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www.rockingscots.co.uk
Rockingscots is a website dedicated to Scottish beat groups and rock bands from the '60s and '70s.

Well we said we'd take east coast stuff so here you go - From Dundee - the Sleaz band!
Now we saw this lot twice at least. Once supporting Nazareth at the Dam Park Hall in Ayr and once at the Greyhound in London..
Visually, you couldn't forget them (ZZ Top must have caught their act) and the music was hard rock at its finest.
We'll always remember the lead guitarist with an extended lead going right into the crowd while giving Purple Haze big licks.
Great stuff. Nearly all info here from bass player Phil Robertson. Cheers.

Clark Robertson; Phil Robertson; Frank Kosiba; Jim Bodie.

Original line up in pic above (from the now defunct Glasgow Evening Citizen (the green paper) was - left to right:
Jim Bodie on vocals, Clark Robertson (lead guitar), Phil Robertson (bass) and Frank Kosiba on drums.

The first Sleaz Band was named when the band was booked as Rock Tonsils and the Sleaz Band to support Pink Floyd, Gethsemane and various others at Dundee Art College Revels in 1968.
See poster below - sent in by our Kevin.

Eventually the 'Rock Tonsils' bit was dropped leaving just the Sleaz Band tag.

The band did at least 60 gigs in 1969 supporting Chris McClure, Eire Apparent, Love Affair, Blues Junction, John Dummer Blues Band,
Desmond Dekker, Tear Gas at Sergeant Pepper's in Glasgow and Eclection and Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac at the Green's Playhouse Glasgow on 16/10/69.
Below is a snippet from the Citizen publicizing the Greens gig.

Some advice from Frank: Watch out for that David Cowie bloke. I did that gig and he wasn't very pleasant.
It was the Aberdeen Uni Art College Ball. A Welsh band called Man were on as well and they were excellent - also Tony Visconti with some bongo player.
Oh and they spelt my name wrong too!

During February 1970 Frank Kosiba (above at the Electric Garden) left to become a full time teacher.
Jim Ross took over the drums and the band also turned professional due to the number of gigs they were getting.
That year they toured with Deep Purple, Chicken Shack, Tyrannosaurus Rex, and Manfred Mann Chapter lll.
They also supported Cliff Bennett Band, Aardvark, Graham Bond, David Bowie, Man, Stoics, Badfinger, Smash, Arrival,
Los Caracas (Middle of the Road), Edison Lighthouse, White Trash, Dream Police, Consortium, Gracious, Bay City Rollers, and Tear Gas again.
Some 97gigs at least from Jan 2nd to Jul 11th that year. Pic below shows l-r: Jim Bodie, Jim Ross and brothers Clark and Phil Robertson.

Publicity pic above shows: Phil Robertson, Jim Kelly, Clark Robertson and Robbie Stewart (seated)

In 1971 there were163 gigs or more - supporting Medicine Head, Poets, Joyce Bond Revue, String Driven Thing, Slade, Groundhogs, Man,
Chris McClure, Equals, Ashton Gardner & Dyke, Argent, Mungo Jerry, Merlin, Chicken Shack, Northwind, Nickelson, Heads Hands and Feet,
Salvation, Thin Lizzy, Fairweather, Paladin, Assegai, Johnny Johnson and the Bandwagon, Warm Dust as well as and good friends Bubbles and Tear Gas.
They also played alongside Dusty Hutt, Poorhouse and Kaywana Stock and did the original Cavern, Liverpool before it was demolished.

Contrary to popular thought that Sleaz Band did not record, they started an LP in London at both Sarm and Marquee Studios in 1973.
In 1974, on the 21st of June a single called 'All I Want Is You' c/w 'Midnight Man' was released on the Fontana label.
All four band members are credited on both sides on both sides of the single - equal shares was the philosophy.
However, Phil and Clark composed the music on the A side with Phil and Jim Kelly coming up with the lyrics.
B-side was Phil Robertson - music, Jim Bodie - lyrics.

B-side pic courtesy of Wing feet one - who was also at the Dam Park gig.

There were156 gigs in 1972 between Jan 2nd and Oct 28th. Once again supporting various names such as Alex Harvey (Pre SAHB),
Nazareth, Slade (the Scottish leg of their nationwide tour - Status Quo did the English dates), Walrus, Country Joe Macdonald,
Wishbone Ash, Edgar Broughton Band, Man and Tear Gas again.
Phil Robertson left this version of the band in late August during a bust up in Wrexham of all places and they did the outstanding gigs with a roadie on bass until breaking up in October.

The band on stage in Kirkaldy - l-r: Clark, Phil, Jim Kelly with Robbie hidden.

At the end of 1972 Bill Fehilly (Mountain Management) persuaded Phil and Clark to re-form the band
with Jim Kelly (ex- Honeybus) on guitar and vocals and Robbie Stewart on drums.
There were136 gigs in 1973 supporting Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Screaming Lord Sutch, Gypsy and the Scottish Tour with Nazareth.
They also played a few gigs with a band they got on well with called Stiltz.

On 23rd August 1974, after a falling out Jim Kelly decided to leave on the way to a gig leaving the other three to carry on.
The manager had lined up a replacement (who went on to better things) but the rest had had enough and went back to civvies.
The LP was shelved incomplete and only a very poor quality tape exists somewhere.

Jim Kelly passed away a few years ago leaving us with only the memory of how good a singer and guitarist he had been.
Clark Robertson lives in Portobello. Robbie Stewart lives in Perth and works in Dundee.
Jim Ross now lives in Spain possibly and Jim Bodie became a Union leader in Canada where he now resides.
Frank Kosiba played around the Dundee area in a number of pub/club/hotel/function bands eventually teaming up with George Currie (ex-lead with Darts) for about 10 years.
Then an 8 year stint with Rockabilly/RnR band the Accelerators -3 albums on the Raucous Record label and playing some of the biggest festival events in the UK.
Two hip replacements (payback for all those years of rock n roll drumming) interrupted his career
but he has at last thrown away the walking sticks and picked up the drumsticks again and is now (2005) looking for a new rockabilly/RnR outfit

Phil Robertson resides in Dundee and still does the odd gig with Drew Larg (superb vocalist still) and Donnie Coutts (drummer / vocals)
who were in the Vikings with Alan Gorrie and recorded the single Bad News Feeling in the sixties.
With guitarist Jimmie Glen, their total ages come to 230 years approximately, but they keep on rocking.

Some Sleaz Band Memorabilia.

Above: 'Hound' ad from 1973.
Note who wouldn't be playing Wednesday nights in Fulham pubs much longer?