The original line-up was:  

Dane (he never used his surname) on guitar and vocals

Neil Brewer on bass and vocals

Paul Fulford on keyboards

Bryan Fitzpatrick on drums

Dane and Neil were music veterans who had been in the prog band Druid, which had some success before being been totally eclipsed by punk around 1977/78.  Bryan was a fair bit younger, lived in Hemel Hempstead with his parents and was a mate of a bloke I worked with. Don't know anything at all about Paul, although he may have later worked in IT in the Portsmouth area.

Dane and Neil (and possibly Paul?) lived in Berkhamsted, Herts.

After Neil left, they released a cassette of studio material which was good, but not a patch on their live show.

Dane and Neil's colleagues in Druid were drummer Cedric Sharpley, who later played with Gary Numan, and keyboard player Andrew McCrorie-Shand, who wrote the theme and incidental music for the Teletubbies!

Two songs from the Druid era survived the transformation and were played by The Never Never Band.  Painters Clouds and Barnaby  were featured on the album Fluid Druid.

The Valley was often introduced as being about Berkhamsted.

Neil and Dane lived at 69 Cross Oak Road, Berkhamsted.

When money was tight and food was short, stinging nettle soup was the staple diet.  (Thanks Neil Brewer)

Dane was listed in the 1979/80 Register of Electors as Dane Stevens

The Monday before Christmas 1979, they threw dozens of those little chemical light sticks into the Horn of Plenty audience.

That same night, Neil invited everyone in the pub to a party at their house in Berkhamsted the following Saturday.

The road crew and some of the fans wore white T shirts bearing a Never Never Band logo.  Or maybe not....  This from Edward Grainger:

Andy (Blair) and I were discussing the T-Shirts last week. The "first run" were white on black (same logo as the badge), but pre-dated our discovering the band in late 1979 so only roadcrew, girl-friends and such seemed to own them. Sometime thereafter there was a second run, in various colours with silver print which unfortunatey proved less durable than the original white. I doubt I have mine as it faded after too many encounters with the college laundrette, but I also had a Vetos shirt. They were yellow logo (on one corner, polo shirt style) on a navy blue t-shirt.

They carried their gear to gigs in a white (Ford Transit?) van.

On 31st March 1980 at the Horn of Plenty, perhaps looking for an early April Fool, they invited members of the audience to come up on stage to eat spoonfuls of chilli pickle.  Only one person was brave (or foolish) enough to accept the challenge.

Admission to Never Never Band shows at the Horn of Plenty was free of charge.

They played regularly at The Corndolly in Oxford

The Vetos played regularly at The Pennyfarthing in Oxford. Their scheduled final performance at the venue was mysteriously cancelled 24 hours before the gig.

Neil Brewer played Tootle in the children’s TV show Rosie and Jim and still makes the occasional personal appearance as the character.

A while after Neil left the band and I had assumed that they’d split, a guitarist friend of mine was looking for a drummer to complete the line-up of a band he was putting together.  He rang Bryan Fitzpatrick to ask if he was available.  He wasn’t there, but his mum told my friend that Bryan was in the studio, recording with The Never Never Band, so probably wouldn’t be interested.  I assume that they were recording the cassette that was sold at gigs.

It seems that the band were gigging successfully with one or more different bass players long after I assumed they’d split. I don’t think they were playing in Hertfordshire, because I would have heard about their gigs, so I guess they concentrated on Oxfordshire.  The live tape from the Corndolly was certainly recorded post-Neil Brewer.

Dane was known as Dane Jefferies at the time of the release of The Never Never Band studio tape.  All songs on the tape are credited to Dane Jefferies.  Credit for writing the two songs on the first Vetos single is given to Dave (with a ‘v’) Jeffries (without the ‘e’).  Typo or pseudonym?  Who knows?

Bryan was sometimes teased on stage with the nickname ‘Bulbous Head’.

The post-Neil Brewer bass player was Peter Burkin.  His usual stage-wear was a (very fashionable at the time) pin-striped suit and trainers.  (Thanks Ian Pickering.)

In the early to mid-eighties, Dane ran a guitar shop called Frets (or Fretz?) in St Albans Road, Watford.

A Bryan Fitzpatrick sighting!!!!  But not a recent one, sorry. Bryan was seen at a Yellowjackets gig at the Forum, Kentish Town, around 1991/92, checking out the band’s drummer, Will Kennedy.  (Thanks Kevin Mullan.)

Before joining the band as Neil’s replacement on bass, Peter Birkin was a Never Never Band roadie. (Thanks Neil Megson and Jim Siret.)

Bryan lived at 28 Manscroft Road, Gadebridge, Hemel Hempstead.  (Thanks Pete Cripps.)