "JIVE STREET" came from???
Remember what our sepperate bands were called Kev and Petes, mine and Inges. (Jukebox JIVE) (STREET Rods)

THE ORIGINALS