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January, 1st 1986 Mike Pender wasn't a Searcher anymore, he had left the
group to start a career of
his own. The circumstances are
not part of tis page. Frank Allen's and Mike Pender´s own
books give you the opportunity to build your own mind. Only one
thing: Mike tried to
continue as The Searchers which caused a lawsuit that he lost in June 1986.
But he was allowed to call himself and
his group Mike Pender's Searchers. In the beginning it started not too bad for him, he got the chance to record a single. |
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Title |
Composer |
Producer |
Arranger |
Label |
| It's Over | Valentine | John Verity, Steve Thompson | John Verity, Steve Thompson | Sierra Records |
| Brothers And Sisters | Thompson, Verity | John Verity, Steve Thompson | John Verity, Steve Thompson | FED 23 |
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| Beside the single release Sierra Records
also issued a maxi single, FED 23T. It's Over is a longer mix here. It's
Over - the title only - sounds like his departure from the Searchers, but
it's just another song about a faded love. The sound depends very much on a systhesizer - not my kind of music. Didn't chart. |
In 1986 he formed the first line-ups of his Searchers with a very good drummer and vocalist Steve Carlisle. Together so sounded very much like him and Chris back in the 60s. I heard them live onstage in 1996 and the sound reminded much more of the Searchers in the sixties than the the Searchers of today with Spencer James as lead singer. So he did what he had done alle those years, but according to his book, he earned much more money. No wonder that his next release was a cassette tape, which was sold only from the fan club or at gigs. 11 songs that were hits back in the sixties. None of the songs has the power of the original singles. |
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In 1991 those cassette tape recordings came out on CD in Switzerland, Wiener Wald Records, ONN 81(left) and in England in 1993 on Pickwick, SMS 61 in 1993. (below) |
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Mike Pender had just left the Searchers and lures Jackson
into his own new Searchers project. They have rehearsals with Mike’s
musicians Chris Black (g, keyb) and Steve Carlisle (dr, vocals) and are
ready to go “On The Road”. The news spread like wildfire, Pender and Jackson
back together as the new Searchers. They are offered an extensive tour
through the US and Australia. But there is a snag to it. The offer does not
give clear numbers about the money. Jackson says about it: "I could see us
after half of the tour being somewhere out in the wild without a penny in
the pocket or in the bank. Taking it all into consideration I was not ready
to take the risk and decided not to take part in Mike's project."
So they have just a
few shows together. According to Mike they had a different point of few about the status in the group. Mike wanted to Tony as an employee, Tony wanted to be Mike's partner with equal share of money. One one knows what happened to Barrie Cowell, Mike's bass guitarist for the first 10 years. |
The next release came out in many
countries,
repeating 10 of those 11 tracks, leaving out Needles And Pins, which was
substituted by Needles & Pins
'90, a slower version, almost like the one On Hungry Hearts by the
Searchers. Beside that Broken Hearts, Red Ferrari and Blue Mondays -
all written by Cowell and Pender once again the synthesizer dominated to
songs.
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| Except the first German release all other
countries used pictures showing the Searchers from the 60s, with Tony or
Frank or John Blunt. For me that is practising a fraud on Searchers fans. So
I won't show none of those covers. |
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In 2010 Mike released all the
re-recordings + Needles ´90, Red Ferrari and Blue Mondays again. It also included Falling Apart At The Seams (see below) and two recordings: You Got It - a Roy Orbison song and the classic song My Girl. Both are live recordings. England, MP25CD2010 + 4 page booklet |
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| Above you have all Mike Pender / Mike Pender's Searchers recordings that were released under his name / the group's name. Beside that there are a few songs as part of LPs / CDs from other musicians (like Class Of´`64) or compilations (like Back To The Future). And Mike was also part of two tours called ReelinandaRock which brought the release of two double CDs. There you can hear a few songs he recorded for these tours backed by the tour musicians. Finally he was part of short time group The Corporation, where he plays guitar and sings a small part of the only song they released. And he also sings on a charity record named Gulf Aid. |
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| In 1989 Mike was invited to contribute one
song to a newly fromed group named Class Of 64 including Bill Kinsley from the Merseybeat. So,
on LP Holly BUDDY-001 you can hear him with his song: Falling Apart At The
Seams. For me, his best song yet since he started his solo carreer. Six years later an extended version of the LP came out on CD, Holly FAB-1964, with a new title Cavern Days , but it didn't include anything new by Mike. |
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| 1999 saw the next contribution of a song sung by Mike: Weather With You, a Crowded House song. The intension of this CD expresses the title: Back To The Future, Sixties Sing Nineties. Label: Harry, no catalgue number. Note that Mike is not listed on the from cover. In 2003 it was re-released: Delicious DEL-120. Producer: Chip Hawkes. |
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| In 2002 Gerry Marsden, Dave Berry, Mike d'Abo, Brian Poole and Mike Pender started their ReelinandaRockin' Tour. In opposite to the usual package tours where everyone performs with his own band they had a backing band to all and played their parts. (So no work for Mike`s musicians.) |
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| Mike's contributions are: Johnny B. Goode, My Girl, When You Walk In The Room, Don't Throw Your Love Away and Needles And Pins. Those three Searchers songs are not the earlier released re-recordings but once again newly recorded, already in 1979. No label or catalogue number.It is also uncertain who the musicians are. |
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| In 1989 Mike became part of a group called The Corporation (The Travelling Wrinklies) with one record: Ain't Nothin' But A Houseparty. Mike sang a short part and played guitar, at least he has a guitar in his hand on the cover. Corporation KORP-1, also as a 12" single, 12KORP-1. There also excists a German release:ZYX Records ZYX 6186-12 |
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| Finally Mike participated in recording a charity record: As Time Stood Still, label: Gulf Aid Gulf 1. He sings along with many others but has no solo part. |
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this picture is taken from the video |
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