“My dad was in a band in the sixties”. Everybody’s dad was in a band in the sixties, right? There used to be a website which featured Cumbrian bands of the 60s until the domain name (www.fenderstrat.co.uk) lapsed. Thankfully I saved the website because it had a great picture of The Electrons in which my dad (Eric Short) used to play keyboards. I am grateful to the guys who produced that website, from which these images and edited text below was taken.
The Electrons were a Workington band formed in 1962 by Brian “Tiny” Holmes, Alan Stubbs, Raymond Hendren, Billy Reece and Dave Needham following a split in The Defenders. The poster shown below was for the opening rock and roll show at the Keswick Pavilion Ballroom which featured both The Electrons and The Defenders. These Friday night shows became a regular venue for many of the Cumbrian bands of the time. For a time The Electrons featured a female singer which was an unusual feature amongst bands in the area.
The picture shows the later line-up of the band during their appearance at the band competition held at the Carnegie theatre Workington in front of a large audience and a representative of EMI records. George “Jeep” Jones is holding their award. Other bands appearing that night included The Firebirds. Brian Holmes went on to found Northern Sounds, a shop on Oxford Street in Workington which provided (and still provides) equipment to many West Cumbrian bands, together with sound systems for clubs etc.
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