The Online Mod/ern/ist Archive

archive of original modernist recollections and information .
we are glad to hear from anyone with memories of the time, but we do not rewrite history .

2 Sept 2007

TOTTENHAM : CLUB NOREIK mod crowd (source youtube)

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi great to see the clip,I am the drummer Ken,and those were great days at the club.We use to play the all nighters, great crowd of people !

Anonymous said...

I used to go to the Noreik '64 - '65ish with my friends. The 'High Numbers' appeared quite a few times till 'Can't explain' and 'The Who' shot to stardom!
Great club, great people.

Anonymous said...

amazing clip... could anyone tell me who did the song played from the start please?

Anonymous said...

Ironsub...Never went inside The Noreik as it was a heavy reggae club in the '70's...But i knew Tonys Hairdressers on the High Rd well as he used to cut my hair around '77.

Anonymous said...

Hi i used to go to the allnighters in the mid sixties it was an old cinema you could go upstairs for a bit of quite. They had acts from the states like howlin wolf who used to wear an overcoat, fantastic stuff. They used to lock the doors at 11.30 then no one in or out. Purple hearts used to be a plenty. I used to get there on the bus. I think i was still at school. I loved the clubs. I used to go to the scene, the disc, the last chance, and many others i also liked the freight train cafe in berwick street. Great times.

barney said...

I lived on the Woodberry Down estate in the 50s just a couple of miles from the Noreik when it was a cinema. Seeing Steve Reaves in the Hercules films was one of my boyhood heroes. I saw some great actors in those days but it was nothing compared to what I was going to see in a few years.

I was 16 in 1963 when I first started going to the Royal. Thursdays was the night. Great music, great fashion, great atmosphere, great fiends. We would also go down West. The club scene included the Flamingo, the Scene, Marquee but my favourite was the Disc in Wardour Street. It was there I first saw Georgie Fame in his checked jacket and the organ he still plays today. What an excellent band. They captured the sound of the mod scene of the day so well. I remember hearing Stevie Wonders Fingertips there for the first time. Its a shame he gradually turned to mainstream music after that.

I then discovered that one of my favourite cinemas had been turned into a night club. What a venue! I saw bands such as the Who, Yardbirds, Georgie Fame & the Blueflames, Pretty Things and many more. I also remember seeing some American acts. I'm sure I saw the Platters or was it the Drifters. I remember seeing their limo outside the club with racial words scratched into the paintwork. To think such an insignificant club out of town could put on such great acts is unbelievable. Another plus was that you could hang around the place until dawn the next day.

I have still got a membership card for the Noreik if anyone is interested. It will cost you only £5,000,000!

What would I do with that £5,000,00, I will buy the flats which have been built on the Noreik site, pull them down and build a replica Noreik and fill it with 60s R&B tribute bands with free of charge admission to today's mods.

North London was the place to be in the 60s with the Noreik, the Royal, the Royal Standard, the blues circuit not forgetting the great Tottenham Hotspurs. Any one who followed the Gooners was a lost soul.

One other iconic place was Davis's (Gateway to a Mans World) in Tottenham. I would go there on a Saturday morning and buy a mohair suit. Having short legs I needed them taking up. No problem said the shop. Come back after the match and they'll be ready.

Anonymous said...

4+1 took over from a band called Bobby Cristo and the Rebels who were initially booked to play at the club by an agent by the name of Alex Jaques (Ajax) Entertainments. I was the guitarist in that band and we used to play every Wednesday night and also the week-end all-nighters, we supported The Stones,The Searchers, Neil Christian and the Crusaders (who were brilliant),and many other acts who were current at the time. We used to rehearse all day Wednesday and lunch at Dom's Cafe which was about 20 yards along 7 Sisters Road from the club....... I'll never forget those days. J. H.

john maskell said...

Hi,
1963/64 I was the lead singer with a group called Johnny & the Bobcats, later to become Group 004 + 1.
We supported many acts at The Noreik Club including The Kinks, The Paramounts and Georgie Fame & the Blue Flames. What a fabulous gig it was in those early days. There was always a good crowd that really enjoyed there music. It is a pity that there is very little memorabilia of the Noriek available.