Originating from Watford, England, The Federals bought a 1949 Bedford bus for only £100 and – after fitting it out for another £150 – they had a mobile home on wheels which carried them to their gigs all over England and the Continent, including the 2500-mile round trip to Naples and back.
They had some weird and wonderful experiences during the long drive across Europe – getting lost in Brussels, ordering a Chinese meal in English in a restaurant where they only spoke Dutch, almost getting in a fight over a broken glass in a Swiss pub and giving a lot of laughs to some inhabitants of a small Alpine village where they stopped overnight.
The bus had curtains, but on one particular night, everyone hit the sack and clean forgot to pull the curtains over the rear windows. The next morning, they all woke to find a dozen or so people looking in, and they seemed quite happy to stay there all day.
The boys all sat up in bed and stared right back. After several minutes of solid staring on both sides, everyone suddenly realised how funny the situation was and burst out laughing. The villagers walked off, and the boys were able to get up and get dressed.
Their 1963 singles, Brazil and Boot Hill, received a lot of airplay but didn’t make the charts.
Follow-up The Climb (January 1964) was their official breakout push on Parlophone, followed later that year by Marlena and Twilight Time (a beat cover of the classic track by The Platters).
A Bucketfull of Love (1965) was the band’s final studio single.
After the band dissolved, classically trained keyboard player Tony Selvidge adopted the stage name Tony Kaye and went on to co-found the legendary rock band Yes in 1968, before finding further success with David Bowie and Badfinger.
Tony Bolton
Vocals, piano Frank Milne
Vocals, t++rumpet, percussion Tony Banks
Organ Mick Bush
Bass Brian Hawkins
Guitar Roy Brown
Drums Tony Selvidge
Keyboards, vocals Guy Sheppard
Drums
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The bus had curtains, but on one particular night, everyone hit the sack and clean forgot to pull the curtains over the rear windows. The next morning, they all woke to find a dozen or so people looking in, and they seemed quite happy to stay there all day.
