'One man show' celebrating Aylesbury's link with Mott The Hoople

A 'one man show' celebrating the great Mott The Hoople will come to Aylesbury's Temple Street Wine Bar on Wednesday.
The Aylesbury Grammar School gig in 1969The Aylesbury Grammar School gig in 1969
The Aylesbury Grammar School gig in 1969

The Mott The Hoople evening is the latest in the Vinyl on Wednesdays series, run by music journalist Kris Needs and Judy and Rick Pearce.

Kris first saw 'Mott' when they appeared at Aylesbury's Friars club in December 1969 and was 'blown away' by their riotous collision between Dylan and The Stones.

Two weeks later they were booked by Friars founder and chemistry teacher Robin Pike to play the Christmas dance at Aylesbury Grammar School. But aged 15, Kris was too young to go.

The Aylesbury Grammar School gig in 1969The Aylesbury Grammar School gig in 1969
The Aylesbury Grammar School gig in 1969

That night the young music fan sulked all the way to The Millwrights pub opposite the school, to lament the fact that he wouldn't get to see the band.

But to his surprise Mott The Hoople were having a drink in The Millwrights before the performance and agreed to sneak him in as a 'roadie'.

He said: "They put me under the PA stack and I watched them from there. I only got rumbled because I had a curfew and needed to be home early - when they got to the end of their set Mick Ralphs announced 'this is for our mate Kris who has to go home'.

"They were the first band to talk to me and so friendly and nice. Three years later I was helping with David Bowie's fan club in Aylesbury which led to doing Mott's as he produced All The Young Dudes. That meant that I could go to any gig I wanted! They were such an amazing band.

Mott The HoopleMott The Hoople
Mott The Hoople

When Mott split in 1974, Kris was working for The Thame Gazette before moving to The Bucks Advertiser.

In 1977 Pete Frame, founder of seminal, locally--based fanzine Zigzag gave Kris the publication to edit, putting him at the helm during the crucial years of punk rock.

Over the years he kept in touch with the Mott members, including Overend Watts who sadly died in 2017, and Ian Hunter.

The Vinyl on Wednesdays evening follows last year's release of Mental Train, a boxset compiled by Kris of the records the band released on Island Records.

This month is also 50 years since the band first started playing together after being formed by record producer Guy Stevens, who named them after the Willard Manus book.

Kris added: "Mott received their first enthusiastic audiences here in Aylesbury and I hope that this one man show will help tell some of the stories from my time with them."

The event takes place on Wednesday night at 7.30pm. Entry costs £3 on the door. Sound by Aylesbury Music.