1975 and Andy had moved to Wantage a small town in the County of
Berkshire, he played at a local disco called 'Scamps'. And from there secured a residency for 3 nights a week at another
Scamps Disco in Hemel Hempstead.
Throughout 1975 he became the highest paid DJ in the Scamps group, working from
8pm to 2 am nightly. Sadly all of these night club spots are long gone!
During that time he had been seen by a local entertainment agent and was asked to perform at
RAF Greenham Common.
At that time all US bases on UK soil were designated 'RAF' although they were in fact US Air Force.
It
was still several years before nuclear missiles were to be stationed at Greenham Common.
This was
also the start of the real Disco period, dancing and having fun was the order of the day, and Andy worked at all of the US
bases through out the South of England.
Although it wasn't all plain
sailing as Andy recalls; ' One day I drove 60 miles to RAF Chicksands, set up all of the equipment, switched it on and
there was an explosion from inside the pre-amp of the turntables, all of the lights went out in the venue and a curl of blue
smoke issued from the offending equipment!
A couple of expletives later I realized I could not fix the problem and didn't
have any backup I quickly packed everything back in to the
van and before the lights came back on drove away.......I am pretty sure I did not get paid!'
'I know I never went back!'
Apart from the instance above, which can
only be put down to equipment failure, where ever Andy played he was an instant hit. Playing at all of these US bases
'RAF Upper Heyford' in Oxford, 'RAF Bentwaters' in Ipswich, 'RAF Lakenheath' and 'RAF Mildenhall'
both in Bury St Edmunds and 'RAF Welford' in Berkshire.
During one of Andys gigs at
Greenham Common, a scout for US Airforce entertainment asked for his contact details.
Several days later through his
agent, Andy was asked if he would like to go to Naples in Italy and try out in a new disco on the NATO Base. The contract
would be for 2 months! He would need to take his disco equipment and make his own way there.
With out
hesitation Andy Mac packed up the equipment and headed for Naples.
Some of the songs from
1975 and 1976, Click on each song to play
Jive Talking - Bee Gees, Get Down Tonight - KC & The Sunshine Band, The Hustle - Van McCoy, Walking In Rhythm - Blackbyrds
December '63 (Oh What a Night) - Four Seasons, Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel - Travares, Right Back Where We Started From - Maxine Nightingale, Play That Funky Music - Wild Cherry