“Banger and the Hermits” l-r: Banger Fraser, Warren Greaves, Geoff Billett, Memphis Wright, Bud Smith & Guff Neville

Liverpool and Manchester may have had loads of famous groups in the 1960‘s, such as the Beatles, Gerry and the Pacemakers, the Searchers, and the Fourmost, all heralding from Merseyside, and their rival city of Manchester had Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders, Freddie and the Dreamers, The Hollies, and Hermans Hermits.

But Rushden, Wellingborough and Earls Barton had one similar named group in the 1960‘s.

“Banger and the Hermits” with lead singer Banger Fraser. On lead guitar was “Guff Neville,” bass guitarist was “Bud Smith,” and the drummer was “Warren Greaves,” playing harmonica and vocals was “Geof Billett” and lastly, on rhythm guitar, they had “Memphis Wright”.

They were very popular locally, and even went on to win the local heats of the Midland area beat competition. Loads of fans used to follow them around, and sometimes crammed on to a couple of coaches to give them some welcome support.

Banger is still around the Wellingborough area, and has cropped up driving taxis over the years.