Trying to define the Midlands is like trying to define “the underground”, and so it can be appreciated that defining the Midlands underground is extremely difficult.
Therefore, it can be safely said that Mothers club of Erdington High Street in Birmingham was on the Midlands underground scene. In fact, between 1968 and 1971, it was the Midlands underground scene, and with a membership of around 45,000 regular visitors from London and even further – and many foreign visitors – it would be difficult to overestimate its national importance.
With the demise of UFO in Tottenham Court Road and the subsequent rise and fall of Middle Earth, the underground scene largely evaporated into the respectability of the Lyceum and seemed to have lost its focal point.
Mothers Club, although over a hundred mile motorway trip from London, was already pulling music appreciators from the metropolis and putting on the much-needed consistent attractions.
The club (located above a furniture shop in the middle of a respectable parade of shops in the suburb of Erdington, and originally called the Carlton Ballroom) became “Mothers” in 1968. Although Birmingham had had blues club scenes and back-of-pub freak-outs, there had been no permanent scene for aspiring Middle Earthers.
The entrance to the club was in a dark, narrow alley, and the only clue that the club existed was a small, unlit sign. From the cash desk, you ventured up worn but sturdy stairs to a cloakroom area. Further into the club, one was faced with a choice of routes – one to the bar, the other to the stage area. Either way, you had to tread carefully over prostrate bodies if the club was packed.
The auditorium area was only twice as big as the bar so it could be cramped, but the intimacy and lack of officialdom promoted a warm, friendly atmosphere.
Resident DJ Erskine Thompson played a wide variety of records between and after groups’ sets.
John “Spud” Taylor and Phil Myatt – the full-time half of Mother’s four directors – saw the potential for a club in Birmingham which would not only draw from the city itself but become a national attraction, and along with John Singer and Gary Surman, they turned the former ballroom and dancing school into a shrine of progressive music.
Without them, Birmingham rock fans would have had to be content with the concerts put on at the Town Hall in rather unprogressive conditions or return to the pint-in-the-hand, elbow-in-the-face existence offered by the Elephant & Earwig on Sunday nights.
The artists who appeared at Mothers were as impressive a list as any of the Fillmores, and it’s almost easier to list those who didn’t. Well, there were The Beatles and The Monkees . . .
Outside Birmingham, though, the Midlands scene was very different: Frank Freeman was doing things in Kidderminster, music tours graced the local ABCs and Odeons once in a while, and there was Radio One.
The fact was that to merely cover expenses, in many cases requires an audience of some size.
An audience not to be found in most Midland towns – as the Badge Club in Northampton found out. Here, audiences and money trickled away until the club had to close. Some nights, the club looked like a party due to start in three hours.
It must have been saddening to start a club in a supposed scene-craving town of pseudo-art students and drop-outs and find they would only come in if they could slip past the doorman.
Maybe a lot of the hip talk about groups was just a trendy whim, and active participation was limited to borrowing the last but one LP by The Plastic Flying Bedstead.
Mothers eventually closed its doors on 3 January 1971. Well-known live recordings made at the club include those released by Pink Floyd on Ummagumma and parts of Facelift by Soft Machine.
Phil Myatt died on 15 November 2008, aged 72. John “Spud” Taylor passed away on 10 March 2021.
A Blue Plaque was unveiled at the former Mothers building on 13 July 2013.
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Without them, Birmingham rock fans would have had to be content with the concerts put on at the Town Hall in rather unprogressive conditions or return to the pint-in-the-hand, elbow-in-the-face existence offered by the Elephant & Earwig on Sunday nights.
