Exciting journey of a young band and the early years

The Fantoms

Jangles TV

So the early excitement for The Fantoms was working with Cliff Richard and taking part in the BBC documentary about the great performer himself. This included recording D in Love with Cliff at the London Hard Rock Café, as well as a separate TV interview discussing their thoughts on the rock n roll scene. This all coincided with the release of the band's 1st single, 5ft2 Eyes of Blue, which was b-sided with the band’s own composition, Idle Starr, and recorded for the Magnum Force record label. This opened up several performance avenues for the band, including a performance on the highly popular TV show, Jangles. Another highlight was being asked to record a radio jingle for the immensely popular Radio 1 DJ of the time, Mike Read.

The Fantoms

TV Interview

The Fantoms, whilst under the management of Jeff Kilroy, also performed at many famous venues, including The Rock Garden, Dingwalls, The Royalty, Caisters, and the Marquee Club, where they frequently appeared on the same bill as many of the hottest new bands of the time. The Shakin' Pyramids, The Stargazers, The Jets, The Polecats, The Blue Cat Trio, and the Deltas, to name a few.

It was also the start of The Fantoms' ventures across the murky North Sea, which in those days was by ferry from Dover to Ostend, with the final destination, the band's base camp for all future trips, the great city of Ghent in Belgium. It was through the hard work of their Belgium tour manager, Robert Van Yper, that The Fantoms picked up so many interesting gigs in both Belgium and Holland. The bands frequent trips to Belgium led them to developing great friendships with Robert & Jet also Freddie, Gigi and their family who went out their way to keep the guys in the band entertained and well looked after and Hilda who unwittingly became ‘chaperone’ on a couple of occasions and had to put up with rather ‘ladish’ behaviour of The Fantoms on their nights off!

It was after one of the trips to Belgium that Malcolm decided it was time to leave the band and pursue other interests. Following Malcolm for a short time was bass player Paul Hudson, who performed with the band temporarily while it was still kept busy.

Following the departure of bass player Malcolm from The Fantoms, it was by chance that Gary Daggers ( friend and bass player from the Rebound days ) happened to be back in the local area, passing through, and after a few discussions, he soon decided to remain & joined the band for the next phase of The Fantoms' adventure.

Over the next few years, The Fantoms gigged extensively, performing at established music venues and clubs throughout the UK, as well as at many lesser-known venues. However, the motto of the day, regardless of where it was, was: if they pay, the Fantoms are happy to play. In addition to the many gigs in the UK, the band made several trips across the channel, based in Ghent, Belgium, and often drove through the Rocky Mountains to perform in Holland. Whilst in Belgium & Holland, the Fantoms' performances ranged from the massive Ghent Festival, which drew over 10,000 people, to university bars, farmers' conventions, and a vast array of fun bars and clubs.

The Fantoms became, and still are, very attached to one particular bar called De Ploeg in Ghent. Frequented on many, many occasions. The band took a memory lane trip back there in July 2017, when they travelled over to visit the modern-day Ghent Festival and retraced their tracks around their old stomping ground, which is another story in itself…

See Ghent Revisited 2017

It was at the Ghent Festival in the 1980s that one of the band's most outstanding performances ended in great difficulty for the organisers but left the band with a great memory and ultimate satisfaction, as the massive crowd kept calling for more. Performing on the outside stage built against the church, the band did so many encores that the advertised top-billed band, who were due to follow The Fantoms, never actually got to perform. The local organisers ultimately had to switch off the street lights and cut power to get the crowd to disperse. It was also quite surreal when the following day, whilst having time off, the band decided to go to the cinema. Here, and totally unexpectedly, they were shown on the big screen in the cinema as part of an advertising trailer for the Ghent Festival. It was whilst on one of their trips to Belgium that the band also got to record several songs on a private stage, with the sessions recorded on real cinematic film!!

Actual Ghent Festival Images

Another important change to their trips to Europe was the requirement to include more British-style beat music, including earlier songs by great British bands such as The Beatles and The Hollies. It was for the band, a clear divide between the stage set lists for the UK & for Europe. To even consider performing tracks by The Beatles or The Hollies in the UK rock'n'roll scene would have been met with great disapproval from the die-hard rock'n'rollers!! It was a good job the internet & social media didn't exist!!

It was during the band's trips to Belgium that discussions took place regarding The Fantoms taking part in the live show ‘Grease’ for a local theatre company, but, for reasons long forgotten, the opportunity never came to fruition.

Other memorable occasions for the band during this period included collaborating with Tony Waddington, an accomplished singer-songwriter credited with writing hits for The Rubettes, Showaddywaddy, Petula Clark, and Tom Jones, among many others.

The band spent a week at Tony’s studio location where they recorded their 2nd single, Hearts of Stone (written by Tony) b-sided with Really Mystified. During this same session, the band also recorded Silhouettes and Poor Little Lovesick Fool as potential releases; however, the recordings did not go as well as planned, and as the saying goes, ‘ they were destined for the cutting room floor ‘ ! However, a first for the band was the recording of another song written by Tony, called Runaway From Your Love, which was an entry to The Eurovision Song Contest. As history will show, the Fantoms never got the call-up to represent the UK and meet Terry Wogan.

Another ‘experience’ not to be forgotten by the band was the opportunity to perform at one of London's most prestigious, exclusive and trendiest nightclubs, La Valbonne. The highlight of the evening, though, was not the band's performance but the fact that Derek, Glenn & Neil's dad had to bail the band out with their bar bill due to the ridiculous price of the beer!! This event was arranged for the band by Alvin Stardust's manager, Roy, who at the time was considering managing The Fantoms and looking at the possibility of us performing around the holiday camp/cruise ship circuit. Alas, bluecoats and sailors, the band never became! It was also Roy who funded the recording sessions and published the band's 3rd single, Long Long Time, b-sided with Too Many Times (both written by Glenn & Nick) for Lark Records in Belgium.

The Fantoms, among their usual routine of trekking up and down the country performing at the various working mens clubs, church halls and the various venues where the UK's Rock n Roll clubs held their events, the band also had the great opportunity to support one of the nicest ( and quietest performers off stage ), Mr. Alvin Stardust, at an event held at the Warwick University. It was here that the band got to appreciate how hard students actually work … at partying and drinking!! Another great memory event was when the band was the support act for one of the UK’s biggest and most popular bands, Showaddywaddy, at the Fulcrum in Slough. A great venue, a great evening and a great bunch of guys.