The Hit

The Dover Souls hadn’t secured a record contract, but they did have a professionally engineered and produced demo recording, “Misty Monday Morning,” which they sent out to every record company in the British Isles. As 1964 turned into 1965, the lads continued to tour and perform as much as possible but it seemed that they were getting almost as many rejections from record companies as they were bookings.

Though they sent a demo of the song to Brian Epstein, he was was on tour with The Beatles. His assistant at NEMS (North End Music Stores), Alastair Taylor, liked the song very much and urged Epstein to sign the band. Epstein called it “a bit too poppy” for his taste.

During the mid 1960's, access to BBC radio by musicians was very difficult. Because of the BBC's restrictive policies, offshore radio stations owned by the International Broadcasting Company began catering to young fans looking for more musical choices. These "pirate radio" stations played an American-style music mix.

Epstein’s assistant, Alastair Taylor, was friendly with Tony Blackburn, one of the disc jockeys at Radio Caroline, which broadcasted into England from a ship anchored off Felixstowe, Suffolk.  Taylor sent Blackburn the demo of “Misty Monday Morning.”

Blackburn loved the song and immediately put it in the station's rotation.

“Misty Monday Morning” became an overnight sensation. Other pirate stations, such as Wonderful Radio London and Radio Luxembourg, picked up the song and added it to their play list. Within a week the popularity of the tune skyrocketed. Blackburn would later say in an interview, "I don't recall ever getting more tele requests for a song than for ‘Misty Monday Morning.’"

The word was spreading through England. But because the Souls didn’t have formal representation, producers literally couldn't find them.

Meanwhile, the lads were in Ireland playing a series of gigs at local pubs and at the Dublin  Fairgrounds Annual Horse Show and were completely unaware of the commotion surrounding their record until Tony Meehan at Decca got in touch with Alastair Taylor, who in turn put him in touch with Ian's mom. When Meehan finally reached the band with a contract offer,  they were astonished but ecstatic.

On March 5, 1965, The Dover Souls entered the studio to record their first album.

The popularity of “Misty Monday Morning”, coupled with the lack of management and a publicity machine, frustrated fans wanting to know “everything” about their Rock ‘n’ Roll heroes, surrounding the band with an  inadvertent “mystique.  Word got out that they would be recording at Decca, and when they arrived at the studio, they were greeted by an unruly mob of over 500 screaming girls. The lads had to make a mad dash from their cabs to the studio doors if they were interested in remaining fully clothed. Meehan, however, made sure a few of the girls were allowed backdoor access to the studio. (Click on video below to the left - note: you'll need Internet Explorer 5.0 or better to view the clip)

“Misty Monday Morning” was a big hit, but the rest of their material was still rough. It wasn’t long before impatient producers and engineers began suggesting that the band was "a smidge short on talent." Meehan recalls speaking to Dick Rowe during the sessions. "I told him ‘Misty’ was a fluke, and that signing these fellows had been a mistake". Rowe agreed and urged Meehan to "get what (he) could out of them," and the record company would try to trim their losses with a publicity tour.

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