The elsa nunn ensemble

These boys were about as big as it got at St. Matthias. They sung in a style reminiscent of The Four Seasons and more often than not 'a capella'. Frank Sreeves was a familiar face around college and he had a droll sense of humour. Bill Corrigan was captain of the football team and preceded me as Games Chairman. Pete Silcock I can't remember much about except he seemed very 'adult' to a mere 18 year old. Don Sharland I remember was a bear of a man but also extremely funny. Dick Peppin was a rather small man but big hearted and also president of the Student Union. The picture shows the five of them, left to right, Dick, Frank, Pete, Bill and Don (crouching). I only saw them perform a couple of times and was amazed. These guys could do it. Now listen for yourself to their final performance at the Spring Ball in the Mayfair Suite in 1969 when they were supported by Geno Washington and the Ram Jam Band and recorded by Paul Campin. My thanks to Jenny Howson for the tape, apologies for the quality but it is really quite remarkable that it has survived at all. Please be patient while it loads.

This is the text of an article Pete Silcock kindly sent to me.

Hi Ade, I found this article in an old mag at the dentists. I thought you might be interested. Cheers Pete

Lance Mountjoy of the NME re-visits the Elsa Nunn Ensemble, the bad boys of 60s rock On the 35th floor of the Ofsted building, all stainless steel and atrium, Dick Peppin leans back in his leather armchair as he studies once again the photograph. That wry smile of old plays across his face as he hums a few bars of Blue Moon, the Ensemble's first hit. I'm here researching a documentary on Wild Bands of the Sixties for Latvian TV. I knew the programme couldn't make sense without mention of the Elsa Nunn Ensemble. Those faces, he allows himself a wistful moment as he lifts his eyes from the black and white snap of his old companions and stares out across Docklands. So this feared man, head of the Ofsted special measures, has a heart after all. "There were five of us, you know. Me, Frank, me, Bill, me, me and Pete and Don and me." But Don's not in the photo, I point out. "Nah. He was out of it that day, totally gone. We had to leave him doing an essay in his room. He was doing a lot of essays at that time. I happen to know that he did 3000 words that afternoon. Crazy." The drugs, the trash, the women - its all well documented. The ENE made the Stones look like Victor Sylvester. "So many drugs. We were kids. Im not proud of it but what do you expect! Was it Frank who got busted for hay fever tablets? The dealer shot his mouth off. The hammer came down when they found Don doing Phyllosan. He was only 20. Jesus!" Even the photos not so innocent. Looks like Bill's drinking ordinary tea, doesn't it? Peppin twists the signet ring on his little finger. Only Bill knew where to get the good stuff. "Yeah - the Co-op. And that cup's laced with milk. And sugar. Just the way Bill liked it." I let out a low whistle. I pass over the file of cuttings. Dick stares at me, older but wiser. The Press were good to the ENE. The band was their meal ticket. Journo-pals kept all the sordid stuff well-hidden. "We had an image. The bad boys of rock. If only they knew. They didn't mention the Lunn Poly package holidays, the tidy hotel rooms, washing the Ford Cortina on a Sunday. The News of the World got a snap of Frank at the Garden Centre scoring some mulch but he cooled them. Cost him ten bob." Does music still play a part in Dick's life? "Sure. I sing in the bath sometimes. But I don't write songs any more. This is what I write now. Reports." He slaps a file. Dick Peppin is now the scourge of under-performing pre-school play groups - the most-feared inspector in the business. He shows me a list of all the joints on special measures. When times are good he can bust 10 a day. "I was in a place yesterday , let's just call it the Busy Bee. Christ, the kids were leaving that joint without so much as an exit questionnaire. Tragic." For a moment, Dicks face reflects the passion only previously witnessed in his searing vocals for the ENE concept album, 'Short Back and Sides', whose stand out track was the 2 hour 'Where's my Dressing Gown?'. Dick sang and played trombone simultaneously. A great feat but he paid the price, losing control of his lower lip. After that no one could sing Barbara Ann like Dick. And what of Pete, the guitar soul of the ENE? "Pete was a genius no sweat. Clapton, Beck, Weedon, he was up there with them. But when he learned how to tune his guitar, well, somehow it just didn't sound the same." And Frank, self-styled king of falsetto, who turned Bri-nylon shirts and a string vest into a style classic? The childhood friends dont talk much now. "OK we had disagreements. He got into a lot of weird stuff. But I could see where all that experimentation was leading. When he got sent down for playing his didgeridoo naked, outside W H Smith, dressed only in his Hush Puppies, I saw he'd gone to a distant place." "Bill was the saddest in many ways. He wanted to get into acting big stuff like street theatre, kids parties, balloon sculptures. But big dreams cost. He's still grinding out a trade somewhere. He does a one man mime show around the Northern clubs where he impersonates all the tools in a tool-box. They say his wire strippers are good but..." sadly, Dick shrugs at the humiliation of his old friend. What of Don, the enigma? "He went to Nepal. Picked up something nasty in Katmandu but I hear they got divorced. He came back. Then he just disappeared one day. He was doing a solo gig at Butlins. Made Altamont look like the Henley Regatta. Don was strung out on the Crazy Golf. He thought he was King Arthur and climbed inside one of those little castles. Been there ever since, apparently." I leave Dick to his memories. How many of todays bands will look back on a time that was so now, so here, so then, so where its at, so where it isn't?