The Inner Mind Story

...begins in Dewsbury, Yorkshire in the mid 1960's. It was here that bass player Dave Tattersall recruited organist Ian Smith to join his pop band The Peppers, which badly needed that sixties organ sound. Ian had been one of the organists in the Wheelwright Grammar School (where they both attended) assembly, and had no trouble passing the audition. Soon after Smithy joined however, the singer had left and the drummer had been replaced, and the band had been renamed The Inner Circle.

With a line up which included Teddy Platt on guitar and Boz Robinson playing drums, the vocals were shared between Teddy and Dave until Smithy took over full time. The Peppers had been playing pure sixties pop but soon moved towards playing an R&B flavoured set, also influenced by bands such as The Small Faces and The Spencer Davis Group. They played their first gig at Leeds University and over the next few years built up a steady following in northern England with and supported such luminaries as The Drifters, Major Lance, Percy Sledge, Hot Chocolate and even Bill Haley & The Comets.

During this time, the group underwent a few personnel changes but the root of the band remained with Ian on lead vocalsand Dave backing him up in what became the bands distinctive style. The dividends of the bands style began to pay off during 1968 when one Errol Babb booked the band after seeing the band (now renamed The Inner Mind) do their Soul revue. Ian and the band had to learn a whole new selection of music and songs for the gig in the form of several rock steady tracks, and so the Inner Mind really found their style.

The gig went off in spectacular form and the band hammered down a storm, and in true Buddy Holly at The Apollo 1957 stylee, were the only white boys in the place. Word soon spread about this homegrown band who could not only cook up a soul storm, but also play rocksteady with the best of them, and the band went from strength to strength playing all over the north and the midlands.

Apart from playing their own set, the Inner Mind began backing such established musicians as Laurel Aitken, Owen Grey, Winston Groovy and Alton Ellis who were all being booked through Pama Record's Apollo agency. These gigs lead to legendary appearances at the Apollo Club in north west London which was run by the Palmer brothers.

Though Pama already used The Mohawks as backing for many songs, Jeff Palmer was so impressed with the band, he wanted The Inner Mind to work for Pama as the house backing band. The band declined the offer as they were too busy touring and gigging, and were working with Jamaican stars like The Pioneers, Desmond Dekker, Bob & Marcia, Derrick Morgan, Bruce Ruffin, and Dave & Ansell Collins, but still found time to occasionally travel down to London to record.

Indeed, The Inner Mind were fairly prolific in their recording and apart from their Pama output, also released music on Max Omare's Shades label and Rita & Benny King's Hillcrest label. Most of these releases were cut in Huddersfield's King Street Studio, at the behest of owner Mat Mathias, with Ian Smith also producing, writing and recording for his own Hot Lead label. This innovative label included output from the likes of The Groovers, Mr T Bones, Owen Grey, Laurel Aitken, Flame and of course, some Inner Mind based stuff, much of which was released under several different pseudonyms (see below).

Unfortunately, the dance hall culture began to reassert its arm and reggae fans drifted back towards the sound system as a form of entertainment. Live bands began to wane and The Inner Mind were no exception to this, fading back into the mainstream and eventually calling it a day in 1974. Ian and Dave did form a small three piece band (The Tender Touch) which had a couple of releases but they finally split in 1977.