JOHN STEEL was behind the drum kit when they were at the forefront of the British invasion of the American music scene in the Sixties. And next week, as the Animals and Friends play an intimate charity gig in Barnoldswick, John will still be in his normal place.

It is now 60 years since John and fellow Geordie Eric Burdon played in their first band together.

“We were green as grass when we were starting out,” he said. “We were just a bunch of thick Geordies.

“To be honest when I was doing it I was thinking ‘a couple of years of this and then it will be back to a normal life’. I never dreamed it would go on.”

Initially John and Eric played in a dance band with John on trumpet and Eric on trombone.

“I was working in a nightclub wearing a bow tie and playing Moon River while people were eating steaks.

“At the time trad jazz was the dance music of the youth it was all Chris Barber and Acker Bilk and I loved the origins of it from Louis Armstrong, Jellyroll Morton and Bix Beiderbecke and that kind of stuff.

“Then rock and roll came in. At the point the original band was Eric and me on trombone and trumpet with a couple of friends on a banjo and drums.

“Then Eric did a sudden about-face and said ‘I want to do rock and roll’

“Eric was a lousy trombone player anyway so he became the singer, the drummer who only had a snare and a high hat said there’s a new instrument the electric bass so I’m going to play that and the banjo player said he was getting an electric guitar. That left me so I said ‘OK, I’ll play drums then’.

It doesn’t sound as though this haphazard approach would amount to much, let alone change the face of modern music, but that’ exactly what happened with The Animals releasing songs such as Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood, We Gotta Get Out of This Place and, of course, House of the Rising Sun.

“Those numbers are still classics. They are so good you never get tired of playing them,” said John.

“Also we keep it fresh. We add new old numbers, sometimes stuff we haven’t played for 50 years. We dust them down, brush them off and give them a new lease of life and then we extend solos, it’s not a cabaret act.

“We just do our stuff and it seems to work, whatever we do. But it’s never in a rut. We will change things and say let’s leave that song for a few months and introduce a new number here or there. Let’s face it, there is a good catalogue to go at.”

The Animals and Friends also includes keyboard player Mickey Gallagher who first joined the band in 1965 plus bassist Roberto Ruiz and guitarist and vocalist Danny Handley and the band remains as popular around the world as ever.

“We never do less than about 100 shows a year which when you add in all the travelling is a big chunk of the year taken out,” said John. “It’s fantastic and I do love it. The only downside is the packing and the travelling but let’s face it, it’s better than working for a living.”

The Animals and Friends, Barnoldswick Music and Arts Centre, Thursday, November 9. Details from 01282 813 374. The show will raise money for the Concert for the Kids charity which aims to raise money for equipment for Alder Hey Children’s Hospital