THE ALLEY CLUB
Terry Impey,Roy Smith, Merv Hardwicke, Big George, Nobby Clarke and Martin Ansell
Photographed outside the Alley Club by Chris Bourchier
As life in lockdown slows to a standstill isn’t it uncanny that thoughts float not as much to the future but drift back to the past , to a world before this whopping great hiatus of a virus struck?. And as we gaze down the decades, isn’t it intriguing that we begin to re-evaluate our present world – how did we get to this appalling place we secretly ask ourselves? So it’s not far from that slightly dismal assessment we move back in time, not far, but far enough to be unreachable.
Some people are already there. In fact they live some of their lives in an atmosphere mostly departed from every day life today. Pre-digital of course – before the full generic sweep of the internet and all it can accomplish – and all it silently took away in the process. Paul runs the Alley Club. It’s a wonderfully dreamy outfit dedicated to the music of the sixties, a time when the youth of the nation sniffed that heady smell of freedom in the air. No longer simply the offspring of war heroes, home exhausted from six years of fighting abroad and longing for the calm of family and the relief of a new , socialist, world of peace . The next generation wanted their own culture and they began their famous Boomer bandwagon , a movement that began the Beatles and a legion of rock and roll devotees whose idols were American ; Little Richard , the Shirelles and the anarchic Chuck Berry.
In Cambridge the movement was as passionate as anywhere else. Paul Sawtell preserves the joy of those times with his quirky homage to the music in The Alley Club. Today it is the digital residue of the hip hot spot just off Falcon Yard ( tragically demolished to make way for Lion Yard and destroyed along with it a warren of tiny ancient buildings, many housing independent ventures) with one eye on the fresh new music scene – and its fashion spin offs. Paul isn’t old enough to have known the era personally but his enthusiasm has kept its spirit alive
“I love the historical aspect of the original Alley Club of the 60's.I love a lot of things from the 60's.A lot of my friends from that era said I'd have loved it - I was born in the wrong era!!The downside if I'd grown up as a teenager in the 60's is I'd be about 20 years older than I am!” he says ‘it must have been wonderful to have walked, driven, ridden (on scooters!) around all those small streets.I have a photo of me on my scooter taken in about 1994 riding down Carnaby Street photo- shopped to make it look as if I was riding outside Alley 2 (the boutique round the corner from the Alley Club).Alley 2 would have been about 1967-1970 (I'm guessing) so it couldn't have been me as I wasn't born til '68!”
‘Imagine a place between roughly where Petty Cury is now and the old Post Office, now sadly Barclay’s Bank.” Recalls Stephen Brown, an architect student in those years“ We had a great flat over the top of what was McFisheries “(where did the fish shops of Cambridge go btw?) The maze of streets around there housed small shops cafés and of course The Alley It was so cool.”
So how did someone who hadn’t known that scene at all, for whom the whole area was gone, bulldozed and replaced by corporate shops and chain cafés have the inspiration to start The Alley Club in memory of music – and culture – long gone? Paul isn’t really sure himself thealleyclub@gmail.com is his creative reincarnation of a time and place he himself missed but has made up for in spades through production of music and recognition of DJs of the era How did it all happen?
“It really came about because of a life long passion for music and collecting records (vinyl)What I really aim to do (and have always done so) is to book bands from outside Cambridge to play live in Cambridge. This not only helps the bands play a gig in Cambridge when other promoters may not consider booking them, but it provides entertainment- a vital service for the Cambridge gig going-live- music -attending public.”
Paul is nothing if not ambitious for music in Cambridge,
“I've had bands from Spain (twice) Sweden and Scotland to name the furthest travelled!I've had fans travel from the USA, Israel and Denmark to attend the Alley Club! As well as promoting I DJ a little myself (when I have the time!) and organise others to DJ.My other activity is to run Alley Club Records (and merchandise) which is becoming busy releasing vinyl and CDs by a variety of bands, many whom have played The Alley Club.”
This is all a wonderful evocation of a time long before the present. Was life better or worse, harder or easier? It is difficult to say but the music tries. And thanks to Paul and his colleagues, some of the spirit of that scooter loving, bike riding, vinyl listening world is preserved in the music Listen to them and judge for yourself.
Jamaican jazz legend Owen Gray, a regular at the Alley Club
“One of the tracks on the Beat Scene '65 album, Orangery Lane by The Galileo 7 is a nod towards the Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd. It was recorded at The Alley Club .This was at The Corner House, one of the many venues I've used over the years!”
"Storyboard" - Coloride (7" vinyl single)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY2R5pCWZFk
"The Mountaineer" - Phoenix Road (cd album)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPamGJiihB4
"No Time Tomorrow " - Various Artists (DVD of the Mods Mayday Weekender, Cambridge 2013)
The Alley Club shop is www.alleyclub.co.uk/shop where the records and memorabilia are on sale for as little as £1.99
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyPLYO64lC4
