Interview with Original Drummer & Singer Dave Munden (The Tremeloes), 03.08.2016
Dave Munden, Drummer and singer of The Tremeloes will be appearing 12 November 2016, “Rock gegen Krebs” Charity (Rock against Cancer) in Oerlinghausen, Germany with his band.
He was happy to give me the following Interview today.
Please enjoy!
Q: Dave, why did you decide to take part for the Charity “Rock gegen Krebs?”
A: I think it’s a very worthy cause, I mean, as we know, cancer is a horrible disease which is certainly getting worse and worse and there seems to be more people who are getting it. Unfortunately, I’ve got quite a few friends of my own who are a bit stricken with it and so I think if there is anything I can do to help, I’d love to, you know and try and help out with it because it is a virulent disease.
Q: Are there any other charities which you support?
A: Yes, there are quite a few cancer things we do support and we send stuff, clothes and there are a lot of shops here that we support for cancer relief and stuff like that.
Q: What songs are we going to hear when you appear at the charity night?
A: All our old hits really, such as: Here comes my baby, Call me number one, Silence is Golden, Suddenly you love me, Hello Buddy, Me and my Life, There’s quite a few of them actually. People are expecting this. Even the Bad times are good. (We both laugh at this). People come mostly because of the old hits we do. We haven’t had anything out new for quite some time now. Then I said: “Good, very good, I will be in the mood for dancing then” and as I said: “I wanted to”…Dave said: “shake your booty”…we both laughed. And I replied: “Yeah, that as well”.
Q: What line-up will you have?
A: Myself and then Jeff Brown on bass guitar and a guy called Ian Twynham he’s known as Sid, he played with Mud for quite some time. Actually, he’s been with the Tremeloes for a few years now, on the drums we have got a guy called Phil Wright who was a singer and drummer with Paper Lace and he’s playing drums for me because I can’t play drums anymore because I have had two new knees and a hip so I’m not too good. Then I said:” Well, I think that is just an excuse. I think you just want to stand there and look good”. To which Dave laughed and replied: “Yes, I will just be singing and posing”.
And the other member, unfortunately one of the guys Joe Gillingham, my keyboard player has been with me for, getting on for thirty years now, unfortunately he is not very well at the moment and is not able to play. His replacement is going to be another guitarist called Eddie Jones. He actually played with us for a couple of years.
Q: Dave, how long have you been in the business now?
A: Since about the end of 1958. I kind of started right from the very beginning with Brian Poole and Alan Blakely one of my old friends because we all come from Dagenham in Essex and I was always keen and liked singing and I was in the school-choir, loved the Everley Brothers and Buddy Holly and I used to meet up with Brian Poole and Alan Blakely at local parties. They both had blonde acoustic guitars and they used to sing and I thought of pulling all the birds…I used to join in singing with them at parties you know. Alan Blakely came round to my house one day and said do you want to come round Dave, we are having a practice. His mum and dad used to have a green grocer shop just round the corner. I said yeah, ok, and I said to my Mum and Dad: do you mind if I go round and see that Alan Blakely? He’s got a group together and cos he was quite posh compered to me you know, they said yeah ok son so I went round there and started. Alan had a drum kit and taught me how to time keep on the drums, so I sat down and tried to keep time. I was singing along with them anyway. And we kind of started up along with a guy called Graham Scott on the lead guitar, from the local area, same area and so we started getting a few little gigs in youth clubs and so forth and it kind of started out, we went for an audition to the BBC and we passed that so we got on radio shows BBC Radio and we went for an audition for Butlin’s and we passed the audition for Butlin’s and we were hoping to go to Butlins, there is one at Clacton-On-Sea which is of sort, closest place but we were sent up to Ayre in Scotland which is three hundred miles away, but anyway that was really the start of our professional career. We were there for 3 months and playing in the Rock Ballroom ( laughs) and after that we came back and we were lucky enough to be able to carry on professionally. So that’s how it kind of started.
Q: How do you keep fit for your shows?
A: Well, I don’t really do much I must admit. I can be quite lazy but I haven’t put on a lot of weight really. For years I have just weighed over 12 Stone. I’m still quite slim. I did take a gym membership out about eighteen months ago but I only went about six times and I gave up. I suppose it’s because I am a little bit lazy. I have some great ideas but I never actually carry them out. Well, I’m fairly active I do quite a bit round the house in the garden. I am reasonably fit apart from the fact that my knees are not too good. I can’t bend down for too long because my knees hurt and I get slightly out of breath because I smoke which I shouldn’t do. Apart from that I am quite fit really.
Q: Have you been to Germany before?
A: We have yeah, a number of times actually. We started coming very early on in the late sixties when we had two of our hit records and we still carry on playing in Germany ever since really. I mean we have got a tour coming up very shortly next year, from 4 January until 5 February. We got a lot of dates and we have actually got a few dates before Christmas as well. So we have been to Germany quite a number of times. I enjoy coming to Germany again because we have some great fans over there. I hope they enjoy our music and keep listening to it and all the best to the boys in the Army and keep it going.
Me: Thank you for this Interview Dave and I am really looking forward to seeing you soon.
Dave: No problem, thanks very much.
A great guy, brilliant sense of humor and all the great hits… so don’t miss it. Get your dancing shoes on and join us:
http://www.thetremeloes.co.uk/
Not to forget the DAMALS TOUR 2017
Interview: Carmen Yates, 03.08.2016
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