ROY WEARD & THE LAST POST

When Dogwatch finally came to an end I was undecided about how to go forward. I had been doing sound for a few bands and I was still doing some writing with Tony but did not want to get straight into another band. I decided at that point I would just carry on working as a sound engineer - but one of the bands I had been working with as an engineer, The Last Post, asked me if I would do a few songs with them. This led to a few gigs at a small pub in Woodford and, almost inevitably, to my joining forces with the band.  The Last Post were loud and very upfront. In some ways they were closer to Wooden Lion than any of the other bands I had been involved with since the seventies. The original line up was Steve Bensusan : guitar, vocals / Ronnie Raymond : bass, vocals / Dave Owen : guitar, flute / Mel Evans, drums / Paul Watson : Keyboards / Roy Weard : vocals. We started off by recording an album at the famous Elephant Studios in Metropolitan Wharf, Wapping. (also now available from Bridge House Records see Discography).

We released this album, called Fallout, ourselves  and sold it around the venues we played in. The band generated a strong following and soon moved into playing most of the larger East End venues alongside Iron Maiden and Marillion who were gigging at this level at the time. Our fans even hired a coach and came to Wales with us when we did some shows there. Mel left the band to finish his degree shortly after we finished the album and Paul Margolis joined on drums. Paul and Dave all left over the second year of the band's existence. John Mortimer joined on drums and, you guessed it, Tony Morley joined on keyboards and guitars. Record deals loomed and we had already recorded a single, 'Triangle', for Parasol Records(now on the Bridge House CD) . Larger record companies were showing an interest but Steve and Ronnie both wanted a more 'straight up'  rock band. In the end they told me they 'did not want to be in a comedy band' and left. Shades of 200 Motels or what? You can download a few tracks here

I went off to tour with Manfred Mann on the 'Somewhere in Europe' tour as actor and backline crew.

Roy Weard and Last Post did one last gig, after this and the late Steve Waller came along and did a guest spot playing guitar with us. After this I moved on to touring as a sound engineer and production manager.