Mayfair 1979 to 1983
Formed as a garage band in the summer of 79 in the wake of the Who’s movie Quadraphenia and the Mod revival.
Started playing gigs in and around Bristol the Christmas of 79, and played regularly at the old Bunch of Grapes that went on to be the Stonehouse, and later the Electric Stonehouse, were also regular performers at Trinity Hall, Hope Chapel, and the Green Rooms.
The early 80’s music set from Mayfair, was a collection of songs written by the band and covers from the Kink’s, Beatles and various Motown and Northern soul artists.
In 1980 Mayfair were a 5 piece band, Johnny Locomotion/Vocals, Rob Colledge/ Bass, Mark Placito/Lead Guitar, Dave Hale/Rhythm guitar & Tony Pierce/Drums.
During 1980 the band gained strong local popularity and were regulars on the Bristol circuit.
At the end of 1980 several musicians left the band, and the band reformed as a 3 piece with Johnny Locomotion on Bass/Vocals, Rob Colledge on Guitar/Vocals and Conway Wynne Jones/Drums, a new music set was put together and the band started to gig again at the start of 81. The new music set comprised of songs written by Johnny L /Colledge with only a small amount of covers, the band continued to play the local circuit, and were now regularly playing to audiences in Birmingham, Worcester, Swindon, Gloucester & Cheltenham. Mid 1981 Mayfair also added Jon B on Saxophone which added a new dimension to the band and gave the music a more soulful feel.
During this period, Mayfair played some memorable gig’s in Bristol as support acts to the Alarm and Amen Corner, at the Bierkellar. They produced several demo tapes with the bands own songs which included Traffic, The Legend and Strange little World. During 1981 Mayfair were interviewed live on BBC radio who also played the bands track ‘’Traffic’’.
Mayfair also played the ‘’Battle of the Bands’’ at Trinity Hall, and have several tracks on the re-released ‘’Bristol Beat’’ the Stonehouse tapes. At the ‘’Battle of the Bands’’ , Mayfair were spotted by a panel judge from the rock band ‘’Status Quo’’ and were invited to London.The band turned down the opportunity citing ‘’musical differences’, had they gone, how this might have changed the future for Mayfair is anybody’s guess.
In 1982 Mayfair were again playing locally and further afield, and played several gig’s with the London band ‘’Small World’’ the song writing duo of Locomotion/Colledge both heavily influenced by R&B from the 1960’s continued to write strong material for the band and were on the verge of bigger things when the toll of combining music with family and work commitments finally took their toll and Mayfair disbanded in early 83.
Commenting at the end of the bands reign, Locomotion stated, we have no regrets, we stayed true to our roots and beliefs, we’ve all had a fantastic few years, it was hard work, worth it, but I don’t want to do it again!.
In thanking their fans at a farewell gig in Bristol, at the end of the show Mayfair invited the remaining audience to follow to a large Italian local restaurant where they footed the bill for Pizza and beers for all, well over 100 people were in attendance and the band paid out over 800.00 pounds, a lot of money back then.The band knew many of the fans had travelled far and wide to support the act during those years, coaches with fans from the Bristol Area, Gloucester & Weston Super Mare were regular to support Mayfair, and it was a final ‘’thank you’’.
(Johnny Locomotion Dec 2010 )
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