The Casemakers

It was around 1987 , Chalky was just appointed Manager of the Case making division at East Coast Plastics Ltd a high profile position :). They made Record and Cassette cases. However chalkys dream was really to become a Rock star. So his first important task of manager ,  was to ask one of the supervisors to go round and ask every employee if they can play any instrument or could sing (obviously his father Mr Eric White MD was not aware of this agenda LOL) Well the outcome was ,  out of 80 people we only just had a Drummer (Keith Massingham} and a Bass player (Mike Hyde ). But we really needed a singer. So chalky asked the supervisor to go round again and just ask if anyone was in or had been in a choir (anyone in choir can sing right haha) Well one name came back (Jason Appleton). But he was very young ,so we had to pursuede him to join the band , so we had to Groom him (im not sure if thats a politically correct term lol), but it worked and he joined the band and also cemented a strong friendship between Chalky and Jason , So thats how it all started and there could only be one name for the band THE CASEMAKERS

So from there , we started Drinking ,I mean practising!! each week and we actually started to sound reasonable.Our first Gig was a Birthday party in North Walsham . and once all the nerves were gone we went down actually well . We had lots of support from the factory employees . We had a great team spirit at the factory and more importantly a ready made following lol. (And before anyone judges the management style lol, we were actually a very profitable Division because of it ) From then on we were playing quite a bit around North walsham area and we even travelled as far and wide as Tunstead (fruit farm). We were prepared to travel this far because we were young and the fruit farm was filled with students!! :) . I can still see Jason now , getting mobbed on stage by ecstatic females (It was a hard life back then) lol 

THE BIG TIME

Then we hit the Big time!! We were asked by Tubby (The landlord at the Black Swan) If we could play a Gig. It was the biggest pub in town and everyone use to go there. We were right excited , so we needed extra practising but at the same time it was quite daunting and nerve wrecking . Which caused one band member to get quite intoxicated before the gig (no names Hank !lol ). Chalky turned up for the gig and Jason meets him and says "Hank has passed out in the car park" . WTF !! wasnt a saying back then , but it was one of those moments . So staying positive Chalky says (Thats fine , we have an hour we can sort this , we need Coffee and plenty of it and just keep making him drink it (This was a homemade recipe back in the 70s we were taught by our fathers or mothers trying to sober the fathers !! ,which never works ). Well by surprise it did start to work , just enough for Hank to get on stage . The place was packed to the brim, Tubby was turning people away !  Things started well !! (for the first 3 songs) , then suddenly the drumming became slower and slower and slower and turning round to look at Hank , we just watched as he slowly fell on his drum kit and collapsed on the stage . We were clearly worried about his health so we asked the bouncers if they could please just dispose him off the stage and outside Lol. We were playing the Black swan , we had no time to save someones life (obviously we can say this now , but at the time it was quite worrying as we wasn't sure what damage he had done to the Drum kit lol) / Shit !! now what are we gonna do ? we cant play without a drummer !!. What a disaster we thought , our first big gig and we are going to have to abandon it . The crowd were getting a bit restless , so Chalky jokingly asked the crowd "I dont suppose there is a Drummer out there who wants to play ? " Then out of nowhere this guy came up to us . No one knew him or seen him before and he said "I can play drums for you if you like" . I just said , ye ok mate whatever . you can have a go if you like , and I looked at Jason with raised eyebows.lol . Thinking to myself OMG this is a nitemare . He said s,o how does the next song go, so in my technical musical explanation ,  i said it just goes quick mate !! . Well what happened next will go down in North walsham folklore history . The guy rolled around the full kit ,like Keith moon on steroids ! He was awesome ! So off we went and finished the gig . everyone loved him and he had a great time and the Gig was amazing . It had turned out the guy was a famous session musician who had a night off from playing the theatre royal as he was touring around England and was just passing through North walsham with his wife and popped in the pub for a drink to hear some music to relax. I dont even remember his name but i had never seen him before and I never saw him again ! . It makes me laugh that the guy is used of working with professional Musicians and then next thing , he is playing in a pub with a band who doesn't have a clue about music terms etc but the amazing thing is , he said he hadn't had as much fun in ages . I think he was sent by the rock angels that night 

Enter the Legend Johnny Starling 

So from then on we started to get a following and would always get a lot of the locals and die hard fans turn up for the gigs. But we were always missing a lead guitar player .Chalky could only play rhythm Guitar and we had a couple of people come and practise with us but no one wanted to stay (They were obviously to over whelmed by our music talent lol ) . Then one night we were playing a gig and had just finished and this guy (Johnny Starling) came up to us and said "Do you want a lead guitarist ?" Chalky just laughed as he must be joking . He had seen this guy play when he was just a 14 year old playing in the Bosa Chios (a cafe turned night club at night ) He was the most amazing guitarist he had ever seen (Johnny told me to write that lol ) but he really was an amazing guitarist . so Chalky said ok if your serious turn up to a practice next week and we will see (assuming he wouldn't turn up). So practice arrived and no Johnny,  so we just got on with the practise. Then suddenly we heard a noise and this guy turned up with an amp (who we didn't recognise) and behind him was Johnny . Chalky remember turning to Jason and saying fuck ! this guy has even got his own roadie !! (which we later found out it was Johnnys cousin Robert. Well from then on we never looked back and with Johnny , we actually started to sound really good . Johnny must have seen something in us that night that we didnt see ourselves and the most important thing is we all got on well and all became good friends .We carried in drinking lots! Oh i mean practising lol .

THE POLICE

 Well one night we were practising at the factory and obviously making a lots of noise with the sound booming out and we had the warehouse doors fully open as it was hot .I think we had been drinking pints of wine !! (Rock n"roll) yes johnny was a bad influence lol. Next thing there are blue lights outside (SHIT! were going to get done now for disturbing the peace or drinking . Two Policemen walked in and said "Evening All" (They didnt say that really , it was just a saying back in the 80s that all coppers said it lol). So we just pretended to be sober and hid the drink (Thats how tough we were lol ). well it turned out that they heard the music and thought it was good and wanted to listen , so they stayed !! and watched while we carried on , on one stipulation from us , that they keep the blue lights on for stage lights ! which was cool of them , then as they left one copper turned to us and said you can carry on drinking now lads lol. Great night .  I think nowadays we would have been issued a fine , hand cuffed and gang rapped in prison (well that was what Johnny would be hoping for lol )

Enter the man who supported The Beatles (Mick Starling) and also Andrew Gray(Drew)

So over the next year Mike Hyde had decided to leave as he was getting married and we needed a bass player and Hank had left to pursue other things so Johnny said well my Dad (Mick Starling) would play Bass for us . Mick was well known in North walsham as he was in a band called "The Hucklebucks" who famously supported The Beatles !! Yes the one and only Beatles , John , Ringo , Paul and George . Oh My,  if i had a pound for every time Mick told us that , i would be able to buy a pint of wine and a packet of crisps from the orchard (yes the prices were high back then when Mick owned the orchard lol ). Then Johnny said i could ask Drew (Andrew Gray) to see if he could play too . Johnny use to play in a band with Drew years before called "Misty" and Drew also use to play in a well known local band called "Pinto". So a new Casemakers were formed and is still the same line up now 30 years on 

The Famous Brickmakers Gig 

So we started giging again and played a lot of local gigs, It was around that time that we played The Jolly farmers  (you can hear the music for this under The music section "Live at the Jollys" and often we would play The black swan , The Orchard (which we called our home gig ) as Mick had bought the pub and it was great for all of us to hang out . We would also always play at Christmas parties at the community centre in North walsham .The East Coast Plastics Christmas party was legendary and always had a well known band and The Casemakers would always be the support (I am not sure how that ever happened lol ) `Some of the bands we  supported were MUD (famous for Tiger feet and Lonely this Christmas . DARTS , THE DRIFTERS , SHOWADDYWADDY and many more and it was great to hear there stories in the music industry , as well as playing through there PA system was always great as we could actually hear ourselves play for the first time , as we never really had good gear at the beginning . However we had always wanted to play in Norwich and the most famous place that everyone wanted to play was the Brickmakers pubs. But it was always difficult to get to play there . It was always heaving on a saturday night and a great place to be . Well we finally got our chance, but there was a condition , we had to play first on a Thursday night , which was a very quiet night but they would then see what we were like and if we were good , we would get a gig on a Saturday night . So we thought we would make an effort so we managed to get a bus from North walsham and get everyone who normally see us , to be there , which was difficult for a Thursday being a school night , but we did it and got the bus filled . By that time we had our own van and Roadie, so we rocked up to the gig all excited and pumped up , we had a few drinks and a few more Chalky had a Joint (bad mistake!). Then the bus turned up and out comes all the North walsham orchard drinkers , who had also been drinking before getting on the bus . So the scene is set and we are about the start the Gig , the land lady could not believe the amount of people at the gig and we said oh ye we always get a great following and she was well impressed so all good its going well !!! Gig starts and the first song is Helter skelter .. Well Chalky should start this with a run up riff, but he starts with a run down riff which is totally wrong !! and sounds so bad !! lol ("Told you it was bad mistake having a joint Chalky ! Get your head together " johnny says to him (Who made you Dad mr sensible lol) Well it did get better for the rest of the set and the break comes and all going ok . Mr sensible (Johnny) then started to have a drink with our Roadie and we all having a good time . Second sets start and people are having fun and started dancing , but then the land lady came up to us and said we dont have a dance license ! So no one can dance (It was another WTF moment ) we said im not sure how we can stop them . So we decided to then play a couple of slow songs, which worked for a little while . but we were running out of slow songs and by that time the drink had kicked in and we just thought , oh what the fuck! lets just play what we want,  we were having a good time and it was Fun . I think it was "Running Bear" which we played , it was a punk song by Stiff Little Fingers and loved by our punk followers . Well the place erupted and everyone was jumping up and down and dancing (it was awesome ) But the Land lady was going crazy !! All the bouncers were on the dance floor trying to stop people dancing (but no chance they were having a great time . We were told to stop playing !! , but we didnt lol , we were having fun too and we just carried on playing until eventually they turned off the power on the stage and that was it Gig over . well we go over to the bar and Johnny wants a drink , as we had been playing for over an hour and not had one . Next thing all hell lets lose and Johnny is over the bar lol , the barmen had told him they are not serving anyone , he explaned he was part of the band but they didnt care . and a big argument resulted in Johnny landing on the bar to try and get to the barmen (What happened to Mr Sensible Lol ) . Then as that was kicking off , one of the bouncers started pushing our Roadie out the door , he is trying to explain hes the roadie and all hell breaks lose again and eventually our roadie/van driver gets arrested and taken away . WOW what a Gig !!  As we left the brickmakers the land lady is shouting ! "you will never play here again !!" LOL  so our Norwich dream was no more and no Van driver either LOL . But it was an awesome night and everyone had a great time  and thats what it is about , having fun and that how we have always wanted to be , we never made any money and often did gigs for free for charity because we just enjoyed it 

The Studio (The Album)

It came the time that we wanted to record what we were doing as we knew it was special times and thought it would be great to go in the studio for a couple of days . We were told when we got there that we would probably only be able to record about 4 songs for the 2 days . But we said to the Music engineer we wanted to do more , as who knows when we would all be able to get together again as we all had family commitments and wanted to get as many tracks down that we could So we decided we would play live together and record it that way , ( it saves time ,rather than record individually) and we could record more , but we also knew it wouldn't give us much time for editing , so we had to get it right . We were focused and managed to get 13 songs recorded . The engineer couldn't believe it . You can listen to the studio album under the music section and also download it for free and we hope you enjoy it 

THE MELBOURNE (Im Hungry )

We were asked to play a gig at the Melbourne club , we had never played there before , however the gig was on a Friday night which meant it was a bit of a rush coming from work , but we all got there , just a little late and Chalky was starving!!  They served good food at the melbourne . so he said to Jason "im going to sneak off and get a bite to eat while you set the gear up" .This would happen a lot where one of us would hide up when it came to setting the gear up and tonight it was Chalkys turn lol . we assumed he was going to just get a snack !!, well the gear was set up and everyone was ready to start but chalky was still missing , so they got Robert to go and find him and Robert comes back and said , Hes ordered a 3 course meal and hes only just got his main course lol . Well Mick was fuming and said lets just start . Next thing Chalky comes running over and says WTF , i was about to tuck into Ribeye and Home cut chips !! (Thats actually a lie as he doesn't eat steak (weirdo ). But it was definitely something with home cut chips. but anyone who is a foodie out there knows the pain he suffered that night . But thankfully after the Gig food was provided and they looked after us well . However like every gig we played , our bar bill was always bigger than what we ever got paid !. Its a good job we enjoyed playing haha 

THE CARNIVAL

It was the year North Walsham had a big Carnival , they may have done it every year ,  but this year it was a big one . I think it depended who was on the North walsham committee at the time and that changed every year, any rate this was a big one . The case making division was having a good year and the employees wanted to put a float in , so Chalky agreed , on one condition the band can play on the float (never miss a chance to play lol) . I cant remember what theme it was , but we had a paddling pool on the float and lots of water pistols , well they were actually more like water machine guns to be fair . I think the lorry was from Starlings or Drurys but whoever , we knew the drive so was in control of where we were going , any rate off we go and we suddenly saw some fireman walking towards our float , so they were our first victims !and they got drenched from water snipers lol (but little did we know that was a very bad mistake to wet firemen) So any rate, The band fires up and i cant remember what songs we were playing but i remember it was loud!!! i knew it was loud because i could see the pain on people faces as we went past them lol .We are heading towards town . The town was packed , i think it was a Sunday and lots of people were dressed in there suits,  as they had just come from church.  Well as we entered town it was heaving  !! ...OMG i can still see people faces as they were pinpointed with accuracy by our water pistol warriors while having a blast of AC/DC " you shook me all night long "  ringing in their ears ! Luckily t was a hot sunny day and think they dried out fairly quick and people were fine about it (this is also a lie they were fuming !!! lol ). But we got the band noticed and this was Rocknroll ( well today it would properly be called assault . but it was fun and we finally arrived at the park. However little did we know the Fireman were waiting for us to arrive in there fire engine !! with there Big Fuck Off hoses at the ready !! ..Oh man it made our water weapons look like water pistols (well they were water pistols but you know what i mean .. It literally blew us off the float (please dont try this at home as its very dangerous and only for skilled rock and roll musicians ) . But a great laugh and everyone had fun , apart from the little kid that got blown off the float and landed on his head , but thankfully Johnny was ok Lol  . So the afternoon was spent in the sun drinking and it was finally time to leave so Mick said , lets make the driver drive around North walsham while we play on way home , so we cranked up really loud and off we went doing a tour of North walsham . Its amazing how good the acoustics are on a lorry , under the bypass bridge is !!. Being on a lorry , moving has it advantages as by the time people came outside to complain , we were already gone !! . So if you were home on a sunday around 7pm in the early 90s and heard this amazing sound shaking your house . Yes it was us and a belated apology :)