The Smoke -

The Smoke was an English mod-rock/freakbeat band responsible for the 1967 singles “My Friend Jack,” “Have Some More Tea,” and the album …It’s Smoke Time. They distinguished their Who/Creation-style riffs with sharp, shimmering tremolo effects. After their 1967/68 run, they returned as Smoke for a Seventies singles run.

Members: Geoff Gill (drums), Mal Luker [Malcolm Luker] (lead guitar), Zeke Lund [John Lund] (bass), Mick Rowley (vocals)

Background

The Smoke originated as The Shots, a London-based beat group comprised of bassist John ‘Zeke’ Lund, drummer Geoff Gill, lead guitarist Mal Luker, rhythm guitarist Phil Peacock, and singer Mick Rowley. The first three hailed from The Viceroys, an R&B band with featured singer Tony Adams. Peacock and Rowley came from The Moonshots, a Yorkshire covers act.

The Shots

The Shots linked with Columbia (EMI) for the October 1965 single “Keep a Hold of What You’ve Got” backed with “She’s a Liar,” both credited to A. Maldon, the collective pseudonym of Gill Lund, Luker, and Rowley.

A. “Keep a Hold of What You’ve Got”
B. “She’s a Liar”

Columbia slated a second Shots single, “There She Goes” (b/w “Walk Right Out the Door”), but it never received a catalog number. After Peacock’s departure, the remaining four continued as The Smoke.

They signed a booking contract with Reg and Ron Kray, whose underworld activities were unknown to the band. When the Kray twins’ strong-arm tactics proved ineffective on the rock circuit, The Smoke broke the contract and focused on studio work.

“My Friend Jack”

Between May and November 1966, The Smoke recorded an album in their post-mod freakbeat style, which put a tremolo-laden spin on the riff-based harmonized rock of The Creation, The Who, and Small Faces. However, Columbia UK’s parent label, EMI, objected to the psychedelic drug references in “My Friend Jack,” the intended first single.

The Smoke revised “My Friend Jack,” which Columbia released on February 10, 1967, with another group-written song, “We Can Take It.”

Despite the compromise, the BBC banned “My Friend Jack” within three weeks, just as the single neared the UK Top 40. In March, the single appeared on Metronome in Germany, where The Smoke performed “My Friend Jack” on the 3/11 broadcast of the Radio Bremen music program Beat-Club. The single reached No. 2 on the German charts and primed that market for an exclusive release of their delayed album.

It’s Smoke Time

The Smoke released their singular album, It’s Smoke Time, in July 1967 on Metronome (Germany only).

The album contains both sides of their recent single and nine further group-written songs, including the subsequent single sides “If the Weather’s Sunny,” “I Would If I Could But I Can’t,” and “High in a Room.” Side A concludes with the only outside composition, “Don’t Lead Me On,” written by the British songwriting team of Jerry Reno (aka Gerald Robinson) and engineer Terry Brown.

…It’s Smoke Time opens with “My Friend Jack,” a taut blend of lysergic texture and blues inflection, driven by phased guitar patterns and compact rhythmic insistence. “You Can’t Catch Me” alternates sharp vocal cadences with bright guitar refrains, while “Wake Up Cherylina” pivots on a clipped drum pattern and a low-register vocal line. “Don’t Lead Me On” highlights a pulsing bass figure that underpins upbeat phrasing, contrasting with the restrained cool of “High in a Room,” where layered harmonies sit against a softened instrumental frame. “It’s Getting Closer” restores momentum with spare guitar lines and limber bass phrasing, culminating in “I Would If I Could But I Can’t,” where the interplay of Gill’s nuanced fills and Luker’s final guitar showcase closes the set on a measured, deliberate pace.

A1. “My Friend Jack” (3:03)
A2. “Waterfall” (2:41)
A3. “You Can’t Catch Me” (3:17)
A4. “High in a Room” (3:00)
A5. “Wake Up Cherylina” (2:19)
A6. “Don’t Lead Me On” (Jerry Reno, Terry Brown) – 2:17)

B1. “We Can Take It (2:43)
B2. “If the Weather’s Sunny” (2:50)
B3. “I Wanna Make It with You” (3:10)
B4. “It’s Getting Closer” (2:33)
B5. “It’s Just Your Way of Lovin'” (2:25)
B6. “I Would If I Could But I Can’t” (2:14)

Sessions occurred with Brown under producer Monty Babson, a veteran UK music mogul. Brown later settled in Canada and produced multiple albums by Rush and Max Webster.

It’s Smoke Time appeared in a sleeve by the Metronome design group Atelier Paul & Räth, who rendered the title with an ellipse and a wavy, smoke-like shape. The Smoke pose in late-stage mod attire, as seen in color (front) and multiple captioned monochrome shots (back).

In mid-August 1967, Columbia lifted “If The Weather’s Sunny” as their second UK single (b/w “I Would If I Could But I Can’t”). In Germany, it became the b-side of their second Metronome single, “High in a Room.”

In France, Impact Disques released the first two Smoke singles in EP form, each with two additional It’s Smoke Time tracks: “Don’t Lead Me On” and “Waterfall” (IMP 200.010 M) and “Wake Up Cherylina” and “It’s Just Your Way Of Lovin'” (IMP 200.012 M).

1967/68 Singles

In September 1967, Metronome issued the third German Smoke single: “Victor Henry’s Cool Book,” a jaunty music-hall styled Gill/Rowley original backed with “Have Some More Tea,” a sawing freakbeat rocker co-written by Art/Spooky Tooth bassist Greg Ridley. French Impact copies reverse the sides.

A. “Victor Henry’s Cool Book”
B. “Have Some More Tea”

In the UK, “Have Some More Tea” appeared in November 1967 on Island Records as the b-side to “It Could Be Wonderful,” co-written with London-based American producer Jimmy Miller, a soundman for Traffic, Family, and subsequent Rolling Stones output. Miller recorded an unused earlier Smoke composition (“I Am Only Dreaming”) with Chords Five, a Stratford beat combo.

A. “It Could Be Wonderful” inspired a 1968 cover by The Epic Splendor, a New York soul-pop group.

The Smoke covered the Dave Mason-penned Traffic song “Utterly Simple” as for their second traffic single with the Gill/Rowley original “Sydney Gill.” However, Island cancelled the single. “Sydney Gill” appeared instead as a May 1968 German Metronome a-side (b/w “It Could Be Wonderful”).

A. “Utterly Simple”
B. “Sydney Gill”

Outtakes from this period include the Nirvana cover “Girl In the Park,” a song from the Irish/Greek duo’s second album All of Us.

The Smoke disbanded over Mick Rowley’s decision to stay in Germany, where he later emerged on the Munich disco scene.

Two unrelated bands called The Smoke existed at this time in:

Auckland, New Zealand. A garage quintet with two RCA Victor singles, including the multi-comped fuzz-punk rocker “No More Now.”
Los Angeles. A baroque-psych studio band headed by October Country producer Michael Lloyd.

1971–74 Smoke Singles

In 1970, Geoff Gill formed Fickle Pickle, a folk-pop band with Orange Bicycle keyboardist Wil Malone, Red Dirt guitarist Steve Howden, and pop singer Cliff Wade. Zeke Lund engineered their lone album, Sinful Skinful, which appeared in 1971 on the Dutch Explosion label.

Gill configured a new Smoke (no definite article) and released a new single: “Ride, Ride, Ride (Dick Turpin)” backed with “Guy Fawkes,” both co-written and arranged by Malone. The single appeared in 1971 on Pageant Records, a UK one-press. Also during this period, Smoke cut a long-vaulted psychedelic over of “Dreams of Dreams” by Ralph Vaughan Williams.

A. “Ride, Ride, Ride (Dick Turpin)”
B. “Guy Fawkes”

In 1972, Smoke linked with Soul Record, a French label that issued the band’s second comeback single: “Jack Is Back,” which Gill co-wrote with Danny Beckerman, the onetime single of Fortes Mentum, the root band of Pussy. Gill co-wrote the b-side, “That’s What I Want,” with Malone and Smoke veterans Lund and Mal Luker.

A. “Jack Is Back”
B. “That’s What I Want”

On November 24, 1972, Smoke linked with Regal Zonophone for their second UK-issued Seventies single: “Sugar Man,” a Gill composition backed with the group-written “That’s What I Want.”

A. “Sugar Man”
B. “That’s What I Want”

Between January and May 1974, Smoke released two further singles in Decca, both co-written by Gill and Cliff Wade.