Tom Newman…. Singer, Rhythm Guitar & Sitar
Alan James… . Bass Guitar
Chris Jackson….Drums
Peter Cook… …Lead Guitar
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| The Tomcats 1963 Ealing Town Hall West London |
Tom, Pete, and Chris were at school listening The Shadows, and they decided they want a band. Alan banded soon later. This is the Beginnings of The Tomcats in east London, hardly influeced by The Shadows, Elvis, Lonnie Donegan, the Everly Brothers, and Eddie Cochran, in early 60s, and later by Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley.
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| Madrid, 1966 |
They stayed as The Dreamers for at least a month until Freddie and the
Dreamers came out and they thought that they had to change their name and
Tom's your dad came up with it: “What about The Tomcats?” and they said “Yeah alright”. In early 1965 they got a load of gear. They were a resident band in Oxford
Street and Alex Herbage and Alexis Korner were managing themand they
bought thema load of gear on HP: Vox AC50s, a PA system and a guitar etc.
Herbage wound up in court and bankrupt because of city fraud and the
whole thing collapsed and they took their equipment back. It was the last
straw. Tony had just got back from Spain backing Teddy Ray and decided it would
be a good idea to go out there again with a band and he put the idea to
Tom. They asked to Tom if I would be their singer and wanted a few others like
Mickey Holmes and Speedy Keen (29 March 1945 – 12 March 2002) of the Second Thoughts. Basically they
wanted to reform the Second Thoughts without Vic the Dog and Pat
Campbell-Lyons and have Tom as the singer. Then they got rid of Speedy Keen. Newman on vocals, Duhig on guitar, Field on flute/keyboards, James on bass, and Jackson on drums. they, they all ended up in Spain for just over a year (1965/1966). Basically it was covering what was going on in England – Rolling Stones and Beatles. The Spaniards considered themto be one of their bands, Los Tomcats. And they receorded 4 Ep,16 tracks.They travelled by the north, Barcelona, and Tenerife.They also recorded spanish folk songs, such as "A tu vera" , "Macarenas", "Pena, Penita, Pena", but adapted to rhythm & blues, and beat rythm, with a very nice and original result.Passed a year, they back to London, where few members formed a new famous band: July. 
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