The Smoke were an English

psychedelic pop Psychedelic pop (or acid pop) is pop music that contains musical characteristics associated with psychedelic music. Developing in the late 1960s, elements included " trippy" features such as fuzz guitars, tape manipulation, backwards recording, ...

group from

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

. They consisted of Mick Rowley (

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vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

), Mal Luker (

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

), John "Zeke" Lund ( bass) and Geoff Gill (

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

and compositor). The band originally performed around Yorkshire as The Moonshots, changing their name to The Shots when they moved to London. There were two bands playing R&B and other cover versions, one called Tony Adams and the Viceroys, which included John 'Zeke' Lund on bass, Mal Luker on lead guitar and Geoff Gill on drums. The other band was The Moonshots, which included Mick Rowley on lead vocals and Phil Peacock on rhythm guitar (born Philip Peacock, 7 June 1946,

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

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). These bands then came together to form The Shots and made a single for Columbia, "Keep A Hold Of What You've Got", which flopped. At some point, Peacock left the band, and they then changed their name to The Smoke. The Smoke's biggest hit was "

My Friend Jack "My Friend Jack" is a psychedelic rock song released by the English freakbeat group The Smoke in 1967. It was included originally in their debut album '' It's Smoke Time'', and it was also included (among other compilation albums) in the collect ...

" (German Chart: No. 2,

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

: No. 45); the

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banned airplay of the song over its then alleged, though highly apparent, drug references. Later singles released under the band name often had variations on the remaining trio of Lund, Luker and Gill, performing along with session musicians to pad out the sound. All failed to sell in any numbers. Guitarist Lund later became a

sound engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...

for

Boney M. Boney M. was a German-Caribbean vocal group that specialized in disco and funk created by German record producer Frank Farian, who was the group's primary songwriter. Originally based in West Germany, the four original members of the group's o ...

, who recorded a cover version of "

". The Smoke’s demo recording of

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...

's "Girl in the Park" opens ''Secret Theatre'', a 1995 Nirvana rarities album.

Discography

Albums

* 1967: ''

It's Smoke Time ''It's Smoke Time'' is the only studio album by the British psychedelic pop band The Smoke, released in early 1967, originally by Swedish label Metronome Records only in Germany. It features the hit single “My Friend Jack”, number two on th ...

'' (Metronome, Germany-only)

Singles

;as ''The Shots'' * 1965: "Keep A Hold Of What You've Got" / "She's A Liar" (UK) * 1965: "There She Goes" / "Walk Right Out The Door" (UK) ;as ''The Smoke'' * 1967: "

" / "We Can Take It" (D) * 1967: "High In A Room" / "If The Weather's Sunny" (D) * 1967: "If The Weather's Sunny" / "I Would If I Could, But I Can't" (UK) * 1967: "Victor Henry's Cool Book" / "Have Some More Tea" (D) * 1967: "It Could Be Wonderful" / "Have Some More Tea" (UK) * 1968: "Utterly Simple" / "Sydney Gill" (UK) * 1968: "Sydney Gill" / "It Could Be Wonderful" (D) * 1971: "Ride, Ride, Ride" / "Guy Fawkes" (UK) * 1972: "Sugar Man" / "That's What I Want" (D) * 1972: "Jack is Back" / "That's What I Want" (F) * 1974: "Shagalagalu" / "Gimme Good Loving" (D) * 1974: "My Lullaby" / "Looking High" (UK) * 1976: "My Friend Jack" (1976 version) / "Lady" (F)

Compilations

* 2015: ''My Friend Jack Eats Sugar Lumps: An Anthology'' (Morgan Blue Town, UK)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Smoke, The English rock music groups Musical groups established in 1966 British rhythm and blues boom musicians Freakbeat groups Island Records artists 1966 establishments in England