Mud play rare date in Clitheroe with two original members

Tomorrow night it will be the chance for the audience at Clitheroe Grand to ‘go nuts’ when Ray along with fellow original member Rob Davis bring Mud to the North West - one of only two shows the band is doing (the other is in Worthing).

Mud were one of the most successful bands of the early Seventies with a string of hits including Tiger Feet, Dyna-mite and the classic Lonely This Christmas.

The band effectively broke up by 1980 although singer Les Gray would continue to tour with Les Gray’s Mud until his untimely death in 2004.

Bassist Ray became part of The Hollies and remains an integral member of the band. Guitarist Rob Davis continued as a songwriter, writing Kylie’s global hit Can’t Get You Out of My Had with Cathy Dennis and also writing a number of hugely successful dance anthems.

“We hadn’t played together for it must have been 35 years,” said Ray, “but we kept being asked to do some shows.

“I got in touch with Rob and we decided that if we could make it sound like the original band with all the harmonies then we’d do it. But we were both adamant, there was no way we’d be dancing around on stage like we used to!

“We did a couple of gigs and the response was amazing - and they were great fun.

“So since then, probably 2015 or 2016. we’ve done a couple of gigs a year. We try not to make a habit out of it,” he laughed.

It was in 1973 that Mud first came to everyone’s attention, partly due to hit singles such as Tiger Feet, Dyna-mite and Lonely This Christmas but the band had been together for several years by that stage.

“We’d been charging around the circuit for seven or eight years by then,” said Ray. “We were busy but we weren’t well known at a national level.”

All that changed when they signed to the RAK record label run by Mickie Most. He teamed the band up with producers and writers Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman.

“They basically said that we would have hits and they were right,” said Ray.

But it wasn’t all plain sailing.

“The first couple of singles we put out weren’t as successful as the record company would have liked,” said Ray. “They basically said the next one’s got to be a bigger hit or the writing’s on the wall.”

Being faced with this kind of ultimatum, the members of Mud decided to take matters into their own hands.

“Until then we’d been told what to wear, what the style was and all that kind of stuff,” said Ray. “The next single was Dyna-mite and the idea they had for us was totally inappropriate. I think I was the first one to shout up and say if we’re going to be dropped by the label, I’m not going to wear this stuff.

“My uncle was a Teddy Boy and from the rock and roll era and I said I’d get a suit like his. Les and drummer Dave Mount joined in but Rob just didn’t look right in a Teddy Boy suit so he ended up wearing the clothes people are aware of.

“Dyna-mite was a massive hit and our rock and roll image was born. We were never again told what we should wear or what we should do.”

Mud were regulars on Top of the Pops, in part due to their irreverent approach to performing live.

“We were good TV,” said Ray. “Producers would want us on shows even when we didn’t have a new single out.”

Rob Davis’ flamboyant dress sense led to many a headline and complaints from the more traditional TV viewers.

“When were were doing Top of the Pops, earrings were just becoming a thing for men,” said Ray. “We sent Rob down to wardrobe to see if they had a clip-on earring to harden up his image. Instead he came back with two huge diamanté drop earrings.

“Given the success we were having, we decided to play on it for all it was worth. Rob used to dress up in what we’d call the wedding dresses and it just got more outrageous.

“Mind you, his mum didn’t like it much. She’d say ‘can you have a word with my Robert and stop him wearing all those dresses?’ We promised we would be needless to say we never mentioned it.”

Unlike many bands who become successful, Mud never lost their sense of fun.

Their appearance on Top of the Pops when Lonely This Christmas became the Christmas number one in 1974 was pure Mud, with stage hands pouring fake cotton wool snow over them from stepladders and Les Gray using a ventriloquist’s dummy for part of the song.

Then there was the number one Tiger Feet which inspired a generation of teenagers to do the Tiger Feet dance - look it up if you’re not aware of it.

“We’d seen The Shadows do their trademark dance so we thought we’d do ours,” said Ray. “But us being us we went completely over the top and had arms and elbows flailing everywhere.

“We were very serious about our music, we were a very good band. But we saw the funny side in everything. We’d take the mickey out of ourselves and what we were doing. We were a bunch of mates having a laugh and having fun.

“We’d spent a long time on the road and I think all this helped when we did start having some success, it kept us grounded.

“We’d had years of not getting anywhere so when it all came along certainly we weren’t teenagers but we just let loose and had fun with it.

“The thing is back then people were worried about their social media profiles or their image. We certainly didn’t worry about it, we just got up their and played and had fun.”

For the current line-up, Ray and Rob will be joined by drummer Pete Phipps, formerly of The Glitter Band and guitarist Keith Read.

“We wouldn’t consider doing full on tours,” said Ray. “I’m kept busy with The Hollies and Rob’s got his songwriting. But because we play infrequently you really look forward to doing them.

“We really enjoy playing all those songs. Why shouldn’t we, they are really good songs and they were very successful for us.

“We’ve got these two December shows but after that I’ve no idea when the next gig will be but I know it will be great whenever it happens.”

Mud, Clitheroe Grand, Saturday, December 16. Details from www.thegrandvenue.co.uk