The Searchers from Liverpool are considered by many rock and roll music fans to be second only to the fab four in creativity and sophistication in their music,out of dozens and hundreds of groups who came out of Merseyside in the wake of the release of the Beatles' "Love Me Do/P.S.I Love You" in 1962. The group was put together by school friends and fledgling guitarists John McNally and Mike Pender in 1956. MaNally and Pender named their group "The Searchers" after the title of an American John Ford western. They eventually added Tony Jackson on Bass and Chris Curtis on Drums. Jackson handled most of the lead singing. Chris Curtis introduced the arrangements of 3 and 4 part harmony into The Searchers' sound and he was a very good songwriter too.
The Searchers gigged in Liverpool where they finally became house band in 1962 at The Iron Door which was around the block from The Cavern where The Beatles were in residence. The Searchers were beginning to get noticed and they were sometimes publicized as "rivals" to the Beatles even though the early sixties music they played did to some extent,owe an occasional stolen riff or idea to the Beatles. Well,I'm all for artiness. Yet rock doesn't have to be progressive. But if it's going to go ahead and be arty and progressive,as I said,The Searchers were second only to The Beatles out of all The Liverpool groups in creativity. The group developed it's sound more and more and they seemed to mainly contrast ballad songs with the 3 and 4 part harmonies I mentioned with very lively Merseybeat Rockers. The Searchers were sometimes accused of ripping off The Byrds for their slower,more ballady riffs. Nobody took that seriously,because most of these songs I'm talking about were recorded by the group at least a year before The Byrds ever recorded!
Frank Allen tells a story about The Searchers' recording session for The Jackie DeShannon song "When You Walk In The Room". Frank says neither Mike Pender or John Mcnally had an electric 12 string guitar handy and the 12 string guitar sound you hear on the 45 single of this is a six string electric electronically enhanced on studio equipment to sound like a 12 string! It is generally known that Jackie DeShannon wrote the song for John Lennon who she got to know well when she was invited along to be in the entourage on The Beatles American Tours. The Searchers were managed by Tito Burns. Burns is on camera for a breif appearance in "Don't Look Back",D.A. Pennebaker's movie documentary of Bob Dylan's 1965 tour of England. In 1963 The Searchers landed a contract with PYE records and they released "Sugar and Spice". It was a smash hit for The Searchers.
In the initial wake of The Beatles,The Rolling Stones and The British Invasion,The group's American label Kapp issued "Needles and Pins" in the late spring of 1964. The song was written in the closing weeks of 1963 by Jack Nitsche and Sonny Bono. The song's overall melody and structure were very British Invasion in nature,even though Nitsche and Bono were Americans. But at that time they had early information about the British Invasion! So "Needles and Pins" became a big record in The United States. The group toured here and played Ed Sullivan. In July Kapp issued The group's cover of The Clovers 1956 hit "Love Potion #9". Both "Needles and Pins" and "Love Potion #9" were huge hits in The USA and they each one stayed in the charts for a long time. It was in June of 1964 that Tony Jackson left The Searchers to join a group called The Vibrations. Frank Allen replaced him. So it was Mike Pender,Chris Curtis,John Mcnally,and Frank Allen. Tony was a fine bass player and he handled most of the lead vocals,but I'll say that Frank Allen turned out to be a very exceptional replacement. The lion's share of the lead vocal chores got shifted over to Mike Pender,who was also the more dominant of the two guitarists,Mike and John Mcnally.
The group had one more major chart hit in America after "Love Potion #9". It was the somber mid-tempo "Bumble Bee". They continued to sell records in America,including "When You Walk Into The Room" and other singles yet of these singles I'm talking about all of them including "What Have They Done To The Rain" "Take me For What I'm Worth" "He's Got No Love" "Take It Or Leave It" "I Don't Want To Go On Without You" "I Pretend I'm With You" "Don't Throw Your Love Away" charted much,much higher in the UK and Europe and some of them made number 1. It's only one opinion. People can disagree but I think the Searchers' best American release albums were "Live At The Star Club" on Mercury and "Searchers #4" on Kapp. Normally,i really don't care stink-weed if a record or CD is in Mono or Stereo. I mean it doesn't make much difference,I mean does it ?! Hell no! But the Mono/Stereo variations on the various issues of the "Searchers #4" materiel are pretty interesting. "Live At The Star Club" is superb in simple and loud mono.
Drummer Chris Curtis left The Searchers in the spring of 1966. What followed was a whole succession of different drummers coming and going from the Searchers. They were all of them very good musicians. A May 1966 episode of German TV's "Beat Beat Beat" shows Frank,Mike and John doing incredible versions of "Sweets For My Sweet" "Love Potion #9" "Jenny Take A Ride" with a new drummer. There were problems for The Searchers in 1967. Tito Burns was forced to throw in the towel as The Searchers' manager. He was also in concert promotion and laws were enacted in 1967 in England which stated that you couldn't be a group manager if you were also in concert promotion. The Searchers continued to tour and record. Frank Allen says the late 60s and the early 70s were lean years for The Searchers. The general public almost forgot about The Searchers. They continued on playing dives and an occasional oldies show.
The group's fortunes changed for the better at the close of the 70s. There were rockers at that time including Carl Perkins, The Ramones, Link Wray, Ronnie Spector, Bruce Springsteen,Roy Orbison,Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bo Diddley, Ruth Brown, Little Richard, The Everly Bros.,Patti Smith, Blondie, Tom Petty, The Cars who served to give Top 40 Radio a second wind for a few years. It was incredible. It was at that time The Searchers were signed to Sire Records with Dave Edmunds producing. It was wonderful. The guys played all of their old songs in concert yet they existed as a modern rock band! It wasn't oldies or nostalgia! So in the late 70s and the early 80s The Searchers did two vinyl albums and a handful of catchy and charming singles. Nobody could hold a candle to them as a concert rock and roll band.
Things were looking up for The Searchers. Then came something no one expected. Mike Pender left The Searchers right after the two Sire albums and started his own "Mike Pender's Searchers". Freinds and fans alike are still puzzled by this move of Mike's. Perhaps other people in booking,recording and management had offered him more money. I just don't know. Reactions to "Mike Pender's Searchers" in concert are mixed. People have come away from the shows saying it was "the best concert I've ever been to". Some people have come away saying it's embarrassing that Mike employs a band of Searchers lookalikes or clones and that Mike and the new group play everything exactly like the record. The group brought in Spencer James from the English midlands to replace Mike Pender. Spencer brought his own touches to the job and never tried to imitate Mike. VHS tapes and DVDs from throughout the 80s and the 90s show The Searchers in very exciting form. They recorded an EP in 1988 and it yielded a hit in the form of a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Hungry Heart".
The Searchers don't rule out that they will record again if they are given their choice of producers and songwriters. The group's present lineup consists of John Mcnally(Guitar and Vocal)Spencer James(Guitar and Vocal)Frank Allen(Bass and Vocal)Scott Ottaway(Drums and Vocal). The Searchers are older than William Frawley and Edgar Buchanan combined and they keep on going. Sadly,three former members of the group have passed away-Chris Curtis, Tony Jackson and Billy Adamson. The Searchers are self managed,John handles all business negotiations and Frank does all the promo stuff and press relations. That's the Searchers,the British Invasion's longest lasting original group for over 50 years since 1956!
THE SEARCHERS VIDEOS
https://www.youtube/watch?v=nplsBnJUSl (When You Walk In The Room)
https://www.youtube/watch?v=vhvYb2g4-C(Hearts In HerEyes)
https://www.youtube/watch?v=wBMw6lF1uJg(Don't Throw Your Love Away)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZgUWJKH0mY(What I Say)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrcONXl9yZA(Love Potion # 9,Sweets For My Sweets,--Jenny Take A Ride)
https://www.youtube/watch?v=qOQaFKLGZ(He's Got No Love)
