I spent a few years running my own Radio and TV business in Clacton but when finances became tight in the early 70’s I had to wind up the business and took up inshore fishing for a while. In 1973 I joined HM Coastguard. I worked my way up to a senior rank, stationed at operations centres in Clacton, Walton on Naze, Dover, Stornoway, Oban and Mumbles (Swansea); and head of IT for the CG service based at CG HQ in Southampton, before finally retiring as Regional Inspector for the UK Western Region in 2001. I still do some IT consultancy work to keep the old brain ticking over!
I gave up playing in a band when I married for the first time around. (Since then I remarried, but my second wife sadly passed away in 2023) Apart from occasionally sitting in with a group of like-minded musicians I have hardly ever played at all. These days, with the advent of new technology, and drum and bass machines, etc., there is little need for a geriatric bass player! I think the last time I actually ‘appeared’ on stage was sitting in with a rock band at a coastguard social event in Mallaig, west Scotland in the early ’90s, which somewhat shocked a few of my staff who had no previous idea of my former musical career!
Around the time I left The Martells, the band obtained a record contract with Decca Records. They released a single ‘Time to Say Goodnight’ c/w ‘The Cherry Song’. Both can be heard on YouTube.
Jack Jacobs:
Jack stayed with the Martells until 1983, when he left to concentrate on his music shop in Clacton called Magic Music, which he had been running since 1975.
In 2002 he sold the music shop and moved with his partner Chris to Spain. Until Covid put a stop to live music he was successfully gigging around the Riogordo-Andalucia area as a part of a duo called ‘Mr Sister’, with Portugese singer Anabela Melchior. He regularly put up some tracks up on his YouTube Channel too – well worth a listen. Sadly, Jack passed away in March 2025.
Roy Williams:
Roy left the Martells in 1970 being replaced by Jonny Pegg, but remained active around the local music scene. He formed a trio – The Roy Williams Trinity – and gigged locally in the East Anglia area. They made a couple of LPs – ‘A Touch of Class’ and ‘Good News In Town’ for the Hillside label in the late 1970s. Several of the tracks can be found on YouTube. (Sadly, Roy is no longer with us)
Dick Gunnell:
Dick stayed with ‘Curtiss and Co’ (which at that point comprised Dick, Dave, Rod Alexander and Mick Carter) for a while. In May 66 they obtained a contract for 2 weeks in Toulouse and subseqently went to Paris where – after a spell in a Paris club – they obtained a contract for 3 months in Dakar, Senegal. While they were there they were offered a further contract in Abidjan. Dave decided to go and went together with Mick and another guitarist who flew out to join them. Dick and Rod turned it down and returned to the UK, where they then reformed with Geoff Gordon (one of our previous Tremors drummers in the past) and another bass guitarist – Terry Hewitt, and returned to Dakar as ‘Les Plinns’ for a further 3 months at the Le Valinco Club.
After this contract the band split up and returned to the UK except Dick, who remained in Paris. He joined a Manchester band ‘Big Sound’, later to become ‘Big Wheel’, playing in Reunion, Mauritius and Spain. He then joined a multi-national 6 piece band – then playing bass guitar – and played all over Europe, retiring only recently. He is married with a French wife and lives in the South of France.
Dave Curtiss (Atkins):
After Abidjan, Dave worked for a while in Paris playing bass with various bands, including Vince Taylor’s Playboys and French artist Michel Polnaref. He at one point almost joined Deep Purple, and formed ‘Bodast’ in 1968 with Clive Maldoon, Steve Howe and Bobby Woodman Clarke. Bodast played a legendary show called the Pop Prom in 1968 at the Royal Albert Hall where they were on the bill with The Who, and acted as Chuck Berry’s backing band for the night.
Subsequently, in the early 70’s he wrote and recorded a single and an LP with Clive Maldoon as ‘Curtiss Maldoon’ Their work came to notice when Madonna’s 1998 hit “Ray of Light” used the lyrics from the duo’s track “Sepheryn” taken from their LP. Sadly Clive had died before this occurred.
Dave has since reverted to his real name – Atkins – and is still writing, performing and recording, see his blog at David Atkins Music…
Mick Carter:
Dave and Mick returned to Paris, and were together for a time backing Michel Polnaref. When this gig finished, Mick returned to the UK, having been recruited as drummer for the band ‘Fynn McCool’. The band recorded an album, and which was released in 1970 by RCA.
Geoff Gordon:
Geoff figures in several lineups of the bands over the years and is still playing. He played professionally until 1973 – his last gig was a year long cruise out of Miami – and then went semi-pro in Manchester, working with amongst other bands the Northern Dance Orchestra. He collects vintage Harley Davidson motorbikes and drum kits. He is still drumming, currently playing with Rebecca Chambers New Tricks (formerly The Dave Walton Quartet) in the Somerset area. Watch their video here…
Robin Garton (partner in Soundsgood Studios):
Robin is now semi-retired. He has been involved in cine film work since the 1960’s, and had his own Sound and Vision studio in the ’70s, and has filmed all over the world in numerous different film and video formats. He now does telecine and video transfer work as a part of his studio-based retirement. His website can be seen here…
Of the various Tremors, Martells etc., a few are no longer with us, so RIP
Jack Jacobs – Lead guitarist with The Tremors and The Martells
Vic Brown – original drummer with The Tremors
Roy Cribb – original bass player with The Tremors
Russell Loader – original vocalist with The Tremors
Roy Williams – drummer with The Tremors and The Martells
Jonny Pegg – drummer with The Martells
Terry Hewitt – bass player with ‘Les Plinns’
Clive Maldoon – Curtiss Maldoon
(Page last updated on 25th April 2025)