Salford’s long association with the music biz is well recorded, but one of the most unusually-named bands tipped for success in May 1965 also had a local legend in its line-up.
The Eccles and Patricroft Journal’s music journalist ‘Tempo’ reported that local beat combo Karl’s Marals were sure to break through to chart success.
The band were made up of singer Brian Gilbert, 18, a chef from Urmston, while his brother Geoff took on management duties.
Lead guitarist was 19-year-old Ray Summers from Ellesmere Park, on bass was Bob Cartwright, 21, from Patricroft, while drumming duties fell to Ray Adams, 19, from Salford.
Tempo reported – hilariously – that Geoff could play the rhythm guitar “a bit”.
But their ace in the hole was a 17-year-old rhythm guitarist by the name of ‘Ray Mosley’ (sic) from Winton.
Could this be Roy Mozley who went onto solo fame as a musician and group manager but was even better known for being the owner of The Talk of the North nightclub after Joe Pullen retired?
Watch: Fab cabaret history with the Talk of the North
We find out the group got its unusual name from the days when ‘Karl’ (Brian Gilbert) played in a group called ‘Karl and the Vampires’ and the instrumentalists came from a group called ‘The Emeralds’ thus ‘Karl’s Marals’ they merged the two names together and voila! That strange name.
The band were reported to have over a £1,000 worth of equipment and could play a three to four-hour set without repeating any numbers, mainly rhythm and blues and ballads, which is some going.
I loved the description of their stage wear which we learn was leather waistcoats and dark clothing, racy stuff!
Ray (or Roy as we think it is) displayed an early understanding of how the press worked, giving ‘Tempo’
a couple of great quotes, including: “If you play a resident spot night after night, you get sick of the crowd and the crowd get sick of you.
“Like everybody else we want to make a lot of money but we will not be turning professional just yet, we think its a bit dodgy at the moment.
Following in the footsteps of that little-known troupe named the Beatles, Roy reckoned Germany was the place to be.
“If we can get six months [there] then we might consider turning professional after that.”
SalfordOnline.com this week spoke to Roy Mozley, now 67, who confirmed our suspicions that he was indeed the Karl’s Marals rhythm guitarist.
He told us: “I was in the band for about two years and they were really excellent musicians.
“We supported many bands including The Hollies and The Four Pennies and played all over the country, getting rebooked at almost every venue we played.
“I decided to go to Germany with another band called Zebeedes Crowd, and sadly I can’t tell you the things that they got up to, I’ll leave it to your imagination – let’s just say it was an experience!”
If you ever saw Karl’s Marals live or you have any more information about the band I would love to hear from you: email tonyflynn@salfordonline.com
Main image © Martin O’Neill
