About
The story starts with a band from Hereford in the west of England called Silence. They were Stan Tippins (vocals), Mick Ralphs (guitar), Pete "Overend" Watts (bass), Dale "Buffin" Griffin (drums) and Terry Allen ("Phally") on the Organ.
The band went through various line-up changes, and were also known as the Doc Thomas Group at various stages. They played the usual dues-paying circuit of the pubs and clubs of England as well as Hamburg in Germany, but they had most success (such as it was) in Italy, where Stan became known as "the Sinatra of beat".
But they were going nowhere when Overend auditioned for the job of bass-player for a new Island band called Free. He didn't get the gig, but noticed that when they played, all of Free shook their heads, which resulted in Guy Stevens (their manager) also shaking his. Overend mentioned this to Mick Ralphs, who immediately travelled up to London to see Guy, armed with a demo tape of Silence they had made a few weeks earlier.
"I was so taken aback I asked him to sit down" recalled Guy, and he eventually agreed to audition them. The audition was to take place at a small upstairs studio, and Guy arrived a few days later to find these guys lugging a huge Hammond organ up the stairs. He decided "If they succeed, I don't care what they sound like - I'll sign them anyway!"
source: http://www.hunter-mott.com/history/mth_story.html
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