In late 1964, The 5 Torquays entered the studio to record and release a self-financed single. 500 copies were pressed and Larry Spangler would sell them at gigs, using the top of his organ to conduct business. "When the Torquays decided to record "Boys Are Boys" and "There She Walks" we were playing in Heidelberg at the Odeon Kellar putting in a solid 7 hour playing night. I guess we thought that we'd soon get a recording contract a get out from under our heavy playing load.

We found this little recording studio down the street from the Odeon Kellar and popped in there one day to do the songs. As I recall, it was a two track facility so the band was recorded on one track and the vocals on another then mixed together as mono. It all went pretty fast, I was playing a 12 string acoustic guitar on "Boys Are Boys" and electric on "There She Walks".  It was our first experience recording."

 The legend and legacy of the Embrooks looms large here in far-off Mohair Sweets land.  In fact it was back in the late 1990's through the most genteel, generous and one-of-a-kind diamond geezer that is Greg Smith of Dig the Fuzz Records fame that I first caught an earful of the three magical modsters known as the Embrooks.  Mr. Fuzz had sent me a copy of the "But I Didn’t Know Him”/ “Fight Fire" 45 he had put out and it - to use an overwrought cliché - flipped my wig.  I called him post-haste to tell him how much the 45 had moved me and to which he replied, "Well they’re here right now. I’ll tell ‘em." 

With the receiver still in his hands he speaks to the room (over a din of what appears to have been a ritual chowing down of a pot of Beanfeast), "Mohair says yer shite!"  Oh how I laughed.  A bond had been formed.  I continued to swap recipes with Mr. Fuzz over the next many months and on a visit to his charming house near the River Trent in Nottingham fairly soon after the initial Embrooks waxing, not only did he lay a copy of the Lyds 45 on me (the Embrooks core of Lois and Mole in a very brief previous incarnation, also issued on Dig the Fuzz) but he also produced the cardboard mock-up of the forthcoming Separations LP cover in all it’s sticky tape glory.  I felt privileged and honoured.  Not so very long after I held a finished copy of the reverb-drenched beauty in my hands.{Cut to man swooning}

Over the ensuing years more exciting releases on various labels in various countries followed - singles, EPs, CD issue of Separations on US label Dionysus, the fantabulous Our New Day LP on Voxx/Bomp and then - Shock! Gasp! Cries of "How 60's!" - tours of "America"!  "America" would be including of course a short stop for donuts and a couple of gigs in the Toronto area.  The word "tours" may be stretching it a bit I s’ppose, but let’s say that at least the band managed a few short stabs into the deepest, darkest clubs, cities and festivals that could deal with the band’s hip blend of all things wylde and wonderful: Las Vegas Grind, Mod Chicago’s Our Way of Thinking, San Diego’s Casbah Club, Cavestomp in New York, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago and beyond.  Europe by this time had already fallen for the Embrooks’ considerable charms.  I mean, c’mon!  A sexy Italian doctor on guitar.  A gorgeous and ferocious drummer.  A literate, mysterious and mellifluous bassist.  Those matching shirts and trousers!  Those super sideburns!  What is not to LOVE!?!  Spain, Italy, Germany, Maidstone.  They all fell in love.  And fell hard.

I feel it most important to also mention at this point that the reason so many fell so hard and fast is indeed the fact that the Embrooks’ recorded works are things of considerable artistic merit and provide some of the truly great moments in the history of mod/beat/freakbeat/mod-psych (or however you wanna classify it when you file them into your library of essential musical works).  Following their own self-produced debut 45 and LP the band worked with their like-minded friend and (now much higher profiled) producer/studio owner Liam Watson.  Watson’s Toe Rag studios and its collection of vintage recorders, mics, lab coats and compressors were the perfect match for the band’s collection of rare basses, fuzztones, Ludwig drums and their musical, new millennium continuity of the mind-bending sounds of the 60s.  Only very recently this like-minded team completed the superbly crafted and most highly accomplished Yellow Glass Perspections album for Munster Records.  Typically, rave reviews from around the globe flowed in to Embrooks HQ. 

The difficulty of course in steering a musical course such as the Embrooks’ chosen route is that while they may have cultivated legions (by that I mean plenty) of fans over the world with their dynamic and stylish stage show and superbly crafted tunes, the challenge is to make the scene on a shoestring budget and without larger label support; it can be difficult, if not darn near impossible, to make ends meet.  And when the added responsibility of paying ones’ bills, or helping to save the world from an ongoing medical crisis gets in the way, well, need I say more?  Somethin’s always gotta give I guess.  Hopefully this collection of the band’s recorded works and rarities will keep us satisfied while we wait patiently for their righteous return to the stage and studio.  I’m really hoping that it’s soon though and that when, and if they do, the rest of the world - besides us fortunate enough to have been along already for this fantastic musical trip - will be prepared and enlightened enough to fall deeply and madly in love with one of the great rock ‘n’ roll trios of modern times just the way you and I have.

The Embrooks eh.  Long live ‘em.  Lord luv ‘em.

Colin Bryce/Mohair Sweets