Vince Cable & The Hotwires

As some of you will know, I have been involved with musicians a bit and the other day I met up with a guy who was around the York music scene in the Sixties. He told me that Vince Cable - the Lib Dem, yes that one, was in a band.

I am not sure if it is possible to confirm this, but the guy is called Ray, and he tells me that Vince had a band called Vince Cable and the Hotwires, which was primarily a skiffle band, although he was also in a band called The Ousebeats when one of the regular players was unavailable. The Hotwires didn't last very long, but did some gigs in and around York at clubs like The Mandrake, The Beat Cellar and the Wild Man pub.

Ray sent me a photo, which he says features Vince on Banjo in 1960 or 1961. Vince later met up with other people on the Skiffle circuit, such as Jimmy Marks, who he met at the 2 I's Coffee Bar. Marks was recording a demo at the time and needed a banjo player. Cable was happy to oblige.
Any information would be interesting.

4 comments:

ex cider drinker said...

WW. There wasn't much in Wiki although it did say that Vince was born in York and was at Cambridge Uni in the mid 60's so the timing is right.

alfstone said...

It seems the same Ray gave the scoop to Mrs. Dale's Diary back in October 2007:

Ray Moody said...

Vince Cable was in a group of people who hung around a coffee bar called the "spick and span" in York, in the early 1960's. He had a skiffle group called "Vince Cable and the Hotwires" and regularly appeared at the Zarf and the Mandrake Clubs, also in York doing Johhny Kidd and Vince Taylor covers.

Jim Baxter said...

Bet they weren't as good as these guys.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/
culture/lucyjones/100007278/hate-modern-art-guitar-playing-zebra-finches-will-change-your-mind/

gorgon is the red hankie said...

A nice goodbye to Gorgon WW...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbN0g8-zbdY&NR=1&feature=fvwp