Ron Hales - Red Dirt

Born and raised in Yorkshire, Hales began playing the guitar in his early teens and quickly became a member in group that frequently played the local clubs around town. Joining Red Dirt in 1970 , he immediately began to work on the band’s second record as they went through a change in lineup as well a change in their name which would eventually become Snake Eye. I’ve been searching high and low for a member of this incredible group and it just so happened to be that Hales and I share a mutual friend, Jeff Parsons, and before I knew it it was on! Enjoy!

I was born in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. I attended Newton Hall grammar school from 1961 to 1966.  I first began to fall in love with music whilst at school listening to The Shadows, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Billy Fury. In 1964, on my 14th birthday, my parents bought me an electric guitar and I started playing music with some of my friends and I joined a school band. I played in a band in 1966 and we gigged the local club scene. At this time I met Mick Ronson who lived in the next street to me on Greatfield Estate in Hull. His band, The Rats, was my first main influence. In 1969 I moved to London to seek my fortune and played with several bands but I couldn't settle and returned to Hull. A short time after arriving back in Hull, Dave Richardson who was a student at the same school (Newton Hall) and already the vocalist with Red Dirt invited me to replace Steve Howden on guitar.

London Bridge.

I believe the name 'Red Dirt' was suggested by Steve Jackson, the band drummer. Red Dirt is the type of soil that marijuana is grown in. The first time I met the rest of the band was in rehearsals in Ken Giles' studio based in Bridlington. Ken Giles was the bass player; Steve Jackson was the drummer and he was based in York and Dave Richardson was the vocalist and guitarist.  He also played the violin and mouth harp and, like me, he was based in Hull. My first impression meeting these guys was great - they were exactly on the same wavelength as me and all extremely talented musicians. The first line up with Steve Howden was mainly a studio band and was put together with a production deal by Geoff Gill who was an associate of Steve Jackson and who also lived in York.  The initial deal was with Morgan Studios in Willesden, London.

Live at Steve East Park.

The original line-up of the band only lasted about a year with no known gigs to my knowledge. I joined the band in 1970 and we started work on the second album with the same production deal with Morgan Studios. At this time our first gig was in Hull at the Brickhouse which was owned by Brick Artist Management (Barry Nettleton and Rick Welton). Brick Artist Management signed Red Dirt and it was at this point that we started gigging. The venues we played were mainly in Hull and London. Jeff Parsons would have seen Red Dirt play at the Hull City Hall in 1970 whilst we were supporting the bands Yes and The Strawbs. This was a gig promoted by John Sherry Organization who we would work with later when we changed the band name to Snake Eye. Just going back to the original line-up the deal with Fontana was set up by Morgan Studios and Geoff Gill. 

Ron performing live at Sundown.

Flyer from the Sundown gig. Look at that stacked lineup!

The first album was recorded in 3 months in 1969 and the second album was recorded in 3 months during 1970. There has been much speculation as to whether legendary record sleeve designer Barney Bubbles was responsible for the eye-catching sleeve image of a red Indian with 4 bullet holes in his forehead dripping blood. The rear sleeve, credits the design to Teenburger, Bubbles' Notting Hill based company. As a number of people worked for Teenburger, it is impossible to confirm if Bubbles had a hand in the sleeve design. The album artwork was organized by Fontana.

 The music:

On the first album there is an element of The Doors and Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band. Tracks like 'Death Letter' and 'Problems' were more heavy rocking blues with Dave Richardson's distinctive growling vocals. 'Song for Pauline' on the other hand harks back to the Delta Blues of Robert Johnston comprising of only slide guitar and vocals. 'Memories' and 'In the Morning' were probably considered as songs fit for release as singles. The first album was very much a blues rock album with Captain Beefheart type vocals and some traditional blues tracks thrown in. The second album was started in 1970 after I joined the band and was a change in style of music featuring more folk rock material with Dave Richardson moving onto electric fiddle with tracks like 'Tolly Cobbold' but still with the Beefheart influence throughout the songs. 

Live at Steve East Park.

Ken performing live at Sundown.

Unfortunately, the album was never released. At this time the band however was gigging extensively and whilst playing The Marquee Club in London the band was invited to join up with managers Peter Amott and Ivan Mant who worked with Miles Copeland and the John Sherry Organization (JSO) and so a new era for Red Dirt began. The first thing on the agenda was a name change and the name was chosen for us by Miles Copeland the brother of Stewart Copeland (The Police).

Ron performing live at the Marquee in London.

The band was now called Snake Eye but still had the same line-up and the same influences as Red Dirt with the folk rock and Beefheart vocals, but now progressed to Dave Richardson going onto lead guitar with Ron Hales to promote a twin-lead harmony guitar sound which was very much in the vein of Blossom Toes and The Allman Brothers Band. Snake Eye continued to gig until 1974 and shared the stage with most of the top bands of the era including The J Geils Band, Free, The Kinks, Genesis, Family, Marc Bolan, Thin Lizzy and Status Quo to name a few. This was a fantastic time for Snake Eye - Red Dirt and an album was recorded during this period. A deal was done with Transatlantic Records but the album was put on hold.  Unfortunately, before the album could be released both Steve Jackson and Ken Giles left the band. 

New band members joined and we continued gigging for a couple more years and the band finally split in 1974. In 2017 I was contacted by Ivan Mant and Peter Amott who informed me they had found the lost Snake Eye/Red Dirt master tapes. I pushed these tapes and managed with the help of Ivan Mant to get two offers of record deals. We decided to go with Angel Air records and the album was finally released in 2017 - 46 years after it was recorded. In 2018 I reformed Snake Eye/Red Dirt being the only founder member and started gigging again now using 3 lead guitarists and updating the material and received fantastic reviews until we were closed down in March 2020 due to lockdown. We are just about ready to start rehearsals again for gigging in 2022.

Notes:

Red Dirt album including the bonus tracks which are technically the second album available from Secret Records. Snake Eye CD album available from Angel Air Records or from Ron Hales at www.ronhales.com.

 Dakota Brown