The Beatstalkers

Book excerpt: It started in the early 1960s in a Glasgow school, moved to a secret makeshift bedroom in a factory and ended with a stolen van on a London street in 1968. But between those events lay hundreds of concerts, gang warfare, fan hysteria including a riot involving 7000 people, work with David Bowie - and a single that was a hit but went unrecognised. This is the story of The Beatstalkers - Scotland's number one beat group. Dave Lennox, Alan Mair, Ronnie Smith, Eddie Campbell and Jeff Allen were national heroes by their teenage years. They lived and played through Glasgow's No Mean City era and gathered the bruises to show for it. They pioneered an approach to music that set them on the road to fame and fortune. MARTIN KIELTY is author of 17 books, with three in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Permanent Collection. He's a magazine journalist, TV and radio presenter, former band manager and drummer.