Ley Drums!
In his own words he has “flirted with music on and off for over half a century” and Ley Perryman’s earliest memory of playing drums in public is at his old school Plymouth College in Devon. He borrowed a drum kit from a friend and played a couple of Shadows’ instrumentals at a Christmas variety concert with two other students who had electric guitars.
He recalls that there was no bass guitar. He has no idea of why he wanted to play the drums and how it was that he could play them. He has never had a drum lesson in his entire life! ‘Tapper’ his Maths teacher remarked after the performance that he had been taken aback by the ability he had shown behind the drums and perhaps he should consider it as a future profession as he had no chance with Maths!
Leaving school at the end of the fifth form after being told that there was no point returning for the sixth as he had discounted going to Sandhurst to train as An Officer and a Gentleman he joined the local Art College in 1964.
Acquiring his own set of drums he formed a band with one of his former school friends which they called ‘Fifth Precinct’. They played cover versions of songs by Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and various American Blues artists. They didn’t realise at the time but were in the vanguard of the British Blues Boom with their local contemporaries The Better Days. This was Rhythm and Blues circa 1964 and was being heard for the first time by a growing audience.
It was a magical time for a teenager, Art College during the day and hanging around in coffee bars listening to the latest record and playing semi-professional at weekends with a few illegal pints for good measure! During the next two years he played for the for two other local bands the Scorpions and the Drifters who were considered to be the city’s premier band at that time.
His parents however wanted him to do something sensible with his life and as his sister had become a teacher it was decided that he too would follow suit. In 1966 he left Plymouth and journeyed to Bromley in Kent to do a teacher training course of three years at Stockwell College of Further Education. He successfully completed the course and his probationary year as a teacher and became qualified in 1970.
He returned to Plymouth the same year and formed a professional band called Clown. After recording a demo disc at Cricklewood in London they were awarded a recording contract with CBS records and a music publishing contract with Chapple music for their original songs.
For the next couple of years he moved to Kent and lived the rock and roll lifestyle to excess! Clown recorded and toured supporting major stars of the day such as Lindisfarne, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, Black Widow and Welsh band Man. The lifestyle took its toll and he stopped playing in 1973. Returning to Plymouth he took a break before returning to teaching in London.
After a couple of years he began playing again in London clubs and pubs and secured a residency playing in Wandsworth. Teaching during the day and playing most nights and twice on a Sunday eventually dictated a change in lifestyle.
He moved to North Wales and became the owner of a Fish and Chip Shop! He also started playing once again and played for local bands 9 ½ and L.C. Blower and the Dishwashers before departing to Ghana West Africa to play and open a club in Accra with an old bandmate. Unfortunately whilst in Africa they got caught up in a revolution and managed to depart with only the clothes they were wearing. Having lost all his equipment in Ghana he returned to teaching once again and didn’t play for the next 20 years.
In 2000 he was contacted by his old West Country bandmates and bought another drum kit and recommenced and has continued playing semi-professionally up until the present day.
Here are some of the bands he has played with and the recordings that he has made.