Golden Cartwheel'The Bleat of My Voice' c/w 'The Girl In The Fish & Chip Shop'. Released September 19th 1967. Eltham Records ELTH 9016439
David Waymering (Lead Vocals, Lead Guitar, Lead Organ, Lead Sitar, Lead Percussion, Backing Vocals), Mick Belcher (Bass), Kenneth Frutt (Drums), Sam Bent (Saxophone, Flute)
The story of this legendary psych group begins with Jeff Pheasant and the Feathers. Original bass player Mick Belcher: "We were one of a number of beat groups playing clubs in England and Hamburg. We were managed by Colin Smotherton. He came from posh farming stock. He had a few bands - The Beaks, Wayne Wicked & The Wattles - but Colin's main interest was alcohol".
Singer Jeff Pheasant was fired after a now legendary incident involving a groupie and a fish.
Mick Belcher: "We'd been playing a gig in Stoke-on-Trent and ended up at a tatty B&B overlooking a canal. Jeff had brought a couple of girls back for a bit of fun. He was a keen angler and so he decides to go fishing out the B&B window. After a couple of bottles of Double Diamond he gets a catch! Reels in a sick looking trout. Jeff's about to chuck it back when one of the women grabs it and stuffs it down her drawers for a laugh. That's when the landlady walks in".
Following the arrest of Pheasant, Smotherton placed an ad in Melody Maker for a new singer. "I saw the ad for 'Good looking musical genius' and it sounded exactly like me", says David Waymering. From his beachfront massage tent in Goa Waymering recalls that: "The Feathers were four thick lads from Derby. Colin realised they needed an inspirational leader to take them to the next level. And that was I".
Waymering's first move to was to change the group name to Golden Cartwheel. "It combined farming with the colour of my aura", says Waymering.
At Colin Smotherton's suggestion, Waymering and the band repaired to an old cottage on land owned by the Smotherton family. "There was no electricity, no running water and no furniture", remembers Belcher. " It was really, really horrible".
Waymering had great ambitions for his band. "I was creating completely original adventures in time and space. Majestic sounds, the music of stars and galaxies. I took those boys from Derby into my spaceship of adventure and they were my willing crew on an exploration of a new psychedelic universe".
Mick Belcher sees it slightly differently: "Colin and 'David' wanted to make a fast buck by leaping on the flower power bandwagon and riding it for as long as they could".
The band eventually had enough material to present to Eltham Records' A& R guru Guy Jones. Jones visited the band at their country retreat. "I was blown away, both by the music and the smell", says Jones. "There were farm animals in the kitchen. I found some chicken droppings in my coffee. But when they started playing - those funky keyboards, the dreamy flute, the zitherotron - it sent shivers up my back. Once I got over the eColi I signed them".
The band released a small batch of singles. The most successful was 'The Bleat of My Voice', which reached number 47 in the Pop Chart, despite being a spelling mistake.
"I was livid", says Waymering. "The title was 'The Beat of My Voice'. I refused to speak to anyone for four months".
Mick Belcher: "David went off in a huff so the rest of us formed The Thing and never looked back. Thirteen top ten hits, thank you very much". Does Belcher have any regrets? "Yes. When my accountant went through the paperwork for that period he found Smotherton had charged us rent for that poxy cottage..."
Though never as successful as The Thing, David Waymering still releases MP3s of chill out music as part of his work in Holistic Aztec Medicine and Organic Massage.
GOLDEN CARTWHEEL UK COLLECTABLES
ELTHAM ELTH 6745678 Prismic Kinship/Behold, It's Me (1967)....................................................40
ELTHAM ELTH 6745727 My World Is My Whole/Quintilliance (1967)............................................30
ELTHAM ELTH 6845734 The Bleat Of My Voice/Coddled Gold (1968) (with p/s)........................25/35
ELTHAM ELTLP 56438 Majestic Mind Man (LP, red rim label with bald shrew logo 1968)...........175
DAVID WAYMERING SOLO COLLECTABLES
WAYMERING WAY01 A FEAST OF ME (Foldout sleeve with photos of David 1969)........................6
THE THING COLLECTABLES
ELTHAM 6845786 Baby Smell Good/He's A Bloke (1968) (mono/stereo)..........................75/50
ELTHAM 6945588 Ee Ah Oh Oo Lu Lu/Skoolgurl, No! (1969) (banned pic slee..................50/80
ELTHAM 6945601 Wiggle It/Wiggle It Agane (1969)...............................................................45
The story of this legendary psych group begins with Jeff Pheasant and the Feathers. Original bass player Mick Belcher: "We were one of a number of beat groups playing clubs in England and Hamburg. We were managed by Colin Smotherton. He came from posh farming stock. He had a few bands - The Beaks, Wayne Wicked & The Wattles - but Colin's main interest was alcohol".
Singer Jeff Pheasant was fired after a now legendary incident involving a groupie and a fish.
Mick Belcher: "We'd been playing a gig in Stoke-on-Trent and ended up at a tatty B&B overlooking a canal. Jeff had brought a couple of girls back for a bit of fun. He was a keen angler and so he decides to go fishing out the B&B window. After a couple of bottles of Double Diamond he gets a catch! Reels in a sick looking trout. Jeff's about to chuck it back when one of the women grabs it and stuffs it down her drawers for a laugh. That's when the landlady walks in".
Following the arrest of Pheasant, Smotherton placed an ad in Melody Maker for a new singer. "I saw the ad for 'Good looking musical genius' and it sounded exactly like me", says David Waymering. From his beachfront massage tent in Goa Waymering recalls that: "The Feathers were four thick lads from Derby. Colin realised they needed an inspirational leader to take them to the next level. And that was I".
Waymering's first move to was to change the group name to Golden Cartwheel. "It combined farming with the colour of my aura", says Waymering.
At Colin Smotherton's suggestion, Waymering and the band repaired to an old cottage on land owned by the Smotherton family. "There was no electricity, no running water and no furniture", remembers Belcher. " It was really, really horrible".
Waymering had great ambitions for his band. "I was creating completely original adventures in time and space. Majestic sounds, the music of stars and galaxies. I took those boys from Derby into my spaceship of adventure and they were my willing crew on an exploration of a new psychedelic universe".
Mick Belcher sees it slightly differently: "Colin and 'David' wanted to make a fast buck by leaping on the flower power bandwagon and riding it for as long as they could".
The band eventually had enough material to present to Eltham Records' A& R guru Guy Jones. Jones visited the band at their country retreat. "I was blown away, both by the music and the smell", says Jones. "There were farm animals in the kitchen. I found some chicken droppings in my coffee. But when they started playing - those funky keyboards, the dreamy flute, the zitherotron - it sent shivers up my back. Once I got over the eColi I signed them".
The band released a small batch of singles. The most successful was 'The Bleat of My Voice', which reached number 47 in the Pop Chart, despite being a spelling mistake.
"I was livid", says Waymering. "The title was 'The Beat of My Voice'. I refused to speak to anyone for four months".
Mick Belcher: "David went off in a huff so the rest of us formed The Thing and never looked back. Thirteen top ten hits, thank you very much". Does Belcher have any regrets? "Yes. When my accountant went through the paperwork for that period he found Smotherton had charged us rent for that poxy cottage..."
Though never as successful as The Thing, David Waymering still releases MP3s of chill out music as part of his work in Holistic Aztec Medicine and Organic Massage.
GOLDEN CARTWHEEL UK COLLECTABLES
ELTHAM ELTH 6745678 Prismic Kinship/Behold, It's Me (1967)....................................................40
ELTHAM ELTH 6745727 My World Is My Whole/Quintilliance (1967)............................................30
ELTHAM ELTH 6845734 The Bleat Of My Voice/Coddled Gold (1968) (with p/s)........................25/35
ELTHAM ELTLP 56438 Majestic Mind Man (LP, red rim label with bald shrew logo 1968)...........175
DAVID WAYMERING SOLO COLLECTABLES
WAYMERING WAY01 A FEAST OF ME (Foldout sleeve with photos of David 1969)........................6
THE THING COLLECTABLES
ELTHAM 6845786 Baby Smell Good/He's A Bloke (1968) (mono/stereo)..........................75/50
ELTHAM 6945588 Ee Ah Oh Oo Lu Lu/Skoolgurl, No! (1969) (banned pic slee..................50/80
ELTHAM 6945601 Wiggle It/Wiggle It Agane (1969)...............................................................45
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