Ade Taylor - Wandering John Bassist
by Pete Clemons
Ade Taylor - bass with Wandering John 1970 Coventry Cathedral Diggers Fest.
Bass player Ade Taylor nowadays lives happily in Devon. He has done so for a good number of years. There, he performs with local blues and rock bands. But this child of Coventry holds a wealth of knowledge and experience form those heady days of the late 1960s. So it is great to chat to people like Ade about those days. One story tends to lead to another and so on.
I began by asking Ade Taylor why he had chosen the bass guitar. He replied:'I was born in Hipswell Highway, Wyken before moving to Shakespeare Street, Holbrooks, Binley Woods and finally Earlsdon. As a youngster I had a little gang of friends in Earlsdon, where I lived at the time. We used to get up to all sorts of things as lads do. Football, Scalextric, bikes, and pop music. The Stoke/Wyken area at that time had a wealth of talent that included Neil and Hazel O'Connor, Dave Pepper, Rod Felton, Paul King, Wall, Geoff Veasey, Arnold Chave amongst many others). One day, I went around one of my friends house, and he and another were playing acoustic guitars together. From this, came a little band, and I just sang along with the lead singer. When one of the lads got a drum kit, only the bass position wasn't filled. So, they all looked at me with those, what about Ade eyes'.
Ade continued 'My brother said, I think the bass will really suit you Ade. And although this band of 14 - 15 year olds didn't get off the ground, that chance remark by my brother got me thinking. Fast forward to 1967, and I was working by then, and was able to purchase my first bass from Exchange and Mart in town, for £15. Nick Hawkswell gave me some good bass tips back in 1967, when I bought my first bass guitar. Nick had been a member of Coventry band 3AM along with Derek Wilson (guitar, vocals) and Jimi Longworth (drums)'.
The following year, 1968, Ade got himself a Fender Precision, a decent bass guitar. Bob Jackson gave him some useful riffs, including "Sunshine Of Your Love" by Cream. On the strength of that, he got into his first proper band, 'Interior War' and on rythmn guitar and slide guitar was John Alderson. (I think Interior War also included Leamington Spa resident, vocalist Nick Rowbotham, later of The Mosquitos)
Ade and John Alderson were kicked out of Interior War and 1969 saw the pair form Wandering John. The first Wandering John gig in the late Autumn, 1969 at the Newlands pub, Tile Hill Lane.
This gig lasted just 3 songs, then we were ejected for being too loud!. The band famously played an afternoon gig in the old cathedral. A lot of folk remember that day so well.
By 1972 Ade was playing rhythm guitar. Trev Teasdel remembers how Ade taught him how to do a 'barre chord' and John Alderson taught him the basis of 'Angie' - the Bert Jansch tune.
As it turned out Ade always dabbled with guitar. He had a cheap Spanish guitar, and played in my bedroom, as playing bass on your own isn't much fun. He learned a lot from various guitarists, including Johnny Alderson. But, alas, his ventures into lead guitar never rose to any great heights.
Ade says 'Some day I will tell about my links to well known Coventry musicians, including Wandering John, Indian Summer, Asgard, 3am, The Rare Set, Jessica's Theme, and many more.
Maybe, reading this, will spur Ade on to giving a more fuller account of his story.
Live concert by Wandering John 2010 for their 40th anniversary at the Sphinx Club Coventry
Ade Taylor in the 70's
Wandering John 1970
From a 1970 photo of Ade Taylor in Broadgate Gnome 1970 - above a graphic used for the Hobo Coventry Music Archive in 2007 and the original from Broadgate Gnome.
More on Wandering John on the Coventry bands from the 1960's onwards A to Z.
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