Cutting Meat and Cutting Discs

In a butchers shop in Banff on the Moray Firth there is a man who quietly gets on with cutting the steaks while stored in his memory is the story of cutting records and mixing with the stars of the music business.

Once upon a time resident in clubs throughout Germany, entertaining Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones in his London Club, now the only strings John Stewart pulls is round roasts.

John took time out to reminisce and share his experiences of his other career.

“There will be some people who don't know that I am a butcher and there are some people who do not know that I am a part time musician.”

In the swinging sixties the Portknockie schoolboy formed a band with three friends from Buckie but this was not exactly music to his father's ears:-

“My father thought there was nothing else except the business.” That is where John felt his future lay but by his own admission he couldn't leave the music alone. “I was out gigging at weekends and my old man expected me there at seven o'clock on the Saturday morning sorting out sausage skins in the freezing cold water.”

Although being perfectly proficient in breaking down a side of beef John decided not to go straight into the family butcher's business. He chose to be a professional musician from the age of 17.

In a band called Johnny and the Copycats the butcher's son wrote the lyrics, sang and played rhythm guitar. The band had local recognition and by coincidence their agent Albert Bonici also held the rights to all the Beatles performances in Scotland.

This was fifty years ago and when their transport broke down in Fort William the Beatles were unable to fulfill a Hogmanay do in Keith. In steps Johnny and the Copycats. John explained:-“They didn't make it but we did.” Well it was Keith he meant there and he continued, “It didn't matter anyway because nobody knew the Beatles at that time!”

In 1964 Johnny and the Copycats were able to travel farther afield; the “Cats” playing in central Scotland and with groups like Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, the Ronettes – an American girl group, and the Hollies, at places like Dundee's Caird Hall and Paisley Town Hall.

More significant in 1964 was playing on the same bill as the Beatles when handed the starting spot on their Scottish Tour. They played in Glasgow at Greens Playhouse which became the Apollo, and the Odeon in Edinburgh.

John recalls “it was a staggering experience getting smuggled past thousands of fans outside.
“We met all the Beatles; they were really nice. McCartney wrote a letter to our agent thanking us for playing.”

Johnny and the Copycats – John Stewart was Johnny – went on from there the following year (1965) to Germany where they played at American Air Force Bases mostly in the south. John conceded “this was an eye opener for us because they had all the new black musicians and we were really interested in this.”

“We got a recording contract in Germany with a German label. Then out of the blue a civilian guy came in for us because he had heard we had something fresh and new. We got to play all the top clubs – Top Ten in Hamburg, Wuppertal, Dortmund, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Munich over a four year period playing a month at a time in these clubs.

“In 1967 a guy called George Young, from a band called the Easybeats who had a number one at the time with Friday on My Mind – an Australian band but half of them were Scottish or of Scottish origin.”

“Where do you guys come from?” asked Young, “Have you got a contract?” They had one in Germany but that didn't matter. To get a record deal in the UK was very prestigious at that time and Young fixed it for Stewart and his band to get a deal with Parlophone – the same label as the Beatles.

Their first single got great reviews in New Musical Express and Melody Maker but disastrously their marketing manager got caught up in a charts rigging scandal and they did no more work for Parlophone.

In 1967 the band had a residency in a club in London “that was no big deal except it was a great club” understates John, “it was one of these clubs that all the rich and famous went to – the Bag of Nails Kingly Street just off Oxford Street; it opened at 11 finished at 5.

“People like Jimi Hendrix came in. Jimi came into the club with the hat and the big cigar and sat right in front of us. Jimi was very complimentary, people like Paul McCartney, the Stones and all the stars that came in from the States always went there. It had a great atmosphere.”

Married with a newly wed wife on road with him by this time, John wrote original songs and had his own publishing deal. Johnny and the Copycats had become My Dear Watson. Somewhat elementary one must say!

Their first single also got really good reviews in NME and Melody Maker. They sold 10,000 copies and so there was hope. Back then you had to sell at least 40,000 singles before you made the charts. They released number named Elusive Face, and Stop Stop There I'll Be but the charts eluded them.

John's father established the butchers business in 1946 and although brother Alex was there to help there was pressure on John to come home to Banffshire.

“Throughout the years that I was away I always went and looked to see what people in the meat trade were doing. It is in your blood and you just cannot help it.”

In 1969 John left the band and returned to the meat trade but he continued to write songs for My Dear Watson. They made an album with John's songs and brought in a really good session pianist – Reggie Dwight – better known as Elton John. We all know what happened to Elton but My Dear Watson never achieved that kind of notoriety.

In 2002 Johnny and the Copycats reformed for their 40th anniversary and played six gigs all organised for charity. No German clubs or racy London hold outs but Elgin Town Hall, Buckie, Banff and Portsoy.

Now in 2013 the Copycats have recorded a new album. The four band members Rob Lawson, Iain Lyon, Billy Cameron and John Stewart recorded new tracks at the Foundry Music Lab in Motherwell under former Wet Wet Wet producer Sandy Jones. The new material is downloadable from the web at the usual music sites.

Few Scottish butchers hide such a story under that white hat and John says “I get my head down I have no regrets at having come back to run a butchers shop in Banff,”

Whether it is the Music Industry or the Meat Industry, Top of the Pops or Top of the Chops John Stewart's experiences have brought him to conclude:- “If you want to do it, do it right.”

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