Interview With Frank Allen - The Searchers

The Searchers are one of the most popular and successful groups from the 60's. Sadly the group are retiring next year. Before that though there is an autumn tour as part of the 60's Gold Tour and then a solo tour early next year. I asked front man and bass player Frank Allen about the tour and the band.

You have a big tour coming up as part of the 60's Gold Tour, what can we expect?
It will be a great show, we do all the hits, though we have to cram in as much as we can in the 45 minutes we are on stage. Normally on our own shows we are on stage 2 hours. There are some good acts on the tour such as The Merseybeats, The Fortunes, PJ Proby and Steve Ellis from The Love Affair.

Is it true that this will be the Searchers Farewell Tour?
Yes, that's true, it will be the final package tour that the band do and then early next year we will be doing a lot of shows that will be just The Searchers. I don't want to be travelling up and down the motorway anymore and all the hanging around that goes with being on tour. You might be travelling for over 4 hours every day only to spend 2 hours on stage - sometimes we do a 13 hour day. I wish it could be transported to the gig straight away - just like in Star Trek.

We have the crew who work for us and the rest of the band too will have to reorganise their lives. If I miss the touring when it stops then I could always come back.

How do you relax after a gig?
We don't really, it all depends upon where we are in the country, we might go back to the hotel or go out for a meal or it could be a 3 hour drive home. The motorways here are busy all the time now and even at night time there are diversions because there are night time roadworks. I am 75 in December and feel it is time to wind down. I'm selling my large house and moving to a penthouse. My life is changing. John (McNally) doesn't want to stop though.

There have been some great artists on these package tours over the years
That's right, Chris Montez, John Walker of The Walker Brothers. Our fans do not like the shows though as they only get 45 minutes, whereas the solo shows are 2 hours long. We rotated the bill sometimes especially on the tour we did with Gerry and the Pacemakers.

The tour comes to Leeds
We come to the Grand Theatre as part of the 60's package tour and then the City Varieties next year as part of the solo Searchers tour. I like the city as it is compact and you can wander around, plus there are some good restaurants too.

You always look fit and healthy and not put any weight on
It is sheer vanity! I do not want to get fat so I watch what I eat. It is decades since I have eaten fried food on a regular basis. Mind you, if you loose too much weight you can look haggard. I eat less now than I used to, my weight is going down at the moment so I have to be careful.

Do you listen to current music?
Not at all, it's a lost cause. I don't get excited about new music. If I hear a song once that I like it is by accident - I do not listen to music in the car either but all the others in the band listen to music. When we were in the 1960's we did not realise how things were at the time, when we were on at The Star Club in Hamburg I was homesick, I would love to go back to those days so I could appreciate those Star Club days.

Do you have any special venues?
Up on Teeside we played the Stockton Fiesta Club, it felt like going home. An audience is an audience, though we have in this country some fantastic theatres like The Royal Albert Hall in London, Birmingham Symphony Hall, Glasgow and the Royal Concert Hall and of course Leeds Grand and the City Varieties.

I have heard about the plan to restore the Bradford Odeon which sounds fantastic, sadly I will not be playing there. We have to look after these old theatres - once they have gone that's it.

The Searchers play Leeds Grand Theatre on The Sixties Gold Tour on Sunday 28 October.

Doncaster Dome - 23 November
Hull City Hall - 23 December

The Searchers Farewell Tour:

Doncaster Cast - 25 January 2019
Leeds City Varieties - 10 March 2019