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raf
RAF first album, the segue is of the original demo's which sealed the deal with A&M Records, Los Angeles in 1980. At the time David had to slip a few dollars to a security guard to get into A&M Records, and got a five minute meeting with Bob Schualmann, he loved it and sent the tape straight to David Kershenbaum head of A&R at their New York office and then flew on the red eye to sign RAF in Los Angeles. The album was recorded in George Martin's Air Studio, London and then mixed in Cherokee, Los Angeles.
Track Info
1. Sweet Melinda 2. Give Me A Little Time 3. Warm Welcome On A Cold Night 4. Don't Take Sweets From Strangers 5. Take Me To Your Leader 6. Change Your Ways
7. More Crazy Now 8. Blue 9. She Used To Be Mine 10. Waiting For The Weekend
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"Change Your Ways" was the first RAF single
"The Heat's On" was released 1981 by A&M again, during the recording John Lennon was killed and a tribute was included in "Tightrope" and the first line of "Ticket To Ride" was sung on the outro. Peter John-Vettese joined RAF for this album, and then left to join Jethro Tull. Jacob Studio, Surrey was used to record and mix this album in 4 weeks, it was a live-in studio so it was 24hr concentration on the album.
Track Info
1. Easy Come Is Easy Go 2. You Can't Hold Back Now 3. Stop Her On Sight 4. The Heat's On 5. Tightrope 6. I Can't Get Started 7. Borrowed Time 8. Talking Pictures 9. Miracles
10. Holocaust 11. Miracles (Reprise)
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"Talking Pictures" & "Easy Come Is Easy Go" where released as singles from this album.
"Restless Spirit" was released in 1986, there was a change of personnel on this album as Peter had left. David took over all the keyboard parts, guitar and vocals, Tony Beard on drums, Rab Howat on lead guitar, Bob Heatlie on sax and Dave Sinclair on bass. The album was pre-produced and written here at heartbeatstudio and then produced and mixed at Castle Sound, Pencaitland by Calum Malcolm, Chris Harley & David. The track "We Can Only Dream" was recorded at Leadervale Studio by Bob Heatlie, and was the official record for the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games and featured many of the Scottish athletes.
Track Info
1. Dream boy 2. Only the heart can tell 3. Steal your love 4. Restless spirit 5. Faces in the windshield 6. Woman like you 7. Stranger in the mirror 8. We can only dream
9. Its only love 10. Reprise: Restless spirit
"Woman Like You", "Dream Boy" & "We Can Only Dream" where all released as singles from "Restless Spirit"
Radio Scotland Interview for "We Can Only Dream"
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"Second Hand Ladies" was David's first solo single
in 1976, when he
was signed to Warner Bros in Los Angeles
Here is a Radio
Forth interview in 1976 about the single
This is a song
which David wrote for Mike Pender of "The Searchers". It was Mikes first solo single,
this is a clip of David's version
the hipple people
David's first band
in the 60's.
This photograph and an accompanying article comes from the
magazine of the 1960s pirate radio
station,
'Radio Scotland' that broadcast pop music on Medium Wave 242 from a ship moored
offshore, off East Lothian in the Firth of Forth.
They played gigs all around Edinburgh including the famous Kinema Ballroom Dunfermline.
The magazine reported that the Hipple People had been a successful Edinburgh group for the previous two years, having "begun in the era of The Avengers and The Athenians and moulded themselves into a group equal to Edinburgh's best" and that "until six months ago, the line-up was John Cross (bass guitar), Ray James (drums), Jim Marshall (lead guitar) and Sandy Lax rhythm guitar)". The guys are currently rehearsing and recording a few tracks which are now available in our Download Shop.
On Sunday 20th November The Hipple People played in Edinburgh with many friends from the music scene from the 60's. Here are some pictures of the band.......
The Hipple People had a fabulous horn section for the first time of Bob Heatlie (grey hair) and Moray Innes (not so grey hair), they got named as The Hipple Horns. It was great to see them in their lumberjack shirts.
Get in touch with The Hipple People by clicking
or visit
our website
Few Memoirs of the Clubs and Dancehalls from David
Valentine This club opened in the mid 60's in Waterloo Place just round from the top of Leith Street, Edinburgh.
Bands like the Blues Brotherhood etc used to play to a handful of people and the place was not doing too well at all. We rehearsed just round the corner in Jim Marshall the lead guitarist in The Hipple People's dads pub right next to the "ladies" toilets which were often left open to the wind and ladies of the night did not give a jot sitting there with there drawers at their feet shouting to us as we trooped in to rehearse.
We decided to go round and meet this weird grey haired man with an equally strange looking wife and two mangey looking dogs who ran the club and asked to play what would end up as The Hipple People's first resident gig on a cut of the gate. It soon built up till the place was heaving on a Saturday night and, we had 200 people queuing right round the corner and halfway down Leith St . To make sure of entry .the fact we were still all at Broughton High School probably helped. I've no idea how long the residency lasted or when that particular sweatbox ceased business, the main thing I remember is the strange owner coming up at the end of the gig looking a bit sad to tell us the crowd was down and the squealing as he produced even more money than the last week!! That and the smell of dog shit in the metal lift you had to use to get the gear up stairs!
This was a popular weekend gig also just across from our rehearsal room in the pub in Leith St. I remember an earlier version of the bay city rollers called The Motown Stompers supporting us one night not doing too well and were roundly booed off which was embarrassing for me as Nobby Clark the lead singer was going out with my sister at the time.!!
Never mind they soon had the last laugh
as we all know! The top storey played host to countless act who became even
bigger in time. The pretty things were wild, at that point very loose and bluesy
long before they turned into 10cc with the album “parachute”-one of my
favourites .it was mighty to behold Phil may singing whilst slugging from a
bottle of whiskey.
At the other end of the scale there was a very nervous Billy J. Kramer puffing his brains out when I ran into him where he was changing down stairs in the snooker hall. He was obviously shitting himself . Little Children was just out and it was early days for him touring. He had a nice voice, and long before I was in a band I used try and copy him singing do you want to know a secret into a saucepan for the reverb-saddo!!!
The Warriors from Liverpool were regulars, they had two very small beatlesque lead singers. A certain Mr Jon Anderson being one of them and I'm pretty sure their drummer was a certain Phil Wainman of Utopia Studio complex who I had the privilege of working with much later. He was also responsible for some of the Bay City Rollers hits and Boomtown Rats I Don’t Like Mondays.
Most of Edinburgh's top bands played this venue at some time or other in the 60's. The Beachcombers, who's fine front man Mike Cumming died only last year. The Moonrakers who were Edinburgh's Kinks, The Embers were great Edinburgh's Rolling Stones, Three's A Crowd were also very popular band at that time.
A great place to gig with a big open stage area it was sad when it was knocked down along with all the other boutiques and interesting little shops to create the St James Centre!!
Halfway down the High St on the right side almost opposite John Knox's House. Another fab venue for Edinburgh /Glasgow/name bands. The Hipple People were excited about supporting The Who here in the 60's
2 hours on stage and they hadn't shown
up, we looked at each other and someone said we better give the crowd which was
capacity at least a taste of The Who so we launched into a version of Can't
Explain and split the stage only to come face to face with the real thing who
had been watching from the wings unknown to us –oops!! They told us nice version
guys, and then proceeded to discuss their starting number which was Daddy
Rolling Stone-out of jail!! They put on a great show which we all watched from
the balcony. The two sets of Marshall columns could not compete with Townsend's
guitar or Moon's drums, in fact the only time you could hear a blind note was
when Keith Moon took lead vocals on Barbra Ann!!
Never mind just great to see
them 
starting to fly on to greater things, and we were treated to the obligatory
trashing of drums and smashing up of guitars routine! Even though Pete could not
break his telecaster-he wasn’t half mad!!!
The Cream played the venue and when we had finished I dived down to the front of the stage for a good vantage position. I remember ginger baker wandering on in front of the closed curtain to set up and tune his own drums before they started!-how times change! I also recall seeing Eric Clapton walking through the café hand in hand with his the girlfriend who from behind looked like his twin as they both had the the big hippy perms prevalent at that time and wait for it matching kaftans!-it was the 60,s after all.!!!
In those days all the name acts were well received even Chris Farlowe got hauled off the stage by girls and he was no oil painting.
It was a venue that had two stages a top stage and the bigger bottom one.
All the Glasgow top bands came through – The Pathfinders, Poets, Studio Six, House of Lords, as well as the ever present Jimmy James and the Vagabonds who were very regular.
A popular venue for bands in the 60,s till 4am and all you could buy was juice and crisps! How did the youngsters enjoy themselves I wonder?
Some classic bands we played alongside
were Rory Gallagher's Taste, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, I remember Genesis with
Peter Gabriel the early Marmalade were also fantastic with their tight harmonies. Hamish
Stuart's Dream Police, excelled at Beatles numbers. The venue
was in three levels so the band room was always busy. The Hipple's seemed to get
more than their fair share of spots, maybe something to do with the fact the
manager Big Dougie McDonald was also our manager {now sadly passed on}.
You could get a midnight slot on one of the floors the only drawback was the gear had to come up spiral stairs at the back of the building. I had many a hairy climb up them with one hand on my beloved Hammond organ so the roadies would not scrape it, sad git!! It also provided the band with a fine rehearsal space free of charge on a Sunday morning if you could raise Dougie from his slumbers. Someone had to venture into his bedroom for the keys through a fog of fart and body odour, no wonder the Alsatian was docile!! There was great camaraderie between the Glasgow and Edinburgh bands sharing The Place's band room you never knew what would greet you when you arrived late! Pushing open the door one night I was greeted with the tall one of Unit 4+2, pissing in the sink as casual as you like. And on another to be witness to the bass player in one of Edinburgh's prominent bands Scott Murray bollock naked dancing a rumba with a piece of ribbon tied around his winkle!! Much to the enjoyment of some Glasgow band .OH WHAT FUN WE HAD!
This popular venue was right on princes
street above watches of Switzerland. It featured bands from both Edinburgh
and Glasgow, it was run by
Jimmy Roccio. Who was constantly getting complaints
about noise so he installed a noise limiter. But pretended to us there was no such thing, it became a running battle as these dammed things could
knacker your
amps! Hey Ho! It was a nice venue and we enjoyed an almost residency situation
there for a while. There were laughs and nearly tears at this particular
venue. The laughs, one of which was Jimmy Bain bass player with Three's A
Crowd's
party piece when he rushed off to the bit at the side of the stage but still
visible to drop his drawers and light a fart, a large flame issuing from his bum
. Strange boy!! still he went on to play
with Richie Blackmore's band Rainbow.
There were nearly tears and a big fright for us all when one night an amp went dc and as I looked to my right our lead player Jim was screaming in pain thrown in the air and could not let go of his guitar! My only thought was to pull the sockets from the wall so I leaped over the piano and yanked the plugs out .Fortunately he was not seriously burned and I think we were able to continue a narrow escape indeed!
There was a great little band from Glasgow played a few times there called The Beavers they were only about 15 years old but really were a tight little outfit, their version on the Beatles I'm Down was knock out I wonder what happened to them?
A final memory of a great little club was seeing a young Roger Daltrey being escorted through the place by the late Sinky (Robert Sinclair) two mods with the same hairstyle only Sinky was about a foot taller than the wee man!
The club eventually became a gay disco called Fire Island before it mysteriously burned down, well named me thinks!
My earliest recall of The Palais was a singing competition where I saw a 12 year old Colin Chisholm lead singer of Bilbo Baggins being lifted on to the stage and placed behind the mic to sing he open his mouth in his little suit and this enormous voice popped out .I think he won!! The Palais had its resident band The Crusaders with an organist and band leader namely one Tam Paton who I was later to ask if he would manage our band The Hipple People, long before the Bay City Rollers were conceived. So let it go down on record that he managed us first and not the Bay City Rollers! Though if I had listened to him and put on the frilly shirts he advocated as band ware, we might have been the successful band the Bay City Rollers became. The Palais started putting on the new generation of bands from the 60's like the Embers on a Thursday night I think, and on one of those Thursdays I went to watch them and as the revolving stage came round low and behold a complete transformation in dress for them was evident, they all wore very smart tweed jackets and grey trousers the music was still rough and ready but the image thing was starting to catch on. I think the next week we all piled into Burtons and ordered dark blue pinstriped kinks style jackets the race was on!
A great dancehall it’s a pity it went the way of all flesh and became a bingo hall!
At one point a new re-incarnation of The Hipple People played through here at this venue regularly! We had a new ginger baker style drummer in George Nicol who went on to play with the glam rock band Iron Virgin and Robert (Smiggy) Smith on lead guitar who was in Three's A Crowd, Writing On The Wall and went on to play with Glasgow band Blue. I was on bass for my sins!
dillinger
Dillinger "The Last Goodbye"
Telephone & FAX Postal address
01875 821102 Heartbeat Studio, Guildie Howse Farm, North Middleton, Midlothian EH23 4QP
Email info@heartbeatstudio.co.uk
Main Pictures Designed by Kenny Herbert of KHD