Neil and Dane lived at 69 Cross Oak Road, Berkhamsted.
Dane was listed in the 1979/80 Register of Electors as Dane Stevens
The Monday before Christmas 1979, they threw dozens of those little chemical light sticks into the Horn of Plenty audience.
That same night, Neil invited everyone in the pub to a party at their house in Berkhamsted the following Saturday.
The road crew and some of the fans wore white T shirts bearing a Never Never Band logo.
They carried their gear to gigs in a white (Ford Transit?) van.
On 31st March 1980 at the Horn of Plenty, perhaps looking for an early April Fool, they invited members of the audience to come up on stage to eat spoonfuls of chilli pickle. Only one person was brave (or foolish) enough to accept the challenge.
Admission to Never Never Band shows at the Horn of Plenty was free of charge.
They played regularly at The Corndolly in Oxford.
The Vetos played regularly at The Pennyfarthing in Oxford. Their scheduled final performance at the venue was mysteriously cancelled 24 hours before the gig.
Neil Brewer played Tootle in the children’s TV show Rosie and Jim and still makes the occasional personal appearance as the character.
A while after Neil left the band and I had assumed that they’d split, a guitarist friend of mine was looking for a drummer to complete the line-up of a band he was putting together. He rang Bryan Fitzpatrick to ask if he was available. He wasn’t there, but his mum told my friend that Bryan was in the studio, recording with The Never Never Band, so probably wouldn’t be interested. I assume that they were recording the cassette that was sold at gigs.
It seems that the band were gigging successfully with one or more different bass players long after I assumed they’d split. I don’t think they were playing in Hertfordshire, because I would have heard about their gigs, so I guess they concentrated on Oxfordshire. The live tape from the Corndolly was certainly recorded post-Neil Brewer.
Dane was known as Dane Jefferies at the time of the release of The Never Never Band studio tape. All songs on the tape are credited to Dane Jefferies. Credit for writing the two songs on the first Vetos single is given to Dave (with a ‘v’) Jeffries (without the ‘e’). Typo or pseudonym? Who knows?
Questions:
The post-Neil Brewer bass player was Peter Burkin. His usual stage-wear was a (very fashionable at the time) pin-striped suit and trainers. (Thanks Ian Pickering.)
What’s the story behind Dane’s shifting identity?
For how long did they play as The Never Never Band after Neil left?
Where are they now?
Any chance of a reunion tour? (Come on guys - if Waters, Gilmour and co can get it together after twenty-four acrimonious years, surely there’s some hope for a Never Never Band revival.)
Bryan was sometimes teased on stage with the nickname ‘Bulbous Head’.
Phil
12 July 2006
12 July 2006