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