He had a dramatic impact on the band.
Pete Cruickshank’s verdict on Tony joining The Dollarbills
It is rock history’s duty to attempt to make amends for all these lives of injustice and misery; while white rock musicians strutted in the hallways of five-star hotels earning money from music that was not
really of their own making, the true composers were neither recognised nor recompensed.
Chambers Rock Music Guide
Apart from John Cruickshank on vocals, later on harmonica, there was also his brother, Pete, on bass guitar. John Lockyear made up the rest of The Dollarbills – he played lead guitar. It was no exaggeration to say that John Cruikshank was the acknowledged leader of the band. In joining the band, Tony teamed up for the first time with John’s younger brother. It was the beginning of a lifelong association. Pete Cruickshank was born in India on 2 July 1945. His grandfather had gone to India to take over a mill. His father was born on the steamship on the way over. Things didn’t go well and his father ended up in an orphanage at the age of four. When he was older, his father joined the RAF, where he met Pete’s mother, who was a teacher. They got married in India. In 1955, the family left India and came to England in order to give their children a better education.
Pete’s mother was a classically trained musician who was trained at the Royal Academy in London. There was always some sort of music going on in the household. He remembers hearing classical music, and although he didn’t like it, he believed it subconsciously made an impression on him. As was expected, his elder brother, John, was very interested in becoming a musician and he acquired a drum kit. All his other friends had acquired guitars and the young Pete also got one.
However, being the youngest in the group had distinct disadvantages: ‘All the others were a lot more advanced than me. I was always making up ground. We needed a bass player, so I decided that it would be something that would give me a unique identity. I paid £20 for a Tuxedo bass guitar.’
The young Pete Cruickshank liked Gene Vincent, Elvis Presley and The Everley Brothers; one of his favourite tracks was ‘Cathy’s Clown’(April 1960). The brothers rehearsed in their front room in Wallbutton Road, Brockley, South London. But even this produced problems, as Pete revealed: ‘My parents were incredibly tolerant. They did have people knocking on the door about the noise. They told us to turn it down, but we would carry on playing. In fact, we had a ‘nasty’ put through the letterbox.’ It was clear that the parents were giving the children as much artistic encouragement as they could.
The brothers didn’t have a name for their band. However, one thing was for certain: John Cruickshank was a useless drummer, so he decided to concentrate on singing. They drafted in Dave Boorman on drums.
They decided to call themselves The Dollarbills in deference to the concept of ‘all things American had to be good’. It seemed logical as all the artists they liked were from there. They played their first gig at the famous 2I’s coffee bar in London. They journeyed there on the train and taxi. As Pete Cruickshank remembered with a big grin on his face: ‘We thought we were going to be stars. We carried our gear around London without any covers! We didn’t even have covers for the drums.’ By this time, John Lockyear was struggling as lead guitarist.
Pete Cruickshank, meanwhile, had his own personal problems. In 1961, Pete started work as an apprentice fitter. He didn’t really have his heart in it: ‘My dad forced me to sign the papers. He sai
