Mick Burgoyne - Fresh Maggots
The incredibly talented, multi instrumental duo know as Fresh Maggots released their one and only LP on RCA records in October of 1971 and it has since then become a celebrated piece of music history amongst record collectors from around the world. I had the wonderful privilege of speaking with Mick about his life growing up in Nuneaton and how he initially became fascinated in playing music. These two kids recorded an album together and it has since then left a water mark in the psychedelic folk realm as well as our hearts. Enjoy!
Mick’s first car, mid engine rear wheel drive.
I was born in 1951in Nuneaton and had a lot of freedom to play outside. There was always music in the house usually on the radio. My mum played violin in a Coventry youth orchestra, my Grandad played in a mandolin band and I still have his mandolin. My other grandad played the concertina. The younger of my two sisters sang opera and played the piano and her daughter, my niece, is Lauren Samuals who has stared in several Westend musicals and recently released an album of Judy Garland songs. My real interest in music came from listening to the radio, radio Luxembourg and my dad’s blues collection. Later it was the pirate radio stations and then my dad got a reel to reel tape recorder on which he used to record the top ten so I could listen to the songs any time.
When I was twelve my parents bought me a guitar for Christmas and so it started. I teamed up with a couple of friends to form the first group and the first song we played was ‘You Really Got Me’ by the Kinks. Practice was either in my mums kitchen or at youth club. There were a lot of venues for watching band around Nuneaton and Coventry but the one we visited the most was Mothers Club in Erdington. The number of bands I got to see are too many to list. I was influenced by mainly the blues bands, John Mayall’s blues breakers, Fleetwood Mac, Chicken Shack etc. Can’t remember the first actual gig I went to, but our school had a dance with a band called Pinkerton’s Assorted Colors.
Mick and his father Mr. Burgoyne.
After playing for a few years I thought about getting a group together so I put an advert in the local college. Two lads, Alan and Collin, answered the ad and once I had showed them my skills the band ‘African Grass’ was formed. We used to practice in a barn behind a pub, playing blues and progressive rock. We did covers of Cream, Ten years After etc. Our first gig was at Citta Blues Club which went well apart from Alan’s bass kept going out of tune as he had changed the strings just before the gig but it led to a lot of gigs in Nuneaton and surrounding area.
We supported Atomic Rooster and we chatted to them while setting up and told them we played one of their songs but said we wouldn’t do it that night. Carl Palmer insisted that we did and sat and watched our whole set. Afterwards he came and gave us some tips, Coin had done a drum solo which he was embarrassed about. Carl said he’d done well and that it wasn’t that long ago he was dragging his kit down the youth club to practice.
Prior to Fresh Maggots Mick participated in an outfit called ‘African Grass.’
I already knew Leigh through mutual friends, I think our first meeting was in a café in Nuneaton on a Saturday afternoon. We used to discuss music as we had different musical tastes and different musical heroes. Both of us would listen to any type of music but Leigh was more into acoustic and folk style of music where I was into electric guitar and rock. Leigh lived about a five minute walk from me so we used to just jam together for hours.
The jamming turned into writing songs with no real intention of doing anything with them. Leigh would come up with a tune to which I wrote the lyrics. I found I could add things like the tin whistle, glockenspiel and twelve string as well as the electric guitar. I sang which something I had never done as Alan used to do the vocals in African Grass. Because there was only the two of us we practiced the songs in my bedroom, I was still playing with African Grass.
Live photos of African Grass as well as promotional concert flyers.
We went with a group of our friends for a holiday in Lynton and Lynmouth and Leigh and I took guitars with us. One afternoon we were sitting in café and played some our songs. Afterwards some of the friends, who played in a band, asked us to play at a gig they were doing on the Friday after we got back. We weren’t sure about it but they talked us into it. A few days before the gig we realized we hadn’t got a name, as we were only doing one gig we thought it didn’t matter.
Mick shredding on his strat through a sweet Vox amp!
I saw an advert at the top of the local paper that said ‘Riley’s Sports Shop, fresh maggots always available’ as they were a sports and fishing shop. We thought that would do as it’s only one gig. Basically we played exactly what we played in my bedroom and took the stools and a sheepskin rug to sit on. A third stool was used to put my glockenspiel and tin whistles on. The rug was to stop the stools sliding about. This was the 4th September 1970 at Friary youth centre.
After the gig another friend came and asked if we’d do the same at their gig on the next day, 5th September 1970. We agreed so did the gig at Wolvey Village Hall. Leigh wasn’t very well but said he’d do the gig if he could go straight home afterwards. So after the gig and I took Leigh home before returning to pack up. A bloke came up and said he was Mike Berry from Sparta Florida Music Group, he said he wanted us in London to sign contracts on the following Wednesday. I then had to go round to Leigh’s to give him the news. Neither of us had heard of Sparta and of course there was no internet to look them up on.
On stage shot shows the stool for glockenspiel and tin whistles.
A few photos of the duo playing live circa: 1970/71.
As their office was in Oxford Street we thought they must be ok. Turned out they were a large organization dealing with groups like the Moody Blues. Mike wanted us to send him the songs we did as he hadn’t heard them all. We recorded them on my dad’s old reel to reel tape recorder and sent it down. From that he decided on which tracks to put on the album, but the tape came back to bite us later on. We went down a second time to do a gig in their office in front of some press and record companies.
Later Mike got us a gig at a club in Coventry called the Village Club, part way through the gig there was a power cut but we just carried on as most of our stuff was acoustic and I had made a battery operated amp so we still use the electric guitar. On the Monday after the gig Mike rang us to say there were two blokes from RCA records in the audience and they were so impressed the way we carried on during the power cut that we now had a record deal with RCA. So within a few weeks of signing with Sparta Florida we were in the studio starting the album.
Promo shots of the magic duo for RCA Records.
We recorded the album in the Luxembourg studio in London which was only available at weekend so we used to travel down each weekend. All we did was play exactly what we played live, fortunately Pete Hoskins was very talented and got the best out of us as we had no idea what we were doing. The only difference for us was that we played each part separately. It took two or three months to complete the recording. It was all a bit of a blur because it had all happened so fast. We did meet Brian Rogers who wrote and conducted the strings but had no part in the recording of them and didn’t really hear them till we heard the album.
The album cover and publicity photos were done by Keef, he was brilliant. The album cover was shot at a lake by Pinewood Studios at a ridiculously early time in the morning. As I mentioned earlier Leigh was ill at the second gig which turned into shingles with marks all down one side of his face. Keef managed to take all the photos so you couldn’t see them either by the angle of the shot or using lighting. When the album was released there was a fault in the pressing so they had to be recalled. There was also a delay because RCA wanted to release it on a new label they were launching but then changed their mind so it came out on the main label. It was released in October 1971.
Cover of the lone LP shot by the famous photographer Keef (read above for more detail).
We did a lot of interviews and were in the music press most weeks, we also did gigs all over the country, mostly on the university circuit but also places like the Marquee club. Also we did a few radio shows, being the first band to play live on radio Luxembourg on the Kid Jenson show, plus Radio one shows Night Ride and the Jonny Walker show on which we were album of the week. One of the BBC live recordings was done completely live with strings and all. We had never played with an orchestra before but it went ok. Unfortunately there is no remaining recording of that session although some of the songs from the Luxembourg recording are on the Hatched version of the album.
Later we sent a recording of a new song down to Mike and he got us straight down to the studio. This was the Car Song and was great fun to record with just Leigh, myself and Pete Hoskins making all the noise. RCA were reluctant to release it but were contracted to but buried it. Things started to go downhill after that as Mike moved on to other things and lost interest. We didn’t really split up we just faded away and in 1976 I moved to Wales so that was it. Leigh and I remained friends.
PRESS! PRESS! PRESS!
The album has been re-released several time over the years both on CD and vinyl. The Hatched version had some of the tracks from the Luxembourg session. The latest release was a remastered version on Sony Japan in 2019. Also tracks have been featured on five compilation albums. Earlier I mentioned about a tape we did so Mike could hear all our songs, the two latest compilation albums had tracks from the tape which we assume Mike must still have. We weren’t asked if they could use them so we weren’t very happy. We also still get radio plays in America where we still seem quite popular.
In 2017 we were contacted by a German music magazine for an interview, this consisted of a long list of questions for us to answer by email. Leigh and I worked on it together as we both remembered different things. On my last email to him I asked if he was still writing, he replied that he had a few ideas. I travelled up to Nuneaton with a portable recorder and we recorded three guitar tracks. I took them away and wrote the lyrics and sent them back. It was as if we had never stopped writing. We soon had about fourteen songs written and thought it would be nice to get some recorded, but how to do it. Leigh mentioned it to our friend Dennis Burns, who was the band member who asked us to play our first gig. He said he would ask his son Nick Burns who is a record producer. He said he would love to do it as his dad used to play our album when he was having a bath as a kid.
In Lyndon and Lymouth with the members of the group that gave Fresh Maggots their first gig.
Outside of the Village club in Coventry.
We initially decided to record four songs as an EP, this was done in Nuneaton, London and Wales. The tracks worked out better than we thought they would so decided to do another five tracks for an album. We recorded the guide tracks in Wales but then lockdown happened. Fortunately I have recording gear at home so I could record guitar and vocals at home. These were sent to Nick and Leigh for comments and ideas. We also used Zoom calls especially when doing the vocals. By the time I had recorded my bits and Nick had done his production stuff the lockdown had relaxed enough for Leigh to go to London to record his acoustic guitar work. The Glockenspiel I played on ‘Dreams of You’ was the same one used on the first album. also the wonderfully talented Ebony Buckle played violin on the same track. Her first album will be released shortly.
A friend of mine had visited the Coventry music museum and mentioned she knew me. They asked her to get me to contact them. I sent them some Fresh Maggots stuff including my dad’s old tape recorder we had recorded the songs for Mike on, so Fresh Maggots had little display in the museum. The museum have their own record label and I asked if they would like to release the new album which they agreed to. The album ‘Waiting For The Sun’ was released in October 2020 which was 49 years after the release of the first album. It is available on CD or from most of the streaming/download sites. Links are available on www.freshmaggots.co.uk. We still have several unrecorded songs and will shortly start writing again so there is a possibility of a third album in the future.
Mick and Leigh have remained great friends after all these years and still work on music together.
