Robin Brock
‘Too Many Miles’
by Charlie Todd
When leaving Biggar there is no more scenic route than the road to the Border town of Peebles, and even in January it was no hardship to make that journey to meet up with one of Scotland’s most versatile and experienced musicians in his beautiful home, Meldonfoot, a couple of miles from the town. Robin Brock was equally at home on string bass or accordion and he has played with the best. Sir Jimmy Shand, Jim Johnstone and Jim MacLeod I knew about, but ‘The Corries Folk Trio’ came as a bit of a surprise.
Robin’s story starts at Thorntonloch near Dunbar (now the site of the Torness Power Station), where he was born. His dad, Robert, served in the Royal Artillery and was taken prisoner-of-war in North Africa spending the remainder of the war in P-o-W camps in Italy and Germany (Stalag 11B near Bremen). His mum, May, and Aunt Nan both played fiddle but it was the marriage of his mum’s best friend, Chrissy Fairbairn, to Tranent 5-row accordionist John Johnstone which resulted in a constant trickle of musicians visiting the house and which was to have far reaching results in later years. The family made a number of moves, firstly to Gilmerton, then Rosslynlee before finally settling in Penicuik in 1966 and it was at Mauricewood Mains Farm on the outskirts of Penicuik that Robin eventually settled when he married.
Early Days
When very young Robin had been keen on acquiring an accordion but his dad didn’t share his enthusiasm so he was in his late teens before he bought his first musical instrument, a rhythm guitar. He quickly discovered that he had an aptitude for it and around 1958 he joined Andrew Stoddart’s band, ‘The Glenesk’. The line-up of this popular and extremely busy band was Andrew Stoddart and Ken Lindsay on accordions, Charlie Anderson from Penicuik (later Davy Flockhart) on piano, John Arthur from Edinburgh (ex Shetlands) on fiddle and Davy Ewart, again from Penicuik, on drums. The band travelled far and wide in and old 15cwt Ford Thames. I recall seeing their names appearing regularly in Margaret Watson’s visitors book when she organised the dances in Ardrishaig Hall. Anyway, Andrew had a notion to do an audition for the Home Service’s ‘Scottish Dance Music’ but for that the band needed a string bass player and the problem was that locally they were in short supply (if not totally non existent). The solution was at hand though – Andrew simply told Robin he was going to be the band’s string bass so he’d better find one quickly and start practicing! Unphased, Robin went along to Gordon Simpson’s Music Shop in Edinburgh and did just that, although he had to part with £49 10/- (a tidy sum in those days) for the privilege. It’s amazing when ‘needs must’ what can be achieved – again he knuckled down and taught himself to be a proficient player. He had a good ear, which helped greatly, but he also in time became a very competent sight reader of the bass line. Incidentally after all that ‘The Glenesk’ never got round to applying for an audition but, as we’ll see, Robin’s effort and expense wasn’t in vain. At the same time he also played rhythm guitar in a local ‘group’ initially called ‘Andy and the Boppers’ later renamed ‘The Andy Russell Seven’.
The Swinging 60’s
In the early 60’s Robin left ‘The Glenesk’ and while attending a dance he met Jim Johnstone who had completed his National Service and had just finished with the Andrew Rankine Band (Andrew intended emigrating to Australia at that point). During their conversation Jim asked Robin what he played and he replied ‘bass’. No more was said at that point but two nights later came a knock at the door. With Robin on board Jim had formed the nucleus of a band with Bobby Colgan on drums and Davy Flockhart on piano but he still needed a fiddler. Robin suggested Alan Johnston from Gorebridge who was duly recruited. Jim was a ‘stickler’ for having things just right and the band practiced endlessly, so much so that even today, 50 years later, Robin can remember the exact bass line of all the sets they used for their successful audition and debut broadcast in August 1963. It was Jim’s band who did the last 4 shows of the famous ‘’White Heather Club’ TV series. Two were recorded in Quarriers Home at Bridge of Weir and the very last two were from The Ship Inn in Eyemouth with Robin Hall and Jimmie McGregor, Dixie Ingram, Ted Darling, Eleanor Leith and the Isobel James Dancers.
At this time Robin was attending Agricultural College (and later Edinburgh’s Royal Botanical Gardens) where a fellow student knew a folk singer / guitarist by the name of Roy Williamson who together with Bill Smith and Ronnie Browne had formed ‘The Corrie Folk Trio’. Their first engagement had been in the Waverley Bar in Edinburgh but they were as yet virtually unknown. They augmented their act with the addition of a female Irish vocalist called Paddie Bell but Bill Smith thought they needed a string bass player so Robin agreed to join them in 1962. Robin recalls a week long tour ‘up north’ in 1964. The tour had a few unintentional highlights. They were in Aberdeen at the time of the infamous typhoid scare playing in the city for two nights but lodging well outside and it was while staying near Inverness that Robin met another name for the future, young Isla St Clair (later of Generation Game fame).
At the end of the tour Robin and Bill Smith, with all the instruments, were traveling south on their way home in Robin’s van when they stopped in Tyndrum. Fortunately Bill phoned his wife to discover that Ben Lyons had desperately been trying to contact them for a week and that he wanted them to appear at the Albert Hall, Stirling that very evening. The rest of the group were rounded up and appeared in a show with the Peggy O’Keefe Trio, Lita Rosa, Dean Ford and the Gaylords (who later became the chart topping group ‘Marmalade’) and top-of-the-bill singer Jimmy Young (later better known as a Radio D.J.). After the show hoards of fans swamped the dressing room – Jimmy Young thought it was his autograph they were after but he was wrong – it was the ‘The Corrie Folk Trio with Paddie Bell’ who had made the biggest impact with the audience.
TV shows followed when producers W. Gordon Smith and Iain MacFadyen booked them for ‘Hoot’nanny’, ‘Sing Along’, and ‘Degrees of Folk’. The Trio were resident on all of these shows which brought Robin into contact with a wealth of big showbiz names – The Dubliners, The Clancy Brothers, Roger Whittaker and Julie Felix to name but a few. All of these artistes were just starting out and had yet to make their names. ‘Degrees of Folk’ took Robin and his colleagues to universities all over the U.K. including Northern Ireland. Comperes on the show were Ian Campbell and Alex Norton (the current ‘Taggart’). Peter Morrison and his wife were backing singers on ‘Sing Along’ while Pete Kerr (later a record producer and author) was a clarinetist. It was after one recording session in Edinburgh when everyone went to the Buckingham Hotel for a drink to unwind that Robin found himself seated next to the lead vocalist of a new but as yet unknown Australian folk group who were in the show. In conversation with this young lady Robin learned that they had two wishes – to get work and to see the Loch Ness Monster! Robin referred them to John Worth, the manager of the Inverness Empire Theatre and to agent Tommy Ure in Kyle of Lochalsh (bandboys used the phrase ‘On Tour with Tommy Ure’) which helped them on the road to stardom (if not a sighting of Nessie). The vocalist was Judith Durham and the group the ‘Seekers’.
In 1966 Jim Johnstone’s Band split up when Jim was offered the chance to tour Australia with Jimmy Shand Snr. But as one door closes another opens and Robin received a phone call from S.T.V. Producer Hal Duncan who was piloting a T.V. show called ‘Sounds of Britain’ and needed a bass player. The pilot, with a 14 piece band, was successful so thirteen shows were commissioned. Robin recall with a smile that the first had 6 or 7 musicians, the second only 3 and by the fourth Robin was on his own! Robin’s role became that of a ‘session musician’ playing as- and-when required with the other guests and groups appearing on the show. He related one amusing incident. In those days of fanatical trade union ‘demarcation’ he unintentionally almost caused a strike by the stage crew. The Producer liked to have Robin on screen in the background and asked him to move round very slightly. Picking up his bass and mike stand he moved a couple of feet and all hell broke loose – under no circumstances were musicians allowed to carry out the work of the stage-hands, even something as simple as moving a microphone 2 feet. ‘Sounds of Britain’ eventually broadcast 64 shows and broke the ground for ‘Thingummyjig’ which started in 1976 with Jim Johnstone as the backing band. Robin played in Jim’s band for the first two series.
Shortly after returning from Oz, Jimmy Shand Snr went to Canada for three months and Junior took over the band but needed a bass player and Robin was available. When Jimmy Snr returned he asked Robin to join the band and for the next two years Robin travelled the length and breadth of the country. The band recorded over 100 ‘Heather Mixture’ shows, produced by Ben Lyons, for radio during Robin’s two years with them. He recalls playing at dances down south with 40 old time dances on the programme and Robin didn’t know a single on of them! Jimmy did but it was a complete new repertoire for Robin. He ‘enjoyed it all immensely’ but as time wore on a problem reared its head for the first, although not the last, time. Jimmy could be in Aberdeen one night, Liverpool the next and Southampton the one following that. It was a series of distant one-night-stands interspersed with an occasion week in a theatre and Robin was developing a landscaping business and didn’t have the luxury of a long lie in every morning. Sometimes he got no sleep at all and after two years he reluctantly had to call it a day.
70’s - with Jim MacLeod at the Dunblane Hydro
Inevitably in his travels with Jimmy, Robin had met everyone on the scene and, as often happens, word got round about his departure from the Shand Band. He had intended to take life easier but Jim MacLeod had been contracted for the ‘On Tour’ radio series and he now required an experienced bass player so Robin once again found himself on the road. Although much of Jim’s work was at Dunblane Hydro the ‘On Tour’ series took them all over Scotland. In fact Robin wondered what he had let himself in for when the first two shows came from Paible in North Uist and Ollaberry in Shetland. They also did many shows from Grampian TV including their well produced Hogmanay Show. “Gentleman Jim” recalls Robin “actually played far more modern ballroom dance music than Scottish at the Hydro, that was the band’s strength, and his skills as an M.C. were second to none – the type of audiences we catered for loved him”. By 1974 though, after almost seven years with Jim, the long hours and the long miles were once again taking their toll. John Sinton had appeared on the scene and Robin asked him if he fancied taking over for a spell. This he did and the two of them still joke when they meet, after almost 40 years, about when Robin “will get his job back”.
I mentioned in my introduction that Robin was also fondly remembered leading his own band on accordion in the early 70’s. You’ll probably have noticed a certain lack of references to ‘playing the accordion’ thus far. As for the guitar and bass Robin has had no formal tuition on this instrument either. Theatre, TV and radio work all involved a certain amount of ‘hanging about’ with the band-boys and to pass the time Robin began to dabble in the accordion, borrowing one and trying to emulate what he had seen and heard others doing. Gradually it became quite a passion but he was in his thirties before he decided to buy a Hohner Morino V Domino Coupler from his old pal Andrew Stoddart. As a bass player he was well known to the producers of the Scottish Dance Music – Jim Hunter had greeted him with a cool ‘you again’ on one occasion when he appeared for about the fifth time that week. He had handed over to Robert Crawford and it was Robert whom he enquired with about the possibility of a broadcast on lead accordion. There were no shortcuts though, so an audition was organised and in the company of a group of old friends Jack Delaney, Bobby Christie, Davy Flockhart, Stan Saunders and Gordon Young. With an experienced line-up like that they sailed through. Robin phoned presenter David Findlay, before the first broadcast was transmitted in 1972, and asked if they could be introduced as ‘Robin Brock and Friends’ rather than as a formal, working Scottish Dance Band. In all they did about a dozen broadcasts in the next few years (Pam Brough and Dave Barclay deputized occasionally), a very creditable total, and Robin’s recipe for success was simply good, lively, straightforward tunes which let the band relax and play with a swing. He also went on to compose some very good marches ‘Miss Linda MacFarlane’, ‘McCrostie Park’, ‘Bobby Brown’s Welcome to Shetland’, ‘Master Alastair Cunningham Weir’ and ‘Miss Jennifer Fletcher’ which get a periodic airing on ‘Take the Floor’.
Around 1974/5 Robin rejoined the Jim Johnstone Band for TV’s ‘Songs of Scotland’ on bass but when second box player Alex MacArthur decided to leave the band Jim brought in Alasdair MacLeod on bass and switched Robin to an entirely new role for him – second box. As an incentive he told Robin that the band were doing a broadcast in a fortnight’s time so he had better be ready – which he was. The band did the Hogmanay Show from Aberdeen that year in the illustrious company of Shotts and Dykehead Caledonian Pipe Band (under P/M Tom McAllister and with an unforgettable drum salute under the direction of the legendary Leading Drummer Alex Duthart), Rolf Harris, Aimi MacDonald, Ronald Fraser, Peter Morrison and Alastair McDonald.
Robin had made the point several times during our conversation that being a competent bass player in the pre-electronic keyboard days was a guarantee of a full diary. There simply weren’t that many around and he picked up work in a ‘session’ role doing broadcasts and LPs with many of the top bands. Off the top of his head he recalls names such as Iain MacPhail, Cameron Kerr, Andrew Rankine, Ian Holmes, Max Houliston, Grace McCleaver, The Olympians and a wealth of work for Waverly Records.
Mixing Business and Pleasure
Just to put his other activities into context, Robin was farming Mauricewood Mains and managing a landscaping contracting business, one branch of which, the ‘Maintenance Department’ employed 90 men grass-cutting and gardening all over Scotland (military establishments, ancient monuments and S.S.H.A estates). He had also established 600 acres of tree and shrub nurseries, his specialism back in his days at Agricultural College and Edinburgh’s Royal Botanical Gardens. By mid to late 1978 Robin had decided to take a year off as pressure once again mounted but he agreed to do a broadcast with close friend Ian Holmes at the end of 1979 from the Dean Tavern in Newtongrange for Radio Forth. (He can’t remember whether it was on bass or box).
Producer Sandy Wilkie from Radio Forth was on hand and during a break Robin was pulling his leg along the lines of ‘you really need someone on Radio Forth who knows the Scottish Dance music scene from the inside’. Again Robin thought no more of it, but two days later Sandy phoned to offer him a ten minute slot on Radio Forth’s Friday night show ‘Pure Scotch’, presented at that time by Bill Torrance, and starting almost immediately. Robin had to get his thinking cap on, and quickly, because he didn’t at that point have any concrete ideas about what the show lacked. But he immediately thought of the thriving Accordion and Fiddle Club scene and called his spot ‘Accordion Club News’. He gave the dates of Club meetings in Radio Forth’s transmission area, the guest artistes and played tracks from their LPs to give listeners a taste of what they would hear.
Steve Jack took over Bill Torrance’s seat and Robin’s role expanded, but I’ll let Jimmy Clinkscale tell the story from his February 1982 write up on Robin – “Robin co-presents ‘Pure Scotch’ with Steve Jack every Friday night on Radio Forth. The programme is a light-hearted, two hour Scottish request programme. However, his main interest every week is his very own programme called ‘Folks Around Robin.’ Every week Robin plays host to a band or well-known group of musicians and records their music. Each selection of music is interspersed with ‘informal blethers’ when the bandleader is invited to introduce members of the band, tunes they play and recount any interesting or amusing incidents from the past.
“There is anything from ten to twelve hours of hard graft involved in any programme” say Robin, “but I really enjoy it. I have been so many places, met so many marvellous people through Scottish music that I’m only too delighted to be able to put something back into it.”
‘Folks Around Robin’ started in 1981 and ran for two and a half years. It was broadcast on a Monday evening and repeated on a Saturday. Robin used his knowledge of the scene to bring live bands into the studio where they recorded their sets but more importantly the bandleader, and occasionally other band members, were interviewed. Amongst Robin’s favourites were Sandy MacArthur, Angus Fitchet and Jim Johnstone – they had a natural and infectious humour coupled with a wealth of stories gathered over the years. He also achieved some notable ‘firsts’ tempting Andrew Rankine, Angus Fitchet and Bobby MacLeod back into the studio leading bands for the first time in decades. Radio Forth also started an annual live show in the Usher Hall (later the Playhouse Theatre) in Edinburgh, which allowed him to bring over to Scotland, again for the first time ever, Canadian stars such as fiddlers Graham Townsend and Rudy Meeks and the highly acclaimed Cape Breton Symphony Fiddle with Bobby Brown and the Scottish Accent. The 1979 show was tinged with sadness because it was there that his close friend Sandy MacArthur collapsed, on stage, in front of a full house. Robin was in the wings and it was he who closed the curtains and rushed to phone for the ambulance as others tried to revive Sandy. Steve Jack moved on from ‘Pure Scotch’ after four years leaving Robin in the driving seat for a further nine. The show was upped to 3 hours and Robin used it to promote all aspects of our music bringing artistes, particularly Scottish singers when they released a new LP, in to the studio to be interviewed.
An interesting aside at this point which demonstrates Robin’s organising ability. In 1986 Robin’s son, Russell, was attending George Heriot’s School in Edinburgh who had a long standing arrangement with a school in Zimbabwe (previously Southern Rhodesia) whereby the Rugby First 15 went out to play a few matches. Robin attended the P.T.A. meeting charged with deciding how to raise the substantial funds required for the trip. The talk was of ‘coffee mornings’ and the like – which Robin realised would take forever. He arranged to see the Headmaster privately the following day, explained his background, and offered to organise a big fundraising concert. From there it went along the lines of - ‘Ah yes, the Assembly Hall (300 seats)’ – ‘Well no, more the Usher Hall (3,000) seats’. The cast included the School Choir, two pipe bands (Heriot School P.B. and the Grade 1 Scottish Gas P.B.), the Jim Johnstone SDB, The Morag Alexander Dancers, M.C. Bill Torrance, singers Bill McCue and Thora Kerr, accordionists Iain McPhail and John Huband and top-of-the-bill the one and only Andy Stewart. As a finale Jim Aitken (Captain) and several other members of Scotland’s Grand Slam winning Rugby Team of 1984 came on stage and sang a closing number with the entertainers. Everyone gave their services free gratis and the Council gave the Usher Hall for a nominal rent. The results were highly satisfactory – not only the Rugby Team but also the Hockey Team and the entire Pipe Band went to Zimbabwe for a memorable visit and every pupil received £50 spending money. Beat that!
Robin’s Radio Forth stint took him right through to 1992. In 1992/3 he ‘returned to his roots’ (if you’ll forgive the pun) writing and publishing a 205 page masterpiece entitled the ‘Hardy Nursery Stock Tree and Shrub Manual’ (launched in the House of Commons by, among others the M.P. son of George McKelvey of the Shand Band) and five years later he sold Mauricewood Mains Farm, the entire business and went to live in Monaco. Even there his organising abilities came to the fore when the revitalized the ‘British Association’ (they didn’t have a Caledonian Society) and staged charity events featuring local residents supplemented by, amongst others, singer Peter Mallan, Billy Anderson and Albany, Bill Torrance and Jim McColl of Beechgrove Garden fame. In 2010 he returned home to Scotland full-time, buying and refurbishing Meldonfoot near Peebles (needless to say the gardens underwent a major redevelopment under his experienced eye).
Robin has spent a lifetime in Scottish music as bass player, accordionist and broadcaster (from both sides of the desk). He will indeed be a very worthy Guest of Honour at our June gathering.
Box and Fiddle
March 2014
Robin’s story starts at Thorntonloch near Dunbar (now the site of the Torness Power Station), where he was born. His dad, Robert, served in the Royal Artillery and was taken prisoner-of-war in North Africa spending the remainder of the war in P-o-W camps in Italy and Germany (Stalag 11B near Bremen). His mum, May, and Aunt Nan both played fiddle but it was the marriage of his mum’s best friend, Chrissy Fairbairn, to Tranent 5-row accordionist John Johnstone which resulted in a constant trickle of musicians visiting the house and which was to have far reaching results in later years. The family made a number of moves, firstly to Gilmerton, then Rosslynlee before finally settling in Penicuik in 1966 and it was at Mauricewood Mains Farm on the outskirts of Penicuik that Robin eventually settled when he married.
Early Days
When very young Robin had been keen on acquiring an accordion but his dad didn’t share his enthusiasm so he was in his late teens before he bought his first musical instrument, a rhythm guitar. He quickly discovered that he had an aptitude for it and around 1958 he joined Andrew Stoddart’s band, ‘The Glenesk’. The line-up of this popular and extremely busy band was Andrew Stoddart and Ken Lindsay on accordions, Charlie Anderson from Penicuik (later Davy Flockhart) on piano, John Arthur from Edinburgh (ex Shetlands) on fiddle and Davy Ewart, again from Penicuik, on drums. The band travelled far and wide in and old 15cwt Ford Thames. I recall seeing their names appearing regularly in Margaret Watson’s visitors book when she organised the dances in Ardrishaig Hall. Anyway, Andrew had a notion to do an audition for the Home Service’s ‘Scottish Dance Music’ but for that the band needed a string bass player and the problem was that locally they were in short supply (if not totally non existent). The solution was at hand though – Andrew simply told Robin he was going to be the band’s string bass so he’d better find one quickly and start practicing! Unphased, Robin went along to Gordon Simpson’s Music Shop in Edinburgh and did just that, although he had to part with £49 10/- (a tidy sum in those days) for the privilege. It’s amazing when ‘needs must’ what can be achieved – again he knuckled down and taught himself to be a proficient player. He had a good ear, which helped greatly, but he also in time became a very competent sight reader of the bass line. Incidentally after all that ‘The Glenesk’ never got round to applying for an audition but, as we’ll see, Robin’s effort and expense wasn’t in vain. At the same time he also played rhythm guitar in a local ‘group’ initially called ‘Andy and the Boppers’ later renamed ‘The Andy Russell Seven’.
The Swinging 60’s
In the early 60’s Robin left ‘The Glenesk’ and while attending a dance he met Jim Johnstone who had completed his National Service and had just finished with the Andrew Rankine Band (Andrew intended emigrating to Australia at that point). During their conversation Jim asked Robin what he played and he replied ‘bass’. No more was said at that point but two nights later came a knock at the door. With Robin on board Jim had formed the nucleus of a band with Bobby Colgan on drums and Davy Flockhart on piano but he still needed a fiddler. Robin suggested Alan Johnston from Gorebridge who was duly recruited. Jim was a ‘stickler’ for having things just right and the band practiced endlessly, so much so that even today, 50 years later, Robin can remember the exact bass line of all the sets they used for their successful audition and debut broadcast in August 1963. It was Jim’s band who did the last 4 shows of the famous ‘’White Heather Club’ TV series. Two were recorded in Quarriers Home at Bridge of Weir and the very last two were from The Ship Inn in Eyemouth with Robin Hall and Jimmie McGregor, Dixie Ingram, Ted Darling, Eleanor Leith and the Isobel James Dancers.
At this time Robin was attending Agricultural College (and later Edinburgh’s Royal Botanical Gardens) where a fellow student knew a folk singer / guitarist by the name of Roy Williamson who together with Bill Smith and Ronnie Browne had formed ‘The Corrie Folk Trio’. Their first engagement had been in the Waverley Bar in Edinburgh but they were as yet virtually unknown. They augmented their act with the addition of a female Irish vocalist called Paddie Bell but Bill Smith thought they needed a string bass player so Robin agreed to join them in 1962. Robin recalls a week long tour ‘up north’ in 1964. The tour had a few unintentional highlights. They were in Aberdeen at the time of the infamous typhoid scare playing in the city for two nights but lodging well outside and it was while staying near Inverness that Robin met another name for the future, young Isla St Clair (later of Generation Game fame).
At the end of the tour Robin and Bill Smith, with all the instruments, were traveling south on their way home in Robin’s van when they stopped in Tyndrum. Fortunately Bill phoned his wife to discover that Ben Lyons had desperately been trying to contact them for a week and that he wanted them to appear at the Albert Hall, Stirling that very evening. The rest of the group were rounded up and appeared in a show with the Peggy O’Keefe Trio, Lita Rosa, Dean Ford and the Gaylords (who later became the chart topping group ‘Marmalade’) and top-of-the-bill singer Jimmy Young (later better known as a Radio D.J.). After the show hoards of fans swamped the dressing room – Jimmy Young thought it was his autograph they were after but he was wrong – it was the ‘The Corrie Folk Trio with Paddie Bell’ who had made the biggest impact with the audience.
TV shows followed when producers W. Gordon Smith and Iain MacFadyen booked them for ‘Hoot’nanny’, ‘Sing Along’, and ‘Degrees of Folk’. The Trio were resident on all of these shows which brought Robin into contact with a wealth of big showbiz names – The Dubliners, The Clancy Brothers, Roger Whittaker and Julie Felix to name but a few. All of these artistes were just starting out and had yet to make their names. ‘Degrees of Folk’ took Robin and his colleagues to universities all over the U.K. including Northern Ireland. Comperes on the show were Ian Campbell and Alex Norton (the current ‘Taggart’). Peter Morrison and his wife were backing singers on ‘Sing Along’ while Pete Kerr (later a record producer and author) was a clarinetist. It was after one recording session in Edinburgh when everyone went to the Buckingham Hotel for a drink to unwind that Robin found himself seated next to the lead vocalist of a new but as yet unknown Australian folk group who were in the show. In conversation with this young lady Robin learned that they had two wishes – to get work and to see the Loch Ness Monster! Robin referred them to John Worth, the manager of the Inverness Empire Theatre and to agent Tommy Ure in Kyle of Lochalsh (bandboys used the phrase ‘On Tour with Tommy Ure’) which helped them on the road to stardom (if not a sighting of Nessie). The vocalist was Judith Durham and the group the ‘Seekers’.
In 1966 Jim Johnstone’s Band split up when Jim was offered the chance to tour Australia with Jimmy Shand Snr. But as one door closes another opens and Robin received a phone call from S.T.V. Producer Hal Duncan who was piloting a T.V. show called ‘Sounds of Britain’ and needed a bass player. The pilot, with a 14 piece band, was successful so thirteen shows were commissioned. Robin recall with a smile that the first had 6 or 7 musicians, the second only 3 and by the fourth Robin was on his own! Robin’s role became that of a ‘session musician’ playing as- and-when required with the other guests and groups appearing on the show. He related one amusing incident. In those days of fanatical trade union ‘demarcation’ he unintentionally almost caused a strike by the stage crew. The Producer liked to have Robin on screen in the background and asked him to move round very slightly. Picking up his bass and mike stand he moved a couple of feet and all hell broke loose – under no circumstances were musicians allowed to carry out the work of the stage-hands, even something as simple as moving a microphone 2 feet. ‘Sounds of Britain’ eventually broadcast 64 shows and broke the ground for ‘Thingummyjig’ which started in 1976 with Jim Johnstone as the backing band. Robin played in Jim’s band for the first two series.
Shortly after returning from Oz, Jimmy Shand Snr went to Canada for three months and Junior took over the band but needed a bass player and Robin was available. When Jimmy Snr returned he asked Robin to join the band and for the next two years Robin travelled the length and breadth of the country. The band recorded over 100 ‘Heather Mixture’ shows, produced by Ben Lyons, for radio during Robin’s two years with them. He recalls playing at dances down south with 40 old time dances on the programme and Robin didn’t know a single on of them! Jimmy did but it was a complete new repertoire for Robin. He ‘enjoyed it all immensely’ but as time wore on a problem reared its head for the first, although not the last, time. Jimmy could be in Aberdeen one night, Liverpool the next and Southampton the one following that. It was a series of distant one-night-stands interspersed with an occasion week in a theatre and Robin was developing a landscaping business and didn’t have the luxury of a long lie in every morning. Sometimes he got no sleep at all and after two years he reluctantly had to call it a day.
70’s - with Jim MacLeod at the Dunblane Hydro
Inevitably in his travels with Jimmy, Robin had met everyone on the scene and, as often happens, word got round about his departure from the Shand Band. He had intended to take life easier but Jim MacLeod had been contracted for the ‘On Tour’ radio series and he now required an experienced bass player so Robin once again found himself on the road. Although much of Jim’s work was at Dunblane Hydro the ‘On Tour’ series took them all over Scotland. In fact Robin wondered what he had let himself in for when the first two shows came from Paible in North Uist and Ollaberry in Shetland. They also did many shows from Grampian TV including their well produced Hogmanay Show. “Gentleman Jim” recalls Robin “actually played far more modern ballroom dance music than Scottish at the Hydro, that was the band’s strength, and his skills as an M.C. were second to none – the type of audiences we catered for loved him”. By 1974 though, after almost seven years with Jim, the long hours and the long miles were once again taking their toll. John Sinton had appeared on the scene and Robin asked him if he fancied taking over for a spell. This he did and the two of them still joke when they meet, after almost 40 years, about when Robin “will get his job back”.
I mentioned in my introduction that Robin was also fondly remembered leading his own band on accordion in the early 70’s. You’ll probably have noticed a certain lack of references to ‘playing the accordion’ thus far. As for the guitar and bass Robin has had no formal tuition on this instrument either. Theatre, TV and radio work all involved a certain amount of ‘hanging about’ with the band-boys and to pass the time Robin began to dabble in the accordion, borrowing one and trying to emulate what he had seen and heard others doing. Gradually it became quite a passion but he was in his thirties before he decided to buy a Hohner Morino V Domino Coupler from his old pal Andrew Stoddart. As a bass player he was well known to the producers of the Scottish Dance Music – Jim Hunter had greeted him with a cool ‘you again’ on one occasion when he appeared for about the fifth time that week. He had handed over to Robert Crawford and it was Robert whom he enquired with about the possibility of a broadcast on lead accordion. There were no shortcuts though, so an audition was organised and in the company of a group of old friends Jack Delaney, Bobby Christie, Davy Flockhart, Stan Saunders and Gordon Young. With an experienced line-up like that they sailed through. Robin phoned presenter David Findlay, before the first broadcast was transmitted in 1972, and asked if they could be introduced as ‘Robin Brock and Friends’ rather than as a formal, working Scottish Dance Band. In all they did about a dozen broadcasts in the next few years (Pam Brough and Dave Barclay deputized occasionally), a very creditable total, and Robin’s recipe for success was simply good, lively, straightforward tunes which let the band relax and play with a swing. He also went on to compose some very good marches ‘Miss Linda MacFarlane’, ‘McCrostie Park’, ‘Bobby Brown’s Welcome to Shetland’, ‘Master Alastair Cunningham Weir’ and ‘Miss Jennifer Fletcher’ which get a periodic airing on ‘Take the Floor’.
Around 1974/5 Robin rejoined the Jim Johnstone Band for TV’s ‘Songs of Scotland’ on bass but when second box player Alex MacArthur decided to leave the band Jim brought in Alasdair MacLeod on bass and switched Robin to an entirely new role for him – second box. As an incentive he told Robin that the band were doing a broadcast in a fortnight’s time so he had better be ready – which he was. The band did the Hogmanay Show from Aberdeen that year in the illustrious company of Shotts and Dykehead Caledonian Pipe Band (under P/M Tom McAllister and with an unforgettable drum salute under the direction of the legendary Leading Drummer Alex Duthart), Rolf Harris, Aimi MacDonald, Ronald Fraser, Peter Morrison and Alastair McDonald.
Robin had made the point several times during our conversation that being a competent bass player in the pre-electronic keyboard days was a guarantee of a full diary. There simply weren’t that many around and he picked up work in a ‘session’ role doing broadcasts and LPs with many of the top bands. Off the top of his head he recalls names such as Iain MacPhail, Cameron Kerr, Andrew Rankine, Ian Holmes, Max Houliston, Grace McCleaver, The Olympians and a wealth of work for Waverly Records.
Mixing Business and Pleasure
Just to put his other activities into context, Robin was farming Mauricewood Mains and managing a landscaping contracting business, one branch of which, the ‘Maintenance Department’ employed 90 men grass-cutting and gardening all over Scotland (military establishments, ancient monuments and S.S.H.A estates). He had also established 600 acres of tree and shrub nurseries, his specialism back in his days at Agricultural College and Edinburgh’s Royal Botanical Gardens. By mid to late 1978 Robin had decided to take a year off as pressure once again mounted but he agreed to do a broadcast with close friend Ian Holmes at the end of 1979 from the Dean Tavern in Newtongrange for Radio Forth. (He can’t remember whether it was on bass or box).
Producer Sandy Wilkie from Radio Forth was on hand and during a break Robin was pulling his leg along the lines of ‘you really need someone on Radio Forth who knows the Scottish Dance music scene from the inside’. Again Robin thought no more of it, but two days later Sandy phoned to offer him a ten minute slot on Radio Forth’s Friday night show ‘Pure Scotch’, presented at that time by Bill Torrance, and starting almost immediately. Robin had to get his thinking cap on, and quickly, because he didn’t at that point have any concrete ideas about what the show lacked. But he immediately thought of the thriving Accordion and Fiddle Club scene and called his spot ‘Accordion Club News’. He gave the dates of Club meetings in Radio Forth’s transmission area, the guest artistes and played tracks from their LPs to give listeners a taste of what they would hear.
Steve Jack took over Bill Torrance’s seat and Robin’s role expanded, but I’ll let Jimmy Clinkscale tell the story from his February 1982 write up on Robin – “Robin co-presents ‘Pure Scotch’ with Steve Jack every Friday night on Radio Forth. The programme is a light-hearted, two hour Scottish request programme. However, his main interest every week is his very own programme called ‘Folks Around Robin.’ Every week Robin plays host to a band or well-known group of musicians and records their music. Each selection of music is interspersed with ‘informal blethers’ when the bandleader is invited to introduce members of the band, tunes they play and recount any interesting or amusing incidents from the past.
“There is anything from ten to twelve hours of hard graft involved in any programme” say Robin, “but I really enjoy it. I have been so many places, met so many marvellous people through Scottish music that I’m only too delighted to be able to put something back into it.”
‘Folks Around Robin’ started in 1981 and ran for two and a half years. It was broadcast on a Monday evening and repeated on a Saturday. Robin used his knowledge of the scene to bring live bands into the studio where they recorded their sets but more importantly the bandleader, and occasionally other band members, were interviewed. Amongst Robin’s favourites were Sandy MacArthur, Angus Fitchet and Jim Johnstone – they had a natural and infectious humour coupled with a wealth of stories gathered over the years. He also achieved some notable ‘firsts’ tempting Andrew Rankine, Angus Fitchet and Bobby MacLeod back into the studio leading bands for the first time in decades. Radio Forth also started an annual live show in the Usher Hall (later the Playhouse Theatre) in Edinburgh, which allowed him to bring over to Scotland, again for the first time ever, Canadian stars such as fiddlers Graham Townsend and Rudy Meeks and the highly acclaimed Cape Breton Symphony Fiddle with Bobby Brown and the Scottish Accent. The 1979 show was tinged with sadness because it was there that his close friend Sandy MacArthur collapsed, on stage, in front of a full house. Robin was in the wings and it was he who closed the curtains and rushed to phone for the ambulance as others tried to revive Sandy. Steve Jack moved on from ‘Pure Scotch’ after four years leaving Robin in the driving seat for a further nine. The show was upped to 3 hours and Robin used it to promote all aspects of our music bringing artistes, particularly Scottish singers when they released a new LP, in to the studio to be interviewed.
An interesting aside at this point which demonstrates Robin’s organising ability. In 1986 Robin’s son, Russell, was attending George Heriot’s School in Edinburgh who had a long standing arrangement with a school in Zimbabwe (previously Southern Rhodesia) whereby the Rugby First 15 went out to play a few matches. Robin attended the P.T.A. meeting charged with deciding how to raise the substantial funds required for the trip. The talk was of ‘coffee mornings’ and the like – which Robin realised would take forever. He arranged to see the Headmaster privately the following day, explained his background, and offered to organise a big fundraising concert. From there it went along the lines of - ‘Ah yes, the Assembly Hall (300 seats)’ – ‘Well no, more the Usher Hall (3,000) seats’. The cast included the School Choir, two pipe bands (Heriot School P.B. and the Grade 1 Scottish Gas P.B.), the Jim Johnstone SDB, The Morag Alexander Dancers, M.C. Bill Torrance, singers Bill McCue and Thora Kerr, accordionists Iain McPhail and John Huband and top-of-the-bill the one and only Andy Stewart. As a finale Jim Aitken (Captain) and several other members of Scotland’s Grand Slam winning Rugby Team of 1984 came on stage and sang a closing number with the entertainers. Everyone gave their services free gratis and the Council gave the Usher Hall for a nominal rent. The results were highly satisfactory – not only the Rugby Team but also the Hockey Team and the entire Pipe Band went to Zimbabwe for a memorable visit and every pupil received £50 spending money. Beat that!
Robin’s Radio Forth stint took him right through to 1992. In 1992/3 he ‘returned to his roots’ (if you’ll forgive the pun) writing and publishing a 205 page masterpiece entitled the ‘Hardy Nursery Stock Tree and Shrub Manual’ (launched in the House of Commons by, among others the M.P. son of George McKelvey of the Shand Band) and five years later he sold Mauricewood Mains Farm, the entire business and went to live in Monaco. Even there his organising abilities came to the fore when the revitalized the ‘British Association’ (they didn’t have a Caledonian Society) and staged charity events featuring local residents supplemented by, amongst others, singer Peter Mallan, Billy Anderson and Albany, Bill Torrance and Jim McColl of Beechgrove Garden fame. In 2010 he returned home to Scotland full-time, buying and refurbishing Meldonfoot near Peebles (needless to say the gardens underwent a major redevelopment under his experienced eye).
Robin has spent a lifetime in Scottish music as bass player, accordionist and broadcaster (from both sides of the desk). He will indeed be a very worthy Guest of Honour at our June gathering.
Box and Fiddle
March 2014