“Each to his own way I’ll go mine
Best of luck with what you find
But for your own sake remember times
we used to know”*
So wrote Ian Anderson the singer and mainstay of progressive Rock band Jethro Tull back in 1970.
The band were regular performers at Plymouth’s legendary rock club Van Dike and were top of the bill on its opening night on August 31st 1968.
50 years on and a certain generation are celebrating the club that brought so many top acts to the city.
An exhibition come gathering is due to be held at the Guildhall on September 1 together with a book launch which has been a labour of love for a fan of the club Jonathan Hill.
A concert is due to be held on Friday September 14 at the Athenaeum.
It was considered one of the top club gigs outside of London
Originally housed in the old Exmouth Road Social club on the edge of Devonport Park, Van Dike attracted a luminary of rock performers from Pink Floyd and Genesis to Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, not forgetting the burgeoning folk-rock scene with Cat Stevens, Fairport Convention, Michael Chapman and John Martyn. It was considered one of the top club gigs outside of London and even had a young American, Jackson Browne, appear as a warm-up for a concert tour of the UK.
When the club opened, local graphic designer Jim Corridan designed the glossy first flyers also creating the logo based on founder Peter Van Dike’s signature. Jim knew the family through daughter Julia who he met while they were both students at the Plymouth College of Art and Design, where he started when he was just 15. Jim was studying graphics and Julia fashion.
Jim was then off to London to work in an interior design agency that handled cutting-edge work such as the interiors of the first Biba shop.
Jim kept in touch with Peter and did further flyers for the club.
Some bands were proving too big an attraction for the compact Devonport based club and the Guildhall was booked for these heavyweights. Jim was asked to design the posters for these events and Jim recalls how Peter Van Dike and his son Greg, who by now did a lot of the organising, allowed him a free reign on his designs.
One of Jim’s most famous posters was of David Bowie. At the time Bowie was big on the underground circuit but before his Ziggy Stardust persona propelled him to international stardom. A simple line drawing of Bowie with quite small text has made it quite collectable. It was featured in a book on rock posters and more recently in an exhibition ‘David Bowie Is …. on tour”. The exhibition opened at the V&A London in 2013 and has since toured the world finishing this July in Brooklyn, New York.
Using a pencil drawing with a little colour from acrylic paint, Jim has come up with yet another timeless poster.
The Van Dike posters were simply printed in one or two colours, they sold for a pound or two. Today if you’re lucky to get one it might set you back a few hundred pounds on Ebay. It is thought that Bowie fan Jonathan Ross has a copy.
Eventually the club closed and all of the concerts moved to the Guildhall. This was a time of glam rock and bands like Queen, Mott the Hoople, ELO and countless others appeared. Other venues were used and for new projects such as Metro and Clones Jim was called on for design.
When Elani Evangelou, a granddaughter of Peter, decided to organise a celebratory concert for the club’s 50th anniversary it was probably an obvious choice to get in touch with Jim. She allowed him the same freedoms that he enjoyed decades ago working on the original posters. Using a pencil drawing with a little colour from acrylic paint, Jim has come up with yet another timeless poster. The illustration is of Martha Nash a member of the Trees. Jim didn’t keep copies of his work at the time, being a commercial artist he saw them as commissions. He’s sure to hold on to this one!
The ‘Keeping Music Live’ celebration at Plymouth Athenaeum features popular local bands The Trees and Vince Lee. Top of the bill is Martin Barre and his band. He was a member of the Jethro Tull band – his guitar playing earning him a high level of respect and recognition; he was voted 25th best solo ever in the USA and 20th best solo ever in the UK for his playing on ‘Aqualung’. His playing on the album ‘Crest of a Knave’ earned him a Grammy award in 1988. If tickets are still available they are £15. Tel 267131.
For details of the book full of flyers from the time and crammed with photographs, contact vandike2018@yahoo.co.uk
*We Used to Know lyrics © BMG Rights Management
