The ended on Danny & Dusty’s “Song For The Dreamers”, with lyrics altered for a local bias and then went through a line-up change as Simon Bewley came in on drums, replacing Tom Goodwin, Keith Wilson took over on the one-note bass and Steve switched to feedback guitar. They lurched through the Gun Club’s “Walking With The Beast” and Steve goes dizzy with ‘feedback sickness’ from kneeling to close to the amp. He stands up but is soon rolling about the floor again. You can’t beat “Walking With The Best” but they went and tried with a quick, dismissive run through of “Sister Ray” featuring Hugh Kirkbride on inaudible acoustic guitar and Kevin Barber and Dave Young on guitars. And then it was all over.Playing, amongst others, some Scientists and Gun Club numbers, The Doctor’s Pond tore through their set Rod Goodway’s slide guitar was out of this world and his vocals were strong and piercing. Steve’s guitar sound was reminiscent of The Jesus & Mary Chain and Keith’s bass provided a solid beat. And Simon Bewley: Well what can I say? When this guy really plays it is difficult to find a better drummerFinally the band played “Sister Ray” joined by Dave Young on guitar. It got faster and faster – Simon was playing like a man possessed and a segment of the audience were frenzied.All I can say is that it was over too soonThey launched straight into “When Fates Deals Its Mortal Blow” and by the way one of the audience was dancing, it looked like he’d been dealt one.Steve Lines was giving his guitar a good thrashing, hidden behind the darkest pair of shades I’ve ever seen. In fact they were so dark he had to take them off to find his amp.Rod Goodway was on top form vocally and Keith Wilson, played with a lot of confidence, considering it was his first gig (excluding Roundway Down).“Song For The Dreamers” was excellently performed in the middle of the set and “Sister Ray” was performed at the end with myself on guitar.I can’t think of any band that could happily follow a show like the one The Doctor’s Pond performed.There’s Simon Bewley drumming like a manic with a rush and an urgency I haven’t heard from him in years, especially the stomping finish to “Sister Ray”. There’s Keith Wilson laying in to a bass guitar and Steve Lines with his guitar set on FUZZ. There’s Rod Goodway growling, sometimes singing and playing slide between the words.They start with a bang playing two songs by The Scientists off “Blood Red River”. Halfway into “When Fate Deals Its Mortal Blow” the floor is packed with dancers.After “Song For The Dreamers”, “It Came From Out Of The Sky” and “Walking With The Beast” they played “Sister Ray” and left the stage with everything feeding-back.The highlight of the set though was a stunning rendition of Alice Cooper's "Black JuJu". The tension mounted as Steve played the keyboard intro and then the band lurched into the epic song, with Dave Seal providing some stunning lead guitar'Like it was great to hear Dave Seal blasting out and feeding-back, tho' we would have loved to have heard more guitar solos plus extra feedback. But sad to hear Steve Lines and Simon Bewlay so obviously lacking in amplification whilst playing so well. Then again it was really good to hear Mike hitting most of the notes intended and creating quite the most startling vocal stance of the nightThe finale of the gig was the classic Alice Cooper song, "Black Juju", played brilliantly and which grabbed everyone's total attention. A classic ending to a fine setA quick pause for a line-up change Dave Young taking over from Keith Wilson on bass and they launch into a two song blast of very strange material. Much weirdness was sung about in their first song “The Doctor’s Pond”, about Calne being a swamp or something. The second song featured a slide guitar screeching into the wilderness and kept the ’gator theme going with “Don’t Drink The Water In The Well”. I thought the sippin liquor was going to be handed out.At one Tryp recording session a local band tuned up at Rod’s door and asked if he’d like to do a support slot. He said yes, if he could bring a band, and so The Doctor’s Pond was born. Simon Bewlay was recruited on drums and Keith Wilson was drafted in and taught to play bass. Rod Goodway: “I went onstage with Steve Lines (guitar), Simon Bewley (drums) and Keith Wilson (bass) with me playing slide guitar and singing The Gun Club's "Walking With the Beast" among other songs. This was the first live performance (with me involved) of the band known as The Doctors Pond. The second time we played as this line-up the Tryp album was finished and we had actually rehearsed a set of songs that included "When Fate Deals its Mortal Blow" "The Spin" and "Walking With the Beast" by The Gun Club plus Danny & Dusty’s "Song for the Dreamers" and, to finish, "Sister Ray". At the end of 1985 the band went trough a line-up change. Keith Wilson left the band, Dave Seal joined on guitar and Steve swapped from guitar to bass. Immediately they began to write original material. Steve's version of “The Doctor’s Pond” was resurrected and new songs came thick and fast. However just as the band was ready to gig, Rod left. Rod: “1985 was the year Christine and I were forced to move out of our beloved cottage, so while the actual eviction notice was hanging over us I felt I could no longer keep regular practice dates with The Doctor's Pond, which was a shame really because by now we were playing our own stuff, but anyway I quit the band in order to stay close to home for our last few weeks there.”His replacement was Mike Humphreys, with whom Steve and (later) Simon played in The Chaos Brothers. Dave Young was brought in on bass and Steve moved to slide guitar, but a motorbike accident meant Dave had to leave the band after only a couple of weeks and Steve moved back to bass. This line-up played a couple of gigs and then split up. A month later they had reformed and played a couple more gigs that included all previous members. And that was it. Rod went on to The Jellymonsters and Magic Muscle, Steve to Stormclouds and The Chaos Brothers and Simon and Mike to The Chaos Brothers. But the story doesn’t stop there. In 2007 Steve and Mike decided to get together to record an album of material by The Doctor’s Pond. As there weren’t enough original songs for a full album (the band only had six self-penned numbers) Steve began to write new material. The band has just finished recording their debut album in their own Sinister Swamp Studios, Calne. It will be released on Rainfall Records in April 2009. The band are now working on their second album, 'The Ungrateful Dead', but things move kinda slow in the swamp so don't hold your breath waiting for it . . .
