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Mother's Club Carlton Club Ballroom Erdington

thats great news jenny...although i had never been to mothers i do wish i had done..

lyn
 
I wonder how many businesses have operated in the two retail spaces below where Mother's was. The location was great inasmuch it was
in an area where there weren't many houses really close by although there were a few in adjoining streets York Road being one of them. Erdington Parish churchyard is across the road and across Church Lane was the Acorn pub. Great for a few drinks before crossing the road to listen to the bands. I believe that many of the bands that visited Mother's at that time were not huge names as yet and were used to playing in smaller venues. I missed it because I had left Brum before Mother's got going and only went to the Carlton Ballroom in that space.

I spoke to my friend Margaret yesterday. She lives in Wilton Road and she mentioned that there are now l2 Charity Shops in and close by Erdington High Street!
I think one of them is located in one of the spaces under where Mother's used to be.
 
My memory of Mother's is a bit vague, because all the times I went I'd met up with my mates elsewhere for a few bevvies before we made it to Erdington High Street. But I think Jennyanne is correct - I'm sure that Mother's was above a furniture shop back in the 1960's. To the best of my memory, the entrance to Mother's was a narrow doorway between the furniture shop and whatever the shop next door was - but as always I stand to be corrected on this.

G
 
The Carlton Ballroom later became the Carlton club and the later still "Mothers" I never used it because the time it was open 1968 -1971 my nightclubbing days were over, my wife saw to that. I did however have the job of clearing it out after a fire in the 80's and had to remove the dance floor and the stage. At the time I hadn't got a clue what the place was.
 

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Mothers was above the furniture shop and you are correct the entrance was in the alley at the side.

Like Jennyann I only went when it was the Carlton.
Had my wedding reception at the Acorn, 1961.
 
I loved it there although it was a bit scruffy,there were mattresses on the floor to sit on. The bands I saw in their early career's were amazing Led Zep,Black Sabbath, Jethro Tull, Stepping Wolf...so many John Peel was the resident DJ.
 
I was at the Plaza, Rookery Road, Handsworth one Saturday night. John Mayall's Bluesbreakers headlined...or rather they would have, had not the police paid a visit and arrested some of the band for smoking spliffs (marijuana) on stage. The night was a washout as John Mayall and two of the Bluebreakers were carted off to Thornhill Road Station whilst Mrs Reagan (?) closed the club and had an early night. I was hanging around outside the Plaza wondering & debating with my mate about what to do. It was about 9pm and too early to go home and too late to go anywhere else and pull-a-bird-for-the-night - not that we ever did. Two of the band asked me for directions to Mothers and as showing them being quicker than: go down the road and get the number 11 bus, mate... We piled into a passing Z-Cars taxi: they paid. Getting into Mothers (for free as well) was a joy as we had been refused entry before: too young, mohair suites and Mothers dress code don't mix! For our troubles Mick Taylor (or it might have been the Yank he was with) gave us each a spliff and I've never looked back. Mick Taylor a few years later went on to join the Rolling Stones and I've no idea who the Yank was, but that night at Mothers I saw Steve Winwood's Traffic. Mothers was the place for....how shall I put this...the place for odd people that couldn't dance! :afro:
 
Often went to Mothers. Saw many bands - do they still call them bands? Did a lot of sitting on the sticky, floor, especially in the bar. Frank Zappa's "Peaches en regalia " takes me right back there. Draught, rough cider on tap, disgusting really but it did the job. Wearing clothes bought from Oasis, Bus Stop and Crowthers. I often wore a suede waistcoat with fringes which I thought was 'gorgeous'. Wore various velvet hot pants, had a beautiful purple crushed velvet midi coat with a large pan collar and a full length black velvet coat too (definitely had a velvet thing going on). Also had several pairs of knee length suede boots (worn in summer too) bought from the stall under the ramp in the Bullring outdoor market. I also 'afro'd' my hair every week with setting lotion and small rollers. Took hours but I had a magnificent head of curls with a wide radius about my head. All this effort to sit in, what was really, a pretty grubby club. But it was FAB! Let's face it, we invented the now popular festival season and the art of chilling. Groovy ....... Viv.
 
Nice story DPL.

I went to Mothers loads of times, originally when it was still the Carlton.
I can't remember all the bands I saw now but it included Joe Cocker, the Family, Jethro Tull, John Mayall, Fleetwood Mac, the Nice, Chicken Shack, Fairport Convention, Ten Years After and Tyranasaurus Rex (my friend was a fan but I didn't like them so it was a bit under sufferance!).

I remember when Led Zeppelin played there not very long after they had formed, supported by Blodwyn Pig. The place was rammed partly because so many people knew John Bonham and Robert Plant what with them being local.

It used to get so full sometimes (I think the guy who ran it admitted they had more people in there than Fire Regulations allowed!) They used to open the fire exit door at the side when it got really hot. Was a great place, very friendly. Cheap cider in the bar too if I remember!

I live in London now and I met someone who said he and his friends used to drive up to Brum to go to Mothers which shows how good it must have been.
 
I think it's a sign of how times were back in the Sixties that I can remember going to Mother's many times, but can't remember many of the bands I saw there. John Mayall definitely, Jon Hiseman's Colliseum, Fleetwood Mac, Chicken Shack (I was deeply in love with Christine Perfect), and Spencer Davis. I do remember seeing The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, a really good act as it happened, except his fiery headgear was dropping bits of molten stuff everywhere and scorched the ceiling. I think I saw Cream there too, but can't be sure. Someone once said that if you can remember the Sixties, you weren't really there. There'll never be a time like that again.

The other venue we tried hard never to miss was Birmingham University Students Union - they had some great bands and artists on Saturday nights, and I saw The Who, Cream, The Animals, The Yardbirds, Spencer Davis (of course), Wayne Fontana, The Merseybeats and loads of others. We only stopped going when they tightened up on security and insisted on seeing an NUS card. Shame.

G
 
Just shows you how dynamic the Birmingham music scene was in the 1960s/70s. You could go to a little club above a furniture shop in Erdington High Street and see top bands, big names (and some still going today) but now we struggle to remember who we saw there. Yet I know I saw many, many top bands there - some already mentioned. I find it difficult remembering who they were because there were so MANY! Every week (remember the single sheet, folded A4 programme?) announcing the bands? And there'd always be the ever faithful Edgar Broughton Band appearing on the programme. Those were the days my friend! Viv.
 
I preferred The Carlton-Mothers club to any of the others and I went there on Thursday evenings. Listened in to Adrian Goldberg this morning and his main theme was the club with people phoning in with their experiences. Jean.
 
I remember the membership card. Didn't keep mine, wish I had now. I remember the A4 folded sheet programmes too, in green, white (maybe sometimes pink? ) Thinking back to those programmes the names that jump out at me in my mind (apart from the really big bands) are Coliseum, Edgar Broughton and Steve Gibbons Band because you'd find them on those programmes pretty well every week. Also now wish I'd kept the programmes too. Another heap of memorabilia now at rest in that great filing cabinet in the sky. Viv.
 
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I still have my membership card (along with a few others like the Plaza and the Metro)

I also have the Carlton membership card from before they changed the name of the club - think it's pink.
 
Vivienne14 said:
I remember the membership card. Didn't keep mine, wish I had now. I remember the A4 folded sheet programmes too, in green, white (maybe sometimes pink? ) Thinking back to those programmes the names that jump out at me in my mind (apart from the really big bands) are Coliseum, Edgar Broughton and Steve Gibbons Band because you'd find them on those programmes pretty well every week. Also now wish I'd kept the programmes too. Another heap of memorabilia now at rest in that great filing cabinet in the sky. Groovy. Viv.
Click to expand...

We saw Steve Gibbons with his band The Dylan Project at Lichfield Guildhall last year - better than ever. Jon Hiseman of Coliseum fame now writes music for TV shows - I really rated him as a drummer, but he never seemed to get the breaks. I did notice that the two former owners of Mother's were featured in last week's Sutton Observer - I can't remember their names and I can't find the paper now!

G
 
I love reading this thread as I remember all the bands mentioned has bought back great memories. I had a suede fringed waist coat as well Viv suede hot pants and knee length boots I often wore wigs and hair pieces as well....happy days!
 
Oh yes, hairpieces too! Wasn't brave enough for a wig. But I loved my fake afro. Before turning up at Mothers we'd stop off at the Swan pub, near the top of the High Street. Not a great pub inside, but it was on the way from the 28 bus stop in Station Road. We sometimes went in the Acorn beforehand, but can't remember where that actually was. And because it got so crowded in Mothers and because of the low ceilings it used to be roasting in there. And of course you just wouldn't take off your second-hand fur coat until you were about to collapse through dehydration. (So, more cider please!) And cider for the ladies was served in one of those half pint handled glasses with the dimpled glass. I seem to remember giant posters on the walls - or on one wall - think they were painted and I think there was one of Marc Bolan. You just don't get clubs like that anymore. Viv.
 
These might stir a few memories - 1969. Forgotten about Trapeze and Family; I remember them often at Mothers. Remember the Pretty Things? Not what you'd call pretty by a long shot! Viv.

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The area today 4th November 2013
 

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Thanks for posting pics Dave. Those shops beneath the old Mother's Club hgave changed so much over the years. So many tenants
and yet another Charity Shop now. It seems there are so many such shops in the High Street these days.
 
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