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THE STORY OF THE BAND

Site Updated on 17th November 2002 by Terry Willson

From Genesis To An Eighth Of Plastic

The Bystanders - Clive, Jeff, Vic (seated), Ray, Micky

In 1968 The Bystanders became Man - easy - well not quite as easy as it sounds. The Bystanders, Vic Oakley, Micky Jones, Ray Williams, Jeff Jones and Clive John, were a South Wales "pop" band, formed in 1962. They had a record contract with Piccadilly, a subsidiary of Pye Records and managed to achieve a small amount of success as a live band. They even charted briefly with the song 98.6 - making no. 45 for one week on the 9th February 1967. However by 1968 the majority of the band were tiring of this never-ending treadmill of covers and other peoples songs - they wanted to try a different musical style and Micky and Clive started to write songs for the band.

The music that had caught their attention and which was beginning to influence them had already been named progressive rock orpsychedelic rock, a sound that was being pioneered by bands from the west coast of America such as The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and importantly Quicksilver Messenger Service. Not everybody liked the new style and as the band pushed further in this direction, with songs such as Cave Of Clear Light, the 'B' side of the single Where Jesamine Goes, Vic, who preferred more mainstream music, chose to leave the band. After one final single in April 1968, Vic left to join the Swansea Top Rank House Band.

Revelation - The First Album

On his departure a call went out to Roger "Deke" Leonard who was playing in another band from South Wales called The Dream, a band more sympathetic to this new music style.Initially he refused the offer, but after a few months he succumbed and joined the band. There were a few outstanding Bystanders gigs to honour, but they had also changed their name from The Bystanders to Man - to complete the outstanding gigs, they advertised themselves as Man - formerly The Bystanders. They had now started seriously writing their own material and soon had enough for an Album. In late 1968, and under the production eye of Bystanders producer, John Shroeder, the band started to record their debut album Revelation.. Released by the main Pye Label in January 1969 it was a completely different approach to the Bystanders sound and still stands out as an amazing recording for its time.

It's about 2oz's Of Plastic With A Hole In The Middle

Although Revelation did not disturb the chart statisticians the band pushed on and in September 1969 released their second album called 2ozs of Plastic With A Hole In The Middle. Released on Pye's "progressive" label, Dawn, this album was a lot heavier in it's feel than Revelation and contained at least three tracks that were still in the set in December 1999 - The Storm, Spunk Box (renamed Spunk Rock) and Brother Arnold's Red And White Striped Tent. Success was still not forthcoming in the UK, but there were some rumblings in Europe, where a single from Revelation (Erotica) had charted well. With as many gigs as they could lay their hands on, mostly in Europe, the band went about building up a reputation as a good live band.  However the first of many problems lay ahead.

Ch Ch Ch Ch Changes

In 1969 Deke's then wife was taken ill and he decided to leave the band to look after her and return to a proper job (in a Piano Factory). A replacement was needed and Martin Ace joined the band taking over Deke's position as guitarist and vocalist. Martin was another stalwart of the South Wales music scene and had been in several bands including The Dream with Deke. However before too long Deke's wife had recovered and having tired of a straight job he returned taking the band to a 6 piece. This left Martin at a loose end on stage where he played what he could get his hands on, as well as entertaining the audience with some rather daredevil antics. At the same time, the band was taking a looser approach to the music, dispensing with a set list and allowing on stage jamming to develop. As with Vic, this was an approach not liked by Ray Williams and Jeff Jones and in the summer of 1970 they were both sacked. Martin was an obvious replacement for Ray, having previously played Bass Guitar, and Jeff's replacement was another member of The Dream, Terry Williams.