Steve Dacri sits down with Gerry Marsden of Gerry & The Pacemakers

That's my wife, Jan sitting on the lap of Gerry...

Click here to see a clip from our dressing room visit with Gerry.

Okay, so Jan and I are true rock and rollers, as you probably know. We see rock concerts as often as possible, we've been known to travel great distances to see rock shows. We once drove from California to St. Louis to catch Paul McCartney's show, and driving 12 hours just to see the Rolling Stones is perhaps one reason our friends call us "nuts".

Besides our love of all things Beatles, we love all of those other bands that came out of that era, and one of those bands, also from Liverpool, was Gerry & the Pacemakers.

I remember watching them on "Shindig" and "Ed Sullivan". I have most of their albums, and when we heard that Gerry & the Pacemakers were coming to Vegas, we marked off the date in the old calendar and called our agents to say we were "busy" that night.

Off we headed to see the one and only Gerry Marsden sing every hit song he ever had, and then a few more. Amazing show. Met him afterwards, he was delightful, we had a great chat, then we wished him luck and off we went, humming "Ferry cross the Mersey".

That was at Boulder Station Casino, in the Railhead, a small room that was perfect for a rock show, with everyone up close to the action. It was the first time Gerry had ever appeared in Vegas. And we were there.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Gerry & the Pacemakers returned, this time to our favorite music spot, the Club at the Cannery Hotel and Casino. State of the art sound and stage, this place is built for rock and roll.

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This time, it was Terry Sylvester of the Hollies, Tony Sheridan, who once sang "My Bonnie" with the Beatles and the Pacemakers. When it was over, Jan and I were invited back to see Gerry once again, this time with his wife. We brought framed photos for him, a gift from his first ever Vegas appearance.

SD: Good to see you again.

GM: Thanks a lot, good to see the both of you again, was I alright?

SD: You were in great spirits, I could tell, you blasted the joint!

GM: Not bad for an old man, right?

SD: You still have the voice, you sound great. How do you do it?

GM: I don't know. Must be me wife, she keeps me happy.

SD: Is this who you wrote the song for?

GM: Yes, "Don't let the sun catch you crying". I wrote it for her, when I was 17. It worked, didn't it?

SD: Obviously. Who was the band playing with you tonight?

GM: It was Peter & Gordon's band, they loaned them to us for this tour, and I must tell you, we hardly rehearsed, just a few songs, the hits, but we were mostly in the dark tonight.

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SD: Sounded great.

GM: Yes, I think so. This was the first time we ever worked together, so it was a bit dodgy.

SD: Are you friends with Peter & Gordon from way back when?

GM: Yes, we go way back with them, old friends, we toured together.

SD: How long is this tour?

GM: Small one, 8 more dates. This was the first one. We end on the East coast then I fly home to England.

SD: Liverpool, right?

GM: That's right, my home town.

SD: We've been there several times.

GM: Fantastic. I know you loved the people there, were we good to you?

SD: Yes, yes. We loved it there. Never met a Liverpudlian we didn't like. We stayed on the Mersey, one of those great little hotels on the bank of the river, I sat in the window looking at it a lot.

GM: Not very pretty, I have to say, but we love it still.

SD: And the world knows about it because of you and that great song.

GM: Thank you.

SD: You grew up there. And you were friends with the Beatles, right?

GM: Oh yes, very close. Paul and John, mostly John. And George. We miss George.

SD: When did you last see George?

GM: About 3 or 4 months before the end. He was in chipper mood, very happy, even though he knew it was close to the end. He was one of the most talented songwriters I knew. People don't realize it. They only think of John and Paul.

SD: I think people realize it now, though, don't you think?

GM: Oh yes, most definitely. His last album (I still call them albums, out of habit), was one of his best.

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SD: "Brainwashed". Yes, it is one of my all time favorites. Kind of like John, he was at his peak creatively and then he was gone.

GM: Yes, John, he was writing fantastic songs and he was truly happy for the first time in a very long time. I remember him as a young lad in Liverpool, he was like all of us, dreaming of the big time, but not really sure it would come, or how big it would be. Years later, when the Beatles were really big, he rang me up to tell me about their US tour. He sounded like a little boy, he was so excited about it. He was amazed, he couldn't believe what they had become, and so suddenly.

SD: Is it true he gave you some songs?

GM: Oh yes, and "You're the One", he was offered that song, and he said he thought it was rubbish, so I recorded it. A few months later, when it was released, it shot up the charts like a rocket. I phoned John up, and I said, "Remember that song you thought was rubbish? It's number one in 3 countries."

SD: He must have loved that.

GM: Oh yes, indeed, he had some choice words on that one. We had a great laugh over that song.

SD: Do you stay in touch with Paul and Ringo?

GM: I do. Saw Paul in London last year. Good mate, always have been. I've been to his house as a young lad, sat in that upstairs bedroom with he and John and watched them create songs.

SD: I've been to that house. On Fortland.

GM: Wow, that's right. I don't see Ringo as much, he lives in California, and in France. I saw him in France last year. He's a good mate, too.

SD: Ringo, the only Beatle I ever met. I met him in Monaco.

GM: Great. Yes, he lives there.

SD: And I played at the Cavern, the only magician to ever play there.

GM: Isn't that something! Did you sign the wall?

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SD: As a matter of fact, yes, I was invited to sign the wall, not far from Gerry & the Pacemakers and the Beatles. I am honored, really.

GM: You should be. This Cavern, as you know, is not the same as the original, but they saved all the bricks from the original stage and rebuilt it. Different entrance, but the same space, or at least some of it is the same space. And did you go to the Casbah? Pete Best's mum still owns it.

SD: Next door, yes, we did. So much history there, all along Mathew Street.

GM: Yes, a lot of tourists visit now, but mostly, its for the locals still.

SD: What was it like in the day?

GM: The sixties. It was a magical time, really. It was always busy, during the day and night. During the day, you had all these workers coming in for lunch. The bands played continuously, you could see Gerry & the Pacemakers, The Searchers, and the Beatles all within the same day. That would be in the Cavern, and also in the Casbah, which was really the frist place the Beatles played. But they were at the Cavern longer, for weeks at a time, so it became much more famous of all the clubs. There were others there, too, all along Mathew Street. You would walk from one to the next, and see the Rolling Stones and Eric Burden and the Animals a lot, and Billy J. Kramer and Cila White, who became Cila Black, at the insistence of Brian.

Some bands got lucky and we were one of them, I know that. Brian had so much money coming in from the tours, he found that he could increase his income by sponsoring more bands and booking tours all over. We were almost as big as the Beatles for a short while. A very short while.

SD: How come you still live in Liverpool? Most everyone becomes famous and moves off to the country somewhere.

GM: I grew up there, it's a part of me. I love it there. I am building a new house just outside of Liverpool, on the countryside, a big house with a trophy room. Your beautiful frame will go there.

SD: I am honored.

GM: Yes, well, it will be up there on the wall when you visit Liverpool again, you have a standing invitation.

SD: Fabulous, next year we'll be over. So, whatever happened to the Pacemakers?

GM: The boys went off in their own direction, not as a group, just each guy went off to do other things. After a few years of tours and visits to America, we all had enough money to retire, so they did. I can't stop. Look at me, still sweating and singing.

SD: So you own the name?

GM: Yes, it was my original idea, from a suggestion by John really. He said, 'get yourself some lads and put group together. You might as well join this madness and make some money right along with us.' Brian Epstein put us on tour with all his groups, mostly Herman's Hermits, the Animals, the Searchers, and Billy J Kramer and Peter & Gordon. We were performing all over England, and then we came to the States and things just went crazy. We were in the Beatles wave, we rode it for as long as we could. People seems to enjoy the music.

SD: They still do.

GM: They seem to, yes. We are forever grateful for that, I must tell you. It's wonderful to watch the faces of the audiences, they even remember the words a lot. Sometimes when I forget a lyric, I just have to look out there, and I hear the words coming back to me.

SD: Thank you for all the music, and for coming to Vegas again.

GM: It was a pleasure, and so good to see you and Jan. See you in Liverpool.

SD: Cheers.

Click here to see a clip from our dressing room visit with Gerry.

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