THE DAVE CAROLL HISTORY:
Born , 19, England.
Dave studied classical guitar with Robin Pearson whilst an undergraduate at University College Cardiff. He became known in the 1970’s for his work with the Birmingham-based Steve Gibbons Band.
Dave was involved in: Milkwood, Ten Gallon Head, Rhythm and Greens, Tea and Symphony and The Idle Race.
The Idle Race was formed i may 1966 when 3 members from Mike Sheridan & The Nightriders wanted to make a new band.
1. Line up. may 1966 to jan. 1970
Greg Masters bass/vocals, Dave Pritchard rythmguitar/vocals, Roger Spencer drums/vocals and Johnny Mann (ex. Vikings) guitar.
Jeff Lynne joins the band after 2 months when Johnny Mann left.
Jeff Lynne left the band in 1970 and went to The Move.
The Idle Race brought in two for replacement for Jeff Lynne, Mike Hopkins (ex. Diplomats) and Roy Collom, who again was replaced by Dave Walker after two months.
2. Line up. jan. 1970 to feb. 1972.
Greg Masters bass/vocals, Dave Pritchard rythmguitar/vocals, Roger Spencer drums/vocals, Dave Walker vocal and Mike Hopkins leadguitar.
After working so hard to make The Idle Race work for so many years a despondent Dave Pritchard quit, unhappy with the management and lack of success the band had endured. The band quickly disintergrated... He was followed soon after by Dave Walker (to Fleetwood Mac then Savoy Brown), Roger Spencer and Mike Hopkins!
And then there was one... Greg Masters was now the only original member left and obviously decided to give it one more try by teaming up with Bob Wilson & Dave Carroll (Both ex-Tea And Symphony), Bob Lamb (ex-Locomotive) and Steve Gibbons (ex-Balls).
The Idle Race ceased to be on February 1972 when Greg Masters decided to call it a day.
The remaining members replaced Greg Masters with Bob Griffin and then replaced Bob Griffin with ex-Move'r Trevor Burton.
During the the group's last few months, all the members left to be replaced by what became Steve Gibbons Band.
As The Nightriders had become The Idle Race, so The Idle Race became The Steve Gibbons Band
After The Steve Gibbons Band was Dave involved in: The System, The Naturals, Woodnote and Spirit of Tango.
The Details, four excellent musicianly veterans of the Birmingham scene, have just released a thoughtful, demanding album, loaded with sparkling fretwork and crafted songs. The biggest challenges they face will be getting new listeners to work at their music.
The Details are Andrew Morton, Dave Carroll, Bob Boucher and Colin Edmonds. Older Birmingham hands will recognise the names. If you don’t, let me jog some memories with a few names: Slender Loris, The Idle Race, The Steve Gibbons Band, The Redbeards from Texas, Mean Street Dealers… Between them the Details can rack up maybe 180 years of playing in a ridiculous number of bands. There’s a partial list at the bottom of the post.
Dave Carroll was one of the twin blonde guitarists in the legendary The Steve Gibbons Band mid-70s line-up. The other was Bob Wilson, who now runs the studio where the Details recorded. They looked the part back in the day, with ridiculous hair and magnificent guitar work.
Dave had worked with the RSC for twenty years or so, while developing a separate career as a classical guitarist and composer. This time we don’t have to do this, we want to.
And we have worked together a lot in the past. The connection most often was Jim Cleary. Some of the most ridiculous bands in our list – Ten Gallon Head, Milkwood – these were bands that Dave and Jim and I were in together, well before The Idle Race or Tea and Symphony. The other thing that led to this collaboration was doing the Jim Cleary tribute night at the Tower Of Song. We got working on this stuff, and that was when we realised we could work together.