Live: Jacaranda Coffee Bar, Liverpool

The Silver Beetles performed around a dozen times at manager Allan Williams’s cafe in Liverpool’s city centre.

Williams asked them to play on Monday nights when the normal house band, The Royal Caribbean Steel Band, had a night off. The Silver Beetles were paid with beans on toast and Coca-Cola.

Allan Williams ran the Blue Angel and the Jacaranda. He was the little local manager (little in height, that is – a little Welshman with a little high voice – a smashing bloke and a great motivator, thought we used to take the mickey out of him).

The Jac, as it was known, opened in September 1958 on Liverpool’s Slater Street, and quickly became a popular destination among local students. Williams asked them to play there on occasions when he was unable to secure them bookings elsewhere.