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Ray Ballantyne played keyboards in Soul Agents from the group's formation around the end of 1973 until late in 1975. The band was formed by the booking agent, Bindy Gerrard, to take over the residency at The Carlton Hotel which had built a big barn of a bar, and seen attempts at having high profile touring bands not being successful. Bindy came up with the name, and there were adds in the newspapers before the band had even been formed. We met at Mike Lewis's Holden Sound factory for 2 nights of rehearsals then started a dream gig, Wednesday to Saturday 7:00pm till 10:00pm. The Commonwealth Games in January 1974 were the making of the combination of the band and the venue. Original bass player Don Clarkson left not long after the band formed and was replaced by Trevor Wright. Mike Lewis soon left to concentrate on the Holden Sound business and was replaced by Larry MacKay who had left Beam in Auckland, to return to Christchurch. Trevor Wright left and was replaced for a short while by Wayne Martin, but he returned with Wayne's departure. Chris Whitehead also of Beam returned to Christchurch and joined. For a couple of weeks The Soul Agents was a six piece with Chris on drums and Cash playing percussion as well as taking more of a vocalist's role, but Cash left shortly therafter. In 1975 the line-up remained quite stable doing some TV work and taking over the residency at Mojos 11:00pm till late Thursday - Saturday as well as the Carlton residency. There were quite a few others who filled in for short periods when one of the regular members was unavailable. Sadly Cash passed away a few years back. |
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