The Orign of Filthy Beast

It started back in 1964 when 4 school friends from Andover Grammar School got together and decided to form a band. Mike Parkins, Terry James, Peter Yates and Mike Perry had very limited musical knowledge, one guitar between them, no drums and at that point no talent, but they had a dream ...

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Andover Grammar School Boys of 1964 – Peter Yates is circled in red

Andover Grammar School Boys Photograph c.1964

Five Shades of Black Top

The fifth member of the schoolboy band, Dave Burke joined and "5 Shades of Black" was born.

The Rejected

In January 1966 they changed the name to the 'Rejected' and carried on practicing.

First Gig

On Saturday 19th February the band played their first gig at the SJAB Valentines Party at Kelly's Hall, Weyhill Road Andover.  They received the princely sum of £2 between them.

The Syn

Later that year Dave Burke left the band (he hadn't learnt to play the guitar and his heart wasn't really in it) and the now 4-piece band became "The Syn".  They performed only one gig as "The Syn" a wedding reception at Saint Ann's Hall Andover, then changed their name back to "The rejected".

The Rejected (2)

They played a couple more gigs in December 1966, including the most lucrative to date The Sergeant's Mess New Year Party at RAF Wallop for which they were paid £20 with £2 deducted for commission to Lance Barrett Agencies Limited.

In February 1967 they auditioned for the upcoming Carnival Talent Contest, playing their own unique and very loud version of the Monkee's hit "I'm not your stepping stone".  They passed the audition and on 6th July took part in the contest where they came second.  The winning act was a folk group called "The Southerners".  The carnival organisers were impressed and approached the Rejected to play open air at the Mardi Gras on Saturday 15th July.  The gig on the back of a lorry trailer outside of Andover Town Hall was not the success the band expected.  The Organisers had set up a PA system with loud speakers all around the market square and fed the vocal mikes into the speakers with the guitar amplifiers un-miked.  This meant that there was a delay between when most of the audience heard the vocals and the music, everything was out of synch.  The unfair criticism the band received after this fiasco from their friends and colleagues was very demotivating and lead singer Mike Perry took it particularly badly.  In January 1968 Mike Perry decided that he didn't want to continue, and the group became a 3-piece.

The Poet Top

They decided on another name change now becoming "The Poet".  Peter took over most of the lead vocals.

Their first public gig as a three piece followed soon after at the Plough in Shalbourne where they were paid £7 between them.

In late 1967 the Poet supported two big name acts; The Herd and Simon Dupre & the Big Sound.

The Filthy Beast Years

In 1969 after a brainstorming session and much alcohol the Band was renamed "Filthy Beast" and they started giging regularly around the south of England. The drummer Terry James left in 1973 to join another band and he was replaced by Nick.  In 1974 Nick left to join the army and Terry rejoined.

Legend

Back to the original 3-piece line up the band decided to become more mainstream and changed their name to "Legend".

In 1976 they split up mainly due to the logistical effort involved in getting togther to practice and gig, and the fact that all three were now married and settled.  A year later Peter Yates and Terry James had a couple of practice sessions with John Minet and Pete Witton with a view to the possibility of starting a new band but nothing ever came of this.