Melvis Rockband
Jan Lindén - Melvis - Torben Brint -
Torben Sardorf - Jesper Halberg is in the bar.
Advertisement from Bild-Zeitung in Hamburg 30.11.62I got a call fromMelvis who asked if I could replace Preben Devantier in Pigalle, Hamburg. I catched the train the same night and arrived at 7 o'clock in the morning 15. of December 1962. Jan Lindén met me, and we carried my drums to the restautant Pigalle, next to the main station. Melvis, Jesper Halberg and Torben Brint were still there, the band had the key to the restaurant, which closed at 5 o'clock in the morning. We were practising a couple of hours before the night's performance.
This arrangement was something that gave hairs on one's chest. We performed from 8 o'clock in the evening to 5 o'clock in the morning, only with 10 minuts break per hour. But fortunately the restaurant closed earlier on small days, if the room was empty after midnight. This caused we could go to Star Club or Top Ten Club, and there listen to many foreign bands. English such as The Beatles - Tony Sheridan - Cliff Bennett & The Rebelrousers.
The Rebelrousers was a wind group, which Melvis was wild about. One band I particularly payed attention to, was Joey Dee and the Starlighters. The band consisted of the singer Joey Dee, beside him 2 partsingers. The instrumental were virtuos performed by a drummer and an organ player, who worked into a rage on his Hammondorgan with bass pedals.
The danish drummers in Rock'n'Roll only used the bass drum on 1-2-3-4, and as a marking after a riff. But most of the drummers in Hamburg used it syncopated. I got a lot of time practising in these details, while playing in Pigalle.The arrangement ended on 31. of January. But we got an offer, from Horst Fascher the german manager in Star Club, to play in Lübeck all February month. We replaced The Beatles, their single Love me do was climbing up the charts in England. At that time they weren't known too well in England, except from Liverpool.
We spent a wonderful february month in Lübeck, we played from 8 o'clock in the evening to 2 o'clock in the morning. After that we returned to Denmark.
Unfortunately I dont have TV- performance from that time.
So here you can see a TV-recording from Sommerlyst at Bakken in 1985,
from Claus Hagen Petersens "Danish Rockhistory" on DR1.
With Jan Lindén, Hans Pindborg, Jesper Halberg, Hans Frellesvig, Torben Sardorf og Melvis.
4 of the members from the time in Hamburg.
We are playing "Shake Rattle & Roll" the same way as we did in those days.
Click the photo to watch the video.
Jan Lindén - Melvis - Torben Brint
Both drumsticks being hold the same way.
That I learned in Hamburg.I distinctly remember our first job in Denmark, it tooked place at Resi, a restautant in Hilleroedgade on a thursday in March. The rumour of something new had reached the musicians of Copenhagen. Under our stay in Germany we got of course many new numbers on the repertoire, such as Skinny Minny, Hallelujah I love her so and Let's dance with Tony Sheridan and Shakin' All Over with Johnny Kidd and the Pirates. The outfi on stage were black trousers of leather, black caps of leather, black West Side Story-blouses, blue pilotjackets and black boots. That's how most of the musicians in Hamburg looked like. The audience opened thier eyes wide open over the new style, and specially the musicians over the way to play the bass drum. Within half a year all drummers in Denmark were using it the same way.
Altogether Melvis had been a pioneer into danish Rock'n'Roll music, and had seldom, if never, been praised as he deserved. But he and I camed to an agreement in those days, that the two of us always would stand together into danish Rock'n'Roll. And so we did, until his too early death in 1999.
Places of performance: Youthclubs - Clubballs - Jomfruburet, Stroeget - Oelandshus, Amager - Geels Kro, Holte - Village halls - Pubs and Inns - Private parties.
The band broke up last in May, Melvis lost the feeling for a while. But I got an offer from somewhere else.
