The Quarrymen The Quarrymen are a British skiffle and rock and roll band, formed by John Lennon in Liverpool in 1956, which evolved into the Beatles in 1960. The Quarrymen's History In the mid-1950s, a relatively obscure musical genre called skiffle, which originated in the United States and was popular in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, emerged. Skiffle is a genre of folk music with influences from American folk music, blues, country, bluegrass and jazz, usually performed with a mix of improvised instruments. The genre became extremely popular in the United Kingdom in the 1950s among British teenagers, and also spawned a craze for teenagers to start their own groups. One of the main attractions was that it did not require great musical skills or expensive instruments to play. Early British skiffle was played by traditional jazz musicians, with the most successful British proponent of the genre in the 1950s being Lonnie Donegan. The Quarrymen's early repertoire included several songs that Donegan had recorded. When Lennon wanted to try his hand at making music of his own, he took guitar lessons in Hunt's Cross, Liverpool, although Lennon soon gave up the lessons as they were based on theory rather than actual playing. As Griffiths already knew how to play the guitar, Lennon's mother showed them how to tune the top four strings of their guitars to the same notes as a banjo, and taught them the chords of D, C and D7, as well as the Fats Domino song "Ain't That a Shame". They practised at Lennon's aunt's house, where Lennon lived, or at Griffiths' house in Halewood Drive. They learned to play Lonnie Donegan's "Rock Island Line", and later learned to play two of Elvis Presley's early hits, "That's All Right" and "Mean Woman Blues". Lennon and Griffiths decided to form a skiffle group in November 1956. This initial line-up consisted of Lennon and Griffiths on guitars, Pete Shotton on washboard and Bill Smith on tea-chest bass. The washboard is a percussion instrument that uses the metal surface of the cleaning device as a rhythm instrument, and the teabox bass is made from a stick, traditionally a broomstick, with one or more strings stretched along the stick and plucked. Both Lennon and Shotton are credited with coining the name Quarrymen after a line in their school song: 'Quarrymen, old before we were born. Stretching every muscle and sinew.' The choice of name was ironic, as Lennon considered the reference in the school song to "stretching every muscle and sinew" to be laughable. Smith's tenure in the band was extremely short-lived, and he was replaced in quick succession by Nigel Walley, Ivan Vaughan and Len Garry in late 1956 and early 1957. Also during this period, drummer Colin Hanton and banjo player Rod Davis joined the group. This group of Lennon, Griffiths, Shotton, Garry, Hanton and Davis formed the first stable line-up of the group. The group first rehearsed at Shotton's house on Vale Road, but due to the noise, his mother told them to use the corrugated air-raid shelter in the back garden. Rehearsals were moved from the cold air-raid shelter to either Hanton's or Griffiths's house – Griffiths's father had been killed in the Second World War and his mother worked full time. The band also frequently visited Lennon's mother at 1 Blomfield Road, listening to her collection of Elvis records. Former drummer Nigel Walley became the group's manager. He sent leaflets to local theatres and dance halls and put up posters designed by Lennon: "Country-and-western, rock n' roll, skiffle band – The Quarrymen – Open for bookings – Call Nigel Walley, Tel. Gateacre 1715". Walley managed to secure the group several paid engagements during the spring of 1957, including one at The Cavern Club. A jazz club at the time, the Cavern tolerated skiffle, as it was considered an offshoot of jazz. Lennon, however, began leading the band in several rock and roll numbers, prompting the club's manager to send a note ordering the group to "stop the damn rock". In July 1957, Canadian businessman Carroll Levis held a talent contest in Liverpool, the winners of which would appear on the television series Star Search. The Quarrymen performed Lonnie Donegan's "Worried Man Blues" to great applause, but a group from Wales (called the Sunnyside Skiffle Group) "jumped all over the stage" and overshadowed the ecstatic Quarrymen, and Levis asked to fill the last few minutes of the contest with a second song. Lennon argued heatedly with Levis backstage, saying that the Sunnyside Skiffle Group had brought a busload of supporters with them and had been given the upper hand by Levis. After the competition, Levis used a clap meter (a machine to measure the decibels of the audience's reaction to the groups) as they were invited back on stage. The Quarrymen and the Sunnyside Skiffle Group tied, both reaching ninety on the meter, but after a second test, the Quarrymen lost by a narrow margin. Paul McCartney joins the band On 6 July 1957, the Quarrymen played at the Queen of Roses Garden Festival at St Peter's Church in Woolton. After the set, Ivan Vaughan introduced McCartney to Lennon, and they chatted for a few minutes. McCartney then sang Eddie Cochran's "Wenty Flight Rock", Gene Vincent's "Be-Bop-a-Lula" and a medley of Little Richard songs. While walking home from the gig, Lennon and Shotton discussed the afternoon's encounter with McCartney, and Lennon suggested that perhaps they should invite McCartney to join the band. Two weeks later, Shotton met McCartney cycling through Woolton and relayed Lennon's casual invitation for him to join the Quarrymen, and Vaughan also invited McCartney to join. McCartney said he would join after a Scout camp in Hathersage, Derbyshire, and a family holiday at Butlin's holiday camp in Filey, North Yorkshire. Shotton and Davis left the Quarrymen in August, feeling that the group was moving away from skiffle and towards rock, leaving their instruments redundant. When McCartney returned from the holiday, he began rehearsing with the Quarrymen, playing songs such as "Bye Bye Love" (The Everly Brothers) and "All Shook Up" (Elvis), which Lennon and the group had been trying to learn without success. McCartney made his debut with the band on 18 October 1957 at a Conservative Club social event held at the New Clubmoor Hall in the Norris Green section of Liverpool. Lennon and McCartney wore cream sports jackets, which were paid for by the group as a whole—Walley collected half a crown a week from each member until they were paid—and the others wore white shirts with tassels and black ties. Much to the annoyance of the other members of the group, the Quarrymen continued to play occasional gigs throughout the autumn of 1957, mainly for local promoter Charlie McBain. During this period, the group largely eliminated skiffle from their repertoire, concentrating instead on covers of rock and roll acts such as Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Little Richard and Larry Williams, and the Quarrymen's sound increasingly relied on the harmony singing between Lennon and McCartney. A hugely important influence on them at this time was Buddy Holly and his group, the Crickets. At this time, Lennon and McCartney began writing songs influenced by Holly—Lennon's "Hello Little Girl" and McCartney's "I Lost My Little Girl"—and both were impressed by each other's efforts. The two young men began writing together. George Harrison joins Following McCartney's poor performance on lead guitar at the Conservative Club, the group needed another guitarist to accommodate their new rock-focused repertoire. McCartney recommended his school friend George Harrison. Harrison first saw the group perform on 6 February 1958 at Wilson Hall, where McCartney introduced him to Lennon. Harrison subsequently auditioned for the Quarrymen in March at Rory Storm's Morgue Skiffle Club, playing "Guitar Boogie Shuffle". Lennon felt that Harrison (having just turned 15) was too young to join the band, so McCartney arranged another reunion, where Harrison played "Raunchy" for Lennon. After McCartney's constant advocacy, Lennon allowed Harrison to join the Quarrymen as lead guitarist. Harrison's entry into the Quarrymen further distanced the group from skiffle, and also ended Lennon's use of the banjo. By this time, John Duff Lowe, another school friend of McCartney's, had joined the group on piano. With Harrison's addition, the Quarrymen now had four guitarists. Lennon and McCartney suggested to Griffiths that he buy a bass guitar, but Griffiths refused due to the cost. The two subsequently persuaded Nigel Walley, still acting as the group's manager, to fire Griffiths. Walley regretted the incident and gradually severed his ties with the Quarrymen as a result. Around the same time, Len Garry contracted tubercular meningitis and spent seven months in hospital, never playing with the group again. This left Colin Hanton as the last of Lennon's Quarry Bank classmates who had originally made up the group. In March, McCartney purchased an Elpico amplifier with two inputs, and he and Harrison added pickups to their guitars, giving the Quarrymen an electric sound for the first time. Percy Phillips operated a studio called Phillips' Sound Recording Services at 38 Kensington, Liverpool. The studio was located in a small room at the back of his family's electrical shop. Phillips had just turned 60 when Harrison heard about the studio from a guitarist who had recorded there. The Quarrymen scheduled a recording session for 12 July 1958. They recorded direct to disc, as tape would have been an extra expense. The sound was recorded live by a single microphone in the centre of the room, and Lennon suggested that Hanton place a handkerchief over the snare drum to reduce the volume. They first recorded "In Spite of All the Danger", an original McCartney song (credited as McCartney/Harrison), followed by Buddy Holly's "That'll Be the Day". Both songs feature Lennon on lead vocals. When the recording was finished, Phillips gave the group a fragile 78 rpm record, which was passed around the band for a week at a time, or lent to friends. It was later lost until Lowe rediscovered it in 1981 and sold it to McCartney for an undisclosed sum. The recordings would later be released on the Beatles' Anthology 1 album. "The rhythm is in the guitars" Shortly after the recording session, Hanton fell out with the rest of the group and left. Lowe also lost touch with the group after leaving the Liverpool Institute, leaving the Quarrymen as just a trio of guitarists: Lennon, McCartney and Harrison. Lennon's mother died in a road accident on 15 July 1958, dealing him a devastating emotional blow. The group remained largely inactive over the summer, while Lennon took a job in a restaurant at Liverpool Airport. McCartney and Harrison, meanwhile, went on a hitchhiking holiday in Wales, playing with a local skiffle group called The Vikings. Although Lennon, McCartney and Harrison remained extremely close, the trio only performed a handful of times in the final months of 1958. When asked why they had no drummer or bassist, they would reply, "The rhythm is in the guitars." In the fall of 1958, the group got another chance to audition for Carroll Levis, nearly a year and a half after the Quarrymen's first Star Search. For the audition, the group changed their name to Johnny and the Moondogs. Lennon was without a guitar, as his had recently broken. Johnny and the Moondogs passed the first heat of the competition in Liverpool and were invited to appear in the final in Manchester. The group performed Buddy Holly's "Think It Over" to positive reception, but were unable to stay until the end of the competition to receive the results. As they were leaving, Lennon saw a cut electric guitar near the stage door, picked it up and walked away with it, later saying that the trip "wasn't a total waste". After auditioning for Star Search, Johnny and the Moondogs changed their name to Japage 3 (pronounced "Jaypage"), combining letters from the names of each of the members: John, Paul and George. Lennon had a friend from art school named Derek Hodkin who owned a tape recorder, and Lennon persuaded him to record the group (with McCartney's brother Mike on drums). The group then asked Hodkin to act as their manager, and he agreed. Despite Hodkin's management, bookings for the group dried up. Harrison began a stint as rhythm guitarist with the Les Stewart Quartet, which had a weekly club engagement. By May, Japage 3 had disbanded, although the three continued to see each other socially, and Lennon and McCartney continued to write songs together. The Casbah Club and the Beatles' name change In the summer of 1959, Mona Best decided to open a club in her basement and offered the Les Stewart Quartet a residency if they would help convert the basement. Harrison and fellow Quartet guitarist Ken Brown, however, missed a gig, causing Les Stewart to fire them and cancel the residency. This caused Best distress, but Harrison offered a solution: he recruited Lennon and McCartney to play, and they re-named themselves the Quarrymen. After helping Best finish converting the basement, the new four-guitarist lineup of the Quarrymen (Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Brown) opened the Casbah Coffee Club on 29 August 1959. The opening night performance was attended by about 300 local teenagers, but because the basement had no air conditioning and people were dancing, the temperature rose until it became difficult to breathe. The Quarrymen had the opportunity to use Brown's three-input amplifier (which, with McCartney's Elpico, meant all four guitarists were electric), and sang through a microphone connected to the club' small PA system. 1994–present Since the Beatles' break-up in 1970 and John Lennon's assassination in 1980, the members of the Quarrymen have reunited several times. Since their 1994 reunion, the Quarrymen have recorded four studio albums, consisting mainly of covers of 1950s rock and skiffle songs. From 1994 to 1995, Rod Davis and John Lowe recorded an album with session musicians. This album, Open for Engagements, was released in 1995 under the name Quarrymen. Their second album, Get Back – Together, was released the same year they reunited, in 1997 (specifically in September). Their third album, Songs We Remember, was released on 29 August 2004, and their fourth studio album, Grey Album, was released in 2012. These albums contain songs that the band performed during their original incarnation, and also contain covers of Beatles songs. They also reference the Beatles, as seen with the title of Get Back – Together being a reference to the Beatles song of the same name, and Grey Album being a reference to the Beatles' self-titled album, also known as The White Album. The surviving members of the 1957 line-up of the Quarrymen reunited in 1997 for the 40th anniversary of their performance at the 1957 Woolton Queen of Roses festival, which was the site of Lennon and McCartney's first meeting. All five surviving members from that day, Pete Shotton, Rod Davis, Len Garry, Eric Griffiths and Colin Hanton, performed. After that, the group continued to perform, touring the United Kingdom, United States, Germany, Japan, Russia, Cuba and other countries. The group's repertoire focuses on the skiffle and early rock and roll that they played in their original incarnation, with the historical perspective of roots rock added to illustrate how American roots music inspired the nascent Beatles. In 2000, Beatles producer and historian Martin Lewis produced the group's performance of the Del-Vikings' song "Come Go with Me" (the first song McCartney remembers hearing Lennon sing on the first day they met) for use on the soundtrack to Michael Lindsay-Hogg's film Two of Us, a film about the last day Lennon and McCartney saw each other in April 1976. Eric Griffiths died in 2005, and Pete Shotton retired due to ill health. Shotton died in 2017. As of 2016, Davis, Garry and Hanton have continued to perform around the world. Lowe has occasionally performed with them. In September and October 2010, the band toured the United States, celebrating the 70th birthday of their founder, John Lennon. They appeared at a benefit concert for Amnesty International in honor of Lennon in New York City on Lennon's birthday, Saturday, October 9, 2010. Beginning in 2016, former Beatles bassist Chas Newby performed with the band. He passed away in May 2023. John Lowe would also pass away in February 2024. The photograph of the Quarrymen playing at St. Peter's Church garden fête, where Lennon and McCartney first met. From left to right: Griffiths, Hanton, Davis, Lennon, Shotton, Garry. Alex