Mothers (music venue)
Mothers was a club in the Erdington district of Birmingham, West Midlands, during the late 1960s and early 1970s. It opened above an old furniture store in Erdington High Street on 9 August 1968. The club, run by John 'Spud' Taylor and promoter Phil Myatt, closed its doors on 3 January 1971. Between those dates more than 400 acts performed there, many of whom went on to greater success.
Well-known live recordings made in Mothers include those released by Pink Floyd on Ummagumma, recorded on 27 April 1969, and parts of "Facelift" by Soft Machine, released on Third, recorded on 11 January 1970.
The Who performed their rock opera Tommy there. Traffic's debut took place at the club, and fledgling heavy metal bands like Deep Purple, Judas Priest and Black Sabbath played some of their earliest gigs there.
Some of the other well-known rock bands and artists to play Mothers include: Family, Fleetwood Mac, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Eclection, Edgar Broughton Band, Free, Roy Harper, Blodwyn Pig, Strawbs, Quintessence, Steppenwolf, the Deviants, Jethro Tull, Jon Hiseman's Colosseum, Skid Row, the Nice, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Elton John, King Crimson, Led Zeppelin, The Chicago Transit Authority, Moby Grape, Canned Heat and the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.
While returning home to London from a performance at Mothers on 12 May 1969, Fairport Convention's van crashed on the M1 motorway, killing drummer Martin Lamble, aged only nineteen, and Jeannie Franklyn, guitarist Richard Thompson's girlfriend. The rest of the band suffered injuries of varying severity.
Mothers was voted the number one rock venue in the world by America's Billboard magazine. John Peel, a regular DJ at the club, was quoted as saying: "People are amazed to hear that for a few years the best club in Britain was in Erdington."
Roy Harper later told Brum Beat magazine:
A Blue Plaque was unveiled at the former Mothers building on 13 July 2013.
