Paisley rocked at the Watermill
Did you know that The Watermill Hotel in Paisley was once a well-known music venue?
In the beginning they had regular discos which, in order to comply with licensing laws at the time, a meal had to be provided.
It was usually chicken in a basket. Later, the live bands started. Among these were regular appearances by the Caribbean All Steel Band.
And glam rockers Slade played to a full house on August 12, 1971, promoting their first 45rpm single Get Down and Get With It.
Others include Stringdriven Thing , Eric Cuthbertson, Bridge, Elevator Armagedon, Nicolson, The Feramones, Heidi, Dream Police,
Berserk Crocodiles, Tear Gas pre Alex Harvey Band, Happy Ever After, Snow, Candy Floss, Chase, Pram and Gasoline Alley - then Stilltz.
Here are some memories:
Mark Leask: “Played it regular with Cinnamon, 71/ 72, good gig, great punters”
Sandy Howitt: “My mate George got a shock on stage. His teeth went shade of blue for just a moment. I’ve never seen a bass player jump so high.”
Len Horn: “A lot of guys had their gear on hire purchase. I’d got my stuff from McCormacks and found myself behind in the payments. One night in the middle of our set Neil McCormack and team walked in and took my gear away. I played the rest of the set through the lead guitarist’s amp.”
John Walker: “Played there several times during 69/70. Always remember it as a really vibrant gig, and full of young people who really appreciated rock music.”
Jim Murray: “I played it around 1973 with George Francey and Colin Matheson with Brimstone. Being from Kilmarnock and very young, it was a really big gig for us and we augmented our sound system with empty speaker cabinets, just to look the part.”
Davie Alexander Garden: “I played with a band called Legend at the Watermill. They gave us no food, no drink and after the gig one of the guys took a wrong turn in a corridor and ended up in the kitchen.
“When driving away from the hotel one of the band produced a couple of roast chickens he’d lifted while in the kitchen.
“So we’re driving out of Paisley munching into the roast chicken and the driver says, ‘oops, a road block’.
“We thought oh hell, a road block for two missing chickens? The chicken was quickly thrown out a window or in the back of the van. We stopped and this cop came over. He looked in the van and said, ‘oh, are you the band from the Watermill? That’s fine, we’re looking for a stolen Transit van, it’s obviously not this one.”
Some bands that played there became famous.
The Natural Acoustic Band went down great with the local punters and later made it to the No.1 slot in the Melody Maker folk charts.
Beggars Opera, Scotland’s top prog rock band, played there regularly.
It was while playing the Watermill that Bill Martin of Eurovision Song Contest fame came to see them and suddenly they had a producer and were signed to the new Vertigo label for their first LP, called Act One.
So there you have it – a great music venue of the past, although some bands hated the fact that Reo Stakis, the owners, paid by cheque.