The Purple Gang -

The Purple Gang was an English psychedelic jug-band from Stockport that released the much-comped 1967 toy-town classic “Granny Takes a Trip” on BIG t. The song appears on their singular album Strikes!, issued in 1968 on Transatlantic.

Members: Peter “Lucifer” Walker (vocals, kazoo), Joe Beard (guitar), Trevor “Ank” Langley (jug), Geoff Bowyer (washboard, piano, vocals, kazoo), Gerry Robinson (harmonica, mandolin), Tony Moss (bass), Alex “Haystack” Sidebottom (drums, washboard, jaws harp), Chris Millward (bass), Pev Pevitt (vocals, kazoo, harmonica, tambourine), Andy Stark (lead guitar, piano), John Curtis (keyboards, backing vocals), Gabor Bartos (drums)

Background

The Purple Gang began in September 1965 as the Young Contemporaries Jug Band. Guitarist Joe Beard formed the group at Stockport College of Art after a summer in St Ives, where he met singer Peter Walker and encountered blues performer Duster Bennett’s Jericho Jug Band. Pianist–washboard player Geoff Bowyer joined with jug player Trevor “Ank” Langley. Mandolinist–harmonica player Gerry Robinson completed the original quintet.

The group debuted at the Manchester Sports Guild and appeared at a CND concert in the Free Trade Hall. A booking at the Northern Festival of Folk, Jazz and Blues followed. Gordon and Lyn Aldred recorded a demonstration tape on a Revox machine at a Hyde coffee bar, then presented it to Transatlantic Records founder Nat Joseph. Joseph invited the musicians to London during 1966 and introduced them to American producer Joe Boyd.

Boyd became their manager and producer as the musicians adopted the Purple Gang name and a short-haired, 1920s-gangster image. They recorded “Granny Takes a Trip” and “Boot Leg Whisky” in mono at Sound Techniques in Chelsea. International Times co-founder John Hopkins played piano on “Boot Leg Whisky.”

Big T issued the single in April 1967, just as the group appeared at the 14-Hour Technicolor Dream at Alexandra Palace. The BBC banned “Granny Takes a Trip” from national airplay the following month. Beard left after a dispute over transport and touring duties, and the remaining musicians continued briefly with another guitarist. Transatlantic recalled the original members during winter 1967–68 to complete an album and a second single.

Strikes!

The Purple Gang released their singular album, Strikes!, in 1968 on Transatlantic.

Beard and Bowyer co-wrote ten titles and arranged the traditional “Rising Sun.” Walker heads the lineup with Beard, Bowyer, Langley, Moss, and Robinson, who juggles amplified mandolin and harmonica. The album preserves four earlier acoustic tracks and seven titles from their one-day completion session.

“Auntie Monica” capers through carefree barrelhouse whimsy. “Bootleg Whisky” leans on bluesy piano figures. “The Wizard” hovers around a trilling electric-guitar figure and eerie turns. “Granny Takes a Trip” trots behind a homemade jug line and a kazoo solo. “Overseas Stomp” struts through a vo-de-o turn. “Freightliner” rolls with bluesy comic business. “The Sheik” preens amid coy, eccentric humor. “Kiss Me Goodnight Sally Green” saunters amid chintzy bonhomie.

A1. “Auntie Monica” (3:04)
A2. “Bootleg Whisky” (3:18)
A3. “Viola Lee Blues” (3:10)
A4. “The Wizard” (3:49)
A5. “Mr. Aldred Jones” (2:57)

B1. “Granny Takes a Trip” (2:38)
B2. “Overseas Stomp” (2:15)
B3. “Freightliner” (2:50)
B4. “The Sheik” (3:08)
B5. “Rising Sun” (2:23)
B6. “Kiss Me Goodnight Sally Green” (2:30)

American producer Joe Boyd handled four acoustic recordings at Sound Techniques in Chelsea. Studio co-founder John Wood produced and engineered the one-day completion session. Boyd worked in sequence on titles by Pink Floyd (“Arnold Layne”) and the Incredible String Band (The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion). Wood engineered the subsequent Fairport Convention release What We Did on Our Holidays.

Strikes! appeared in a photographic sleeve with figures arranged along a cobbled passage beneath dripping lavender and red title lettering.

“Granny Takes a Trip” appeared nearly a year before the album. Despite the BBC ban, offshore stations broadcast the single.

In late June 1968, “Kiss Me Goodnight Sally Green” became their second single (b/w “Auntie Monica”). Sire issued the album in the United States with an illustration of the band depicted as Chicago gangsters.

Transatlantic reissued “Granny Takes a Trip” with “Bootleg Whisky” through the Big T series in June 1976 for the UK market. Razor Records retitled the album Granny Takes a Trip for a 1986 UK LP.

Essential! expanded the album to fifteen tracks for a 1998 CD, adding “Carlo’s Circus,” “Madam Judge,” “Brown Shoes,” and “The King Comes Riding.” Talking Elephant’s 2017 edition added two versions of the Syd Barrett composition “Boon Tune.”

Later Activity

The Purple Gang returned in 1969 with Bowyer on lead vocals and piano, with Beard on electric 12-string guitar. Robinson amplified his mandolin through effects and retained harmonica. Drummer Alex Sidebotham and bassist Tony Moss completed the lineup; Chris Millward later replaced Moss.

Former Radio 1 presenter Dave Symonds managed the group during an unsuccessful attempt to secure a contract with Neon Records. The musicians continued on college and university bills until the 1973 breakup.

Beard revived the Purple Gang name in 1998 and recorded Night of the Uncool at Cavalier Studios in Stockport with a new lineup. Beard and Robinson issued We Meant No Harm during 2014. Their final performance with other former Purple Gang members took place at Liverpool’s Cavern Club in November 2023. Robinson died on September 14, 2024, at age seventy-six.

Discography: