Tiny’s biography

Tony Powles...

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I joined ‘The Highwaymen’ shortly after leaving school, standing in on drums as their drummer couldn’t make early starts on Fridays.

Following on from that I joined the band on a permanent basis as rhythm guitarist. We won a few contests, cut some demo discs and passed and audition at the famous 2i’s Coffee Bar in London for the opportunity to go to Germany and play the clubs, but owing to managerial problems we never made it. We changed the name to ‘The 13th Hour’ but disbanded about a year later.

Shortly after that, Alan Cannell, Graham Fulcher (Highwaymen colleagues) and I formed a trio called ‘Chattanooga Trio’. We played a few pubs in Norwich before going our separate ways again.

I then formed a band called ‘Dougal’s Roundabout’, this must have been around 1967. In 1969 we changed the name to ‘Regency’ and commenced what turned out to be a three-year stint playing three nights a week (Friday to Sunday) at The Manor House on Norwich’s Drayton Road (now a Lidl’s supermarket). At this time we were playing mainly material by Cliff and The Shadows. After The Manor House days we went on to be a functions band, covering a wide range of material, doing summer seasons, village halls and hotels etc, this was to last for over 30 years.

During my years with Regency I had a short spell with ‘East Coast Rock’ but shortly before they turned professional I returned to Regency. By this time I had family commitments and was not prepared to be away from home for weeks at a time. As I still very much enjoyed playing Cliff and The Shadows stuff and the position was left open for me, I rejoined them and it was back to The Manor for me.

There were a couple of name changes early on, for a while ‘The Drifters’ and also ‘First Impressions’. As The Drifters we played mainly Norwich pubs. Around 1974, as First Impressions we performed at The Theatre Royal, Norwich for a week.

The name soon reverted back to ‘Regency’ and we enjoyed great success. Amongst many other things we were the resident band at Broad Farm, Fleggburgh and at The Newport Club. Regency finally disbanded in 2000.

After a short break I was offered a position with ‘The Sabres’, a well-established functions band fronted by Tony Cater.

Following on from The Sabres, Tony offered me the position of guitarist in a new 60s harmony group to be called ‘The Peppermint Men’. Following discussions and rehearsals, the band was formed and a new era has begun.

The above are some of the musical things I have done over the past 45 years as best as I can remember. My other interest in music is playing the drums and I have had some great times doing the odd stand-in here and there, as and when my permanent band commitments would allow.

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