Shane Sennet, a bass player from Montreal, Canada had balls, I’ll give him that!
I mean, there was no lacking in confidence, was there? He formed a band with five others back in 1964 and capitalizing on the ‘Mersey Sound’ popularized by bands that formed the British Invasion of USA and Canada in the mid-Sixties, named that band The Liverpool Set.
Fair play, though, despite none of the members hailing from Liverpool, three had at least emigrated from UK: vocalist / guitarist Dave Donnell – a.k.a. Lachlan MacFadyen, and drummer Kent Daubney, from England and guitarist Evan Hunt from Wales.
With three guitarists in the six-man set-up, The Liverpool Set cut an impressive look and soon built up a following. With influential artists’ agent, Moxie Whitney looking after them, their list of contacts was impressive and it was Columbia Records’ Promotion Director, Bob Martin, who pushed for them to be signed.
In August 1965, they released their first single, the Merseybeat inspired, ‘Must I Tell You (I Love You)‘ which sold well, peaking at #18 in the Canadian R.P.M. chart.
As a consequence, the band were invited onto several high-profile TV chat shows and were subsequently booked for a two -month residency at Papa Joe’s club in Waukesha, Minnesota.
The record company bosses were so excited at the band’s potential, and growing fan-base, that they then booked the lads into The Barn studio in Florida, where they cut the follow-up single, ‘Oh Gee Girl‘ b/w an excellent cover of the Rufus Thomas hit, ‘Walkin’ The Dog.’
This single was well received by Florida radio stations and by 1966, ,everything was looking so promising for the band – they even opened for The Byrds and other notable acts.
Their reputation was burgeoning, but there was a degree of ‘controversy’ when intrusive press and jealous competitors discovered the band consisted of two Canadians, three originally from UK and one, guitarist and co-songwriter, Eave Lancing, from Latvia. None from Liverpool!
However the band rose above it all and following their successful stint in Florida, headed fore another residency, this time in New York’s Riviera Club.
It was while in NYC the third, and what would transpire to be their final single was cut and released. Leaning more to a ‘garage’ feel, ‘Seventeen Tears To The End‘ failed to achieve the success of the previous two releases, and it seems at that point, the band decided to call it quits. (Shame really – I personally think this the best of their three releases.)
The members all remained within the music industry for a while, the most notable perhaps being Jack Douglas (who had joined at some indeterminable time to help out on bass.) He went into music production, and famously co-produced the ‘Double Fantasy‘ album with John Lennon. He also worked with Aerosmith and Cheap Trick amongst others.
THE LIVERPOOL SET.
Shane Sennet – Bass
Kent Daubney – Drums
Dave Donnell (aka Lachlan MacFadyen – Vocals / Guitar
Evan Hunt – Guitar
Gary Nelson – Guitar
Eave Lancing – Guitar
+
Jack Douglas – Bass
| TITLE | FORMAT | YEAR | LABEL | NOTES |
| Must I Tell You (I Love You) | 7″ Single | 1965 | Columbia | |
| Oh Gee Girl | 7″ Single | 1965 | Columbia | |
| Seventeen Tears To The End | 7″ Single | 1966 | Columbia |
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The Liverpool Set sounded really promising – too bad they called it quits after their third single! Their cover of “Walking the Dog” is great. I also dig the raw sound of their last single “Seventeen Tears To The End”.
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Yeah – I loved Walking the Dog version too … mind you, it’s such a great song you’d have to be pretty rubbish for it NOT to work! 😀
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Cheers, Cee Tee! I found you and I must say I was surprised right off the bat.
Based on my great affinity for the Beatles, I went straight to the Liverpool Set; the name was unfamiliar to me and I had to check them out. As it turns out, I did not know them at all nor any of their songs, probably being eclipsed … in my small world, anyway … by the Beatles.
Their first two songs were so-so; didn’t knock my socks off; I was definitely grooving to Walking The Dog (obviously bc I knew it already from Rufus Thomas’ recording). I also liked Seventeen Years To The End very much bc it reminded me from the very first note of All Day And All Of The Night by The Kinks (can you hear it?).
Lucky break for Jack Douglas, I’d say. Wonder what happened to the other guys. It’s always too bad when groups’ dreams are shattered but there’s usually a good reason for it … and that not being from Liverpool BS was not a good reason!
Great to be here. I’ll be back!
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