The story of The Tremeloes starts in 1958 when Dave Munden was asked by Alan Blakley if he wanted to join the group he had together with Brian Poole. At that time the band members were: Brian Poole (vocals), Dave Munden (drums and vocals), Alan Blakley (rhythm guitar and vocals), Alan Howard (bass guitar) and Graham Scott (lead guitar). At first they mainly played at some very small gigs, in youth centres, small clubs and at the weekends at American Air Bases in the UK.
After a while they managed to get an audition for BBC Radio which they passed, so they had their first live radio broadcasts doing those BBC sessions.
Soon afterwards they successfully passed an audition for the Butlins holiday camps. This was the first big milestone in their career, because doing this engagement meant that they had to give up their day jobs and become professional musicians.
The first change in the line up took place in 1961. Graham Scott did no longer want to play with the Tremeloes, so they asked Rick Westwood, who was at that time a member of ‘Tony Rivers and The Castaways’, if he wanted to join them. He agreed and Graham Scott joined the band that Rick had left.
In early 1962 a friend of the band was able to organise an audition with Decca Records. At the same time another young band had an audition. It was a band from Liverpool called ‘The Beatles’. Now this is certainly a piece of music history and probably well-known to all fans of the Beatles, that the Tremeloes were successful and got a recording contract but the Beatles did not. Before that the band was called ‘The Tremeloes’, but at the start of their career with Decca they changed the name to ‘Brian Poole and the Tremeloes’.
The first few recordings were not very successful but in 1963 they recorded a cover version of “Twist and Shout” which did the trick and was their first top-ten hit. The next record was another cover version: “Do You Love Me”, which went to the top of the charts. You can see a list of their hit records in ‘The Hits’-section of the website.
In January 1966 Brian Poole was trying to start a solo career and he and the Tremeloes went their separate ways. Soon afterwards also Alan Howard left the band. The new bass player was Mick Clarke, but he did not stay very long and is probably well-know as being a member of ‘The Rubettes’. He was replaced by Len ‘Chip’ Hawkes as new bass player and lead vocalist in turn with Dave Munden.
As ‘The Tremeloes’ they changed their style a little and became more melodious which proved to be even more successful. In February 1967 the Cat-Stevens-song “Here Comes My Baby” was not only their first hit without Brian, but also the first time that they could position a song in the US-charts. Only two months later they had their classic hit “Silence Is Golden”, a No. 1 in the UK and with very high rankings in Germany and the USA.
In the following years they were able to constantly having hits among the top ten of the charts. Please check out ‘The Hits’-section again for details.
At the beginning of the seventies the idea to make more ambitious and rock-oriented songs unfortunately did not work out. The fans did not follow that new direction and the hits stopped.
In the following years the lack of sales took its toll on the band. The first to leave was Rick Westwood in 1972, he was replaced by Bob Benham. Even though they continued to make very good records such as “Make It, Brake It” and “You Can’t Touch Sue”, released in the truncated name of ‘The Trems’, that fit perfectly into the Glam-era of that time, the success failed to come back. In 1974 Len Hawkes left, for him came Aaron Wolley. Only one year later also Alan Blakley turned his back on the Trems. At this point only Dave Munden remained from the original line-up and for a few years the band broke up completely.
But this was not the end. In 1979 Len Hawkes, who had spent the last years in Nashville, came back to England for personal reasons and put the vintage Tremeloes line-up of Alan Blakley, Dave Munden, Rick Westwood and Len Hawkes back together.
Though they never had chart success again they continued touring all over Europe. They nearly scored a hit in 1983 with a great cover version of “Words”. Unfortunately, as soon as people started to become aware of it, the original version was re-promoted and won the race, eventually reaching No. 2.
After the reunion they remained unchanged for nine years. Then in 1988 Len Hawkes left to concentrate on managing his son Chesney. Their new man on bass guitar was Davey Freyer and at the same time Joe Gillingham joined the band as vocalist and on keyboards.
One of their last recordings was the Christmas-song “Jerusalem” in 1994. Sadly in 1996 Alan Blakely lost his battle against cancer, he died on 1st of June.
Nevertheless the Tremeloes live on, playing to an enthusiastic audience wherever they perform. In December 2004 Davey Freyer left the band for personal reasons. He was replaced by Jeff Brown, who had been in Andy Scott’s “Sweet” for many years.
In autumn 2006 this current line-up was teamed up with Brian Poole and Len Hawkes for a one-off tour of England. It was a huge success, they were playing in front of mostly sold-out venues to thankful audiences that still appreciate a good live performance of a band that obviously enjoys being on stage. | 
