Rock 'n' roll heroes

It’s a story to warm the cockles of a middle-aged person’s heart. And for any wannabe rockers out there – it’s good to know that it’s never too late to follow your dream.

Leeds band City Limits, first formed over forty years ago when the members were teenagers, reformed for a reunion ten years ago and will be playing two gigs in the next few weeks, as they approach their collective 300th birthday. One near their original stomping ground at Korks in Otley – and the other at the Wild At Heart venue in Berlin.

They have also released a vinyl album To Hull and Back featuring 12 tracks recorded between 1979 and 1981, including two high- energy live recordings, made by a fan at a gig in the early 80s at The Haddon Hall pub.

The band which consists of singer Ted Waite, guitarists Jonathan Beardsworth and Anthony Peart, drummer Colin McCaig and bass guitarist Paul Hart-Woods grew out of friendships struck up in the 1970s at Aireborough Grammar School.

It was an interesting time on the music scene – there was plenty to inspire young musicians, with the advent of New Wave and punk.

“We started when we were about thirteen or fourteen,” says vocalist Waite, whose son George is lead singer with successful indie band The Crookes. “We got our first band together and we knew it was something we really wanted to do.” Having graduated from playing cover versions of material by Thin Lizzy and the like, they started to write their own compositions and playing in venues around Leeds.

“It was an exciting time – it felt like anything was possible,” says Waite. “We played music that people enjoyed and that they could dance to. There was an energy and a spirit about the whole thing and the fact that we could fill a pub in Kirkstall Road and people were interested in what we were playing and what we had to say was really gratifying.”

They got a manager, made a demo and released an EP, Morse Code Messages, in 1979 which got some airplay, including being championed by legendary Radio 1 DJ John Peel who became something of a fan.

“I can’t recall the exact events that led to us deciding to call it a day,” says Waite. “But they involved a grudging realisation that we were no longer surfing the crest of the new wave and that more conventional occupations might prove more rewarding, financially at least.” Life moved on. The band members remained friends and stayed in touch. Then in 2007, Waite met up with folk musician and promoter Gerry McNeice who had been a big fan of the band in the 70s and 80s and made the aforementioned recording of one of their shows. “I instantly fell in love with the music of these five energetic young men,” says McNeice. “The sound they made was crisp, tight and full of the kind of passion that one would expect from young musicians with a hunger for fame, fortune and more importantly recognition of their music.” The result of their meeting was an emotional reunion gig at Otley Courthouse, supported by then little-known band The Crookes.

In the meantime, interest had been growing in their back catalogue and copies of the single were fetching up to £250 on Ebay. “That’s roughly half of what it cost to make the original recording and press 500 copies back in 1979,” laughs Waite. They were then approached by Daniel Bechern of Berlin-based independent label Queen Mum Records.

“The first time I heard Morse Code Messages, it was like discovering one of those long lost gems that should actually have become a major hit back in the day,” says Bechern, who last year released City Limits’ album To Hull and Back. “The music industry typically completely failed to recognize this. It really was about time to make City Limits’ music available to people, as such perfectly written tunes should be obtainable to everyone out there. Apart from all over Europe and the UK, we’ve already sold copies to Japan, the States and Scandinavia. Oddly enough I haven’t received any orders from Hull yet.”

City Limits play Korks, Otley on April 30 and the Wild at Heart, Berlin on May 15. To Hull and Back is available to buy via www.queenmumrecords.co.uk

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Singer Ted Waite and guitarist Jonathan Beardsworth met at Aireborough Grammar School in 1970 and formed their first band, Gypsy, in 1973.

By 1975 Beardsworth was playing with drummer Colin McCaig and bass guitarist Paul Hart-Woods, Waite was asked to join and they became Orion.

They were joined in 1976 by guitarist Anthony Peart and they started writing their own songs, after being inspired by Elvis Costello’s album My Aim is True.

They made their first demo as City Limits in 1979 at the Ric Rac studio in Leeds.

Their album To Hull and Back was released in 2016.