This is one written by Ducksy about the #Justice4Harry campaign

Harry Dunn, aged 19 from Charlton in South Northamptonshire, died in hospital after his motorcycle was involved in a crash with a car on 27 August 2019. The police confirmed that Harry was riding perfectly safely on the night of the crash traveling on his own side of the road when he collided with an oncoming vehicle being driven on the wrong side of the road. The driver of the vehicle was an American woman, Anne Sacoolas, whose husband was stationed at RAF Croughton. She left the UK not long after the collision. 

Despite an extradition request and Interpol arrest warrant, she refuses to return to the UK to face justice

Demo - Shades Of Green

Demo of an original, written by Ducksy. It was a follow-on song from 'Westgate', another song about the Newport Chartist riots in November 1839, and deals with what happened to the leaders.


If we ever do manage to record again, it would be on the album just after Westgate and Ted would sing it.

Demo  - After The Storm

A new demo of an instrumental from Ducksy.

Demo - Tomahawk

Instrumental from Ducksy
Redone track with quieter snare

Demo - DreamBoat

Not the Pieces but a track Ducksy  recorded with Kev Garner many years ago.

Not mixed as guitar should be down a bit.

Don't think it was ever released

Say What You Will

Girl

Track 03 - Neighbour, Neighbour

Track 04 - I Can Tell

Track 05 - You Don't Love Me

Track 06 - Hoochie Coochie Man

This recording was taken with a small Philips reel to reel tape recorder in St John's Hall in Rogerstone, sometime in 1966.

The quality is bad as the tape recorder was at the back of the hall and it only had a small microphone. Anyway, it was 48 years ago.

Good comparison with version we did at Live at the Vault in 2013.

The band was Adrian, Andy, Ducksy & Phil

Live At Rogerstone In 1966 - Neighbour, Neighbour

The last song we played at the George in Maindee, Newport on Saturday the 2nd February 2019.

Audio is extracted from a video

Bring It On Home At The George

Another demo of one written by Adrian.  It's a bit short as at the time of recording, he only had a couple of verses.

Please forgive the obvious joins around the solo.  I had to remove Adrian playing the guitar, as yet again, someone clapping loudly spoiled it.

Demo_Til The Well Runs Dry

Another from Ducksy. 

It's about looking back on life and relationship

re-recorded it with drums and bass. Plus I added a couple of verses I forgot to record last time.

Demo - Time

Demo - When The Light Shines

This is another one from Ducksy.

I suppose it's about looking back and thinking of things. As you get to my age in your 70s, you begin to start thinking of your life when you were young.

Demo - Tears We Cry

I wrote this back in 2014 , when I first heard of the 'Child Migrant Programme'. To be honest, even though I was from that generation, I wasn't aware of what happened. More than 130,000 children were sent to a “better life” in former colonies, mainly Australia and Canada, from the 1920s to 1970s under the child migrant programme.

The children, aged between three and 14, were almost invariably from deprived backgrounds and already in some form of social or charitable care. It was believed, they would lead happier lives.Charities such as Barnardo’s and the Fairbridge Society, the Anglican and Catholic churches and local authorities helped with the organisation of the emigration. 

Once there, the children were often told they were orphans to better facilitate their fresh start. The parents – many of them single mothers forced to give up their child for adoption because of poverty or social stigma – believed this was giving them best chance in life, though often did not have details of where their offspring were sent to. 

The reality, for some of those children, was a childhood of servitude and hard labour at foster homes: on remote farms, at state-run orphanages and church-run institutions. They were often separated from siblings. Some were subjected to physical and sexual abuse. 

The old movie is something I came across on the web about Fairbridge Farm School,Barnardo's & Northcote Children's Farm.

This is a new audio I re-recorded with bass & drums

Demo - Boat Of Dreams

A song, about the Chartist uprising that happened in our home town of Newport in 1839.

The song was initially written by Ducksy in 2013, but then lyrics were revised in a collaboration with Andy Seebright-Gibbon & Wayne Coughlan during a drunken holiday in St Malo

Pic L:R is Andy, Wayne and Ducksy about to set off to Portsmouth to catch ferry.

BTW, one of the leaders, John  Frost, is a maternal ancestor of Ducksy.  That explains a lot.

Demo - Westgate

The Pieces of Mind are a band from South Wales, playing a mix of R&B and original music.  They were very popular in South Wales and Germany in the years 1963-69.  From their early practices at the St. John the Bosco Hall, on Cromwell Road in Newport, through supporting bands such as The Who at Coed Eva Community College in 1966, to playing nightclubs such as the Star Club, Top Ten & Crazy Horse in Hamburg, the Pieces achieved an almost cult status.

In that period, we supported many well-known groups including: Billy Fury, Chicken Shack, Stu James & the Mojos, Georgie Fame & Blueflames, David Bowie, Gene Vincent, Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, Manfred Man, Marty Wilde, The Applejacks, The Hollies, The Merseybeats, The Moody Blues, The Nashville Teens, The Pretty Things, The Searchers and The Who. 

When the band eventually ran out of steam in the late 60's, members went on to join bands such as David, Judas Jump and The World of Oz. 

The band reformed in 2013 to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of forming in 1963.  Our first gig in nearly 45 years was to a packed South Wales Club on the 26th April 2013.  The Radio 2 DJ, Johnnie Walker, introduced us and the show raised nearly £3000 for a local charity. 

In 2015 we were invited to take part in a BBC programme, which looked at the UK's best part-time bands. This show was more of a documentary than a talent contest and as Rhod eloquently put it in Belfast 'there are no prizes...you get F*** All'.  1200 bands applied or were invited to participate and we reached the last 15, playing a gig in Belfast on January 15th 2016, which was introduced by Rhod Gilbert and Midge Ure. The documentary was aired on BBC4 in June 2016 and our band was the only one to be featured on the BBC1 Graham Norton Show and the Ch5 Mathew Wright show.  Rhod also played us a few times 2-3 on his BBC Wales Radio show.  We really enjoyed taking part in the show as tiring as it was.  

The band played the Brentwood Festival in July 2017, in support of Midge Ure, Heaven 17 and Go West.

It's taken over 45 years to release our first album, 'Born at the Bosco'.  The Manic Street Preachers kindly offered us use of their studio in Cardiff and also arranged for it to be engineered by Dave Eringa, who had just finished the Wilko/Daltrey album ‘Going Back Home’.  It was released in January 2015 and now available on Amazon, iTunes and other digital outlets.

the pieces of mind

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