Sam Apple Pie were a British blues-rock band, of the late 1960s and 1970s, noted for having played at the first

Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...

in 1970, and for playing a role in the early careers of several musicians including Gary Fletcher,

Dave Charles Dave Charles, also known as David Charles is a British drummer, recording engineer & record producer. He often appears under both names on the same album, e.g. Help Yourself's ''The Return of Ken Whaley'', where Dave Charles is credited with dr ...

and Malcolm Morley.NME Biography of Sam Apple Pie
Retrieved 29 October 2009

Biography

Formed in

Walthamstow Walthamstow ( or ) is a large town in East London, east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London and the Historic counties of England, ancient county of Essex. Situated northeast of Chari ...

, London, where they ran their own club 'The Bottleneck Blues Club', Sam Apple Pie soon attracted a large live following, with a mix of goodtime blues and boogie, interspersed with humour. In October 1969 they played the Amougies Festival, in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, where

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...

jammed with them. They wrote all but one of the songs on their first album ''Sam Apple Pie'' (1969) which featured lead singer Sam "Tomcat" Sampson with Mike "Tinkerbell" Smith and Andy 'Snakehips' Johnson on guitars,; bassist Bob "Dog" Rennie, and Dave Charles on drums. Following Charles departure to join Morley in forming

Help Yourself Help is a word meaning to give aid or signal distress. Help may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Help'' (2010 film), a Bollywood horror film * ''Help'' (2021 theatrical film), a British psychological thriller film * '' ...

in 1970 they played the first

. After several more line up changes, the band recorded their second album ''East 17'' in 1973, with Sam Sampson and Bob Rennie from the first album supported by Andy Johnson and Denny "Pancho" Barnes on guitars, and Lee Baxter Hayes on drums. They disbanded in 1974, but reformed the next year. During the hiatus, from mid 1974 to February 1975, the band members performed with

Vincent Crane Vincent Rodney Cheesman (21 May 194314 February 1989), known professionally as Vincent Crane, was an English keyboardist, best known as the organist for the Crazy World of Arthur Brown and Atomic Rooster. Crane co-wrote "Fire", the 1968 hit sin ...

as Vincent Crane's Atomic Rooster. Further line up changes included bassist Gary Fletcher, who subsequently joined

The Blues Band The Blues Band is a British blues band formed in 1979 by Paul Jones, former lead vocalist and harmonica player with Manfred Mann, and guitarist Tom McGuinness also of Manfred Mann and The Roosters. The band’s first line-up also included b ...

, keyboard player, Steven Golick and drummer Martin Bell. The band continued into the late 1970s, changing its name to The Vipers, (not to be confused with the new wave band of the same name) before disbanding. Michael Smith died at St. Mary's Hospital in San Francisco, CA on Monday the 27th of June 2005 at the age of 54 after battling cancer. Former member, Andy Johnson, died from throat cancer on Friday 5 March 2010 in

Hastingwood Hastingwood is a hamlet in the North Weald Bassett civil parish of the Epping Forest district of Essex, England. The hamlet is centred on the junction of Hastingwood Road, which runs southwest to the A414 road and the Hastingwood Junction 7 of th ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, at the age of 62.

Discography

Albums

*''Sam Apple Pie'' (1969) **

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LK-R/SKL-R 5005 (UK): Mono and Stereo **

Sire Sire is an archaic respectful form of address to reigning kings in Europe. In French and other languages it is less archaic and relatively more current. In Belgium, the king is addressed as "Sire..." in both Dutch and French. The words "sire" a ...

SES 97020 (US) **Sire STECLP 94 (France) **Decca SLK16-637 (Germany) **Reissued on CD (2003)

Repertoire A repertoire () is a list or set of dramas, operas, musical compositions or roles which a company or person is prepared to perform. Musicians often have a musical repertoire. The first known use of the word ''repertoire'' was in 1847. It is a l ...

REPUK 1017 (including bonus tracks) **Reissued on CD Angel Air Records SJPCD 401 (2012) **Reissued on CD Air Mail Recordings AIRAC 1687 (2013 Japan) *''East 17'' (1972) **

DJM DJM is a range of DJ mixers made by Pioneer Electronics. Mixers in the DJM series include the DJM-300, DJM-350, DJM-400, DJM-450, DJM-500, DJM-600, DJM-700, DJM-750, DJM-707, DJM-800, DJM-850, DJM-900 Nexus, DJM-900 Nexus 2, DJM-909, DJM-100 ...

DJLPS 429 (UK) **DJM LFP 80791 (Japan) **DJM DJC 3020 (South Africa) **Musart Records 60052 (Mexico) *''Second Helping'' ** Wildisharchives (UK) (8 unreleased tracks from 1970)

Singles

*"Tiger Man" / "Sometime Girl" (1969) **Decca F22932 (UK) **"Tiger Man" reissued on 3" promo CD Air Mail Recordings AIRPROMO-062 (2013 Japan) *"Call Me Boss" / "Old Tom" (1972) **DJM DJS274 (UK) **DJM 8E 006-94227 (Portugal) **SDJM 88635 (Yugoslavia) **DJM IFR 10335 (Japan) *"Call Me Boss" / "Old Tom" - "Route 66" MUSART EXI 40048 (Mexico 1973) *"What's The Matter With Me" / "Hire Car" (1980) Jigsaw Jig 5 (UK)

Compilations

*''Broken Dreams Vol 6'' – one track, "The Hawk" *''The Sound of DJM'' – one track, "Call Me Boss" *''The World of Blues Power 2'' (German Decca S16-634P) – two tracks, "The Hawk" and "Sometime Girl"

References

{{Authority control English blues rock musical groups Musical groups from the London Borough of Waltham Forest