Left: Terry Ollis. How much would you pay to see him keep his clothes on? A bit more than 50p a head!
2nd March 1971: Drummer Strips At Lincoln Show
Pop group drummer, Terry Ollis, stripped off on stage at Lincoln Theatre Royal last night, but remained discreetly hidden behind his large drum kit. Ollis was the driving force behind Hawkwind, the top group in a concert which virtually filled the stalls and circle of the theatre. With sweat pouring off him, Ollis stripped to the waist early in the group’s set, and soon afterwards took off his trousers. But no-one in the audience seemed offended by the strip. A fuller report of the concert will appear in next week’s ‘Poppin’ Around’.
A pop group drummer was supposed to have stripped naked on stage on Monday. The incident came during a pop show when the drummer, Terry Ollis of Hawkwind, threw discretion to the wind. But he did remain hidden from most of the audience – behind his drum kit. After the show, promoter Jim Kirbyshaw said, “He’s absolutely no dress sense”. Theatre administrator Bryan Newton said “We will have to try and be a bit more careful in the future. I will be talking to the promoter about future shows, to make sure we have an idea about what a group is going to do.” But the bare facts are, as theatre officials discovered later, that drummer Ollis had been wearing skin-tight, flesh-coloured briefs!
[Personally I think that's a scandalous lie…]
9th March 1971: Concert Is A Winner – Thanks To Jo Ann
Naked drummer Terry Ollis stole so much of the attention at last week’s Theatre Royal gig that many people forget it was the best yet. The change from the “two group formula” made all difference, and the “surprise guests” were far better than one could have hope for, writes Steve Goodwin. It was just as well, since John Peel, who had, I imagine, been responsible for drawing a large part of the crowd, failed to materialize. Newark group, Cherokee Smith opened the proceedings but fell rather flat. However, Dave Turner, a sort of Monty Python of the folk song kept the audience laughing for forty minutes and put the show back on its feet. Another surprise came after the interval when Jo Ann Kelly took the stage for a better set, I think, than Hawkwind’s. A real professional, her guitar playing was immaculate and her voice must be the only British female one which does justice to the blues.
Hawkwind’s turn came with very few of the audience really knowing what to expect. The lights went off the stage and a dazzling strobe began flashing on the audience. Dave Brock on guitar and vocals, Nick Turner on sax, vocals and flute, Dave Anderson on bass, and Ollis on drums are all competent musicians, but it was Ollis who made the big impression. And not just because of his strip, for with or without his clothes, he is a superb drummer.
-Steve Goodwin
Flesh-coloured underpants or not, the damage was done. The following is from the 8th July 1971 issue of the Yorkshire Post:
Group Pops Up In The Nude
Hawkwind, a pop group booked to play at a youth festival pop concert on July 18, are expected to appear on stage in the nude. Mr. Tom Spencer, one of the organizers of the York International Youth Festival, said yesterday that Hawkwind, one of the groups featured at the open-air concenrt in the Museum Gardens, were supposed to play in the nude - "but at the moment I have no further details of their act."
He described the festival as the cheapest in the country at 50p a head. "It will be an opportunity for everyone to take part. This is for the people of York and we would have liked every event to be free, but the corporation would not allow that. It is going to be the most compact and exciting two weeks of the whole celebration and everyone is going to be able to afford to see it."
Mr. Robert Shepherd, Deputy City Treasurer at York, said "The corporation has advanced Ł6,000 towards the youth festival and we expect a nominal income of about Ł1,000, making a deficit of Ł5,000. We wanted to make it as cheap as possible to give all the young people in the area the opportunity of enjoying it," he said.
[Can you imagine the Deputy City Treasurer saying such a thing now?!]
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