kingsize

Edward 'Ted' Taylor, called 'King Size' in a not-too-subtle allusion to his formidable appearance, was already a highly experienced member of the first music generation from Liverpool when he made his first trip to Hamburg. He and the Dominoes claimed, probably justifiably, that they were one of the very first rock bands in their hometown. It's a fact that they were the first Merseyside group to go on air at Radio Luxembourg. As was so often the case, the Dominoes reached back to the end of the Skiffle era. Both, Ted Taylor and Bobby Thompson were members of the James Boys Skiffle Group as early as 1957. The first real Dominoes group existed by the end of 1957, but only as a pure Rock'n'Roll band. Charlie Flynn and Sam Hardie belonged to the group, two names that would remain constant in the band's ever changing genealogical tree. The name King Size Taylor And The Dominoes is mentioned for the first time in 1960. That year, the musicians divided between the Dominoes and Ian And The Zodiacs.Drummer Cliff Roberts and Charlie Flynn choose the Zodiacs, with Flynn playing the bass and adopting Hamburg as his second home for years. Slowly the core of the Dominoes, as they were later known in Germany, formed. From the Spring of 1961, Taylor, Thompson and Hardy accompanied ex-Zodiacs Dave Lovelady and Priscilla White (better known as Cilla Black), and made it to 6th place in the Mersey Beat Popularity Poll '61. The Beatles won.In the summer of 1962, King Size Taylor And The Dominoes had their first guest engagement at the Star-Club. Their repertoire covered R&B, Blues, Rock'n'Roll and country. Yet again their line-up had changed. Bobby Thompson had joined Rory Storm And The Hurricanes a little earlier. He was replaced by Ken Shalliker. Cilla Black stayed in Liverpool, but the newly acquired rhythm guitarist and singer John Frankland accompanied them to Germany.King Size Taylor And The Dominoes caused a sensation at the Star-Club. When they returned home they took a contract for a return engagement with them. Drummer Dave Lovelady was a student and thus unwilling to become a professional musician, so he switched places with Brian Redman from the Fourmost. For the second Star Club engagement, which lasted three months, Bobby Thompson returned, too.During this time the heroes of many Liverpool groups played at the Star-Club: Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Fats Domino, Gene Vincent. They all performed there, sometimes for weeks at a time. Even real professionals like King Size Taylor And The Dominoes constantly matured under the influence of these stars, competing with other capable bands all the time, and thus perfecting their own style.After five months, Redman went to play for the Cascades. His successor was 17-year-old Gibson 'Gibbo' Kemp, who had already made a name for himself performing with the Memphis Three and as the replacement for Ringo Starr with Rory Storm And The Hurricanes. After an audition at the Iron Door Club in Liverpool, Kemp was invited to join the Dominoes. Ted Taylor retained a special license for his underage drummer in which he acted as some kind of guardian for Gibbo. Kemp's trip to Hamburg is representative of the experience of many of the young Brits who worked at the Star-Club during this time: "I wore my school uniform when I arrived in Hamburg. I had been on a plane for the first time, for the first time got into a cab and handed the driver a piece of paper with the address, and arrived. I believe it was a Saturday, at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. The performance started right away."In mid-1963 Howie Casey joined the Dominoes. Howie had already performed at the Kaiserkeller in Hamburg with Derry And The Seniors in 1960. Under the name of Howie Casey And The Seniors they were the first Liverpool group ever to make an LP. It was released in England in 1962. A single from that album, The Boll Weevil Song b/w Bony Moronie (Philips 'Twist im Star-Club' Vol. 5; 267290), was also released in Germany.Although the Seniors had ceased to exist, Howie travelled to Hamburg to promote the record. He was so impressed by the improved working conditions for rock musicians that he decided to stay on. With Howie Casey now with them, King Size Taylor And The Dominoes enjoyed their greatest success. The group, one of the pillars of the fast growing Star Club empire, started to make records on their own.In the August edition, #29 (September 12, 1963) 'Mersey Beat' reported: "King Size Taylor And The Dominoes, who have toured Germany for several months, returned a short while ago for a 10-day holiday to Liverpool. Their first single, 'Never In A Hundred Years', just now released in Germany, is hailed as 'the most fantastic record ever produced by a Liverpool group'. In Great Britain the record will be soon available on the Fontana label. During their stay in Hamburg the band accompanied several other artists at recording sessions. They performed on a record by Audrey Arno, one of the most frequently played records on German radio to date. The group's members told us that Cliff Bennett And The Rebel Rousers used three of their arrangements and that the new record of Bill Haley And The Comets is based on their arrangement of 'Dance With Mr. Domino'. 'Ever since Howie Casey joined us we are more successful than ever at the Star-Club,' said King Size, 'and the group's sound has very much improved.'Taylor and his crew drew storms of enthusiasm when performing live... and not only at the Star-Club and its counterparts, but at big venues such as the Ostseehalle in Kiel or the Deutschlandhalle in Berlin. They were admired and even copied by their colleagues, and appreciated as a backing band by the stars. Indeed, their first record, produced in Hamburg, sounds quite convincing, and King Size Taylor And The Dominoes performed on many records made by other artists.Paul Murphy, the legendary and infamous producer for Polydor, who, among others things was responsible for excellent recordings of Tony Sheridan and Alex Harvey, was the one who hired Ted Taylor's gang for different kinds of recordings. One of them was the single by Audrey Arno mentioned in 'Mersey Beat.' Individual members of the Dominoes also helped out at recordings. Ted Taylor and Howie Casey for example supported the ex-Beat Brothers drummer Tony Cavanaugh on a session for Decca. Taylor and Kemp are on the Polydor LP 'Alex Harvey And His Soul Band' and Kemp acted as drummer in several productions that were by-products from the Star-Club and the Top Ten.Although the Dominoes were under contract with Philips, Murphy had his eyes on the idea of recording them for Polydor. Since King Size Taylor And The Dominoes were obviously willing to try out anything, they soon reached an agreement. Under the pseudonym of the Shakers, the band's first LP was soon released with three singles drawn from that album, all on Polydor. Tony Sheridan had used similar methods. While under contract with Polydor, he recorded as a member of the Star Combo for Philips, reinventing his last name as Dan Sherry. After the Polydor recordings, Sam Hardy joined Sheridan and his often changing Beat Brothers to finally end up with the German-English Tramps.The Ariola recordings included here were done without a pianist. Scottish saxophonist Dave Woods was now in the line-up. The back liner of the (rare) Club-edition of the LP 'King Size Taylor And The Dominoes / Bobby Patrick Six' (Ariola 71764/65 IT) released on the Opera label, contained the following notes: mia bella Liverpool! In the thoroughly unromantic harbour city a brand new style element has emerged. This modern sound combines elements of Rock and Blues, this music seeks with its improvisations even the company of the meanwhile presentable Jazz. The guitars dominate in Liverpool just as they do in Bella Napoli."But in contrast to the Italian instruments the serenades of the Liverpool guitars are not sweet and sentimental but tight and iron-clad. Today the British harbour city seems to have a kind of monopoly on exporting young musicians who have developed a cheerful-aggressive style that got the Beatles even world wide fame. This distinct musicality can certainly be contributed to the large number of Irish - they are called the Italians of the North - among the population."Just as the Bobby Patrick Big Six, the formation King Size Taylor And The Dominoes is made up of six musicians (2 saxophones, 2 guitars, bass, percussion). Boisterous and with a seemingly boundless repertoire of hot rhythms, the so- called Beat music, as the musical output of the industrious groups who gather in Liverpool is called for short in English. The most successful representatives of this musical style are frequent guests at the Star Club in Hamburg. And it was there that we managed to ask the leader of the Dominoes, the guitarist King Size Taylor, how he got his somewhat unusual name. 'From a popular British comedy show,' answered the charming young man. 'King Size means something like very big. And Taylor is my real last name, which would be Schneider in German. I wish our success had been already cut-out for us, because these days it is really hard to make it to the top, even in Beat music. But - and I definitely want to stress that - we not only do Beat music but also play the music of the people of colour, you know, Rhythm And Blues, and of course Rock'n'Roll.'"The fact that on all Ariola releases Dominoes is spelled without an 'e' is eye-catching. But that is most probably due to the writing conventions in Germany. Curiously enough they forgot to put the 'e' back in on the English releases on Decca. Due to the constant personnel and the huge amount of performances, King Size Taylor And The Dominoes achieved an uncommonly solid sound. They competed with other top acts and were exposed to the world-class stars at the Star Club or on their tours. This made the band into a tremendously professional unit. Ted Taylor remarked about this to the 'Daily Express.' After more than 300 performances, he compared his stints at the club to his trade as a butcher: it was a meat grinder that turned average bands into presentable groups. Moreover he claimed in this interview that the so-called 'Liverpool sound' ought to be named 'Hamburg sound' since it had ripened in Hamburg. ('Daily Express' November 13, 1963).Comparable to Tony Sheridan, Lee Curtis, Ian And The Zodiacs and Bobby Patrick's Big Six, who were also resident bands at the Star-Club, King Size Taylor And The Dominoes 'buried' themselves in Germany. They were not in Great Britain enough, and in the mid-Sixties England was unquestionably the centre of the contemporary music business. They accompanied Chuck Berry on his first tour through the United Kingdom, although there were a few obstacles.They had planned the show thoroughly during rehearsal, but Chuck overturned the arrangements during the first performance. When Gibbo complained to Berry that he didn't stick to the recorded arrangements, Berry simply claimed that he had stuck to them, saying he would know because he was Chuck Berry!Still the tour was a resounding success. The fact the King Size Taylor And The Dominoes worked as accompanists for a star who had passed his prime, while other groups wrote their own music and created fashion trends, clearly synopsizes their situation at this time. Of course they were competent and extremely experienced, and this enabled them to accompany a moody musician like Chuck Berry in a professional manner. Justifiably, colleagues and experts on the music business alike paid enthusiastic compliments.Still, they didn't write their own songs, and none of them looked like a pop star. All of them except for Gibbo who came closest to the image of a teenage idol, wore their hair short. With their two saxophones, they came in no way close to the standard two guitars, bass, percussion set-up. They were simply a very fine but nevertheless old-fashioned Beat-Dance-band who looked like adults. Their out of date repertoire soon failed to appeal to the teenagers. They did well at the clubs, but could not score any hits. Their conformist suit-wearing underscored their out-of-date image.In the summer of 1964, internal quarrels ended with the Dominoes separating from Ted Taylor completely. The group went to Liverpool and acquired Paddy Chambers from the Big Three as their new lead guitarist and singer. Still nothing seemed to go quite right. When Bobby Thompson accepted the offer to join Cliff Bennett And The Rebel Rousers the Dominoes finally split up. Frankland, Kemp and Chambers founded the Eyes with the future actor Lewis Collins. It was a group which later turned into Paddy, Klaus And Gibson. Howie Casey joined the Pawns, performing several more times in Hamburg. Dave Woods disappeared from the scene.For a while Ted Taylor used existing groups like the Remo Four, the Big Six, the Tramps, and the Griff Parry Five to accompany him in Germany and in Great Britain, but in the fall of 1964 he decided to put together the New Dominoes. Together with the Dominoes' original drummer, Cliff Roberts, he recruited guitarist Baz Davies and bass player Kenny Rees, who were all from Liverpool. With this line-up, he returned to Germany. There, a North African who lived in Paris, Mamoud Hari, and Rolf- Roger 'Bömmel' Reich from Brunswick joined the band to play saxophones.According to Taylor, Hari had already been with the original Dominoes during their last days together. Howie Casey was supposed to have played the bass saxophone and Mamoud and Dave the tenor saxophone, creating a marvellous sound. Regretfully some events cannot be confirmed after all these years. There is no doubt though that Ted Taylor met 'Bömmel' Reich during his guest appearance at the Savoy in Braunschweig, where he had performed with the Black Devils in the pre-show. Taylor was impressed by the German band (which sounded lot like his own) and especially by the saxophone player. He offered 'Bömmel' a job but for a long time didn't get back to him. Finally, in the fall of 1965 he called and 'Bömmel' became a member of the New Dominoes.The career of the Black Devils is well documented. After they won the Star Club Band Competition in January 1965 they toured the Star-Clubs with a slightly changing line-up. 'Bömmel' was always with them. "Perhaps Ted was wrong and the final split up of the New Dominoes occurred later, especially since Reich can only recall a drummer called Don and I saw the New Dominoes perform with a German drummer."In 1966 Decca released Somebody's Always Trying b/w Look For My Baby, a King Size Taylor solo single in England. This single flopped, as did one released on Polydor in 1967, Let Me Love You b/w Thinkin'.Personally disappointed with show business, Ted 'King Size' Taylor finally withdrew completely. The man who had played several hundred times at various Star-Clubs, who had performed in uncountable clubs and dance halls in Germany and England, exchanged the large-checked 'Peter-Frankenfeld- jacket' for a butcher's coat. He, whose unmistakable voice had given the Star Club its special character, today manages a butcher's shop in Southport near Liverpool. He is often asked to take part in Oldie Nights and at Merseybeat Revival Concerts, but always declines.In 1977, he once more provoked some controversy when he and his former producer, Paul Murphy, marketed the so-called Star-Club-tapes of the Beatles on an international basis. These had been recorded by Adrian Barber (ex- Big Three), the stage manager of Hamburg's Beat Mecca. In 1998, almost twenty years after the tapes first release, Apple Corps, the Beatles' firm, finally managed to halt the sale of the tapes.After a brief intermezzo with the Pawns, Howie Casey joined a band called the Krew, which also included ex-Big Six bass player Archie Leggatt. This group played for some time at the Top Ten Club in Hamburg, forming the core of the Top Ten Allstars, who were joined from time to time by ex-Roadrunner Jon Phillips. In the Seventies, Casey played, together with Gibson Kemp, in the band that accompanied the Les Humphries Singers. He took part in countless studio sessions and toured with Paul McCartney's Wings. After his spell with the Eyes and Paddy, Klaus And Gibson, Gibson Kemp worked as a drummer with the Giants from Hamburg. After his time with Les Humphries, he gave up his career as a musician, but stayed on in the music business as a successful A&R Manager.Taken from the 96-pages-book by Ulf Krüger accompanying 4 CD Box 'Die Ariola Star Club Aufnahmen' by Bear Family Records, available at K&K.