The Roadrunners

Photos: Hamburg '99

In 1999 Bear Family Records released a superb 4-CD box set of Star Club acts from the 60s. It includes the whole of our first album. Pete Mackey attended the launch party as a representative of The Roadrunners, with webmaster David Holmes in tow.

Ulf Kruger of K&K Center of Beat told us this tale: "I'm from a small town in Lower Saxony and, in the sixties, I was a drummer with a little 'Beat - Band'. A good friend of mine, whose father was the managing director of the local brewery, had a real tape recorder with one pre-recorded tape which I really loved. My friend didn't know who was playing on that tape (maybe he bought it with the second hand recorder). Anyway, I loved that tape & so I went to see him nearly every early evening before going to the pub. I had a listen to the tape and two (free) bottles of beer.

"My favourite song was 'You better move on'. I was a big Rolling Stones fan then and I liked that kind of material without knowing anything about Arthur Alexander or the other originals yet. I liked the voice on the tape much better than Mick Jagger's. But I didn't know, who the singer was. Now I know it was Mike Hart of the Roadrunners. And it was a great pleasure for me to help re - issuing one of my all time favourite recordings."

Below are a few of our snaps.

  1. Rick Hardy (Jets) and Pete Mackey (Roadrunners) return to the Reeperbahn/Grosse Freiheit for the first time in some 30 years. Other British guests at the launch party included Tony Sheridan, Bobby Patrick and members of the Liverbirds.

  2. The Star Club is long gone. But here's the memorial stone recording the acts who appeared. (Somehow they overlooked us!)

  3. The Beer Shop was a popular watering hole with Star Club acts. Still worth a visit today, despite what you may have heard about some of the surrounding establishments.

  4. Pete and yours truly (David Holmes) in the Beer Shop before the launch party. Despite Pete's "what on Earth have you gotten me into?" look, we did have a good time.

  5. The Hotel Pacific in Neue Pferdemarkt - our "home from home" in Hamburg (as it was for several other British acts who played the Star Club).