Why Searchers rejected Beatles’ bid to join forces

Now it can be told.

In 1964, Paul McCartney attempted to recruit the Searchers for Brian Epstein’s North End Music Stores (NEMS) stable but the Liverpool band refused to play second fiddle to the Beatles. The bait was an offer for the Searchers to record an original Lennon-McCartney song, Things We Said Today.

The Searchers were described by Bill Harry in The Ultimate Beatles Encyclopaedia as "the most successful Mersey Beat group not to be managed by Epstein although, ironically, Epstein did want to manage them."

Epstein, the Beatles manager who died in 1967 due to a drug overdose, confessed in the British pop magazine Fabulous, "If I could retrace my footsteps and add just one more Liverpool group to my list of recording artists, I would choose to have the Searchers on my books."

It was no secret that the Searchers were the Beatles’ favorite Merseyside group. Harold Bronson, in the book Rock Explosion, confirmed it. So did The Beatles Forever author Nicholas Schaffner in The British Invasion.

Writer Roger Dopson said John Lennon once remarked that the Searchers "were so good, they sounded American–the ultimate accolade back then."

When McCartney was turned down, the Beatles recorded Things We Said Today as the flip side to the movie single A Hard Day’s Night. The song was also on the movie album and the American Something New LP.

Writer and radio broadcaster Spencer Leigh said the condition to accepting Things We Said Today was the Searchers had to sign up with Epstein. "They did not want a manager who could not regard them as the top act and anyway, it is unlikely that the West End impresario Tito Burns would have released his hold," explained Leigh.

The Searchers crowded the Beatles at the top of the UK music charts in 1963 and 1964. The Beatles’ Please Please Me and With the Beatles LPs topped the UK album charts for 51 weeks during those two years. So when the Searchers took their debut album Meet the Searchers to No. 2, Epstein sat up and noticed.

Both the Beatles and Searchers had their baptisms of fire in the live circuit at The Star Club in Hamburg in 1962. "It was in a tough area and the rougher you played, the better," said Leigh. They polished their act at The Star Club and emerged global hitmakers.

The Searchers later became the resident band at Liverpool’s Iron Door Club on Temple Street and their popularity grew to rival the Beatles. "By 1963, the Searchers were widely regarded as the second best band if not in Britain then certainly in Liverpool," said Terry Rawlings in his book Then, Now and Rare British Beat. Rawlings said the Searchers were "one of the few Liverpool outfits to slip through Epstein’s fingers."

"In much the same way that the Beatles became synonymous with The Cavern, the Searchers established a stronghold at the dank, atmospheric Iron Door Club where they had built a powerful reputation," said Dopson. "As live performers, they were the consummate professionals, looking and sounding confident beyond their years—for like the Beatles and several of the other Mersey Beat groups, they had benefited immeasurably from the exhausting residences in Hamburg where they had turned the punishing, interminably long sets to their advantage, drawing upon all areas of their rock ‘n roll, rhythm and blues, country and western and folk influences, developing their ascending three-part harmonies, eventually emerging with that sound which was uniquely and unmistakably their very own."

Battling the Beatles on their own, the Searchers took their debut single Sweets For My Sweet, a remake of the Drifters’ hit, to No. 1 in the UK charts in 1963. Lennon called it "the best disc ever by a Liverpool group" at the time, noted Dave McAleer in the book Beatboom. Their next single Sugar and Spice stalled at No. 2 and couldn’t dislodge You’ll Never Walk Alone by Gerry and the Pacemakers. But the band’s third single Needles and Pins zoomed to No. 1, preventing the Pacemakers from a fourth straight No. 1 in I’m the One. The grand slam was completed when Don’t Throw Your Love Away also topped the charts.

Before the Searchers were through, they had 10 hits in the UK Top 20. Four of their first five LPs were in the top 10. In all, the Searchers recorded nine studio albums, the last Hungry Hearts for the Coconut label in 1988. Bootlegs, compilation, rarities concert albums and the original studio LPs continue to sell like hotcakes in the market as CDs.

In retrospect, founding rhythm guitarist John McNally said the Searchers could have accomplished a lot more if they teamed up with the Beatles.

"One of my regrets is not having been managed by Epstein," said McNally. "We’d have been a better band for it and he always wanted to sign us."

In 1966, the Searchers came to Manila to perform in four sellout shows at the Araneta Coliseum. They also played in two shows at Subic Naval Base in Olongapo and performed once at Clark Air Base in Angeles City.

After 38 years, the Searchers are returning to Manila. McNally and bassist Frank Allen, who were here in 1966, continue to play for the band which is booked for gigs all year round, all over the world. The other Searchers are lead guitarist and vocalist Spencer James (who has recorded two solo CDs Tides of Time and Love Remains) and drummer Eddie Rothe.

The Searchers are performing in a two-hour show at the Hard Rock Café in Glorietta, Makati tomorrow, and in a dance party concert at the Araneta Coliseum on May 29. They will be singing their most popular songs including Love Potion No. 9, Da Doo Ron Ron and Farmer John.

Since news of the Searchers’ return hit town, Hard Rock Café general manager Ceso Calison said he has been deluged by callers inquiring about reservations.

Organizer Steve O’Neal, a DZRJ disc jockey, said a big company has offered to sponsor a night of live Searchers music for its clients. The company plans to launch a new product during the show.

"The response to the Searchers’ return has been phenomenal," said O’Neal. "They were next to the Beatles in popularity during the British Invasion of the ’60s and fans remember their music fondly. If there are firm offers of sponsorship, maybe we can persuade them to perform in more than two shows."

(Tickets for the Araneta Coliseum dance party concert are available at Ticketnet (Tel. 911-5555) and the Araneta booking office. Prices are P200, P500, P1,000, P1,500 and P2,000.)