Max Houliston
by Jimmy Clinkscale
Looking back, Max Houliston could be described as one of the saviours of Scottish accordion music. For it was in the mid-60’s, in the face of declining interest in the accordion, the spread of television and heyday of the Beatles and popular music, that Max, the likeable Dumfries pub licensee and businessman, decided to launch an idea previously unheard of – an Accordion Club.
From those early days, despite a disastrous first night, the movement has spread throughout the country, until now almost any community with an interest in the accordion can boast a Club. And Clubs too have given a lot back, encouraging youngsters, promoting new faces and maintaining interest in one of the finest instruments in the world.
Max himself is staggered by way the movement has taken off. He takes up the story :
“About 1965 I realised that even in the Dumfries area there must be about a dozen players sitting at home unable to find an audience. There was no demand for them. Almost every home had a television and demand for concert parties of singers and musicians had fallen.
“I thought these people deserved to be heard so I advertised in the local paper telling everyone who could play or who wanted to hear the accordion to come along to the ‘Hole I’ the Wa’ Inn’ (the Dumfries Pub that Max took on in 1963.)
That first night in April 1965 did not exactly set the heather on fire. Three players turned up, almost outnumbering the audience! Max thought it was the end but decided to give it another try in September this time announcing Glasgow fiddle player Bobby Harvey as a ‘guest artiste.’
The audience trebled and went on doing that month by month. Word spread that something was going on in the Hole I’ the Wa’ Inn until the lounge bar was packed every month.
“People were even coming from as far afield as Langholm” recalls Max. “They had never heard of an Accordion Club and thought they must come and hear what was going on.”
Those enthusiasts then started their own Club in Langholm and another was started in Gretna by Jimmy Norman and from there the rest is history. Straiton, Galston, Milgavie, Newton St Boswells, Perth, Dundee, Aberdeen - Clubs spread northward throughout the country until today some of the best can be heard in the north, in places like the Orkneys and the Shetlands.
“An Accordion Club is marvelous for any youngster” says Max. “They can come along, see how it should be done and get the chance to perform themselves.”
He still can’t quite work out why no-one thought of the idea before. But he reckons he had all the ingredients – a place to perform and his own talent on the piano accordion. “I could start the thing off you see. The opening spot is the worst in any club. But I warmed up the audience and the other players could come on and enjoy themselves.”
Max certainly knows how important it is to be encouraged by others. Three people have featured significantly in his development as a player – his great hero Bobby MacLeod and his old friends and members of his band for almost 20 years, Ian Austin and Gordon Young, both ‘Doonhamers’ hike Max himself.
He began playing when he was ten. His father, Robert, had played button accordion but it was after a friend had given the family a present of a piano accordion that Max started taking lessons in Dumfries with Alex Carter, who died only recently. Carter also taught Max’s near neighbour and close friend Ian Holmes.
That accordion has since disappeared in the mists of time. But Max still plays the accordion – the Hohner Morino Domino V – he first picked up 20 years ago.
He wanted it because he saw Bobby MacLeod playing it one when he came to nearly Moniaive with his band.
“That was the big breakthrough for me” says Max. “After hearing Bobby, I remember leaving the dance hall and thinking ‘I must get home and start practicing right away,’ It was so marvelous to hear him. It was so alive. I just wanted to be like him. It was a magic evening that I will never forget. I thought if I couldn’t play like him I might as well get the same instrument.”
There is a dividing line down Scotland, says Max. The folk on the west still play like Bobby MacLeod and those on the east like Jimmy Shand. First impressions are obviously lasting impressions.
It was after Max came out of two years National Service (during which he played in the Royal Signals Corps Dance Band) that he met up with Ian Austin (now a full-time music teacher) and Gordon Young.
They opened Max’s eyes to the joys of arrangements.
“If I hadn’t met them I would probably have stayed with musicians who would have kept me at the same level.” He reveals. “We started up a band, and for once the leader was probably the poorest musician! They were a bit older than I was, knew the game inside out, and pointed me in the right direction.”
That, says Max, was the turning point. He realised there was more to playing than simply assembling a hotch-potch of musicians and hoping for the best. He also acknowledges a debt to the late Davie Whitehead, ex pianist with the Bobby MacLeod band, who taught him much about modern arrangements.
By 1965, the same year that Max began the Accordion Club, the band had passed an audition with the BBC and performed on the radio in a programme called ‘For Your Entertainment.’
From there they expanded into a six-piece and began broadcasting and touring on a regular basis, including trips to Canada and the south of England.
The band is still the same as it was then and playing better than ever. Max is first accordion, Ian Austin on piano and Gordon Young, bass. The three newcomers are Leadhills gamekeeper Kenny Wilson on fiddle, Billy Thom from Dunblane on drums and Archie Duncan, formerly a resident accordionist with the BBC, on second accordion.
But he has never considered turning professional. “Touring with David Webster down south and in Canada taught me that I just wasn’t suited to living out of a suitcase.” He says. “I’m much too happy with my home life.”
Music is not now the most important thing in Max’s life. He has plenty of other interests to occupy his time. Like, for example, a sports centre next to his sprawling 19th century home on the outskirts of Dumfries. Like the Hole I’ the Wa’ Inn and Oughton’s a former Reo Stakis Restaurant and the new venue for the Accordion Club.
Max still plays of course – four nights a week in the Hole I’ the Wa’ but he admits he just doesn’t have the time to practice as often as he would like.
The Accordion Clubs, he says, have greatly improved the standard of playing.
“It is way above what it was when I started. I don’t know anyone nowadays who goes into a studio without being able to read music. People go to teachers and realise that, if you want to be like the Jim Johnstones and the Paddy Nearys, you must learn the instrument and practice.
“to be quite honest, I find the standard frightening today. I go to Clubs and think ‘why did they invite me here?’ There are semi-professionals on the radio today who are as good as any professional, simply through dedication.”
Modest as ever, that’s our Max. But if it hadn’t been for him would things be as rosy today? That’s something you can talk over – maybe even at the next meeting of you local Accordion Club!
From those early days, despite a disastrous first night, the movement has spread throughout the country, until now almost any community with an interest in the accordion can boast a Club. And Clubs too have given a lot back, encouraging youngsters, promoting new faces and maintaining interest in one of the finest instruments in the world.
Max himself is staggered by way the movement has taken off. He takes up the story :
“About 1965 I realised that even in the Dumfries area there must be about a dozen players sitting at home unable to find an audience. There was no demand for them. Almost every home had a television and demand for concert parties of singers and musicians had fallen.
“I thought these people deserved to be heard so I advertised in the local paper telling everyone who could play or who wanted to hear the accordion to come along to the ‘Hole I’ the Wa’ Inn’ (the Dumfries Pub that Max took on in 1963.)
That first night in April 1965 did not exactly set the heather on fire. Three players turned up, almost outnumbering the audience! Max thought it was the end but decided to give it another try in September this time announcing Glasgow fiddle player Bobby Harvey as a ‘guest artiste.’
The audience trebled and went on doing that month by month. Word spread that something was going on in the Hole I’ the Wa’ Inn until the lounge bar was packed every month.
“People were even coming from as far afield as Langholm” recalls Max. “They had never heard of an Accordion Club and thought they must come and hear what was going on.”
Those enthusiasts then started their own Club in Langholm and another was started in Gretna by Jimmy Norman and from there the rest is history. Straiton, Galston, Milgavie, Newton St Boswells, Perth, Dundee, Aberdeen - Clubs spread northward throughout the country until today some of the best can be heard in the north, in places like the Orkneys and the Shetlands.
“An Accordion Club is marvelous for any youngster” says Max. “They can come along, see how it should be done and get the chance to perform themselves.”
He still can’t quite work out why no-one thought of the idea before. But he reckons he had all the ingredients – a place to perform and his own talent on the piano accordion. “I could start the thing off you see. The opening spot is the worst in any club. But I warmed up the audience and the other players could come on and enjoy themselves.”
Max certainly knows how important it is to be encouraged by others. Three people have featured significantly in his development as a player – his great hero Bobby MacLeod and his old friends and members of his band for almost 20 years, Ian Austin and Gordon Young, both ‘Doonhamers’ hike Max himself.
He began playing when he was ten. His father, Robert, had played button accordion but it was after a friend had given the family a present of a piano accordion that Max started taking lessons in Dumfries with Alex Carter, who died only recently. Carter also taught Max’s near neighbour and close friend Ian Holmes.
That accordion has since disappeared in the mists of time. But Max still plays the accordion – the Hohner Morino Domino V – he first picked up 20 years ago.
He wanted it because he saw Bobby MacLeod playing it one when he came to nearly Moniaive with his band.
“That was the big breakthrough for me” says Max. “After hearing Bobby, I remember leaving the dance hall and thinking ‘I must get home and start practicing right away,’ It was so marvelous to hear him. It was so alive. I just wanted to be like him. It was a magic evening that I will never forget. I thought if I couldn’t play like him I might as well get the same instrument.”
There is a dividing line down Scotland, says Max. The folk on the west still play like Bobby MacLeod and those on the east like Jimmy Shand. First impressions are obviously lasting impressions.
It was after Max came out of two years National Service (during which he played in the Royal Signals Corps Dance Band) that he met up with Ian Austin (now a full-time music teacher) and Gordon Young.
They opened Max’s eyes to the joys of arrangements.
“If I hadn’t met them I would probably have stayed with musicians who would have kept me at the same level.” He reveals. “We started up a band, and for once the leader was probably the poorest musician! They were a bit older than I was, knew the game inside out, and pointed me in the right direction.”
That, says Max, was the turning point. He realised there was more to playing than simply assembling a hotch-potch of musicians and hoping for the best. He also acknowledges a debt to the late Davie Whitehead, ex pianist with the Bobby MacLeod band, who taught him much about modern arrangements.
By 1965, the same year that Max began the Accordion Club, the band had passed an audition with the BBC and performed on the radio in a programme called ‘For Your Entertainment.’
From there they expanded into a six-piece and began broadcasting and touring on a regular basis, including trips to Canada and the south of England.
The band is still the same as it was then and playing better than ever. Max is first accordion, Ian Austin on piano and Gordon Young, bass. The three newcomers are Leadhills gamekeeper Kenny Wilson on fiddle, Billy Thom from Dunblane on drums and Archie Duncan, formerly a resident accordionist with the BBC, on second accordion.
But he has never considered turning professional. “Touring with David Webster down south and in Canada taught me that I just wasn’t suited to living out of a suitcase.” He says. “I’m much too happy with my home life.”
Music is not now the most important thing in Max’s life. He has plenty of other interests to occupy his time. Like, for example, a sports centre next to his sprawling 19th century home on the outskirts of Dumfries. Like the Hole I’ the Wa’ Inn and Oughton’s a former Reo Stakis Restaurant and the new venue for the Accordion Club.
Max still plays of course – four nights a week in the Hole I’ the Wa’ but he admits he just doesn’t have the time to practice as often as he would like.
The Accordion Clubs, he says, have greatly improved the standard of playing.
“It is way above what it was when I started. I don’t know anyone nowadays who goes into a studio without being able to read music. People go to teachers and realise that, if you want to be like the Jim Johnstones and the Paddy Nearys, you must learn the instrument and practice.
“to be quite honest, I find the standard frightening today. I go to Clubs and think ‘why did they invite me here?’ There are semi-professionals on the radio today who are as good as any professional, simply through dedication.”
Modest as ever, that’s our Max. But if it hadn’t been for him would things be as rosy today? That’s something you can talk over – maybe even at the next meeting of you local Accordion Club!