The Objective

Under "Gigs review menu" you'll see that Roger sent in a report and photos of the Ace Cafe show - well, here's another of Roger's reviews

Whenever our local music shop had a Fender Telecaster in, I would try to get a go on it, just to try out Mick Green/Pirate riffs. They would never sound right on anything else, although the early Johnny Kidd hits, Shot of Rhythm and Blues, I'll Never Get Over You etc. all featured Mick using his orginal Gibson, Les Paul Jnr. which also sounded great.

I wrote to a music paper back then, I think Melody Maker? Asking the question 'what gauge strings does Mick Green of the Pirates use'? Most of the bands at that time including us, were playing Shadows instrumentals normally with string gauges where it was impossible to bend a string much.

Unfortunately I didn't, after that get the paper regularly enough and it wasn't until some years later a friend said to me that he had read a reply from Mick in a music paper about his strings. I never did read the reply.

Nowdays obviously string gauges are no problem but in those days to be able to bend a string meant replacing a wound G string as they were then, with a plain B string, moving top E to the B position and adding a banjo string to top E as James Burton (Rick Nelson's guitarist) did.

As I mentioned in a previous letter, I used to record The Pirates and others from the radio (mostly Saturday Club sessions), as a lot of people did at that time.

I have been in touch with the BBC archives recently, to see if they still have the session that I USED to have of Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, but they say that is one that they don't have now. What's happened to some of these old recordings and films/videos.

We often see black and white film on the television of bands that were nowhere near as good or well known.

It's hard to believe everything was wiped. Johnny Kidd and the Pirates were on lots of programmes at the time. Hasn't anybody got Shakin' All Over from 'Oh Boy'? or perhaps the Pirates doing My Babe on Ready Steady Go, (although I do have that one on audio). I have just managed to get recordings of the Everly Brothers Live Sessions on Saturday Club 1963, through the internet, so it can be done. Someone out there must have some film or live recordings (bootleg or otherwise).

I will shortly be going through some of my old reel to reel recordings and hopefully will find some of the Pirates and Dakota's with Mick on guitar. If I find anything interesting I will let you know.