ANY of these boys strike a chord? They were doing just that in York's pubs and clubs back in the city's swinging Sixties. Some of the city's guitar heroes only knew the one chord when they started off, but regular gigs on the circuit soon polished their performances, and many became accomplished musicians.

Heavily into Yorkshire's rock scene back then was Ray Moody. Brought up in Hull, his interest in rock music was first kindled seeing Little Richard perform classics such as Good Golly Miss Molly on the television.

By the age of 12, he was attending regular open air Beat Nights held in Hull's parks. A few years later, he was in his own band.

The love of the scene has never left him. Eight years ago, Ray began compiling a book on the rock music scene in York and the East Riding during the Sixties, and it has just been published.

The Sounds Of The Cities - Nearly Famous is an epic work. As well as Ray's personal overview of how the scene developed, it includes the details of hundreds of local groups who were active in the area at that time, plus a section dedicated to memorabilia. It is his proud boast that "if you or your group aren't mentioned in this book then you weren't there".

For those who were there, the book will be evocative. Ray begins by recalling the venues which came alive to the sound of live music every night. One of the first in York was the "beat cellar" at the Enterprise Club.

Between 1961 and 1965, the club membership grew from 400 to 1,000 teenagers. Founder Neal Guppy - still going strong in clubland - also acted as agent to several groups, including the Counterpoints and the Vampires. Another manager was Syd Hartness, who numbered the Roll Movement and Gideon's Few among his acts.

Unlike Guppy's, other clubs such as the Zarf, the Mandrake, the Burns, the Big Coach, the Boulevard, and the Wildman pub on the Tadcaster Road, are long gone.

So too are those that emerged later in the Sixties. There was the Beathive on Dalton Terrace, the La Bamba Club and, in Malton, the Mulberry Bush.

Local pop magazines sprang up to cover the music scene. The first, writes Ray, was produced in Driffield in 1964 with the title Beatcomber. Only one edition was ever produced.

"York went several steps further, publishing numerous editions of the Ouesbeat magazine.

"This features articles on most of the York groups including the Viceroys, the Counterpoints, the Rockafellas, the Ousebeats, Steve Cassidy and the Escorts, Dal Dyman and the Tycoons and the Cheavours."

Back then, bands frequently changed their line-ups as members broke away to join other groups, form their own bands or go solo. It is a remarkable testament to his research that Ray has managed to chronicle all these movements in the section of his 624-page book devoted to every band from York, Scarborough, Hull, Scunthorpe and Grimsby.

We've already mentioned the Roll Movement. Their line-up was: Cliff Wade, lead guitar/vocals; John Cartwright, rhythm/trumpet; Johnny Fielder replaced by Pete Shaw, bass; Dave Williams, drums.

Cliff started the band in 1965. "We were young, and we'd been playing paid gigs for years in various York bands," he said. "Hard to believe, but this time we did good, rock and soul, good looks, cool clothes - we had it all."

They were originally a Mod band, whose early rehearsals took place among the hanging carcasses of a butcher's meat cellar. Their first gig was at the King's Manor Hotel in York.

In 1966, the group took part in the Melody Maker Rock Contest, travelling down to Brighton for the semi-final. "Coach loads of fans made the trip to see them win their way through to the final," Ray recalls.

"The final was held at the London Palladium where the Roll Movement eventually came second to the Eyes Of Blue out of more than a thousand entries."

They released a single, Just One Thing, which Cliff described as "an unmitigated failure". The producer didn't allow any band members to play on the record forcing him to sing his "bewildered vocals" over a backing track from session musicians.

The next day he was due to meet up with the rest of the band for a gig in Port Talbot. They never arrived, the van having conked out on the M1 "leaving me stranded in Wales without a penny or an explanatory phone call," said Cliff.

"Thanks to the support band's hospitality and a whip round, I was soon back in York to ponder whether I should dedicate my life to such a fruitless occupation."

Another band with high hopes were The Smoke (Mick Rowley, vocals; Malcolm Luker, lead guitar; John Lund, bass guitar; Geoff Gill, drums).

The Smoke were formed from The Shots, who in turned were an amalgamation of York's Viceroys and Scarborough's Moonshots.

They released a single My Friend Jack, which reached number 45 in the singles chart. It may well have climbed higher, had the national radio stations not banned it because they felt the lyric "my friend Jack eats sugar lumps" referred to taking LSD! However, it was a massive hit across Europe, reaching number two in Germany.

The title of Ray's book, Nearly Famous, is apt. Lots of the groups had brushes with the top stars or pop producers, or nearly secured that elusive record contract.

One of York's top bands, Gideon's Few (Mick Fallon, vocals; Dave Alderson, guitar; Derek Hughes, bass; Mick Matthews, drums) supported many major groups, including the Moody Blues.

"In 1965 the band gained publicity for themselves by playing non-stop for ten hours in an attempt to achieve a world record," Ray recalls.

The Screen toured Britain and played the prestigious Tiles Club in Oxford Street, London, whose DJ was one Kenny Everett.

An appearance on TV's Opportunity Knocks won The Ousebeats a larger audience and the two girl singers from the group, the Rowan twins, later appeared on Top of the Pops.

But it wasn't all glamour. One of Cliff Wade's earlier groups, The Misfits, deserved danger money during an early gig at the SS Empire in York.

Most of the audience, dressed as teddy boys, would walk around the dance floor up to four in a row in a big clockwise circle. Anyone who fancied a fight need only go anti-clockwise, and bounce shoulders.

Ray writes: "The inevitable punch-ups were always accompanied by the Empire's manager appearing with two large dogs to break it up."

The Sounds Of The Cities: Nearly Famous by Ray Moody price £13.99 is published by Rockumentary Press, Seabreaze Cottage, 11 Cliff Top, Filey, YO14 9HG, and is available from bookshops including WH Smith in Coney Street, York, or the publisher

Updated: 10:44 Monday, September 02, 2002