Hi. Does anyone have any personal memories of the Catacombs in Wolverhampton? Would also love to see any old Cats photos, if you have any! Cheers.

(ps. no pics of your ancient feline pet - ple-ase!)

Edited January 1, 200718 yr by mel brat

cats was the first venue i ever went in july 1973 as a very naive 15 year old , remember myself ,tony horn (tank) ,mick gavin and gary jones + his morris minor , making the 180 mile round trip which anyone whos ever travelled in a moggy minor will know was quite a epic journey , can remember standing near the dancefloor in complete awe of the unbelievable dancers id never seen anything like it , and the music completly blew me away , id heard motown stuff and things like tami lynn at my local youth club so i knew it was soul i thought i liked . but that night at the cats changed my life forever . the sweets - satisfy me baby ,duke browner - crying over you ,leon haywood - baby reconsider one great record after another and the atmosphere was amazing i was hooked .i needed to own every record id heard . happy days

a venue I sadly missed out on......

but have a tape from the cats with blue max djing on it.

Edited January 20, 200718 yr by melandthensome

a venue I sadly missed out on......

but have a tape from the cats with blue max djing on it.

would love a copy of that mate any chance

will pm you tony

its not the cats all-nighter but one of the early sessions but nice to listen to with the big sounds of the day on it....

Check out,Hinckley Soul Club site,Cats pictures and live sounds,plus other nighters.

Kev

Check out,Hinckley Soul Club site,Cats pictures and live sounds,plus other nighters.

Kev

Thanks for that. I will!

a venue I sadly missed out on......

but have a tape from the cats with blue max djing on it.

Any idea of the date it was recorded? (name a track or two and I'll guess!) I have a tape of related '2001 club allnighter' ie. Cats DJs, Oct.1973 and part Cats, part Wigan tape from early '74, but would love to hear it. Also have 4 hours of last allniter which Mickey Nold has been kindly transferring to CD for me. Any more tapes/photos/memories out there folks?

its a wed night session 1974 with blue max djing

all the top sounds on it.

I collect these things have

1972/Mecca 1973/Top Rank with oscar toney and millie jackson

casino 74/75 one just the all-niter other with jackie wilson 'live'

stafford/keele/etc etc etc..............got a good few.

Lost my Torch tape though.

cats was the first venue i ever went in july 1973 as a very naive 15 year old , remember myself ,tony horn (tank) ,mick gavin and gary jones + his morris minor , making the 180 mile round trip which anyone whos ever travelled in a moggy minor will know was quite a epic journey , can remember standing near the dancefloor in complete awe of the unbelievable dancers id never seen anything like it , and the music completly blew me away , id heard motown stuff and things like tami lynn at my local youth club so i knew it was soul i thought i liked . but that night at the cats changed my life forever . the sweets - satisfy me baby ,duke browner - crying over you ,leon haywood - baby reconsider one great record after another and the atmosphere was amazing i was hooked .i needed to own every record id heard . happy days

Thanks for those recollections! Glad your long journey was so worthwhile! I was probably there that very night, wringing out my shirt in the toilets! (Hot that summer wasn't it?) Remember the fire doors being propped open with housebricks, and lads dancing downstairs in the yard outside? The lads drinking pint pots of orange squash? The girls wearing their hair up in high bunches with their square box-like handbags? condensation dripping from the ceiling? The red and yellow lightbulbs strung along the painted brick walls? And best of all the sounds and electric atmosphere of course. Great!

Edited January 20, 200718 yr by mel brat

its a wed night session 1974 with blue max djing

all the top sounds on it.

I collect these things have

1972/Mecca 1973/Top Rank with oscar toney and millie jackson

casino 74/75 one just the all-niter other with jackie wilson 'live'

stafford/keele/etc etc etc..............got a good few.

Lost my Torch tape though.

Look after 'em wont'cha? (as if you wouldn't!) Reckon Max would have been playing Little Joe Roman, Connie Clark possibly Rose Valentine etc? Thanks for that. Am planning to post all of my memorabilia up soon (when I figure out how!)

Check out,Hinckley Soul Club site,Cats pictures and live sounds,plus other nighters.

Kev

Thanks. Have had a quick look. Nothing new really. (Please note: The photograph shown is NOT the 'Catacombs' CLUB, but 'The Pied Bull' pub at the top of Temple Street!

Some of the sounds on tape played by blue max

mr bloe

velvet satins

connie clarke

james lewis

steve karmen

ray paige

dena barnes

stagemasters

coasters

fred smith orch-same old thing inst

louise lewis

jackie paine

casanova 2

tari stevens

bobby jones and the paramounts

lord thunder

ljoe romans etc etc and sadly that awful terrifics inst of johnny sayles 'I cant get enough' which always reminds me of Rolf harris on his xylophone........

Edited January 20, 200718 yr by melandthensome

LATEST: Have just posted a collage illustration of the Catacombs that I did from memory several years ago.

View is from direction of the main entrance, approximately halfway down corridor facing the dancefloor

Edited January 20, 200718 yr by mel brat

LATEST: Have just posted a collage illustration of the Catacombs that I did from memory several years ago.

View is from direction of the main entrance, approximately halfway down corridor facing the dancefloor

Max has joined SS in the last week or so, the title of this thread might tempt him into sharing some of his recollections.

I've got 2 more Catacombs tapes different to the above, one has pep and Max, the other just Max, in fact I think I gave Max a cd of the one with him on...if I can find them again it's no problem to stick them on cd if you want em

Thanks. Have had a quick look. Nothing new really. (Please note: The photograph shown is NOT the 'Catacombs' CLUB, but 'The Pied Bull' pub at the top of Temple Street!

Mel,

Thanks for putting me right,I was far to young to know.

The Hinckley soul club, is great little site though.

All he best,Kev.

Max has joined SS in the last week or so, the title of this thread might tempt him into sharing some of his recollections.

That was the general idea Dave - we live in hope! (Would still love to know where he got all his records from in the old days!!) Still have the Linda Jones demo I bought from him in early '74, for £3. I floated home that night!

Edited January 21, 200718 yr by mel brat

Mel,

Thanks for putting me right,I was far to young to know.

The Hinckley soul club, is great little site though.

All he best,Kev.

Yes, I agree it's a nice site.

I've got 2 more Catacombs tapes different to the above, one has pep and Max, the other just Max, in fact I think I gave Max a cd of the one with him on...if I can find them again it's no problem to stick them on cd if you want em

Ooh! yes please!

(Got any from the Mecca, or should I start a different thread??)

The Cats top DJs in my opinion. Major Bob Crocker and Alan S.

Ooh! yes please!

(Got any from the Mecca, or should I start a different thread??)

Only one Mecca, right from the time when Levine started making his own records...

Only one Mecca, right from the time when Levine started making his own records...

1975. Good year!

Ive got a Mecca 1972.......

The Cats top DJs in my opinion. Major Bob Crocker and Alan S.

Yes, wouldn't it be fantastic if someone turned up tapes/new photos from THAT magical period? However, maybe it was considered a bit 'divvy' to take photos at "our secret underground clubs" in those days, and portable tape recorders were cumbersome and expensive! (Don't think I even saw a portable recorder until about 1973, and that didn't have a built in mike!) Besides, we all know what a drag it was to lug around excess baggage all night long.

P.S. Mickey Nold was asking around re. photos of the OUTSIDE of The Cats, to no avail. Not much to look at though of course, apart from the sign. Think it was purple and white perspex, in a metal frame and written vertically, but it's been a long time and I may be wrong....

Edited January 24, 200718 yr by mel brat

still got my cats pink card somewhere, im enjoying all this nostalgia this week, especially the dickie selwood stuff yesterday!!! froggy taylor wasnt a bad dj either!!! ezzie refering to tape players the biggest problem was the batteries running down and the tape slowing during recording,took me fucking years to work it out!!!!!!!!

Edited January 24, 200718 yr by ezzie brown

Ive got a Mecca 1972.......

Cool. We should start a "database" of exactly WHAT "live" tapes are still extant on the scene! After all, in 50 years time they might end up in some sort of Soul archive! (I'm a bit of an amateur social historian since getting older, hence my passion for preserving surviving memorabilia etc.) Would love to hear the Mecca tape (pre-Levine no doubt) Colin and Keith Minshull??

Cool. We should start a "database" of exactly WHAT "live" tapes are still extant on the scene! After all, in 50 years time they might end up in some sort of Soul archive! (I'm a bit of an amateur social historian since getting older, hence my passion for preserving surviving memorabilia etc.) Would love to hear the Mecca tape (pre-Levine no doubt) Colin and Keith Minshull??

got one from va va s , bolton somewhere!!!

still got my cats pink card somewhere, im enjoying all this nostalgia this week, especially the dickie selwood stuff yesterday!!! froggy taylor wasnt a bad dj either!!! ezzie refering to tape players the biggest problem was the batteries running down and the tape slowing during recording,took me fucking years to work it out!!!!!!!!

Oh yes. That's happened to me MANY times! There's nothing so disappointing as wasting valuable dancing time doing a tape somewhere, then finding it doesn't play properly on getting it home! Aggh! At the last Cats allnighter, I got there early (naturally!), and plugged my tape player into a dodgy electrical socket. By the end of the night there were about four plugs using it (via an adaptor) It's a wonder we lived to tell the tale!

Oh yes. That's happened to me MANY times! There's nothing so disappointing as wasting valuable dancing time doing a tape somewhere, then finding it doesn't play properly on getting it home! Aggh! At the last Cats allnighter, I got there early (naturally!), and plugged my tape player into a dodgy electrical socket. By the end of the night there were about four plugs using it (via an adaptor) It's a wonder we lived to tell the tale!

fucking great days!!! leave gloucester friday nite get back sunday evening absolutley knackered!!!!

got one from va va s , bolton somewhere!!!

Sadly, I only went there once, following a visit to the Pendulum in Manchester, but quite a tale to tell (another time maybe!) I didn't like the cork-tiled dancefloor and kept walking into the semi-visible coloured perspex screens all night!) However, I vividly remember hearing Clara Ward "The Right Direction" on Verve. Still think it's brilliant.

Sadly, I only went there once, following a visit to the Pendulum in Manchester, but quite a tale to tell (another time maybe!) I didn't like the cork-tiled dancefloor and kept walking into the semi-visible coloured perspex screens all night!) However, I vividly remember hearing Clara Ward "The Right Direction" on Verve. Still think it's brilliant.

all i remember is that it was amodern style place,only went a couple myself

fucking great days!!! leave gloucester friday nite get back sunday evening absolutley knackered!!!!

Dunno how I EVER got up for work for 8am, especially as I often went out to Northern do's in the week as well! Nowadays I get exhausted just LISTENING to records, let alone dancing to 'em! Went to an alldayer at Stone Manor one time and had an College exam @ 9am the next day! (and I passed!)

Dunno how I EVER got up for work for 8am, especially as I often went out to Northern do's in the week as well! Nowadays I get exhausted just LISTENING to records, let alone dancing to 'em! Went to an alldayer at Stone Manor one time and had an College exam @ 9am the next day! (and I passed!)

congratulations!!! this is what i love about the scene 30 years later still meetig old and new buddies who like what i like soul drink gear women in any order!!nite EZZIE [dont get much of the last one!]

all i remember is that it was amodern style place,only went a couple myself

Yes it was very "Seventies contemporary"! Downstairs I think. Lots of (green?) leatherette seating in alcoves around the walls. Cloakroom full of those smart tartan bowling bags everyone used to use before Adidas sports bags became fashionable. Will post up a Va Va badge later. Not many of the early ones left I shouldn't think, as they were screen printed on nylon, and fell apart after a wash or two! (They changed the design shortly afterwards, as it had accomodated the local brewery logo!)

Edited January 25, 200718 yr by mel brat

As promised, the original Va Va badge from mid-1973. Anyone know the name of the brewery logo they used, offhand? (I remember seeing it around the North, but have forgotten)

Edited January 25, 200718 yr by mel brat

As promised, the original Va Va badge from mid-1973. Anyone know the name of the brewery logo they used, offhand? (I remember seeing it around the North, but have forgotten)

=======

seen some of the vava playlists and they look great

one 45 im keen to track down is johnny dunne - your hanging me up on veep

any one got a tape of this

also if any one wants to swap any tapes for early wigan ones ,,give me a shout

#

best

mark

Allright mate

Ive got the johnny dunn 45 a good oldie in my opinion

talking about the week-ends

when I first started going I used to hit Samanthas or somewhere else on the friday Mecca then the casino Saturday and an all-dayer on the sunday and back at school still on Mr Rikers and SKF's finest on the monday.

Those were the days........

mel-kline and french.

ps

yeah lets start a tape data base going somewhere.

mel brat

pm as I am sorting some tapes out for a few guys on here and Ill try and sort u a copy of the mecca tape

mel brat

pm as I am sorting some tapes out for a few guys on here and Ill try and sort u a copy of the mecca tape

Sorry for delay, wasn't online yesterday. Thanks!

Keep the 'Cats' memories coming though folks! -

Below are 'Blue Max' and 'Basil' pictured at the last Cats Allnighter, July 13th/14th 1974

Note: Everyone scratched their names and "Keep the Faith" type slogans on the newly painted Catacombs walls!

Edited January 26, 200718 yr by mel brat

As promised, the original Va Va badge from mid-1973. Anyone know the name of the brewery logo they used, offhand? (I remember seeing it around the North, but have forgotten)

it was greenhall whitley [witley?]

it was greenhall whitley [witley?]

Thats it! I remember now!

hi mel,

nice to read about your enquiries about the "cats"

a place very dear to me,holding a million memories!

if i can help you in any way,you can always ring me

daytime on 01902 732795

ive seen the illustration and must say it's spot on.

i have no pics of the venue im afraid but i do know

the pied bull pub quiet well,used to play in the darts team

for a few years, well before the cats though

wed night was more of a request night, with sats for the

current monsters of the time, plus usually a dozen or more

new spins each week.

the turnaround of tunes was a bit like at stafford, so many

things to spin,records had a short turntable life.

my early recollections of the cats were that the dj of the day

was farmer carl dene followed by bob crocker & alan s, i joined

alan in jan 71' replacing bob crocker who had died in a tragic

car crash.

the first record i played at the cats was bobby garrett's monster

my little girl, i must say that without more than a little help from

alan i might not have survived those early weeks, however i did

and went on to be the longest serving dj working there till the

clubs sad demise in july 74.

please feel free to phone me or ask any questions you like, i'll

do my best to answer them.

all the best

max millward (blue max)

hi mel,

nice to read about your enquiries about the "cats"...

all the best

max millward (blue max)

Thanks Max. Am hoping to turn up photos many of us have never seen before. It's always possible that old "Cats rats" might see this post and respond... Hope so. Thanks to everyone who has taken the trouble to reply so far and, pass the word!