I will definitely be going to Brooklyn on 4-8-16 to watch DP get inducted and it is my hope that one its founding members the great Nick Simper will be there and once again be part of the band that he helped kick-start!!!!!!!!

Hi Nick, Unbelievable to say the least regarding the RRHOF. To be honest, I think they made a mistake because they are clueless. Now to save face they can't possibly admit it.

Shame on the Hall of Fame. I was shocked to learn that they excluded Nick Simper, the band’s founding bassist. This needs to be corrected soon

Happy birthday bud have a good day. Remember a few years we came for your birthday, we have to do that again soon Regards Art

Dear Nick: Hello and how are you? Fine I hope. Have to say I don't know your playing like I know Roger Glover or even Glenn Hughes, but I want to wish you a Happy Birthday(November 3) all the same. Here's to you oldboy! Cheers, Otto

Brief Flowerpot Men timeline here: http://www.garagehangover.com/flowerpot-men/

Sorry! I should have proof read! the band in question being Deep Purple! Thanks! James Hocking

FREDDY MACK: It was interesting to read Nick's memories of his short time with Freddy Mack. I am busy compiling a complete gig list of the group and members (very complicated history) and Melody Maker actually lists all of the acts that played at the Upper Cut in January 1967. It looks like Freddy Mack opened for tonnes of famous acts from about 21 December 1966 to early February 1967. You can see all of the artists listed in Melody Maker's classified section at the back in the British Library at Euston. It looks like Ged Peck was there at least until late March/early April 1967. Dave Tedstone told me that he went to see Freddy Mack play at Eel Pie Island (the date was 4 April) and it was one of Roger Truth's final gigs. The guitarist, he said, was Stuart Taylor not Ged Peck. Stuart could have been a temporary fill in because Dave Tedstone joined that day and played his first gig in Birmingham on 5 April. He joined Jimmy James & The Vagabonds later that year before briefly working with Geno Washington & The Ram Jam Band (check out Acid Jazz recordings).

NEW PIRATES POST-JOHNNY KIDD: Reading through Nick's story, I can tell you that the drummer that rehearsed with The New Pirates in early-mid February 1967 after Roger Truth decided to stay with Freddy Mack was Jimmy Smith. He had played in Poland with John Carroll in a group called The London Beats (See Strange Brew website article for full story). Mick Stewart apparently alerted his old friend Ron Thomas, who was playing in Hamilton and The Movement that Jimmy didn't want to take up the offer to join The New Pirates and he replaced Phil Wainman in Hamilton and The Movement instead. That's when John Kerrison came into The New Pirates. Incidentally, I found a gig in Melody Maker showing that the New Pirates played at the Upper Cut in Forest Gate on 17 February so this was before the Cornwall tour that Nick refers to in his story. Also, looking at Nick's gig list, the show on 25 February at the Plaza Ballroom in Newquay was actually the Blue Lagoon Club (source: West Briton & Royal Cornwall Gazette). Moving forward to the end of the New Pirates, it's interesting that Nick says the band members met on 1 May 1967 and decided to go their own ways as John Carroll had briefly joined Geno Washington & The Ram Jam Band the week before and played a series of shows before Dave Greenslade took up the organ spot on a permanent basis soon after. However, it doesn't appear that the New Pirates story ends there! I found in the West Briton & Royal Cornwall Gazette that the band was booked to play the Blue Lagoon in Newquay on 2 July 1967 for a week. I can only assume than Mick Stewart was on guitar but I wonder who else was there? Certainly not Nick who was with Billie Davis. It's quite possible that Roger Truth was the drummer as guitarist Dave Tedstone told me that Roger played one of his final gigs with Freddy Mack in early April 1967. Unless of course, it was John Kerrison on drums? When Nick Simper was recovering from the car crash in late 1966, the New Pirates used a guy called Johnny Holiday on bass so it's possible that he was there too. It would be interesting to hear what others think! Incidentally, the band must have split by September 1967 because Mick Stewart had joined Jimmy Smith in Hamilton & The Movement before spending a short time in The Flowerpot Men's backing band alongside John Carroll (long after Nick Simper had departed to form Roundabout).