THEM (BAND)

'Them' was a Northern Irish band formed in Belfast in April 1964, best known for the garage rock standard "Gloria" and launching singer Van Morrison's career. The group was marketed as part of the British Invasion.
The band featured Van Morrison on vocals and harmonica, Billy Harrison on guitar (born William Harrison, 14 October 1942, in Belfast, Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland), Eric Wrixon on piano and keyboards (named the band, but never played on any published albums or toured the States), Alan Henderson on bass (born 26 November 1944, in Belfast), Raymond Sweetman on bass (born Dermot Robert Sweetman, 1 January 1948, in Holyhead, Anglesey, North Wales) and Ronnie Millings on drums (born c 1937, in Belfast), with other musicians replacing or contributing during the life of the band.

Contents

Formation of the band

The Maritime Hotel days

Recording with Decca and touring

Post Morrison

Acclaim

Discography

EP

Singles

Personnel

Notes

References

External links

Formation of the band

When Van Morrison formed an R&B club with the entrepreneurs Jimmy Conlon, Jerry McKenna and Gerry McCurvey (known as the "3Js") at the Maritime Hotel in April 1964, he gave notice to the Golden Eagles, the group he was performing with at the time. This left him without a band and with the projected opening night for the new R&B club approaching he set about finding his ideal line-up. He had recently been introduced to an East Belfast group The Gamblers that had been formed in 1962 by Ronnie Millings, Billy Harrison and Alan Henderson. Still a schoolboy, Eric Wrixon had been recruited as piano player and keyboardist. Morrison soon joined up with this group playing saxophone and harmonica and sharing vocals with Billy Harrison. The group rehearsed together in a room over a bicycle shop in preparation for their debut at the Maritime. Deciding on a name change they followed the suggestion of Eric Wrixon and rechristened themselves Them after a fifties horror film.^[1]

The Maritime Hotel days

The band Them was first announced on April 14, 1964 with an ad in a Belfast newspaper asking "Who Are? What Are? THEM" with similar ads building interest, until the Friday ad before the gig announced that it would be at the Maritime Hotel (Club Rado) that evening. The attendance grew in the two hundred capacity venue very quickly and within a week people were queuing down the street hours before the show.
Them worked without a routine and the act was fueled from the energy of the crowd. Morrison ad libbed and made up his songs live as he performed. "Gloria" was debuted on stage here and sometimes, depending on his mood, could last up to twenty minutes. Morrison has stated that "Them lived and died on the stage at the Maritime Hotel." The records and tours never captured the true spirit of Them, as they fed off themselves and the energy of the audience. Only the most rudimentary of recordings of the performances survive.
One of the fan's recordings of "Turn On Your Love Light" made its way to Dick Rowe with Decca Records. He was notoriously known for having turned down signing The Beatles after listening to a badly recorded demo. Not anxious to make the same mistake again, Rowe rushed over to the Maritime to hear Them and then rushed Them into the Decca studios to sign away their rights on a standard two year contract. The minors had to have their parents' signature and when Eric Wrixon's parents refused to sign, he was replaced with Patrick McAuley.Hinton 1997. pp39-46.

Recording with Decca and touring

The first recording session took place in London England in Decca Records' studios in West Hampstead on July 5, 1964. Dick Rowe had brought in session musicians Arthur Greenslade on organ and Bobby Graham on drums. They recorded six songs during this session which were: "Groovin'", "You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover", "Turn on Your Love Light", "Don't Start Crying Now", "One Two Brown Eyes", "Philosophy" and "Gloria".^[2]
The group released its first single "Don't Start Crying Now" b/w "One Two Brown Eyes", in August 1964. The single was unsuccessful. The band's manager Phil Solomon and Dick Rowe then hired session musicians, Jimmy Page, Peter Bardens, and Bobby Graham to back Morrison on a cover of Big Joe Williams' "Baby Please Don't Go". (Though Page was present, the lead guitar playing was the work of Billy Harrison.) It was released in November 1964, and in December, Them first appeared on television making their debut on Ready Steady Go where The Rolling Stones were also on the same bill.^[3] Solomon used his connections to have it played as the weekly signature tune for the television show and within two weeks it was #26 on the charts. The single, which featured the now-legendary "Gloria" as a B-side, was a smash hit in the UK, finally peaking at #2 on the UK Singles Charts and #24 on the US charts..^[4]
In January 1965, Them toured England for the second time where they stayed at the Royal Hotel, which disc jockey Jimmy Savile used as his London base. As with many other groups of the time, Savile helped to promote the band with write-ups in his column for The People. Them needed good publicity by this time as they soon had earned a reputation for bad manners and sarcasm in their interviews. Billy Harrison said the attitude problem may have been caused by anti-Irish sentiments on the continent at the time but when they were interviewed by a reporter from the Irish Independent the reporter remarked, "They were the most boorish bunch of youngsters I'd come across in my short career." Even an attractive female reporter was treated with arrogance causing Phil Coulter who witnessed this interview to remark, "They would just sit and mutter monosyllabic grunts to themselves and give her off the wall answers." (Van Morrison as a solo artist would later raise these tedious and combative interviews to a "negative art form".)^[5]
Their record label Decca released an EP with a recording of "Philosophy" from earlier recording sessions. This release was followed up by Them's biggest hit in the UK, "Here Comes the Night" b/w "All for Myself". Phil Solomon had brought in Bert Berns, an American, who had co-written the hit "Twist and Shout". Berns hired session musicians Phil Coulter on keyboards and Andy White on drums to play on this song which was one of his own compositions. Three weeks after it was released it charted at #2 in March 1965 in the UK and it went to #24 in the U.S. that same May.^[6] Their management promoted Them by scheduling appearances on ''Ready Steady Go!'' and on ''Top Of The Pops'' where they were expected to mime and lip snyc. Morrison said of this appearance, "It was ridiculous. We were totally anti that type of thing...and we had to get into suits and have make-up put on and all that.. " He also revealed how the band had previously considered the programme a joke and then Them had to appear on it.^[7]
On April 11, 1965 Them made a guest appearance at the NME Pollwinners Concert at Wembley Empire Pool. Jimmy Savile was MC for this event and perhaps responsible for their appearance as their newfound fame was too recent to have figured into that years's readers' polls. The 1965 concert remains the finest gathering ever of British pop acts with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Animals, The Searchers, The Moody Blues, Dusty Springfield, etc.. The bands were expected to keep to their current hits but Them audaciously segued from "Here Comes the Night" into a seven minute version of "Turn on Your Lovelight". ^[8] Derek Johnson with NME said at the time that the lead singer of the band Them "generates more genuine soul than any of his British contemporaries."^[9]
The next single by Them was "One More Time" chosen by Phil Solomon and released in June 1965. This single "bombed" according to Billy Harrison because it was never single material. ^[10] The band released two albums—''The Angry Young Them'' released by Decca in June 1965 (UK) and by Parrot Records (US) in July 1965, and ''Them Again'' released in January 1966 (UK) and April 1966 (US). Later that year "Mystic Eyes" released as a single in the US reached #33. ''Them Again'' had charted in the USA and so a tour was set up beginning in May 1966.^[11]
In June of this two month tour, Them had a three week residency at the famed Whisky a Go Go. Jim Morrison and The Doors were the opening act on the final week, and on the last night the two bands and the two Morrisons jammed together on a twenty minute version of "Gloria".^[12] Hinton. 1997. p65-66Them headlined at the The Fillmore in San Francisco, California, and then in Hawaii where things began to go wrong and disputes broke out between band members and with management over financial arrangements. The band broke apart and Van Morrison and Alan Henderson returned to Belfast, while Ray Elliot and David Harvey decided to stay in America.^[13]
Van Morrison has said about the reason Them broke up: "There was no motive behind anything you did [back then]. You just did it because you wanted to do it and you enjoyed doing it. That's the way the thing started, but it got twisted somewhere along the way and everybody involved in it got twisted as well, including me." (1967) "You can't take something like that, put it in a box and place a neat little name on it, then try to sell it. That's what they tried to do. That's what killed Them.(1973)^[14]

Post Morrison

In mid 1966, Van Morrison left Them to pursue a successful solo career. The rest of the band continued on into the early 1970s, releasing four albums and touring steadily after relocating to California around 1967. Two of these post-Morrison albums, ''Now And Them'' and ''Time Out! Time In For Them'', found the band experimenting with psychedelia. Van Morrison went on to greater success and fame as a solo artist, but Them's combination of garage rock and blues proved a major influence on the next generation of rock musicians, and the group's best-known singles have become staples of rock and roll.
Them reunited briefly in 1979 without Morrison.

Acclaim

★ In January 2007, "Gloria" by Them was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

★ "Gloria" by Them was rated at #69 on Dave Marsh's 1989 book, ''The Heart of Rock and Soul, The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever'' and "Mystic Eyes" was rated at #458.^[15]

★ "Gloria" by Them was #208 on the 2004 Rolling Stone magazine's feature, The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Discography

★ The Angry Young Them - (1965) (with Van Morrison)

★ Them Again - (1966) (with Van Morrison)

★ Now And Them - (1968)

★ Time Out! Time In For Them - (1968)

★ The World of Them (1970) (UK Decca- PA/SPA-86) (with Van Morrison)

★ Them In Reality - (1971)

★ Belfast Gypsies - (1978)

★ Shut Your Mouth - (1979)

EP

★ Them - (1984) UK #5 (with Van Morrison)

Singles

★ Don't Start Crying Now/One Two Brown Eyes - (1964) (with Van Morrison)

★ Baby, Please Don't Go/Gloria - (1965) UK #10 (with Van Morrison)

★ Here Comes the Night/All For Myself - (1965) UK #2 (with Van Morrison)

★ One More Time/How Long Baby - (1965) (with Van Morrison)

★ (It Won't Hurt) Hald As Much/I'm Gonna Dress In Black - (1965) (with Van Morrison)

★ Mystic Eyes/If You And I Could Be As Two - (1966) US #33 (with Van Morrison)

★ Call My Name/Bring 'em On In - (1966) (with Van Morrison)

★ I Can Only Give You Everything/Don't Start Crying Now - (1966) (with Van Morrison)

★ It's All Over Now Baby Blue/I'm Gonna Dress in Black - (1966) (with Van Morrison)

★ Richard Cory/Don't you Know - (1966) (with Van Morrison)

★ Friday's Child/Gloria - (1967) (with Van Morrison)

★ The Story Of Them, Part 1/The Story Of Them, Part 2 - (1967) (with Van Morrison)

Personnel

(April 1964 - January 1965)	★ Van Morrison - lead vocals ★ Alan Henderson - bass ★ Billy Harrison - guitar ★ Ronnie Millings - drums (until 12/64) ★ Eric Wrixon - keyboards (except 6/64-12/64) ★ Patrick "John" McAuley - keyboards, drums (after 6/64)
(January 1965 - April 1965)	★ Van Morrison - lead vocals ★ Alan Henderson - bass ★ Billy Harrison - guitar ★ Jackie McAuley - drums ★ Patrick "John" McAuley - keyboards
(May 1965 - July 1965)	★ Van Morrison - lead vocals ★ Alan Henderson - bass ★ Billy Harrison - guitar ★ Patrick "John" McAuley - drums ★ Peter Bardens - keyboards
(July 1965 - August 1965)	★ Van Morrison - lead vocals ★ Alan Henderson - bass ★ Joe Boni - guitar ★ Peter Bardens - keyboards ★ Terry Noon - drums
(September 1965 - April 1966)	★ Van Morrison - lead vocals ★ Alan Henderson - bass ★ Jim Armstrong - guitar ★ Ray Elliot - keyboards, saxophone ★ John Wilson - drums ★ ★ Eric Wrixon - keyboards for a few shows in September 1965
(April 1966 - September 1966)	★ Van Morrison - lead vocals ★ Alan Henderson - bass ★ Jim Armstrong - guitar ★ Ray Elliot - keyboards, saxophone ★ Dave Harvey - drums ★ ★ Sammy Stitt - drums (briefly in September 1966)
(September 1966 - October 1966)	★ Van Morrison - lead vocals ★ Eric Bell - guitar ★ Joe Hanratty - drums ★ Mike Brown - bass ★ ★ Alan Henderson - second bass for a couple shows
(1966-1967)	★ Kenny McDowell - lead vocals ★ Alan Henderson - bass ★ Jim Armstrong - guitar ★ Ray Elliot - keyboards, saxophone ★ Dave Harvey - drums
(1968)	★ Kenny McDowell - lead vocals ★ Alan Henderson - bass ★ Jim Armstrong - guitar ★ Dave Harvey - drums ★ ★ Johnny Guerin - drums (studio sessions)

Notes

1. Rogan, No Surrender, pp. 79-83
2. Turner, Too Late to Stop Now, pp. 48-51
3. Turner, Too Late to Stop Now, p.51
4. Heylin, Can You Feel the Silence, pp. 100-101
5. Rogan, No Surrender, pp. 108-111
6. Turner, Too Late to Stop Now, pp.51-52
7. Rogan, No Surrender, pp. 111-112
8. Heylin, Can you Feel the Silence?, p.104
9. Hinton 1997 .p53
10. Heylin, Can You Feel the Silence, p. 105
11. Hinton, Celtic Crossroads, p. 65
12. Van Morrison Website (Unofficial) The Doors
13. Hinton. 1997. pp69-54
14. Heylin, Can You Feel the Silence, p. 112
15.

References

★ Heylin, Clinton (2003). Can You Feel the Silence? Van Morrison: A New Biography, Chicago Review Press ISBN 1-55652-542-7

★ Hinton, Brian (1997). Celtic Crossroads: The Art of Van Morrison, Sanctuary, ISBN 1-86074169X

★ Rogan, Johnny (2006). Van Morrison:No Surrender, London:Vintage Books ISBN 9780099431831

★ Turner, Steve (1993). Too Late to Stop Now, Viking Penguin, ISBN 0-670-85147-7

External links

★ Them the Band tripod.com