As said in part (1), the real start of The Roulettes had never been told correctly till my article published in Shindig 84 of October 2018. By conveniently – but erroneously - starting the band’s story in May 1962 rather than September 1961 (see part 1), all encyclopaedia and sites argue that The Roulettes were formed to provide Adam Faith with a sound that would allow him to compete with ‘the new sound’, read: Merseybeat. Quite a ridiculous statement…

1 The unsigned band
This statement reveals a shocking lack op pop knowledge. In May 1962 – when The Roulettes are aid to be formed - The Beatles were an unsigned band and their first single, ‘Love Me Do, only made a swift chart appearance at the end of the year. The Beatles scored their first no. 1 with ‘From Me To You’ in April 1963, following up on Gerry and the Pacemakers (‘How Do You Do It?’, no. 1 in March) and preceding Brian Poole & The Tremeloes, The Searchers, Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas, and The Swinging Blue Jeans. In  the first half of 1963, acts like Maureen Evans, Frank Ifield and Kenny Ball were still making sales managers happy and the tougher variant of the new beat met with moderate success, e.g. power trio The Big Three’s Some Other Guy’ (no. 37 in March) or The Rolling Stones’ debut single ‘Come On’ (June, no. 21).  

2 From Strangers to Roulettes
Second, The Roulettes first hit the stage with Adam Faith on 17th September 1961, when Merseybeat was a local underground phenomenon at best, with most Liverpool bands having to earn their livelihood in a German port rather than their hometown. Peter Thorp (°1944) should know, since it was it was his band that became The Roulettes overnight, as told in part (1).
Peter Thorp: “No, The Roulettes were not formed to cope with a new sound, because there was no ‘new sound ‘ then. I very well remember the first time we heard about The Beatles: we were on a train with Adam Faith on the way to Truro for a gig and The Beatles had just released ‘From Me To You’ (no. 1 in May 1963). I remember Adam Faith stating that The Beatles would never make it in the States, because the Americans had so many good groups. He thought it was like taking coals to Newcastle!’.

Adds drummer Bob Henrit: ‘Towards the end of 1962, our bass-player John Rogers came to my parents’ house with a white record label by a new band  called The Beatles, who had finally got into the EM studios to record a single’.

3 Variety first

Third objection: in September ’61 – when The Roulettes were really formed - Adam Faith simply wasn’t preoccupied with a new approach. The King of the Pizzicato String was still riding high in the charts while doubling as a successful film actor: though less successful than ‘Beat Girl’ (October 1960), the comedy ‘What A Whopper’ indirectly confirmed  Faith’s star status when the movie song ‘The Time Has Come’ (written by Les Vandyke again) was chosen as a single and went straight to number 4 in October 1961.  

Adam Faith wasn’t even considering a new direction in May 1962 – the presumed take-off of The Roulettes. He was, in fact,  immersed in variety and all-entertainment shows and summer seasons.
Says drummer Bob Henrit (°1944): ‘When I joined The Roulettes early May 62, I replaced a guy called Jeff Morley, whom I don’t ever recall meeting.  It wasn’t a formal audition and I was the only contender. I turned up to play with Adam Faith at the Bristol Hippodrome for a week in variety and simply played through the intros and outros of the songs in his show in the afternoon. I was on two weeks’ trial and for the second week we moved on to another week in a provincial theatre immediately.  I’m pretty sure we played ten successive weeks in variety theatres around Britain one after another. It was traditional variety. I backed penny whistle man Des Lane who danced while playing jigs. Also on stage was a fine comedian and trumpet player by the name of Don Arroll and ‘special act’ called Rondart and Jean: on blew darts out of his mouth at his wife Jean who held a balloon or cigarette between her teeth. For Christmas 1962, we were all booked into pantomime at the Bournemouth Pavillion where we all played in Emile Littler’s  production of Aladdin. The bill didn’t read The Roulettes but Adam Faith’s musicians, but whoever we were we acted as Chinese policemen or emperor guards...’.

Peter Thorp, guitarist: ‘We were sort of made to be what we were as a band by Adam Faith and his management. They told us what to do and we had no say in what we wore or how we looked – we were always in smart suits and jackets’.
Bob Henrit: ‘And it wasn’t just us, it was everybody apart from The Stones who would come on a bit later. You must remember that was the era the all-round entertainer and it didn’t matter whether you were in The Roulettes, The Hollies or The Beatles for that matter. You were expected to put on a show and so we did variety, pantomime, summer seasons – it wasn’t just to do with what you could play’.

Nothing much had changed when John ‘Mod’ Rogan joined in May 1963: Faith and his management wanted all-round material and the ‘Mod’ certainly was. He could do more than play the bass...
John ‘Mod’ Rogan: ‘They needed a replacement for John Rogers real quick and when I auditioned they asked what I could do and I replied: tap dancing, ballet, play the saxophone and the violin – suddenly adding ‘I’m a ventriloquist, you should come and see us’. I don’t know why I said that ventriloquist bit, but it was the only thing that wasn’t true!’.

In short, there was no new sound to deal with and The Roulettes certainly were not hired to come up with one. Their boss Adam Faith had other worries on his mind.

© Eddy Bonte, based on research and my group interview with Roulettes Peter Thorp, Bob Henrit, Russ Ballard and John ‘Mod’ Rogan conducted at Russ Ballard’s home on Thrusday 15th December 2016. My article on The Roulettes appeared in Shindig! Magazine no. 84 of October 2018 (as edited by Andy Morten)  www.shindig-magazine.co.uk