John Parkes
Lead Guitar
and one of the founder members of The Apaches
John Played Lead Guitar with
Steve Jackson & The Boys
The 4 Deltas
The Chantons
Freeway
My name is John Parkes ..... and it all started back in the late 50s early 60s ; I liked the sound of this English version of Elvis, on 'Oh Boy!' on the television. Good looking, too - in fact, I thought he was better than Elvis because he had this fabulous guitar sound backing him - his name was Cliff Richard and the guitarist was Hank B. Marvin from 'The Drifters' (later The Shadows). I wanted to play like that, but at that time I had never even held a guitar, so I made do (like all budding guitarists) with a cricket bat in front of mum's wardrobe mirror.
My first guitar was an old 'Levin' Spanish guitar - but only for a very short time as the neck was too wide to play what I wanted to play, a mistake made by most people buying their first guitar. I was then bought a 'Hofner V3' and a 'Selmer' 10watt amplifier. Now this was a real guitar, and I started to play seriously but it still did not sound the same as Hank! ....
I bought all the records to play along with and I had them on auto play on the Dansette record player - you know, with the arm back - but I still could not make the same sort of sound that was on the recording. This was getting frustrating as I wanted this sound so badly. Then I found out that Hank's guitar was different from mine, and so was his amp. He even had an echo box - something I had not got.... This had to be put right!!
From 'Smedley's Music Shop' in Printing Office Street, Doncaster (the shop is still there today), I got a 'Watkins Copycat' echo box - a continuous loop tape echo - and it sounded great, but somehow it still was not the same sound produced by Hank. The search for the 'Holy Grail' of sound was now well and truly under way! There was, in those days, a wonderful place in Leeds called 'Kitchens Music that was an Aladdin's cave of musical instruments and they had one of the Fender Stratocasters that was the same type of guitar that Hank played. I bought from them a 'Fender Stratocaster Flamingo Pink' for £160 guineas (£168), a 'Vox AC30 Combo' amp (£110) and a 'Baby Binson Echo' for £110 - 5s - 0d (£110.25) - a total of over £388 which was, then, a vast amount of money.
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When I got these home, plugged in and switched on - WOW! This was the sound!! I had got there at last - it was like finding a dream - the end of my rainbow was right there in the room! I joined some friends and, of course, we formed a band. I played lead guitar, Terry Hardy played rhythm guitar on a 'Futurama 3', Eric (Brun) Brown played the drums and Ben Thornton was our vocalist (we had no bass guitar player then). We called ourselves 'Steve Jackson and The Boys' (left) and we played gigs in a good few working men's clubs in and around the Doncaster area. Our manager was a guy called Ray Brooks (no, not that one!), who used to get us bookings and also drive us and all our gear round. Some of the members' interests changed from groups (bands were known as 'groups' in those days) to girls and the band eventually parted company. I began looking around for another group to play in just at the time that The 4 Deltas were looking for a guitarist so I auditioned, and was lucky enough to get the job as lead guitar. This time we used an agent for bookings or gigs; there were two, Ernie Beattie Varieties and the Robin Eldridge Agency, who seemed to have the area tied up between them, and we played the whole clubland circuit and most of the dance halls from the North East to the South Midlands. |
Watkins Copycat Echo 
Baby Binson Echorec (On top of my Amp)One foggy Wednesday evening at the Doncaster Co-op Emporium (on the third floor which was a restaurant that was converted into a large dance hall every Wednesday night and known as 'Beat Night') we were booked to support a band from Liverpool. Ernie Beattie, who was the agent for this Venue did not think they would turn up due to the foggy weather,we were having at this time. But they did, and set their gear up on stage alongside ours. They were one of many British groups occasionally working abroad and had just returned from Hamburg in Germany - yes, it was The Beatles! - and a scruffy lot they were at that time too, and not particularly well-known outside of Liverpool.They certainly brought The Mersey Beat to Doncaster. During my time with The 4 Deltas (who comprised of Mick Ivinson - rhythm guitar, Jeff Clennell - bass guitar, Terry Belcher - drums, with myself on lead guitar) we played alongside such artists as The Bachelors - at The Lyric Hall, Dinnington near Rotherham, the only place for miles with electric stage curtains - our drummer Terry actually played on stage with The Bachelors as they had no drummer with them, only Connery, Deckland and John on double bass; Wayne Fontana and The Mindbenders (at The De-Montfort Hall, Leicester); Johnny Kidd and The Pirates (at St James Street Baths, Doncaster); The Corvettes (recording artists from Manchester) at The Doncaster Co-op Emporium and Shane Fenton and The Fentones at Bentley Pavilion, Doncaster, a gig known as "Friday Night at The Piv".
| At various venues we also appeared on the same bill with groups such as The Barron Knights, Denny and The Witchdoctors, Screaming Lord Sutch and The Savages, Jimmy Crawford and The Ravens, Ronnie Dukes and Ricky Lee. Following my stint with The 4 Deltas I also played for a short period of time with a group called The Chantons. Then came the Gap…… It was in the early 90s that some friends from work were talking about Sixties bands and how they used to play 'back in the good old days" so, what do you know, after a 30 year break from playing in public we decided to have another go at forming a band. This one was called 'Freeway' and consisted of John Parry on rhythm, Andy Stock on bass, Martyn Huskisson on drums, me on the lead guitar and two vocalists - a male singer called Malc Cousins and my wife, Ruth. This band played Rock'n'roll, Country, Standards to Dire Straits and almost anything in between. |
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John Parry was later replaced by Dave Thomson and eventually the band broke up in 1996 ........Meanwhile…… Martyn and myself got together to form a 'Shadows Tribute Band' and recruited Dave Pounder to play rhythm guitar and Barry Burrows to play bass guitar who was later replaced by John Swift, who retired to Cyprus. Our current Bass Guitar Ian Cross who joined us January2008 so we have a line-up just like the original Shadows: Hank Marvin, Bruce Welch, Jet Harris and Tony Meehan - and 'The Apaches' were born, circa 2005. Today I enjoy playing, with 'The Apaches', the music that started it all off for me back in the 60s.
John playing " Don't Cry For Me Argentina."
Johns Gear now consists of :
1956 Fender Custom Shop (NOS) Stratocaster in Fiesta Red with Birdseye Maple Neck and one of only 12 guitars made and one of 4 imported into the UK.
Burns Marvin 40th aniversary model
Vox AC30 CC2X with 2 x 12 Celestion Blue Alnico speakers all tube combo
His Rack :- Fender Tuner and 2 Echo's From The Past systems devised by Charlie Hall.
RFX 2200 & G7 floor pedal
John also plays a Burns Marvin 40th Anniversary guitar which he uses for certain numbers, like The Rise and Fall of Flingel Bunt. John has kept his equipment as close as possible to the original equipment that Hank used in the late 50's early 60's before the Easy Mute Tremlo, and Kinman pick ups , to be as close to the original sound as he can. The Shadows have such a unique sound, and so elusive, It is Johns belief to re-create this sound you must keep it simple. As the sound all Shadows players are looking for is over 40 plus years old, and then the technology was not available in the 50's and 60's.