The Storyof Mirkwood as recalled by Jack Castle.

At the heart of Mirkwood, is the relationship between Mick Morris and myself, Jack Castle. We first met at the Grammar School in Dover in the mid 50's. We have remained close friends ever since, and still meet often.
Inspired by bands like Buddy Holly, Rick Nelson, and The Shadows, Mick and I played lead guitar in, and created, a series of rival rock bands in Dover. These included, the Dover version of the Rolling Stones, the Vikings, The Playboys, and Carl and the Invaders. Eventually we teamed up, when Mick invited me to join a band called Take Five. This was essentially a covers band featuring excellent vocal harmonies. We were very successful, but soon began to look for something more creative and challenging.
After many hours of discussion (mostly in the pub!) we decided to create something new. We were influenced by bands like, 'Yes', Deep Purple,' and 'Queen'. We had considerable vocal ability, and were used to writing harmony parts. Take Five, for example, was one of the few bands in the area able to perform the Beach Boys 'Good Vibrations' live on stage. This vocal prowess was to be retained, and fused with double lead guitar playing. The idea of twin leads was inspired by the playing of Wishbone Ash, and the Eagles. Both Mick and I were widely recognised as two of the best guitarists in the area. The epic compositions of Yes, provided the influence for the creation of original writing in several movements. I recall being completely blown away after watching Yes perform 'Yours is No Disgrace' on Top of the Pops. We decided that Mirkwood would only play original progressive rock.

First, a word about me, and my songs on the album, before I turn to the other band members. It turned out that I was the more prolific songwriter. I would often come home from my job as an industrial chemist, sit down just before the band was due to meet, and write a song in time for the rehearsal. I have always written poetry, and found that I had a natural ability to produce original songs. I would often write four or five, and then choose the best one. It was this ability to know which songs would make the grade, and to weed out the poor ones, that was vital. Looking back it was one of the most creative times of my life

The songs on the Mirkwood album were some of the first written.
'Loves Glass of Sunshine', was the first epic song I wrote, featuring four part vocal harmonies, several movements, double lead guitar passages, and extended rock guitar solos. The words to 'Loves Glass' were written in an abstract style to create images and colours, to try and capture the tensions of teenage love. They make no literal sense, yet still convey a deep message. The second epic I wrote was 'Lavendula', this is the Latin name for Lavender. I happened to be reading a gardening book, and the phrase Lavendula. Coming to ya… seemed to write itself!!
The idea was to contrast the romantic images of love associated with lavender, with the rough and tough world of young love. Once more the song featured the vocal harmonies, fast guitar, slow double lead that was becoming our trademark. Perhaps the most professional sounding song on the album is 'Just Because'. This has a Nirvana like riff, underneath a simple but effective harmony duet between Derek and I. The words are a sad plea of a hard young man, who is looking for something more than violence in his life. The result is tight, and professional, even though its not my favourite song. The song, 'Clockwise' was always a favourite in the pubs. Its really a story about me. At that time a young man living in suburbia, but longing to live in the mountains or the Lakes or Scotland. I just hate cities, and the clockwise idea tries to capture the dizzy nausea I get from London traffic.
'Take my Love', is a simple blues-rock song. I really wrote it as a filler, to get some up-tempo rock into the programme. The guitar solo is me, its too long, and the treble is too way up…you should hear me play it now!! The mystery song on the album is, 'The Vision'. I really cannot remember how I came to write such a strange quasi religious song, or what its about. I'm afraid I do not like it much either!!!
The sad thing for me is that so many of my best songs never got recorded. As we gained experience, the music became better and better, and even more advanced. For example two of my most successful songs, 'Father to Son', and '360 to Repent', featured unaccompanied vocal harmony intro's followed by blistering double lead intro's over chords that ascended in semi-tones over a nine four beat! I suppose I must have written more than forty songs for the band. Two of these, 'On my Mind', and 'Softly raining', were beautiful sad ballads, that Derek Bowley, our lead vocalist sang with wonderful feeling. Whenever we played they were always the most requested songs. I have little doubt that they are world-class ballads, modesty was never one of my good points!
Let me say a word about Mick Morris. Whilst I made most of the creative song writing input, Mick was at the heart of the band. He is a wonderfully talented musician, and could play everyone else's instrument. This included drums, piano, sax, you name it and Mick would play it. He could always provide the answer to any musical challenge that arose. Mick is also a wonderfully unselfish player, and would always do the right thing for the band and its sound. Whilst my own guitar playing was rock and blues influenced, Mick's early heroes were jazz players. You can hear this in the solo Mick plays over the minor seventh passage in 'Just Because', which I think is easily the best guitar solo on the album. Mick is also an excellent lead singer with the ability to put in all those little vocal tricks that make it sound professional. 'The Leech'

Derek Bowley is a superb singer in my view, with wonderful tonality, power and accuracy. Usually Derek sang the main tune, Mick the next or middle harmony, with me mostly providing the high falsetto over the top. In my view the album does not due justice to the vocal harmonies, with the right effects, the band could be stunning. We usually had two practices in a week. On Fridays we would carry all our gear to Ringwould Village Hall, and rehearse the whole band. The acoustics there were terrible, and when the volume got up, you could hardly hear anything. We would console ourselves with a pint in the local pub. Mid week, Derek, Mick and I would usually meet at Mick's house to rehearse the vocal harmony. We would spend hours over chords, and harmonies to ensure we were singing correct musical triads. These were always relaxed, enjoyable evenings, and were the key to the band's success.

The original bass player was Andy Broadbent, who was replaced by D.Evans. D.'s playing was always accurate and reliable. He had some superb equipment, probably the best in the band. I recall that Deep Purples bass player was one of D.'s influences. D. also did the day-to-day management of the band, handling the accounts and bookings with infinite care and patience. Our first drummer was Steve Smith. Steve joined us when he was only 15 or 16, and in my view was a genius on drums. I remember he just sat a practiced 24 hours a day. Often Steve would play a drum solo as part of the long gigs. I recall that his bass pedal work was so fast that several other rival drummers accused him of not using one! By the time we made this album Steve had already left to go professional. His replacement in the band was Nick Headon, who later joined The Clash. Mick and I recruited Nick into the band, giving him his first real chance to play rock live at the big local venues like Leas Cliff Hall. I can recall a young Nick sitting in his front room with his drums when Mick and I auditioned him. He was absolutely delighted to join the band. Nick was also an amazingly good player for his age.

I suppose our best nights were at the Louis Armstrong pub in Dover, or L.A. This pub was the definitive musicians place to play, and was run by Bod and Jackie Bowles. Their first love was trad, jazz, but they supported us throughout. We ended up playing every Friday night. The pub was often packed to the hilt, and we had a very loyal band of supporters. As a songwriter it was wonderful to hear members of the audience shouting out the names of songs I had written. I remember that after playing and drinking to the small hours we would be so hot and sweaty that we made our way down to Dover beach for a swim. On one occasion I was so far gone that I was rescued and dragged up the beach by a passing troop of scouts, bound for the ferry!! In the end we played our farewell gig at the Louis, and I especially remember how Bod Bowles gave a speech thanking us for all the times we'd appeared at the pub, Mick's got it on tape and it still means a lot. Unfortunately Bod passed away some years back, but Jackie is still running the pub, giving bands a chance. The LA and its story deserves a book of its own.

The Mirkwood album was recorded in my house, in Bewsbury Crescent, Whitfield, near Dover. In effect it was sung and played live. There were no tricks, or special effects, we just sat in a circle and played and sang the numbers. Ron Nunn operated a simple reel-to-reel recorder nearby. I recall that I played a Burns short scale guitar; unfortunately I had very poor effects. The distortion sound in particular comes over as far too loud and treble, though I don't recall it sounding that bad when we played live!! In my defence I can only say the solos went down a storm when we played on stage. There was one interesting moment when after the third try, we had managed to play Lavendula correctly right through. Then the phone rang and we had to start again.

Perhaps I should also say a thank you to my wife Jane for her endless support of a fanatical musician. I still play live, but live in South Wales. I do a virtuoso rock guitar act playing Joe Satriani and the rest. If only I had played then, as I play now! Mick's wife Maggie, and Jane would come to most of the gigs, and they must have sat through hundreds. I recall that on one occasion when we were auditioning drummers in the lounge of my Whitfield house, Jane's skills as a trained nurse were put to the test. There was one very over weight drummer, who set out to play at a pace twice as fast as the band. It turned out that he could not breathe and play the drums at the same time! He simply held his breath. After several verses he got faster and faster, eventually collapsing over his drum kit, cutting open his hand which bled profusely over our lounge carpet. Despite our best attempts to remain professional, Mick and I were convulsed with laughter, while Jane revived him and bandaged his hand. He did not get the job!!

I do feel that there were times when the early Mirkwood line up should have gone professional, and that the strength of our songs and musicianship could have carried us along way. In my case I had a degree in Chemistry and a top job with an American multinational company, so throwing that lot away seemed foolish. Looking back I'm not so sure! We had a better set than many of the progressive bands that made it. I guess we always worried about the money, and we made very little. Yet in the end money was not the constraint, it was time, and the time has passed. I know Mick and I hope that someone out there is still listening to the album, and perhaps it conjures up those hot summer nights in the Louis Armstrong. Thanks to all our friends, especially Ron Nunn, and Bod and Jackie Bowles. Also to the musicians that contributed to the Mirkwood story.

Jack Castle April 2004-04-14