"The band as the Fantoms, was formed in 1960, just as we were all leaving school (we couldn’t afford proper instruments until we had jobs!) We were based in LEICESTER, the county town of Leicestershire more or less in the middle of England so were able to travel all over the Midlands and to the holiday resorts on the East Coast for gigs. We were quite busy, sometimes playing 3 or 4 times a week (whilst still holding down our “day” jobs.)

The band comprised Dave (Lee) Brown on vocals, Mac Clarke on bass and vocals, Johnny Oldham on rhythm, Vince Wood on drums and me, Keith Hobday on lead. We disbanded in 1965/6 due to a sharp decline in demand. (The Beatles had spawned lots and lots of young bands in our area who were willing to work for next to nothing. We couldn’t afford to and gig organisers didn’t seem to want to pay for “quality”)

We reformed the band about 5 years ago but without the vocalist or the original drummer who seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth.(as Mac often says “we were a hit in the 60’s and now again in our 60’s!) Mac and John now handle the vocals between them and we have another drummer named Allan Darby (The noisy one!). We now use Vox and Ampeg amps and Fender guitars (we can afford them now!!) and of course play a mostly 1960’s repertoire."

Do you have a picture of your 1960s band featuring Vox gear? Email the picture to me at voxshowroom@aol.com as a jpeg image and I will add your band to the Vox Showroom "My Vox Band" gallery.