A potted history of Decameron
– the first thirty five years

When Johnny Coppin and Dave Bell founded Decameron in 1968 they had little idea that they might still be playing the occasional concert together more than thirty five years later.

The original members are all doing other things now, but they still enjoy getting together from time to time. “It’s the irresistible pull of a group of long-time friends” says Dave Bell.

The evolution of Decameron from a songwriting duo to a six-man group was a happy accident rather than a master plan. “As the number of gigs increased we decided to take a sabbatical from our studies to tour full time and never went back” says Dave. “Suddenly we found we were earning (just) enough to live as full time musicians.”

Decameron owes its existence to the fertile environment of Cheltenham Art College. Johnny Coppin had already met Al Fenn at the College in 1966 and formed a band called “Love to Mother”. Johnny later met Dave and with “heads full of poems, music and rhyme” they started to write together. The combination proved irresistible – Dave providing the lyrical grit to Johnny’s musical oyster – and the results slipped down a treat!

By 1969 guitarist Al had joined Decameron to make it a trio and within months another college friend, Geoff March, had been recruited on cello.

The four of them started gigging around the folk clubs and built up a solid following, under the guidance of their agency at the time, Fingimigig – Proprietors: John Starkey and Jasper Carrott. “At the time Jasper told me his future lay in management rather than performing” says Dave, with a smile.

Many friendships were formed around this time – the band’s mates from college, other musicians around the country and some of the club organisers who helped them get noticed. Many of those friendships persist to this day and a Decameron reunion concert brings many familiar faces out of the woodwork, sometimes from different counties or even different continents.

Long summers were spent in Cornwall, the band staying at Geoff’s dad’s house or camping and playing to summer visitors at Brenda Wootton’s Pipers Club in Penzance, or the Folk Cottage at Rose run by Ella Knight. Venues that members of Decameron remember with particular fondness include The Village Pump at Trowbridge, The Cherry Trees in Alcester, The Free Express in Bournemouth, the Dog & Partridge in Clitheroe, the Shakespeare’s Head in London and Norwich Folk Club. And then there was the Thursday night residency at Cheltenham’s Prom Club, where Geoff would bring his cello in a motorcycle sidecar to play only in the second set, after arriving with wet hair fresh from diving lessons. This was a tradition maintained in following years. “I was coming back late from visiting a girlfriend in Holland” says Geoff. “I only made it to the gig in Portsmouth just in time to come on for the encore – as Melvin Mercury.”

Geoff’s brother Jonathan March was Decameron’s road manager and kept it all together as well as doing the sound. Sometimes the gigs were so far spread out (“Today Newcastle, tomorrow Exeter”) that the band had trouble remembering what day it was. “I don’t think we could have survived with Jonathan’s solid attention to detail” says Geoff. “One time I went out to buy a copy of The Beano and found all the shops shut. What I thought was Wednesday half-day closing turned out to be Sunday morning!”

Travelling in the van provided a good opportunity to work on Decameron’s trademark vocal harmonies. “We could all sing and sitting in the van gave us a chance to work out harmonies as a communal effort” says Al.

The four members of Decameron rented a large flat together and it quickly became the hub of operations as a well as a popular crash pad with other musicians visiting the town. The flat in Cheltenham’s rather splendid Parabola Road was the first floor of a grand Regency mansion called Gransden which they got for a ridiculously low rent. “Living in a band house as well as playing together meant we were in each others pockets 24 hours a day but I think we survived remarkably well!” says Johnny.

This closeness meant that as well as writing, touring and recording together, Decameron were at the hub of a blossoming social scene. One result of this was a Christmas show which became a major magnet for the bands many friends – not just from Cheltenham but much further afield. “Decameron’s Bumper Christmas Show” in 1971 failed to break new ground in British Theatre but it was the start of something that lasted for many years. “We had Jasper Carrott as the compere and it was a chance for us to perform the sort of music and party pieces that didn’t fit in with the Decameron mould,” says Johnny. The cast members were college friends, people they’d picked up in the pub and any musician friends passing through at the time.

I have fond personal memories of staying with Johnny in 1973 and seeing all three performances of “Star Trek in Pantoland”. Each show got longer and longer as more and more musicians were invited to do a turn in the infamous ‘Labour Exchange’ scene, eventually adding another hour to the running time!

There was a role for everyone who wanted to be in it. Mic Le Fevre, a rock writer from Paris appeared as a bishop, Alex Atterson took up residence as the pit pianist and Decameron got to sing ‘By the Light of the Silvery Moon’. Old Spot Morris danced, leaping to the rafters and long time friend Mike Penny made the first of his many annual appearances - usually as a policeman.

The scripts, such as they were, were written in bits, with the members of Decameron writing their contributions in the van travelling around Europe. One of the finest moments that year was when Alex Atterson who had been more than generous with his heckling and barracking from the orchestra pit was invited onto the stage (thinking he was to receive a bouquet) only to be doused with a full bucket of water.

Festival appearances were becoming more frequent with bookings at Cambridge, Norwich and Trowbridge Festivals.

In 1973 Decameron’s first album “Say Hello to the Band” was released by Phonogram. Celebrated folk-rock svengali Sandy Roberton produced the album and at the end of recording he told the band he wanted to be their manager. At this point things moved up a gear – a recording deal with Mooncrest, tours in Holland, Germany and Belgium, bigger venues in the UK and the addition of another band member Dik Cadbury on bass. Not to mention a bigger van and a proper PA.

1974 saw the release of Mammoth Special, regarded by some of the band as their finest hour. “We did a fabulous promotional gig at the Commonwealth Institute in London with an Orchestra” says Al. “We were getting some really good audiences on the continent and the home crowds were growing.” Dik remembers the concert with fondness: “The double bass player from the orchestra abandoned his family holiday in Cornwall and drove all the way up to London to do the one gig – that’s dedication.”

A year later “Third Light” came out on Transatlantic – an evolution of Mammoth and the first airing for some of the bands best songs including Trapeze, The Ungodly and Journey’s End.

In 1975 Bob Critchley joined on drums in time for a tour of the UK on a triple bill with Dutch band Fungus and Steve Ashley, which saw the band playing to houses of up to 1,500 people a night, including a stormer at Manchester Free Trade Hall.

A far cry from the night in Belgium where they played to eight people. “We bought them all a drink and had a rehearsal” says Dave. But it wasn’t all glamour. Top of Al’s list of gigs from hell was the night where they ended up being booked into a rock and roll revival club in Copenhagen. The audience were lobbing chicken bones at us and we only got out alive by masquerading as our alter egos ‘The Magnificent Mercury Brothers’ doing Beach Boys and Jan & Dean covers” said Al. “It got worse after that. We had to drive all the way up to Oslo for a single gig and then take the ferry down to Rotterdam in a force 9 gale.”

In 1976, the band’s fourth album “Tomorrow’s Pantomine” emerged, with Dik’s influence taking Decameron in a more rocky direction. However this highlighted the differing objectives among band members and within months Decameron decided to call it a day. Although they were earning a living, the costs of touring a six-piece band in bigger venues were prohibitive. “We had gone from being big fish in a small folk pond to small fish in a big rock pool” says Geoff or as Dave says “we always had one foot in Tin Pan Alley and the other on the village green!” Other opportunities beckoned.

Dik went on to set up his own recording studio (Millstream) in collaboration with Jonathan and Geoff decided to start up his own (very successful) tree surgery business. Bob had a spell playing with Robin and Barry Dransfield, Al went on tour with Brenda Wootton and later Steve Ashley, Dik worked with Steve Hackett and Johnny fronted his own band – managed once more by his old friends John Starkey and Jasper Carrott. Since then Dik and Dave have worked together as The Teenage Idols, Geoff has played in a jazz fusion outfit and now sings with the Choral group Cappella as well as making occasional guest appearances with Johnny Coppin. In more recent years Dik has become a freelance voiceover and started working solo, following the release of his solo debut CD ‘About Time’ (1999). He still plays live with various bands including Mike D’Abo’s Mighty Quintet and, occasionally, the Manfreds. Johnny Coppin has remained the only full-time musician, touring regularly and recording numerous albums throughout the intervening years.

There have been a number of Decameron reunions over the years and there is no reason to suppose that these won’t continue. Dave and Johnny are still writing a few new songs together and some of these have emerged at those concerts.

“After all these years we are still part of the same group of friends and it’s great to tread the boards together knowing that we can walk back to other lives afterwards” says Dave. “It’s also wonderful seeing all those other faces again.”

So here we are thirty five years later with a golden opportunity to put all the songs from Decameron’s second, third and fourth albums onto a 2 CD collection plus a couple of rarities from other sources. To produce Parabola Road, the band got together to decide the running order, what to add in and what to leave out. I hope you approve of their selection. And the Magnificent Mercury Brothers!

Paul Weir

Paul Weir first met Decameron as a journalist writing for Sounds and NME. He later became the band’s publicist and eventually (in common with almost everyone connected with Decameron) succumbed to the charms of Gloucestershire, moving to Cheltenham where he is still living 30 years later. He has been involved in promoting some of the reunion concerts.

P.S.
July 2004: The band has since released a further CD ‘Say Hello To The Band and Thebestofwhatsleft’, on which, for the first time ever, is a digitally remastered version of their first album plus a number of unreleased ‘B’-sides, singles and tracks from the unreleased followup to ‘Say Hello…’, featuring Gerry Conway on drums and introducing Dik on bass, fiddle and vocals. These were produced by Sandy Roberton in Sound Techniques and also feature the bands’ fathers, cast as monks, on ‘Parade’. (Sadly, they were not all still with us by the time the band recorded ‘Mammoth Special in 1974 so the band’s younger voices took their places.)!

For details of all Johnny Coppin and Decameron albums, website, newsletters and mailing list, please contact:

Red Sky Records, P O Box 27, Stroud, Glos. GL6 0YQ. UK.
Tel 0845 644 1447 (local rates) Tel/fax 01453-836877
email- info@redskyrecords.co.uk
Websites - www.johnnycoppin.co.uk and www.redskyrecords.co.uk

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